And this is how it ends – a battle to the death to save our future by pillaging our past. Adam Sandler in a bloody no-holds barred standoff with Hugh Jackman. What do you get when you have desperate mutants versus the Brady Bunch? Blended X-Men Smoothies, with a side of Binoche. Welcome back to the BSR! Weekend Movie Previews. This one is for the weekend of May 23, 2014.
As always, before we get started, a quick disclaimer. All of the film information presented here, including the plot summary, has been pulled from the Opening This Week page of IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/nowplaying/). I have not seen any of these movies at the time of this writing. Join us this week as we preview “X-Men: Days of Future Past“, “Blended“, “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn” and more.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
PG-13 131 min – Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Director: Bryan Singer
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy
Summary: The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.
Thoughts: I am conflicted on this. I have not been a fan of the X-Men films at all up to this point, except for First Class. I agree with the majority that Last Stand is the worst of them, but I didn’t think the two previous ones were that much better. I didn’t care for the casting and I felt like the direction just didn’t deliver on the promise. Bryan Singer has been trying to make a go of it as a blockbuster director for a while, and I think the closest he has come to delivering a full on spectacle of a film was Superman Returns. Just in pure scope, he almost got it, but that movie had all kinds of other problems preventing it from getting over the top. The early reviews for this are great though, as attested by our own Swank-mo-tron (Bryan Young) and Jerkbot (Jeff Vice). So, I am hopefully optimistic.
Blended (2014)
PG-13 117 min – Comedy
Director: Frank Coraci
Stars: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kevin Nealon
Summary: After a bad blind date, a man and woman find themselves stuck together at a resort for families, where their attraction grows as their respective kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship.
Thoughts: I will never say a bad thing about Adam Sandler or his movies. Mostly because I think they have a real blast making them and he is loyal to a fault to his friends (Grandma’s Boy?). Having said that, the German trailer for the film that I embedded above is absolutely awesome. I want to see the whole film this way now. Without subtitles. (Here is Jeff Vice’s review on Cinephiled.)
Cold in July (2014)
109 min – Drama | Thriller
Director: Jim Mickle
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson, Vinessa Shaw
Summary: In 1980s East Texas, two fathers pitted against each other in revenge must band together to uncover a darker truth.
Thoughts: Crikey, this looks intense. Kinda reminds me of One False Move by Carl Franklin (which was my favorite movie for a very long time) and A Simple Plan by Sam Raimi (which still has the ability to make you squirm). With a touch of Joe Dirt on top. The Director, Jim Mickle, also made Stake Land which was a surprisingly effective low budget vampire movie with a lot of atmosphere and tension.
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013) – [Limited]
102 min – Drama
Director: Sam Fleischner
Stars: Jesus Sanchez-Velez, Andrea Suarez Paz, Azul Zorrilla, Tenoch Huerta
Summary: The story of an autistic youth named Ricky who, after a particularly difficult day at school, escapes into the subways. It’s here that he starts his real journey, on a days-long voyage of discovery while, above ground, his mom frantically searches for him.
Thoughts: This looks absolutely lovely. This is why I love film. If you have a vision and the dedication and put in the right effort, you can make something that can transport your audience to a new place. And you don’t need a blockbuster budget, you just need persistence of vision and the will to finish.
Words and Pictures (2013)
PG-13 111 min – Comedy | Drama | Romance
Director: Fred Schepisi
Stars: Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche, Bruce Davison, Amy Brenneman
Summary: An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important.
Thoughts: The whole thing almost feels like a parody of an Opposite Attracts RomCom. I was seriously hating it until Juliette Binoche showed up. The movie is probably horrible, but Binoche gives it a slight bit of class, so I will probably catch it on Encore or Netflix in July.
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014) – [Limited]
R Comedy | Drama
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Stars: Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, Melissa Leo
Summary: A curmudgeonly man is mistakenly told that he has 90 minutes to live by his doctor and promptly sets out to reconcile with his wife, brother and friends in the short time he believes he has left.
Thoughts: This looks execrable. I don’t even want to begin listing the issues I have with it. I am exhausted just thinking about it.
Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.