DJ B-Clear's Summer Movie Preview - June

May starts off the Summer blockbuster season. June may not have the big hitters like Iron Man 3 or Star Trek Into Darkness but there are some interesting features to say the least. Shall we?

June 7th

• The Internship: Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson team-up once more in what looks to be an obvious attempt to rekindle the magic from The Wedding Crashers. The premise here is that they lose their sales jobs but Vaughn manages to con their way into an internship with Google. Lots of inappropriate humor and hackneyed jokes that are recycled from similar films. I've seen the trailer a few times and I didn't think it was that funny.
• The Purge: Written and directed by James DeMonaco, the United States is riding a wave of prosperity. Unemployment and crime are almost non-existent due in part because the government allows for a 12 hour period beginning at midnight of June 7th to allow citizens to do as they wish with no repercussions. For this period, all crime (mostly violent) is legal. The night brings us to the home of the Sandin's. When the alarm sounds they lockdown their home and settle in for the long night. A stranger being hunted gets to the house and pleads to be let in. The father, Ethan Hawke, warns not to let him in but his kids don't listen. The stranger, Edwin Hodge, is thankful but the people after him are determined to kill him and they decide to include the Sandin's in the process. The trailer looks interesting and this could be worth seeing.
• Much Ado About Nothing: Joss Whedon directs and updates this Shakespeare classic with a modern twist.
• Passion: The legendary Brian De Palma directs this sexually charged thriller with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. From the trailer I was able to deduce that McAdams is a high powered executive with a taste for the weird and Rapace is her assistant or whatever who gets entangled into the weirdness of McAdams personal life. DePalma hasn't directed a film since 2007 and this film is his 5th since 2000 and the reviews of those films were mixed at best and that's why I'm hesitant about the film. I don't particularly care much for McAdams either. There's enough red flags here that one should be tread lightly around this title.
• Wish You Were Here: An Australian thriller starring Joel Edgerton as half of one couple who travel to a remote island off Cambodia with another couple. So that's 4 people who vacation together but only 3 come back under mysterious circumstances. Suspicions mount as Edgerton's world starts to crumble. Drugs are implied here but there's a lot of mystery within the trailer. This looks like it might be worth seeing as Edgerton's star is on the rise and sometimes foreign thrillers are better than American ones.
• Violet & Daisy: Writer and director Geoffrey Fletcher brings us a black comedy about a pair of female teenage assassins (Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan) who think they're taking an easy job but get more than they bargained for from their target (I think it's James Gandolfini). The trailer has a lot of imagery that may not make sense and there's a little Thelma & Louis between Bledel & Ronan but what you need to know about the film is that it was made in 2011 and is now seeing the light of day. That usually means bad things. However, the film gets a 7/10 based on the 407 users who rated the film on IMBD.com. So it could be worth seeing since Fletcher has a solid past and Ronan has been excellent in her short career.
• Syrup:This looks like its a satirical look at marketing and consumerism in America. "Syrup" denotes some sort of beverage that a new ad exec has come up with a marketing plan to sell an "image." The product doesn't matter, it's the image people want. From the trailer there's some sexual tension/innuendo between the good looking cast. I suspect there's a possibility of some sort catharsis that makes some cast members realize what jerks they are. Looks to be a bit like 2009's The Joneses with the social commentary.

June 12th

• This Is the End: Ensemble comedic cast that includes the likes of Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson. Everyone plays themselves as the apocalypse hits Hollywood. The trailer shows possible aliens/monsters but not zombies or robots (rest assured that's how its going to go down) and how celebrities will handle the new world order or what's left of it. There's a few scenes where they "survivors" make fun of their former dead pals (I think Hill & Rogen take a few shots at Michael Cera), Emma Watson has a cameo where she beats up the group and steals their food and there's a particularly funny scene where Robinson is drinking his own urine from a chilled martini glass. A lot of potential for laughs here but I'm not sure I'm in to this type of film seeing how I've hit middle age. Though, in the right scenario this could be fun.

June 14th

• Man of Steel: An all-star cast that includes Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and hunky Henry Cavill as Superman. You've also got General Zod and his lackeys doing bad things and it's directed by badass director Zack Snyder. The trailers for this film look very cool and rest assured I will be waiting in line for this.
• The Bling Ring: The latest directorial effort from Sofia Coppola, deals with the actual true events of a group Beverly Hills 902010ers who are so bored with their privileged lives they decide to rob celebrity homes (in real life they apparently they knocked over Paris Hilton's place more than once). Coppola has done some very good work in the past and I've enjoyed her work but this looks like something that's been done before. The perps (all good looking) all want to live a "celebrity lifestyle" but don't want to put the work in (you know with acting or being an heiress) so they turn to crime. There appears to be a little social commentary when Emma Watson talks to the press after a day at the courthouse.
• Berberian Sound Studio: Toby Jones plays an British sound engineer brought into work on an Italian horror film and starts a slow descent into madness as the film starts to get a little to real. Directed by Peter Strickland. The trailer looks pretty creepy and this could be worth a look.
• Vehicle 19: Paul Walker (apparently his character was on vacation from the Fast and the Furious franchise) finds himself in need of a rental car (most likely South Africa but it's just a guess) but gets a little more than he bargains for when "he gets the wrong rental car scenario", the one with an unconscious, tied-up girl in the trunk (played by Naima McLean in a plot directly from The Transporter) who just could be a witness or a reporter that knows about widespread government corruption. Walker, who's done nothing wrong, finds himself chased by police and manages to drive around at high speeds without ever stopping for gas. Based on the trailer I saw this doesn't look to be too original.

June 21st

• Monsters University: Mike Wazowski and  James P. Sullivan return in this  2001 Monsters, Inc. prequel that tells the story of when the 2 pals first met.
• World War Z: Based on Max Brook's book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Brad Pitt has to save humanity from the Zombie Apocalypse (it's coming, make no mistake!). I am not familiar with the book but the trailer looks really cool. Which means I will be standing in a long line.
• Maniac: Elijah Wood stars in this remake of the 1980 cult film of the same name. Wood plays Frank, a guy with some social issues who's stalking and killing women. The 1980 version was a low budget splatter film and the trailer suggests that this will be a little more surreal. Wood being an evil guy is interesting.

June 28th

• The Heat: Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy star in the outdated plot theme of the straightlaced uptight cop (Bullock) teaming up with the unconventional slob of a cop (McCarthy) to solve an unsolvable crime. Bullock gets to play the Benjamin Bratt role from Miss Congeniality and McCarthy plays the Bullock role from the same film (prior to Bullock being "made over" by Michael Caine of course). Here's another film that's plagued by a lack of originality.
• White House Down: This film follows the same pretext (by same I mean almost exactly frame by frame) as Olympus Has Fallen, released earlier this year to mediocre reviews and ticket sales (at best). In this particular version the President is played by Jamie Foxx (he must owe someone a favor) and the dude who saves the day is super stud Channing Tatum.
• Byzantium: Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton star as 200 year old vampires who are seeking refuge from the past. But when you're undead & immortal, the "past walks with you (it's a line from the movie)." Directed by Neil Jordan and brought to us by the same group that gave us Interview with a Vampire. The trailer gives you a lot of blood imagery, period piece shots and a good amount of pasty skinned people. Now I'm a bit worn out by the steady stream of vampire films (mostly the ridiculous Twilight saga) so at best I'm non-committal to seeing but in reality I probably won't. That's not to say that this could be an interesting film. The trailer did a nice job of making it appear interesting but that what a trailer does.
• I'm So Excited!: Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, comes a comedy about a whacky flight crew trying to make sure the passengers are comfortable on their doomed flight. Almodovar has done excellent work in the past and if you've seen his films before this will most likely be worth seeing if you can find it in your town.