I would like to apologize, I was planning on having this up yesterday when most of the movies were opening in anticipation of the long holiday weekend, but my day job didn’t cooperate. Today, it almost hasn’t cooperated, but luckily for you I have powered through and delivered this fine example of easy, low hanging content generation.
This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of July 2, 2014. Happy Independence Day!!
Per usual, 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 “Deliver Us From Evil”, “Tammy”, “Life Itself”, and more.
Deliver Us from Evil (2014)
R 118 min – Crime | Horror | Thriller
Director: Scott Derrickson
Stars: Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Chris Coy
Summary: NY police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.
Thoughts: Soo… I watched a short documentary about the real life guy this is based on, and contrary to the trailer, which makes it sound like this dude was an official police exorcist, brought on to cases involving demons and possession and stuff. He was actually more like a beat cop during the day and a ghost hunter (like in those shows on cable) during the nights. Having said that, this is directed by the guy that will be bringing “Doctor Strange” to the big screen for Marvel Studios, so maybe Eric Bana will be Doctor Strange.
Tammy (2014)
R 96 min – Comedy
Director: Ben Falcone
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney
Summary: After losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful, a woman hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother.
Thoughts: I just wanna say up front that this movie, based solely on the trailer, seriously pisses me off. Melissa McCarthy is a genuinely funny and talented actress, and it angers me no end that her big screen appearances have relied heavily on fat jokes and gross out gags. It makes me even angrier that her husband directed it, and that the two of them wrote it together (though that is kind of adorable at the same time. Actually, that is the movie they should have made – a story about a typecast actress and her husband and how they strengthened their relationship by selling her out professionally).
Earth to Echo (2014)
PG 91 min – Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi
Director: Dave Green
Stars: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt
Summary: After receiving a bizarre series of encrypted messages, a group of kids embark on an adventure with an alien who needs their help.
Thoughts: This looks kinda awful. The found footage aesthetic has grown really tired. I mean, it was tired half way through “The Blair Witch Project”. So now, it is like really, really, really tired. Super really tired even. But I have heard some spotty good word of mouth on it. So, maybe it is okay. But then again, I say stick with your gut when you are not sure.
America (2014)
PG-13 Documentary
Directors: Dinesh D’Souza | John Sullivan
Stars: Russell W. Reed, John Koopman, Tina Fortune, Casey Allen
Summary: A story that imagines that the United States lost the Revolutionary War and therefore never existed.
Thoughts: This trailer starts out pretty promising, but then it gets halfway through and turns into a cheesy Discovery Channel Original shot on poorly lit video. The premise is kinda interesting, but I am sure that Harry Turtledove has already done an amazingly racist version of this in the past in book form. I think it is a wait-for-it-to-be-on-cable-and-then-catch-it-over-several separate-airings-to-see-the-whole-thing type of situation.
Life Itself (2014) – [Limited]
R 115 min – Documentary | Biography
Director: Steve James
Stars: Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Gene Siskel, Martin Scorsese
Summary: A documentary film that recounts the inspiring and entertaining life of world-renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert.
Thoughts: I may not have agreed all the time with Roger Ebert either politically or film-wise, but you cannot deny that the man loved movies. Growing up as a little film nerd in the 70’s and early 80’s he and Gene Siskel showed me that I could have deeply held opinions about such things as movies. Opinions that didn’t agree with other people’s, and that was immensely liberating. This documentary looks like a fitting to tribute to the late great critic and should be see and supported.
The Girl on the Train (2013)
R 80 min – Thriller
Director: Larry Brand
Stars: Henry Ian Cusick, Nicki Aycox, Stephen Lang, Charles Aitken
Summary: A documentary filmmaker boards a train at Grand Central Terminal, heading to upstate New York to interview the subjects of his latest project. A chance encounter with a mysterious young woman leads him on a journey of a very different sort, and within the blink of an eye, Hart is forced to leave his complacent life behind for a world in which the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. As Hart tells his strange story to a police detective he finds himself being questioned as Martin tries to discover whether Hart is the victim or the suspect in the strange affair.
Thoughts: This looks like everything I hate in movies. Style and atmosphere over substance. Especially when the style and substance looks like it was done by a bunch of precocious student filmmakers with one faculty adviser trying to get them to make his one great unproduced idea.
Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.