June 2014 Film Preview

June 6th

• Edge of Tomorrow: Tom Cruise stars as a soldier fighting aliens with Emily Blunt. The thing here is Cruise is reliving the same day. Think Groundhog Day meets Source Code. There's some cool stuff and they fight the aliens in mecha suits in the trailer but Cruise hasn't done a really good action film in awhile. I may take a pass on this.
• The Fault in our Stars: Everyone's new sweetheart Shailene Woodley stars as a teenaged cancer victim coping with cancer and being a teenage girl. She meets hunky stud Ansel Elgort at a support group and they fall in love. Elgort's character lost a leg to cancer or something so despite being 2 really good looking people, they're also flawed. There will be some tearjerking scenes and a possible unhappy ending. This is a film that is probably not aimed at my demographic.
• Willow Creek: Bobcat Goldthwait (yeah, that guy) directs this "found footage" film about a cute mid-late 20s couple who go into the woods and possibly meet their demise. As an added bonus, Bigfoot maybe involved. This looks low budget for sure so this title may be a difficult to find.
• Obvious Child: Jenny Slate stars as a 20 something stand up comic who's having some issues in her young life (like most twenty-somethings). She winds up getting pregnant from a one night stand and tries to figure out how to tell the guy while they kind of fall for each other. Think Juno for the post college crowd. This is another indie film that may not get a wide release but look for it on iTunes perhaps. Obvious Child hits all the indie benchmarks: quirky but cute characters, cool soundtrack and relevant (to the characters) issues. Another film not in my demographic. 
• Trust Me: SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson stars, writes and directs this dramedy about a down on his luck child actor agent. The once successful agent is striking out in his career and personal life until he represents and up & comer Saxon Sharbino who could change his fortunes. His nemesis is fellow agent Sam Rockwell who has been getting the best of him as late. Trust Me looks a lot like Jerry MacGuire but it does have a very talented cast. Now the film debuted at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival but is just now going into a limited release. If you can find this, please beware because as of now it has yet to be rated on rottentomatoes.com.

June 13th

• How to Train Your Dragon 2: Hiccup and Toothless are back and better than ever. There's more dragons, more dragon hijinx and I'm sure Hiccup and Astrid explore their feelings for each other. Hiccup also meets up with his long lost mother who happens to have an in with dragons. I saw the original and it was a nice film. I probably won't see this in the theatre but when it hits HBO or Redbox, I'll check it out.
• 22 Jump Street: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum now go undercover at Spring Break. I ran away from 21 Jump Street and I will avoid this one. Upon seeing the trailer, it is not hard to see where the film is going to take you. Again, not aimed at my demographic.
• The Rover: Every tweens favorite pasty skinned, brooding vampire stars with Guy Pierce in a dystopian Australian Outback. Pearce has a run in with a gang and teams up with the guy they left behind, Pattinson. This film is dark, gritty and violent (about what I'd expect from a film set in the dystopian Outback). This is another film that may not see a wide release but it looks pretty cool. Personally, I'd like it a lot more if it didn't have Pattinson but ya can't have everything. Right?
• Lullaby: Richard Jenkins plays the patriarch who has been slowly dying of cancer for years. He's ready to have the plugs pulled and wants to see his estranged kids one last time (this sounds real familiar). Well at least his son is estranged because he's got stubble and plays in a band. The daughter apparently followed in her dad's footsteps and became a lawyer and she files an injunction so he can't have the plug pulled. Along comes the son's old flame (Amy Adams alert) and he starts to see things a little differently. This is the type of drama that only happens to rich people, if Jenkins was poor or middle class then there wouldn't be a movie. 
• The Signal: Nic and Hailey are 2 young lovers who are in Nevada hiking for some reason the trailer doesn't explain. They're an ordinary young adult couple who do funs stuff and make goo-goo eyes at each other. Something then happens (in the woods no less) and Nic they wake up in a weird hospital with Laurence Fishburne in a anti-virus suit telling them something has happened. Nic decides to bust out of this prison, grabs Hailey and goes on the lamb. Fishburne and his buddies aren't too keen on this and try to bring them back. It also looks like Nic gets some "powers" because he came in contact with "The Signal." 
• All Cheerleaders Must Die: A group of nubile high school girls (from the cheerleading team in case you were wondering) die in a car accident but are saved by becoming vampires. Suffice to say that they take a shine to their status as undead creatures and start a bloodsucking spree at their school. This one is Mean Girls meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This looks pretty stupid.
• Hellion: Kat Candler writes and directs this tale of a teenage boy who's behavior causes his little brother to be taken away by children's services. The older boy and his absentee father (Aaron Paul) must make amends and bring the family back together. Originally made as a short in 2012, Candler got funding to make a full length feature and was able to bag a post Breaking Bad Aaron Paul. Dark Indie drama.

June 20th

• Think Like a Man Too: The gang from Think Like a Man is back and this time they're going to Vegas! Since the original cost only $12 million to produce and raked in nearly $100 million why up the ante and go to Vegas just like The Hangover. The difference here is that instead of just the men having a bachelor party, the women have their bachelorette party too and the ladies take it up a notch (so you have The Hangover meets Bridesmaids all in one, except this cast is much better looking)! Be advised...I never saw the original but the trailer practically screams The Hangover for African-Americans! There's aslo some funny stereotypes too, the like scene involving Kevin Hart and not being able to swim (I didn't laugh). 
• Jersey Boys: Film adaptation of the Broadway play. Christopher Walken is in it.
• Third Person: An ensemble cast that breaks down into 3 stories involving people in different stages of relationships in 3 different cities; Rome, Paris and NYC. James Franco and Mila Kunis are an estranged couple fighting for custody of their young son in New York. Liam Neeson is in Paris (writing a book not killing sex traffickers) with Olivia Wilde, who's not his wife. his wife is back home played by Kim Basinger. Adrien Brody is in Rome with Moran Atias (The trailer leaves their part ambiguous for times sake I guess). The kicker here is that everything could be part of Liam Neeson's new book he's writing. Paul Haggis directed and wrote the screenplay so it could be interesting to see but it logs in a 137 minutes and that might be too much for my tastes. At that length it gets hard for me to get into the problems of good looking people. If there's good buzz around it, my girlfriend has an interest in seeing it and I've already seen Godzilla and X-Men, then it's possible that I could see this. 
• Coherence: a group of 8 good looking, thin friends gather for a dinner party on the night a comet passes over the Earth. Things go bad when the lights go out and weird shit starts to happen when. The tension mounts as they run lower on wine and things don't appear right. Shot in close quarters, this looks interesting. Things start to break down and the cast starts to turn on each other (I almost never get tired of that trope). This is a small indie sci-fi so it may not get a wide release. If it's available near me I may take a chance on it.

June 27th

• Transformers: Age of Extinction: Mark Wahlberg replaces Shia LaBeauf in the 4th Transformers installment. After the 3rd film, the transformers have gone underground while Chicago licks its wounds. Apparently, we Americans are none to happy with giant robots now so there's a bit a prejudice towards them and they blend in by becoming regular modes of transportation. That said, transformer evil never sleeps, it just lays dormant until its time for a sequel. Something happens, Prime gets awakened and reforms the Autobots to fight whatever evil may be out there. Merchandising is a large factor in this film as the Dynobots will make an appearance. I saw the 1st 3 films in the theater and unless someone I trust tells me I need to see this film, I'm going to pass. They're looking to sell action figures here and I've had enough. There's no doubt in my mind the the specials effects will be great but I doubt other than new transformers it's all been done. Enough already. Though, with my life on the line, I'd rather see this film than Blended.
• Snowpiercer: In a post apocalyptic future where the the survivors of an ice age (yep, climate change finally got us) are crammed together in a train. However, 1st class and coach take on a whole new meaning as the train is divided by class (or rich section/poor section) and a police force keeps the poor folk at the end of the train. This doesn't sit well with Chris (Captain America) Evans and he's going to do something about. However, he needs to find a security specialist Kang-ho Song, in order for the revolution to succeed. This film is directed by Joon-ho Bong (who's done some nice work) and making it's U.S. release. It looks pretty cool and might be worth a shot. 
• They Came Together: This is a rom-com that makes fun of the rom-com genre. It's got a mostly SNL alum cast (and Paul Rudd) so it coud seem like a series of SNL skits strung together to make a film (my usual warning is if a film is under 90 minutes then that may mean that it's straight to video). This one could be really stupid or worth watching but still stupid in a funny way. Solid cast.
• Whitey: United States v. James J. Bulger: The definitive tale of Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello in The Departed. The film looks to give the facts surrounding Bulger's years as a mobster with alleged Federal protection and how he managed to kill several people while being an informant for law enforcement. In 2013 Bulger was sentenced to life in prison after being arrest in 2011 after manhunt that lasted 16 years. This is probably worth watching.