DJ B-Clear's Summer Movie Preview - August

So the Summer is almost over and the 2 big Summer film weekends, 4th of July and Memorial Day are long gone. There's still Labor Day but that's the unofficial end of the season. The bigger blockbusters have come and gone (or fizzled). Here's where we should start to see the quality of films start to pick-up...allegedly.

August 2nd

• The Spectacular Now: High School rich kid pretty boy Miles Teller, leads a great life and and ends up meeting Shailene Woodley, after waking up from a drunken stupor on her front lawn. Woodley is a Diane Court-type whose not in Teller's clique at the local high school (stop me when you've heard this one before) because of their respective family's bank accounts. Teller then proceeds to woo Woodley in a Lloyd Dobler-esque manner but he's rich pals aren't thrilled with him dating in the non-trust fund crowd (kind of the basis of most of John Hughes' films). Despite all odds, true love prevails (allegedly) Teller and Woodley go to the prom. There's also a possibility that Woodley gives up her virginity to Teller as well.
• Europa Report: A group of astronauts go to explore Europa, 4th largest moon of Jupiter all in the name of science. Things start to go wrong and it doesn't look good. The trailer is well done as it sucked me in without giving to much away (though I'm hoping it's not something as unoriginal as a monster or something like that). This is already out on iTunes so it might be cheaper than viewing it at your local cineplex that has 12 screen devoted to whatever lifeless blockbuster is out there.
• Cockneys vs Zombies: Brick Top leads a group of Eastenders through zombie filled London in a Shaun of the Dead type zombie film. There's some laughs sprinkled out through here (there's a chase scene between a man w/his walker & a slow moving zombie) and the zombies don't seem overly terrifying.
• Drift: In a Point Break style mixture of surfing and crime drama, 3 studly surfers go into business making surfboards only to find out that one of is smuggling drugs inside the surfboards (they guy with a criminal past no less) in 1972 Australia. Lots of great surfing footage with dudes who look like Bodhi and his crew, because that's what all surfers look like right?

August 9th

• Elysium: Neill Blomkamp directs a sci-fi thriller set in 2154 where the wealthy live on a luxurious space station where there's no disease or want while the rest of us live on a decaying Earth with little to look forward to out of life. Matt Damon, contracts a disease or something and his only hope is to get to Elysium. Of course he's a lower class cog who's stuck on Earth and those who've tried to get to Elysium usually end up with their molecules re-arranged via laser canon. Enter Sharlto Copley, he's got a plan to get Damon into Elysium by grafting an exoskeleton to him but it won't be easy as Damon still has to fight his way onto Elysium. He's also going to bring a terminally ill little girl to save so it's not all about him. Success could change everything the likes of the evil Jodie Foster has worked so hard for, keeping the poor away from the wealthy. I liked District 9 a lot so this will be a must see for me.
• Planes: The newest Disney animated release, NOT Pixar, about a group of planes but it's not like Cars at all. There's a big airshow that the one plane wants to compete in but he's afraid of heights. Luckily Dane Cook lends his voice talents.
• We're The Millers: Ed Helms wants Jason Sudeikis to smuggle some drugs into the US from Mexico for a large sum which of course Sudeikis needs. So Sudeikis devises a whacky but can't miss plan where he hires people to pose as his "family" so they can smuggle to drugs out in an RV. His 1st choice is to hire a "wife/mother" and he offers the job to the stripper he frequents who turns out to be Jennifer Aniston (I guess she had fun as a the sultry evil dentist from Horrible Bosses so this seemed like a good follow-up). Sudeikis & Aniston lead the "Miller" Clan to Mexico and hilarity ensues (the virgin "son" constantly hits on Aniston & his "sister" as well as potentially racist bits with Mexican customs officials) which is what usually happens during a drug smuggling operation.
• I Give It a Year: A British film about Nat & Josh (Rose Byrne & Rafe Spall), a newlywed couple and their journey through marriage. Apparently the loved ones in their lives didn't feel the need to mention that they may not have been "right" for each other, hence the title. It all starts with the wedding cliches and gets worse. What's great is this is a comedy about a marriage that looks like its falling apart but in a funny way.
• Lovelace:The biopic of Linda Lovelace with Amanda Seyfried as the titular star. Directed by the duo of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (winners of an Academy Award for Best Documentary) bring together an all-star cast to tell the tale of the 70's porn legend. The trailer plays a bit like Boogie Nights with the highs and lows of the unforgiving porn industry. This looks interesting and might be worth watching.
• Prince Avalanche: Paul Rudd escapes this trials and tribulations of the big city in 1988 and trades it for some spartan country living. He gets a job painting lines on the highway with Emile Hirsch who's a little off to say the least. The trailer didn't give me much but it's a indie buddy movie comedy with late 80's fashion so there are going to be a few laughs.
• Blood: A gritty British cop film about a brutal murder and the lengths the investigating detectives (2 brothers portrayed by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham) go to find justice. However things turn bad during an "interrogation" and they have to cover up their misdeeds that Mark Strong started investigating. The trailer looks dark and foreboding but the rating on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't that good.

August 16th

• Kick-Ass 2: Hit-Girl & Kick-Ass return as a vigilante crime fighting duo who've inspired a new wave of masked vigilantes. They team up with Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) and continue to do battle with The Red Mist, who's vowed revenge on the duo for the death of his crime lord father in the original film. I liked the original so I might just take this one in and quite frankly Chloe Grace Moretz is a very talented up and coming actor who's worth seeing. The interesting thing about this film was that Jim Carrey denounced the film's violence after the tragic Newtown shootings. Of course that didn't stop him from cashing the check he got from working in this picture.
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters: I never saw the original and I never read the books that the films were based on seeing how the appealed to a younger demographic. Percy and his pals are back battling mystical creatures and villains. If you thought the first one was cool then check out the sequel.
• 2 Guns: Suffice to say there is an all-star cast that makes up this film which is pretty much a remake of of the Lethal Weapon series. This time Riggs & Murtaugh 'Bobby' & 'Stig' (character name Mike Stigman, real original nickname) end up going after a stash of CIA cash that CIA naturally wants back. I can't believe someone of Denzell's stature would stoop to a "buddy cop" movie but here it is. Wahlberg, whom I like, is really good at playing the same guy over and over. The CIA villain (Bill Paxton) reminds me of Mr. Joshua. I will take a pass.
• Paranoia: Hunky stud Liam Hemsworth takes a job with a billionaire tycoon as a spy in the employ of his billionaire tycoon arch-nemesis (played by Gary Oldman & Harrison Ford respectively). So Hemsworth is caught in this elaborate scheme that he's got to figure his way out of. There's a lot of twists and turns but I'm willing to bet Hemsworth turns the tables on both Oldman and Ford in order to get a big payday and score the the uber-hottie.
• jOBS: Biopic about the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs. I'm sure Mr. Jobs led a very interesting life notable of a film but I have my doubts with Ashton Kutcher (the dumb guy from That 70's Show). Seeing how director Joshua Michael Stern is not named David Fincher, I doubt that this film will be as good as The Social Network. Plus there's the whole Ashton Kutcher thing.
• The Butler: Forest Whitaker plays a White House butler from the Kennedy through the Reagan administrations and he sees a lot of sh*t in a very Forrest Gump kind of way. The film is based on the life of Eugene Allen, who worked as a White House butler for 34 years. The film is directed by Lee Daniels, who has a short but formidable list of films to his credit who's work is worth viewing.
• Ain't Them Bodies Saints: Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck go on a crime spree where Affleck takes the blame for shooting a cop in the Texas hills (I've driven through Texas several times and I don't recall any hills) so that he can spare Mara a jail sentence. However, while in prison learns about the birth of his daughter and escapes to be with his true love.

August 21st

• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones: Thin, pretty white people with magical powers do battle with other thin, pretty white people. Some are good and some are evil and there's a brooding, hunky stud in there as well. Unbeknownst to Lily Collins, she comes from a long line of demon-slayers and her mom (Lena Headey) has disappeared. The aforementioned brooding hunky stud takes her under his wing and shows her the world that she belongs to and her responsibilities. I'm willing to be that she's got great power, uses it to save her mom, falls in love with the brooding hunky stud and manages to defeat the forces of evil, at least until the next installment. Adapted from Cassandra Clare's novels.

August 23rd

• The Frozen Ground: Based on the actual accounts of serial killer Robert Hansen. Vanessa Hudgens escapes from the clutches of John Cusack and is by the detective working the case (Nicolas Cage) used to help bring him to justice. Except that Hansen is a really good serial killer and outstanding member of the community whereas Hudgen's isn't the most savory character (it's that old stripper bias). Cage is dogged in his pursuit of Hansen and is desperate to see him locked up. Serial killers always make for a good film, this has all the makings of a decent film but Nick Cage as the hero and Cusack is a sadistic serial killer? I may have to wait for the buzz before I check this out.
• You're Next: All seems well for the Davison family as they get together in their family's secluded mansion in the woods. Secluded and woods = bad outcome. The group is apparently stalked by creepy mask wearing, axe wielding home invaders bent on killing the Davisons because they're in a secluded house in the woods and that's where creepy masking wearing, axe-wielding home invaders hang out. The secluded woods. The trailer looks creepy enough, it got a 91% on RT and a 6.7 on IMDB. The thing is, creepy home invasion films are like the scary films, there's a lot of them. Buyer beware.
• Drinking Buddies: Indie comedy about a woman (Olivia Wilde) who runs a brewery, has great friends (Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick), drinks a lot of beer and dates Ron Livingston. Did I mention that the woman in question is Olivia Wild? Sounds like an ideal life right? Not so much. The relationship with Livingston doesn't work out when she realizes that she's got the hots for Johnson. It's probably predictable enough as you can see from the trailer they're close friends, very flirty and both very good looking. Why wouldn't they want to hook up? This film got a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 out of 10 on IMDB. It's got beer as a major theme so what's not to like? It's currently available for rental on iTunes. It might be worth a try. I've been considering the iTunes rental theory myself.
• The Grandmaster: Renown Hong Kong Second Wave director Kar Wai Wong gives us the tale based on the life of Ip Man, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster of the 1930's. The trailer is pretty kick ass, its stars Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang so what more do you need?
• Scenic Route: Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler are old pals that have grown apart. Fogler decides he & Duhamel need some quality time so he "stages" a car breakdown in the middle of the desert except that the car really breaks down and they're stranded. Unsurprisingly bad things happen to the duo from there. Perhaps things would have been OK if they stayed on the highway or just had dinner in the city.

August 28th

• Closed Circuit: Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall are lawyers on a legal defense team for an accused terrorist that set off a bomb in a crowded London market. Very high profile. What appears to be an open & shut case has a few more loose ends than expected. Bana & Hall are put in danger as they try to find the truth. They're also ex-lovers. The trailer looed very interesting as this looks to be a taut suspense thriller. Should be worth a look.

August 30th

• Getaway: His wife kidnapped, Ethan Hawke must follow the instructions of a man that force him into a fast car and to pick up Selena Gomez. Hawke is a former race car driver and Gomez is a drifter or something (she was wearing a hoodie, that's my guess). This has been done before.
• Afternoon Delight: Kathryn Hahn and Ted Mosby seem to have an ideal marriage. Nice house, great kid and success. But it's all kind if a facade as the marriage is a bit on the loveless side. Apparently other couples in their circle of well to do white folks get together every now and then and hit a strip club. They get all hot and bothered then go home to make sweet love to each other like all the other bored suburban couples. So when Hahn gets her first ever lap dance from Juno Temple, she takes a bit of shine to her. Not in a sexual way (dammit!) but in a "I want to save you from this life" kind of way. Temple ends up moving in as the new "nanny," low and behold her presence starts to break down the barriers between Hahn and her husband. Lots of hijinks ensue when Temple reverts to her stripper ways when the neighbors come over and more laughs because Jane Lynch is Hahn's therapist. I'm not married nor in a loveless relationship so I can't really related to these people. I may not be the film's target demographic.
• Passion: Brian De Palma returns to the directors chair for this thriller starring Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams. McAdams is the boss and she gives her protege Rapace a hard time a la The Devil Wears Prada. After McAdams takes credit for a Rapace idea, she decides she's had enough and revenge gets plotted. Things escalate and murder ensues. This is a remake of the French film Love Crime. This film was made in Europe and released and 2012 but it's just now getting to US audiences. That's usually not a good sign.
• The Lifeguard: Former high school standout Kristen Bell is turning 30 and her life hasn't been what she expected (kind of like the rest of us). She quits her job in NYC and moves back in with her parents in Connecticut. There she decides to become a lifeguard at a local pool and gets romantically involved with a teenager (nothing like returning to your high school glory with some stat rape). This causes her friends and family to become surprisingly judgmental. Poor little privileged girl doesn't like the way her life turns out and she wants a do-over but doesn't want the burdens of responsibility.