Sure, the next movie you see could be “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.” But for moviegoers whose tastes may run in a different direction, turn your sights instead to the Tribeca Film Festival, which starts screenings on Wednesday.
The fest, which runs through April 26, is showing more than 100 feature films, none of which stars Kevin James on a Segway. But picking a good movie to see can still be a real crapshoot. To reconcile that, put your faith in the stars — the ones that live in Hollywood — and choose accordingly.
“Saturday Night Live” alum Jason Sudeikis is the prince of the fest with three films showing. “Tumbledown” is a romance in which he falls for the widow of a music legend, while in “Sleeping With Other People” Sudeikis and Alison Brie decide to, um, sleep with other people. He’ll also pop up in the “SNL” documentary “Live From New York!”
If you’re not yet tired of James Franco, the festival perennial plays an addict who gets way too into a murder case in “The Adderall Diaries.” The unfortunately far-less ubiquitous Michael Fassbender tries on Westerns for size in “Slow West.”
Remember Faith Hill? Not only is the country singer alive, she has a surprising supporting role in “Dixieland,” the Mississippi love story of two troubled kids.
And if you can’t wait for the new “Terminator” film coming this summer, Arnold Schwarzenegger will also be weathering a zombie apocalypse in “Maggie” after his daughter (Abigail Breslin) becomes infected. Lily Tomlin’s teenage granddaughter is also cursed, with a baby she wants aborted, in the LOL-worthy “Grandma,” and it’s up to Tomlin to come up with the cash.
Richard Gere stars as a messed-up rich guy who meddles in the marriage of Dakota Fanning and “Divergent” hunk Theo James in “Franny.”
And fresh off her Oscar win and TV procedural “CSI: Cyber,” Patricia Arquette leads the Martin Scorsese-produced ’90s crime drama “The Wannabe” opposite “Boardwalk Empire” star Vincent Piazza.
For tickets, visit tribecafilm.com, call 866-941-3378, or hit up the box office at Bowtie Chelsea Cinemas 9 (260 W. 23rd St.) or Regal Cinemas Battery Park (102 North End Ave.).
Lukas Ettlin