Happy Halloween you dirty bastards. I hope you have your costumes on and are engaging in demeaning professional activities all dressed up. The best is when the big bosses dress up and act like it is no big deal. I hate that.
This BSR! Weekend Movie Preview is for the weekend of October 31, 2014. A quick halloween disclaimer first. 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 (except for one this week).
Join us this week as we preview “Nightcrawler”, “Before I Go To Sleep”, “Saw”, and more.
Nightcrawler (2014)
R 117 min – Crime | Drama | Thriller
Director: Dan Gilroy
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed
Summary: When Lou Bloom, a driven man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
Thoughts: Jake Gyllenhall portrays Kurt Wagner, the teleporting circus demon from the X-Men. He looks just like him. Inspired casting. I am seeing it tonight.
Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
R 92 min – Mystery | Thriller
Director: Rowan Joffe
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff
Summary: A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.
Thoughts: Nicole Kidman plays the wife of Guy Pearce from Memento. In the third movie the two stories finally come together and they don’t recognize each other and continue on with their lives by being crazy. In the fourth movie Drew Barrymore joins in the fun and they all team up and kill Adam Sandler in his sleep.
Saw (2004) – [Re-release]
R 103 min – Horror | Mystery
Director: James Wan
Stars: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Ken Leung
Summary: With a dead body lying between them, two men wake up in the secure lair of a serial killer who’s been nicknamed “Jigsaw”. The men must follow various rules and objectives if they wish to survive and win the deadly game set for them.
Thoughts: Yeah, yeah. As if this horse hasn’t been chained to a sink and beat to within an inch of its life, here we get to see where it all started. Next year they will probably make a prequel.
Goodbye to Language 3D (2014) – [Limited]
70 min – Drama
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Stars: Héloise Godet, Kamel Abdeli, Richard Chevallier, Zoé Bruneau
Summary: The idea is simple: A married woman and a single man meet. They love, they argue, fists fly. A dog strays between town and country. The seasons pass. The man and woman meet again. The dog finds itself between them. The other is in one, the one is in the other and they are three. The former husband shatters everything. A second film begins: the same as the first, and yet not. From the human race we pass to metaphor. This ends in barking and a baby’s cries.
Thoughts: I just have to see this to figure out what the hell is going on in that summary and the trailer. I am completely totally confused.
Horns (2013) – [Limited]
R 120 min – Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller
Director: Alexandre Aja
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson
Summary: In the aftermath of his girlfriend’s mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
Thoughts: I actually saw this, read my review here: https://bigshinyrobot.com/58183/review-horns/
The Great Invisible (2014) – [Limited]
92 min – Documentary
Director: Margaret Brown
Stars: Meccah Boynton-Brown, Doug Brown, Bob Cavnar, Brent Coon
Summary: A documentary on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and Gulf Coast residents who experienced it first-hand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on.
Thoughts: You know what happens when everything is important and world changing? Nothing is.
The ABCs of Death 2 (2014) – [Limited]
Not Rated 125 min – Comedy | Horror
Directors: Rodney Ascher | Julian Barratt | Robert Boocheck | Alejandro Brugués | Kristina Buozyte | Alexandre Bustillo | Larry Fessenden | Julian Gilbey | Jim Hosking | Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen | E.L. Katz | Aharon Keshales | Steven Kostanski | Marvin Kren | Juan Martínez Moreno | Erik Matti | Julien Maury | Robert Morgan | Chris Nash | Vincenzo Natali | Hajime Ohata | Navot Papushado | Bill Plympton | Dennison Ramalho | Todd Rohal | Jerome Sable | Bruno Samper | Jen Soska | Sylvia Soska | Sôichi Umezawa
Stars: Tristan Risk, Martina García, Béatrice Dalle, Laurence R. Harvey
Summary: A 26-chapter anthology that showcases death in all its vicious wonder and brutal beauty.
Thoughts: I have seen this too, but haven’t had a chance to write up a review yet. Having said that, it is pretty awesome. Better than the first one. And I love the format. A lot. It is available on VOD and streaming.
Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show (2014) – [Limited]
90 min – Documentary | Biography | News
Director: Des Doyle
Stars: J.J. Abrams, Matthew Carnahan, Steven S. DeKnight, Chris Downey
Summary: A documentary that explores the world of U.S. television showrunners and the creative forces aligned around them.
Thoughts: These are the people we blame for the state of TV today, good and bad.
Magical Universe (2013) – [Limited]
80 min – Documentary | Biography
Director: Jeremy Workman
Stars: Al Carbee, Jeremy Workman, Astrid von Ussar
Summary: A documentarian strikes up a friendship with reclusive artist Al Carbee, whose Barbie-doll photography gains acclaim and interest over the course of this project’s 10-year history.
Thoughts: I kinda want to see this, but I am not sure if it is due to being enchanted by the trailer or out of morbid curiosity to see this poor man that looks like he has some mental illness that he is dealing with.
God the Father (2014) – [Limited]
R 101 min – Documentary
Director: Simon Fellows
Stars: Tom Benedict Knight, Amanda Fernando Stevens, Owen Davis, Raffaello Degruttola
Summary: Michael Franzese, the son of John “Sonny” Franzese, an underboss of the Colombo crime family, recounts his spiritual transformation.
Thoughts: Yay!! Mobster stories. I wish the whole thing was animated. Actually, I wanna do a really rough and ugly true life mobster story, but with house hold pets playing all of the parts. Maybe in the style of Garfield.
Ok, that last one was kinda lame. Sorry about that. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.