REVERSE ANGLE
‘Wolves’ who escaped their father’s trap
Bay Area native Crystal Moselle has lived in New York since moving there for school in 1998. One would think she’d seen it all in that city — but when she came across a group of similar-looking young men walking together in suits, she was intrigued.
Over time, the six teenage Angulo brothers — a bright, homeschooled, tightly knit bunch — opened up to her. One eventually told her she was his first friend.
“That was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” Moselle says. “I thought, ‘Maybe they didn’t really play with other kids.’ Then he told me he had escaped. I was like, ‘OK, this is a lot deeper than I thought.’ ”
The brothers had been forbidden to leave their apartment by their controlling father, trapped inside for sometimes more than a year at a time. Moselle’s documentary about them, “The Wolfpack” (opening this week), is a bizarre story of resilience.
“That’s a word we use a lot,” Moselle says. “I think it’s quite amazing, what they’ve been through and how great they’re doing now. I attribute that to their mother. She was a victim in this as well. She was very strong with her love. She really held it together for them.”
Despite the filmmaker’s closeness to her subjects, their story retains some mystery.
“We worked on the project for five years,” Moselle says. “I’m still getting clues.”
Superwho? That guy looks familiar ...
Of course the revamped comicbook Superman (buzzed and sans costume, as on the cover of “Superman/Wonder Woman” No. 18) looks a heck of a lot like a movie star. Should Henry Cavill be nervous that that movie star is Kellan Lutz?
Just kidding. The DC folks never think that far ahead.
Although they did just turn their “Justice League of America” book over to Bryan Hitch, who may be best known for making Nick Fury look like Sam Jackson.
Strange magic (no, it’s the good kind)
Speaking of comics and actors, the news that the great Tilda Swinton was in talks to join “Dr. Strange” makes one believe Marvel might continue its almost-mystical run of success.
To start that cast with Benedict Cumberbatch (as the Sorcerer Supreme), with Chiwetel Ejiofor rumored to join and now Swinton? Magic!
We’ll see if Marvel can pull another rabbit out of its hat with its unconventional choice of horror director Scott Derrickson (“Sinister”).
Sounds scary — and that’s just the menu
Its script has been compared to “There Will Be Blood.” It concerns how a tycoon began his empire — taking everything, including their name, from a pair of brothers. And it’s called “The Founder.”
Sounds like Isaac Asimov meets L. Ron Hubbard meets Paul Thomas Anderson (again), but it’s the humorously ominous title of a biopic about McDonald’s kingpin Ray Kroc. The Weinstein Co. just secured U.S. rights to the John Lee Hancock film starring Michael Keaton for Oscar season 2016.
Signs from beyond predict doom
The notion of a “Poltergeist” remake might make discerning moviegoers roll their eyes, but this one sounded interesting. The script was by renowned playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (“Rabbit Hole”), and it starred respected actors best known for indie fare: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jane Adams.
Then Fox declined interview requests. And advance screenings. And ... uh-oh.
That’s trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for “Poltergeist.”
The movie opened to a slightly better-than-expected $27 million in a horror-starved environment. But it earned a very low C-plus CinemaScore and a 33 from critics and a surprisingly bad 31 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
In its second week, it pulled a 65 percent vanishing act. Guess audiences weren’t moved.