April 2014 Film Preview

April 4th

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier: This is Marvel Studios first release of what looks to be a big year for them. If you don't know what the plot is to this film then you've been living under a rock. As a follower of Captain America comics in the 80's, I will be seeing this film. 
• Frankie and Alice: Halle Berry plays a go-go dancer with multiple personalities. Realities of her personalities merge together into Frankie and Alice (hence the film's title). Stellan Skarsgard is the shrink who tries to help her. The trailer is a blend of images of her "regular" persona and her "not so good" persona. Throw in some mental hospital shenanigans to reinforce the fact that she's got mental issues. This does not look all that original.
• Under the Skin: I saw this trailer in the theater a few weeks ago and to be honest, I had no idea what the heck was going on. The tagline to the film starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Jonathan Glazer says, "an alien seductress preys upon hitchhikers in Scotland." However, the imagery from the trailer isn't close to that description. The film does look very dark and might be worth a look but it doesn't appear that it will see a large release. Who knows, I'm a bit intrigued based on some of Glazer's past work.
• Alan Partridge: Steve Coogan plays the title character, a radio morning man of a small radio station in a London suburb. The station gets bought out and Colm Meaney's character takes hostages after he's been downsized. Alan to the rescue. Hijinx ensue when Meaney has Coogan help him with the police negotiations. The trailer has a few laughs in there and you'll get the British humor side of police standoffs. I like Coogan's work (mainly with Michael Winterbottom), so this might be worth a look.
• Dom Hemingway: Jude Law plays recently paroled convict named (wait for it!)...Dom Hemingway. Dom is a safecracker with limited social skills (get drunk, punch first and ask questions later) who tries to get back together with his now adult daughter. Law looks interesting as it's a bit of a departure for him. I saw this trailer at an art house cineplex in Chicago so I don't think this will get a lot of screen exposure. 

Other films being released on this date include; Jinn, a supernatural thriller that requires Darth Maul to use use vast martial arts skills to defeat the evil. In Goodbye World, a cyberattack shuts off America's electricity, cable, internet and cell phone usage. A group of forward thinking hipsters are prepared to ride it out but things don't go so smoothly in their Big Chill-esque seclusion when other folks find out that they've got stuff that works. This is what happens to society when you take away that stuff. Mob mentality and everyone for themselves. Had these hipster had prepared for the apocalypse like rednecks (guns instead of solar panels) they'd be in a better spot. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, sits down with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in The Unknown Known. In the Blood stars Gina Carano who's husband disappears on their Caribbean honeymoon and she's got to kick some ass to find out what the deal is. This may not be as good as Haywire but since that was a pretty good film, this one could be worth checking out. 

April 11th

• Oculus: Supernatural scary movie alert. A mirror that houses demons allegedly forces a man to kill his wife in front of the kids. While the brother is in a mental institution, the sister finds the mirror and she sets forth to prove that the mirror did it and has killed before. Then somehow the mirror ends up in a family's home and weird sh*t starts to happen. The name of the film sounds cool but as it goes with this genre, buyer beware.
• Draft Day: Kevin Costner is hired as the General Manager of the woeful Cleveland Browns. The Browns have the 1pick in the NFL Draft and the film traces the happenings up to draft day (hence the not so subtle title). Jennifer Garner appears to be Costner's love interest, Frank Langella plays the owner and Dennis Leary is the head coach. This IS NOT Moneyball for the NFL. It's more like a 90 minute commercial for ESPN's draft coverage.
• The Railway Man : Colin Firth stars as a former British soldier who was a POW in the Pacific Theatre. While in Japanese custody he and his other comrades were tortured and forced to work the Thai-Burma Railway. Firth finds out that the Japanese officer who tormented him is still alive and goes to confront him, possibly in a revenge manner and not in a "hey how ya been the last twenty years?" kind of way. Nicole Kidman stars as Firth's wife. Firth has been in need of a solid follow-up to The King's Speech and this could be it.
• Only Lovers Let Alive : Indie director Jim Jarmusch, gets into the vampire foray with this film that stars Tilda Swinton (Eve) and Tom Hiddleston (Adam) as vampire lovers who reunite for a long overdue fling (Adam & Eve, there's a plot device here). The film looks very dark and gritty. After watching the trailer I came away with, "why hasn't Tilda Swinton ever been cast as a vampire before?" She looks pretty creepy and fits the part almost naturally. 
• Joe: Remember back in the 90's when Nic Cage would make a schlocky popcorn film or two (Face/Off, The Rock) then make an art house film (Leaving Las Vegas)? Yeah neither do I. But in this film Cage seems to be taking a page out of McConaughey's recent playbook and going for more serious stuff. Cage plays Joe, an ex-con with a past and a drinking problem. He befriends a kid with an abusive father (also a drunk but a bad drunk not like Cage's good drunk, apparently there's a difference) who's trying to take care of his mom & sister. Things come to a boil and Cage may deal with the kid's drunken father which may put him back in prison. Heavy drama here for sure but I will most likely pass on this unless the buzz is too much to resist.

April 16th

• Heaven is for Real: Based on the best selling book about a kid with a near death experience who gets a tour of Heaven. From what I understand this kid's experience has the creationism crowd clamoring that this is proof that God is real and that science is a jerk. 

April 18th

• Transcendence: Johnny Depp heads an all-star cast in this trippy sci-fi film about a software designer (Depp) who invents a revolutionary computer thingy and is assassinated. While in a coma, his conscience is uploaded or downloaded into a computer. From there he gets all knowing "Skynet" type knowledge and bad things start to happen. This film looks pretty cool and I will most likely see it. 
• A Haunted House 2: Yet another spoof about scary movies. The trailer looks stupid and has several C-list stars. I feel as if the Wayans Brothers can do better.
• Fading Gigolo: John Turturo directs and stars in this dramedy about a lonely dude who finds his calling as a gigolo in a New York City neighborhood. Woody Allen is his pimp I guess who arranges encounters with the like so Sharon Stone and Sophia Vergara. Of course there's a sad widow (just a theory) who is alone and Turturo is recruited to make her feel alive again. It's possible that they fall in love. The trailer looks touching and funny but I don't think that this film is aimed at me. 
• Authors Anonymous: Oz from American Pie and the not so bright chick from The Big Bang Theory are struggling small town wannabe writers who meet with other struggling small town wannabe writers on a weekly basis at a diner. Turns out that Cuoco actually gets a literary agent and gets published, striking a bit a jealousy in her writing group. Apparently hijinx ensue and Oz gets rebuffed by Cuoco. This film stars Dennis Farina and he's been dead for a year so who knows how long this one has been on the shelf. I wouldn't bother with it. 
• Bears: Disney brings us a documentary about a year in the life of a family of bears in Alaska. This is probably something that can be watched on the Discovery Channel.

April 25th

• The Other Woman: Cameron Diaz plays a babe who's dating a guy who's married and has another girlfriend in addition to Diaz. Leslie Mann and Kate Upton are the other women involved and Diaz gets together with Mann I believe to exact revenge on the dude. If you think this sounds a bit like John Tucker Must Die for adults, congratulations you guessed right. It also sounds like a Spanish comedy that I thought starred Penelope Cruz but I wasn't able to find through one Google search so I gave up. This looks dumb but it's not aimed at my demographic so it's a win win.
• The Quiet Ones: British scary film set in 1974 about a group of students who obtain some teenage girl with issues and film her. Well, she's a bit screwed up and they decide it would be a good idea ti run some weird experiments on her. Bad idea because weird sh*t starts to happen and leads back to the girl. The trailer looks ok but it's a British creepy kid movie. As with all scary movies, please choose wisely.
• Brick Mansions: Paul Walker's last film has him as an undercover cop (sound familiar?) who infiltrates a gang that has access to a neutron bomb? The villain is RZA and he's holed up in a housing project (hence the title - what is it with April films?). The trailer is basically Walker and Belle "parkouring" their way through the neighborhood. RZA also killed Walker's hero cop father but must have got off on a technicality. I did notice that Walker had a very sweet apartment which would seem to be more than a cop could afford. The screenplay is from Luc Besson so it's probably an almost remake of a prior film of his. 
• Locke: Tom Hardy sheds the Bane mask to play Ivan Locke, guy who spends the enitre film dirving in a straight line while on the phone a lot. That's the plot of the film. He drives a car and talks on the phone and his world seems to unravel. One heckuva commute home huh? I guess there was one phone call that seth forth the chain of events.
• Blue Ruin: Another film where the trailer doesn't reveal much. There's a bearded possible homeless dude living in his car, who's waiting for a dude to be released from prison or something. I guess revenge is in the mix and someone's family is involved as well. There was a scene with a knife and a scene where shots are fired. It's dark and gritty so it could be interesting. Hard to say. 
• The Machine: British eggheads create a not quite female terminator that they want to use for the benefit of humanity but the government has different ideas. Given the AI is in the form of a hot babe to who take really well to military training. I was under the impression that something bad happens.