04 May, 2013

DJ B-Clear's May Movie Preview

May officially opens the Summer Blockbuster season and it opens with a BANG! to say the least. Let's jump in...

May 3rd

  • Iron Man 3: There isn't much that needs to be said other than "see this film!" The trailers that I've seen make me want to see this film even more.
  • The Iceman: Based on the life of Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinsk, a stone cold killer and family man. Directed by , the film boasts a very good cast that includes in the lead, as his wife, , , and in supporting roles. The trailer looks gritty and in a fair world Shannon would be a perennial Oscar nominee. The down side is that Killing The Softly was supposed to be a really good film but people stayed away in droves. I'm not that familiar with Vromen's work but it might be worth taking a chance on this feature.
  • What Maisie Knew: The 3rd "modern" re-telling of an 1897 Henry James novel. This version stars as the pop singer mother and as the English writer (or something) father who are divorced and vie for the affections of their young daughter, . Throw in a new twist where Maisie enjoys hanging out with her mom's boy-toy () and you've got a hybrid of Kramer v. Kramer and an episode of  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit which I didn't feel like finding the name of. Given it's probably gut-wrenching but the plot is definitely not original.
  • Generation Um...: is a glum New Yorker who steals a video camera on whim and begins to tape the 2 twenty something babes ( - the blonde & - the brunette, funny how that always seems to work out like that) who just happen to be very comfortable with their sexuality. Though I'm not sure why Neo is so glum, at least from the trailer, when he hangs around with 2 nubile hotties where it's pretty much implied that sex amongst the 3 is a given. The trailer gave me a Sex, Lies & Videotape kind of feel with a combination of 1997's Two Girls and a Guy (the hot blonde, hot brunette and the dude they're sleeping with unknowingly). I also got a feeling that Keanu is doing some soul searching which is why he steals the camera in the first place. I'm gonna pass on this.
  • The Happy House: Directed by a guy I've never heard of () with a resume of films I've neither heard of nor seen before comes a tale of some NYC hipsters who venture into the country and meet up with weird, quirky inhabitants of the B&B. One of whom may or may not be a serial killer. Honestly I thought the trailer was stupid.

May 1oth 

  • The Great Gatsby: One of the few required reading books that I read in high school (and I hated reading) that I actually still refer to (sorry Le Morte D'Arthur) comes back to the big screen. directs an all-star cast in this retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic work. The preview is fun to watch as Luhrmann put a lot of color into the sets so they seem to jump out at you. I will be seeing this film.
  • Aftershock: directs a film about the breakdown of society after the 2010 8.8 earthquake in Chile. co-wrote and stars as an American in Chile looking to score chicks. The earthquake hits and everything turns into bloody chaos. The trailer gave me the impression that things go bad and get very gory so be advised. I'm sure there are people who would be interested in this sort of thing but I don't think it's for me.
  • Erased: directs , and others in the international conspiracy/spy thriller. It basically looks like The Bourne Films accept Eckhart is a little older and has a daughter in tow.
  • Java Heat: A "seen it before" action film directed by with as the villain. So it takes place in Indonesia, involves terrorist blowing stuff up, an American with enhanced martial arts skills and weapons knowledge and a kidnapped princess. At least there's a team of Muslim detectives who aren't bad guys which is refreshing. This kind of looks direct to DVD. At least Mickey Rourke is working.
  • Peeples: Craig Robinson is marrying Kerry Washington and he heads out to the Hamptons to meet her parents,  David Alan Grier and S. Epatha Merkerson. Tyler Perry's latest release looks a lot like Meet the Parents. Everything Robinson does to ingratiate himself to Grier & Merkerson backfires in a big way.
  • No One Lives: A relatively unknown cast in a horror film where a young couple stop in a small town in the middle of nowhere (when does anything good ever happen in this scenario?). There are taken captive by a group of townies, who rob and kill people kind of like 1997's Breakdown. The problem here is that the couple are not exactly the meek tourist type. The male of the couple survives and turns the table on his captors. It doesn't look like they stand a chance. It gets bloody.
  • And Now A Word From Our Sponsor: plays a marketing/advertising tycoon who disappears and when he shows back up he only talks in ad slogans. Former 90s indie film darling , plays the goody two-shoes who tries to find out what happened while the board of his company tries to have him declared incompetent so they can run the business. Looks suspiciously like a cross between Regarding Henry and Crazy People. It looks like a satirical look out how we Americans are driven by consumerism.

May 17th

  • Star Trek: Into Darkness: Same as Iron Man 3, "see this film!" Kirk, Spock and the possibility of Khan. What else do you need?
  • Frances Ha: stars in this directed film about a young Manhattanite who doesn't have any viable means of income but is a "free spirit" with friends who's archetype only seem to exist in films about New York City. The trailer is almost incomprehensible as Gerwig drops hipsterisms and gallivants through the city. According to the synopsis she's "following her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles." This is a film that I suspect New Yorkers would like but most people would have a hard time relating to. Baumbach has done some excellent work in the past but it's never really been mainstream by any stretch.
  • The English Teacher: stars as, you guessed it, an English teacher from a small town who helps an old student who's a playwright down on his luck. The help comes on the form of her getting his play produced, on this high school level, and of course sleeping with him. The school's administration is a little uptight about the play's subject matter but is there to help her out. Of course when things get weird with her former student, his hunky, doctor father, played by , is there to make things more interesting. I think she also gets jealous when she catches her old student in the arms of a young co-ed. Based on the trailer this looks real predictable. I will pass on this title.
  • Black Rock: A trio of hotties, led by , decide its a good idea to rekindle their friendship at a remote island Maine which just happened to be their childhood getaway. Naturally their not alone. Let me make one thing clear...Nothing good ever, I mean ever, happens when people aged 18-34 go into the woods. Death awaits those usually in the form of a large, indestructible man with sharp objects. Or in this case, 3 similarly aged dudes who hold a grudge or something and decide to make the ladies disappear. The point is, the woods are not safe.

May 24th

  • Fast and the Furious 6: Yes, it's the 6th installment of the franchise. It's now almost annoying as the 37 Saw films. Enough already.
  • The Hangover Part III: The "wolf pack" returns to Vegas (and apparently blow it up according to a trailer) to bring the franchise to an end in the place where it all began. The 2nd installment wasn't bad but it wasn't nearly as good as the first but I will take this one in as I'm curious to see how director ends it.
  • Before Midnight: Ethan Hawke and  Julie Delpy return in this 3rd installment of "Before" series. All 3 share a writing credit as Hawke & Delpy get together for the 3rd time in nearly 20 years. I suspect there will be more of the same from the 1st 2 films except everyone's older.
  • Epic:Animated release from Twentieth Century Fox Animation featuring the voice talents of , , , and a few other A-Listers. It's about a teenage girl who gets shrunk down to insect size and meets up with the tiny people that defend the forest from evil. Admittedly the trailer looks pretty but but this is probably for the under 14 demographic. 

May 31st

  • After Earth: Set in the future, Will Smith and his son go back to Earth, crash land and find the old big blue marble a dangerous place for humans. Apparently Smith is getting long in the tooth to save Earth so now he needs the assistance of his son. There's some cool stuff going on in the preview but I'm not sure if I'm ready to see Will Smith needing help saving Earth. The trailer doesn't fill you in on why Earth needed to be abandon (in Oblivion it was a war with aliens that left the planet uninhabitable despite victory) but it's science fiction I'm not that concerned. I will wait to see what kind of buzz this film generates before making a commitment.
  • Now You See Me: directs a slid cast that includes , , , , and in a heist film involving magic. Eisenberg, Harrelson & Fisher are magicians doing a show in Vegas but manage to rob a bank 5000 miles away during the show. Freeman narrates over parts of the trailer with a sense of they gang is planning something big. Leterrier's prior films have plenty of action but substance is sometimes lacking. To me this film is 50/50 in terms of being a good thriller/action film or just a subpar thriller/action film.
  • Shadow Dancer: Set in 1990s Belfast, plays an MI5 operative who tries to get (she's making the rounds in 2013!) to inform on her family, all members of the IRA, in order to avoid a 25 year jail sentence. makes an appearance as Owen's heartless, results driven boss. This looks real interesting. A very dark thriller directed by .
  • The East: is a private investigator who goes undercover to infiltrate an Eco-terrorist organization that's been wrecking havoc on corporate overlords. As she gets accepted by her new pals, she starts to fall for the hunky stud leader, and beings to think that maybe these guys aren't that evil. This looks kind of cool as I am a fan of films that look into the country's corporate conspiracies. A good cast that includes and doesn't hurt either. Though the prospect of the of the cop falling for the quarry she's after is a bit predictable but it might be worth a look.
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