August 2014 Film Preview

August 1st

• Guardians of the Galaxy: This is Marvel's big release of the summer after the latest X-Men installment. The trailer looks pretty cool but the problem is that the GoG were not that huge of a comic back in my day. I'm familiar with them but I have my doubts about whether or not they can do huge numbers. Given, I'll probably see it so who knows.
• Get On Up: Finally the Godfather of Soul gets a biopic. Director Tate Taylor (The Help), brings the legendary James Brown to life in what looks to be a tale similar to Jamie Foxx's award winning turn in Ray. This is worth a look.
• Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero: A small group of thin, good looking mostly caucasians decide to leave their luxurious island resort to go to a deserted tropical island. Bad things happen and men in yellow decontamination suits have to take over.
• Calvary: Brendan Gleeson stars as a priest who gets threatened in the confessional and he tries to fins the person who did so. Directed by John Michael McDonagh (The Guard), this looks to be a solid indie film worth seeing.
• Behaving Badly: Nat Wolff lusts after Selena Gomez (the high school hottie) who's way out of his league. There's a hot sister, an ex-boyfriend and a cougar mother who stand in his way. This film is not aimed at my demographic so the filmmakers probably won't mourn my passing on this one.
• Child of God: James Franco writes the screenplay and directs this Cormac McCarthy adaptation of backwoods justice or something. It's gritty and dark and there's a guy who uses a Winchester rifle an awful lot. McCarthy is an excellent writer but is Franco a good director? This could be worth a look, very depressing or not that great.
• 4 Minute Mile: Richard Jenkins plays a washed up drunk of an old track coach (think Dennis Hopper from Hoosiers) who stumbles upon Kelly Blatz, a kid from an abusive home with a huge upside in trck if only someone would believe in him. They both end up "rescuing" each other. Kim Basinger plays Blatz's mom. Next.
• Louder Than Words: David Duchovny and Hope Davis play ideal parents (white & well off) with an ideal family (thin & good looking) until their young daughter dies unexpectedly.  Duchnovhy an architect (or something) decides he's going to build a hospital. Not just any hospital, a hospital where parents can be active in the "healing process." The film is apparently based on a true story. It looks predictable and there will be some tearjerking moments for sure. It would make a better Lifetime movie.

August 8th

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: I never got into the TMNT back when they started back in the 80's. It's been over 20 years since this franchise has been on the big screen so it's due for a reboot. I will most likely take a pass on this as I didn't care about the franchise the first time around.
• Step Up: All In: Another film in the franchise. This time the gang get together in Vegas for a big dance off. Apparently this is indeed a franchise and it's still a thing.
• Into the Storm: Mother Nature is not happy and she decides to show us puny humans just how powerful she really is. Look out!
• What If: This is essentially a remake of When Harry Met Sally with a younger cast. Daniel Radcliffe plays the adorbale Billy Crystal trope and Zoe Kazan is in the Meg Ryan role. They hang out and have great chemistry but she has a boyfriend. But they get along so well they should be a couple. Guess what happens at the end? She gets a job in Taiwan and it appears that Radcliffe runs to the airport to profess his love or something along those lines. Ugh!
• The Hundred Foot Journey: The setting is a small, out of the way town in the French countryside where there is one restaurant run by Helen Mirren that has quite a reputation. Enter an Indian family that sets up another establishment right across the street. Old meets new in this film and Mirren's icy demeanor thaws a bit. Not made for my demographic. Probably be a fine little film though.
• About Alex: Good looking, twenty something pseudo-hipsters get together after one them nearly commits suicide. Think if The Big Chill for twenty somethings except Kevin Costner survived his suicide. Why any one of these exceptionally handsome people would want to kill themselves in beyond me. 

August 13th

• Let's Be Cops: Damon Wayons, Jr. and Jake Johnson are pals who go to a party as cops and have a little fun playing the part and abusing the power. Then they decide to make being fake cops their jobs. There are scenes where the duo bite off more than they could chew and scenes where hijinx ensures. The best parts, if any, are in the trailer.

August 15th

• The Expendables 3: Sly and company are back for another go around. Harrison Ford and Antonio Banderas are some of the new faces and Bruce Willis is out. There's a lot more going n this time around as they are some additional badass females on the team. Look, you know what you're getting here...lots of testosterone driven scenes and explosions. It probably won't be the right call but since I've seen the first two, I'll take a shot at this one. 
• The Giver: Based on a young adult novel by Lois Lowry, the film takes place in the pseudo utopian future. Things are great, kind like the society in Demolition Man. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what's going on here. There's a good looking guy who's got a super power and he likes this good looking girl and maybe society isn't as utopian as it seems. Meryl Streep plays a weird lady and The Dude plays a Obi-Wan/Merlin role. It looks a lot like stuff that's already been done before.
• Frank: This one is pretty strange. Michael Fassbender is a lead singer for a hipster band but his thing is he wears a papier-mache head and he doesn't take it off. Frank and the band make there way to SXSW. There's some strange stuff going on in the trailer. The film may have been inspired by Frank Sidebottom, a guy who actually wore a papier-mache head. I doubt this indie film will get a wide release but I'm 50/50 as to whether I should see this or run in the other direction. It's got a solid cast, the screenplay was put together by solid guys and it got a 89% on rotten tomatoes. It's very possible that this could be a solid indie film.
• The Trip to Italy: Michael Winterbottom is back with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eating and traveling around Italy. This is the sequel to the 2010 film The Trip which is based on a BBC tv show. I saw The Trip and thought it was great, Coogan and Brydon are hilarious. As a Winterbottom fan, I will try to see this film upon it's release. 
• Life After Beth: In case Warm Bodies didn't ease curb your appetite for zombie rom/coms, then this film should. Dane DeHaan is dating Aubrey Plaza but she dies. Unable to accept her death he finds out that she's still alive! But wait, she's a zombie. Not a zombie with decaying flesh because Beth still looks fresh as a daisy. No the only zombie drawback is the desire to eat human flesh. This has an all-star cast but it looks ridiculous.
• The One I Love: Mark Duplass writes and directs his usual strange little indie film. This time he and Elizabeth Moss are a married couple that are in need of a spark. That spark comes in the form of a weekend getaway to a house that may have some strange properties. The trailer has the pair opening and closing a lot of doors. It's hard to tell what's going on but it looks interesting and Mark Duplass has come out with some pretty decent films so I may check this one out if it hits the Music Box or maybe iTunes.
• Septic Man: Low budget horror film along the lines of The Toxic Avenger.

August 22nd

• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For: I don't need to see the trailer to know I want to see this film. 
• If I Stay: Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Mia, a girl who has everything going for her. She's pretty smart, has a good looking boyfriend (who's in a band!) and generally has a bright future. All that comes to a screeching halt when she's in a coma as a result of a car accident. She has an out of body experience, I guess to realize what a fantastic life she has. This is clearly a film for the "young adult" crowd so I'll take a pass. 
• The Prince: Jason Patric is a retired terrorist or something known as the "Prince." 20 years ago he apparently blew up a car with Bruce Willis' wife in it. Well "The Prince" lives in Mississippi with his teenage daughter. Much like Taken, she gets kidnapped while on the phone with her dad. Then much like Taken, Patric goes on a Neesom like rampage to find his daughter and faces down Willis. John Cusack stars as Patric's buddy and it looks like Willis enlists the help of 50 Cent. Because he's a gangsta. I feel as if I've seen this before.
• When the Game Stands Tall: Jim Caveziel stars as Coach Bob Ladouceur, who coached the De LaSalle football team of Concordia, CA to 151 consecutive wins from 1992-2004. Lots of motivational speeches and training montages.
• Love is Strange: John Lithgow and Alfred Molina are a recently married couple living in NYC. Just when things are coming up roses, Molina loses his teaching post and there forced to sell their sweet ass NYC apartment. Now they live apart and try to deal with family members and other issues. Looks interesting but I'm not into films about issues of dudes in their 60's. Solid cast.
• Are You Here?: Written & directed by Matthew Weiner of Mad Men fame, this film stars Zach Galifianakas, Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler in this dramedy about family and friends. Galifianakis and Wilson have to go back to Pennsylvania by convertible for Zach's father's funeral. At the reading of the will Zach gets everything, much to the chagrin of his sister (Poehler) and the dead father's twenty something wife. It looks like everything works out in the end. Galifianakis' role looks very similar to his role in Due Date. 
• The Liberator: This film tells the tale of the legendary South American icon Simon Bolivar. Bolivar is to South America what Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt are to Americans. He's that big. I am interested in this film because Bolivar is a pretty incredible person. Seriously research him. 
• The Possession of Michael King: After the death of his wife, skeptic seems to think it's a good idea to have Satanic rituals performed on him so he can debunk spiritualism and religion. Bad idea. Luckily the guy is a director of film and he records all the weird shit that happens. As it is with most films in this genre, it could be very scary, stupid or somewhere in between.

August 27th

• The November Man: Pierce Brosnan is in a James Bond type role where he (this will seem real original) is an ex-assassin who has to come out of retirement. His task, besides not getting killed, is to "bring in" Russian uber-hottie Olga Kurylenko because she know too much or something. The CIA or the shadow gov't agency that Brosnan used to work for is forced to send his old protege out to kill him and Kurylenko. There's not much original about this film, it's not too far removed from the film Costner was in a few months back. Pure escapism. Wait until it comes out on Redbox.
• Through a Lens Darkly: Photographers and the Emergence of a People: A documentary that is difficult for me to describe and I hope to do it justice. Photographs throughout history are showcase from before the Civil War up to modern time. The photographs were taken by Black photographers. There are some very brutal images that turned my stomach but that is an unfortunate time in this country's past. To say the least it looks pretty incredible. If you can find it (1st off its a documentary and 2nd its about Black people so don't expect to see a long run at the cineplex), then see it. I'm a believer in seeing films and documentaries about how shitty people got treated to remind us that this did happen and we should do whatever we can to make sure it doesn't happen. That's all I'm going to say about that.

August 29th

• One Chance: The true story of  Paul Potts is brought to the screen. "Who's Paul Potts" you ask? Paul was an aspiring opera singer who got bullied a lot (apparently opera singers are targets of bullies in England) but went on to win a segment of Britain's Got Talent. Opera singing is not my thing but the film sports a solid cast although it has a lot of perseverance tropes in it.
• Jessabelle: Sara Snook plays the title character. A thin, good looking Jessica Chastain look alike who was paralyzed in a car accident that killed her studly boyfriend. She moves into her mother's old room and discovers VHS tapes of her mom. On the tapes, her mother gives her a tarot reading and the reading does not bode well. 
• The Loft: A remake of a Dutch film, 5 rich super studs (Karl Urban and James Mardsen to name a few) with hot wives feel the need to get a loft so they can score extra-marital conquests. Well things go wrong and a body turns up in the bedroom.Which one did it? This has a good cast and it's directed by the the man who directed the original, Erik Van Looy. But it's been delayed due to distribution and I'm always a little wary of films that sit on the shelf for over a year prior to release. There's usually a reason why those films sit there. It might be worth your while to see the original. I can't see this film getting a wide release but who knows. Buyer beware.
• Starred Up: A British film about a violent teenager with anger and authority issues sent to a prison more fit to handle his "condition" (of being extremely violent). There he meets his father who enlists the aid of prison counselors to try and take some of the anger out of him. The trailer looked pretty interesting, this could be worth a look.
• The Congress: Admittedly, I have no clue what went on in the trailer. Robin Wright plays herself. She's got a sick son and she's given the chance to be digitized. There appears to be time travel? There's also animated scenes. The film is directed by Ari Folman and sports an all-star cast so it might be worth a look. However, it might also be something that people don't get, like Cloud Atlas. I may take this one for a test drive as I've seen Folman's Waltz With Bashir.
• Life of Crime: Tim Robbins is unhappy in his marriage to Jennifer Anniston. He's cheating on Jen with Isla Fisher and he's going to divorce Jen. However a wrench gets thrown into the plan when Anniston is kidnapped. Now hijinx ensue because Robbins doesn't want to pay the ransom. Funny stuff right? Allegedly this is based on an Elmore Leonard novel but it sounds a bit like Ruthless People. I'll pass.
• The Last of Robin Hood: Kevin Kline plays Errol Flynn, one of the first Hollywood action stars and one of the most notorious. Errol was known to never say no to a drink nor to the ladies, the younger the better (Flynn was accused of statutory rape in 1942 but was acquitted). This film tells the story of Flynn's love affair with 15 year-old Beverly Aadland prior to his death in 1959. As a fan of old Errol, I may have to see this film. Flynn died at the age of 50. His lifestyle would put any rockstar during their heyday to shame. Drinking and f*cking is what he liked to do when he wasn't acting.