Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.

It’s been a while since I did a special kind of list like this. This week, rather than highlighting the best films of actors in this week’s releases, I’m going to try something a little different, taking five actors (or directors) in films coming out this weekend and selecting one film from each that I would still like to see, but haven’t yet. Hopefully, this turns out well.

Chances Are (1989)

Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan O’Neal, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Mimi Kennedy, who has a supporting role in this week’s release, Saving Paradise, star in this 1989 romantic comedy. It was directed by Best Documentary Feature Oscar winner Emile Ardolino in the shadow of his 1987 success Dirty Dancing. Shepherd, hot off her popular turn in Moonlighting, is paired with heartthrob Downey Jr. in a film about a reincarnated man who falls in love with his daughter from a previous life.

Nominated for a single Oscar for Best Original Song (“After All”), the song was a big hit for Cher and Peter Cetera, much like “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. This was Ardolino’s second feature film, which he followed with three others before his untimely death in 1993. Having seen 3 of the 5 (Dirty Dancing, Three Men and a Little Lady, and Sister Act), I suspect that I will at least be entertained by the film even if it has a mediocre 6.5 rating on IMDb.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Since his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal has been slowly building a respectable filmography, which might have peaked with this Dan Gilroy thriller. Co-starring Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed, who is starring in this week’s release, Mogul Mowgli, the film earned substantial praise upon release and has remained high on my must-see list ever since. I’m certainly a fan of Gyllenhaal’s, but my few experiences with Ahmed have been pleasing, so I’m hoping the film can live up to its extremely positive reputation.

The film is about a con man (Gyllenhaal) who becomes a Los Angeles crime journalist where he walks a narrow line between observation and participation. This was writer Gilroy’s directorial debut and while I haven’t seen his subsequent films either, I can’t say his writing filmography hasn’t been that stellar. That said, Gyllenhaal, Russo, and Ahmed are reasons enough to see the film with the positive reviews an interesting barometer.

The Glass Castle (2017)

Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s breakthrough feature film was Short Term 12 starring Brie Larson as a counselor at a residential treatment facility for troubled teens. The film was great and more deserving of recognition than it received that year. Based on that film alone, as I haven’t seen either of his subsequent films, I’m intrigued to catch them. One of those films also features Brie Larson and co-stars Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, and Max Greenfield. The film is about a young girl who comes of age in a dysfunctional family of non-conforming nomads. Her father’s an alcoholic, but attempts to encourage their artistic pursuits based on his own experience.

Harrelson’s past work in the post-Cheers landscape has been superb. With the terrific Larson at his side and the wonderful Watts and Greenfield, I have high hopes that The Glass Castle will at least offer all of them an opportunity to shine. That said, the film didn’t get great reviews and was an Oscar no-show, so I must temper my expectations a bit. This film appears because of Cretton’s direction of this weekend’s Marvel Cinematic Universe release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I have also considered Just Mercy, Cretton’s film between Glass Castle and this week’s release. So, really, I have two titles that could make a list based on Cretton’s work. Ultimately, I settled on Castle because of Larson and Harrelson.

The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)

With Guy Pearce, I’ve seen most of the films I want to see him in, but as he appears in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it release called Zone 414 this week, I thought I’d look over his filmography to see if there were any blind spots just in case. The only film I could land on that might be worth catching is a film from The Sessions director Ben Lewin. The film stars Paul Rudd, always a personal favorite, in the real-life story of a major league baseball player who goes undercover during World War II for the Office of Strategic Services.

Pearce has a small role in the film, but Rudd is all I need to know about a film to be psyched. Co-stars and Oscar nominees Paul Giamatti, Giancarlo Giannini, and Tom Wilkinson give the film an extra layer of credibility. That said, the film has a mediocre rating on IMDb and the film sounded like an Oscar contender on paper, but didn’t even come close to the gravitas needed to compete. Still, it’s a compelling subject matter, so it could be worth seeing even if it is an unexceptional film.

Ocean’s 8 (2018)

When Awkwafina is the least interesting actress in the film, you know it’s an absolute powerhouse. Oscar winners Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Anne Hathaway are joined by Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter, Emmy winner Sarah Paulson, Emmy nominee Mindy Kaling, and Grammy winner Rihanna. That’s a whole lot of gold trinkets for such a major motion picture. Cutting down the number of crooks needed to pull off a thrilling heist, the all-female version of Ocean’s 11 has everything going for it.

Throw in writer/director Gary Ross (Pleasantville and The Hunger Games) and you have a tremendous opportunity. Although it was well reviewed, audiences didn’t seem to care for it, which is a point to its detriment, but if these are the same hyper-masculine knuckle-draggers who reamed the stellar Ghostbusters remake, I’m sure I’ll love it. Ross is a first-class director and these women are tremendous. Awkwafina also stars in this week’s release of Shang-Chi. The other title I considered from her filmography was Raya and the Last Dragon, which came out in the midst of the pandemic and thus won’t likely be something I can see for quite awhile. Still, Ocean’s 8 is a higher priority for me and would have been the one of these five I most likely would have seen in the theater if I’d had the chance.