And we’re back. And I apologize. I have been underwater on a big work project for the last month that is just wrapping up this week. I will try not to let that happen again. I mean, I would like more big work projects that take up a ton of my billable time, but I will try to always remember that you dear readers come first. I mean not literally first, because, again, billable hours, but never again will a month pass by without me saying hi. Unless, I get fired. In which case. Nice knowing you.
This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of September 12, 2014. Per usual, before we get started, a quick disclaimer. I write these over my lunch at my day job, 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 “No Good Deed”, “Dolphin Tale 2”, “I Am Eleven”, and a whole ton more.
No Good Deed (2014)
PG-13 84 min – Thriller
Director: Sam Miller
Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba, Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo
Summary: Terri is a devoted wife and mother of two, living an ideal suburban life in Atlanta when Colin, a charming but dangerous escaped convict, shows up at her door claiming car trouble. Terri offers her phone to help him but soon learns that no good deed goes unpunished as she finds herself fighting for survival when he invades her home and terrorizes her family.
Thoughts: Isn’t Idris Elba like some kind of sex symbol? One that women swoon over? If so, then this is counter casting to the extreme. Unless it turns out in the end that he is super deep undercover and Taraji Henson is actually a secret suburban serial killer. Now that sounds like an awesome movie. But it probably isn’t that.
Dolphin Tale 2 (2014)
Certificate PG 107 min – Drama | Family
Director: Charles Martin Smith
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff
Summary: The team of people who saved Winter’s life reassemble in the wake of her surrogate mother’s passing in order to find her a companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital.
Thoughts: Just watching the trailer here, I think the filmmakers have missed out on a golden opportunity. They could’ve made the very first Dolphin RomCom, but instead they made a movie about a handicapped dolphin who needs to mate or the USDA(?) is going to shut them down, so they hold a healthy female dolphin captive and force her to pair off with the only other dolphin they have. It would be better told from the Dolphin’s point of view. I say that fully acknowledging that I haven’t seen the movie and probably won’t at any point in the next year or so.
The Drop (2014) – [Limited]
R 106 min – Crime | Drama
Director: Michaël R. Roskam
Stars: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts
Summary: Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood’s past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living – no matter the cost.
Thoughts: This looks like it is probably really great. I mean, just look at that cast. Holy cow. But it also looks unremittingly dark and heavy and violent. And right now, especially today, I am not so much into “dark and heavy and violent”.
The Skeleton Twins (2014) – [Limited]
R 93 min – Drama
Director: Craig Johnson
Stars: Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Luke Wilson, Boyd Holbrook
Summary: Having both coincidentally cheated death on the same day, estranged twins reunite with the possibility of mending their relationship.
Thoughts: I seriously love everyone in this movie. Must see. ‘Nuff said.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014) – [Limited]
122 min – Drama
Director: Ned Benson
Stars: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bill Hader
Summary: One couple’s story as they try to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Thoughts: This is the kind of movie I always wish someone would make, and then regret after seeing it. So much can go wrong. “He Said, She Said” should’ve been better than it was, and that is basically this but in a more comedic tone. Going earnest, and maybe a little magic realism just seems really tough to pull off.
Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt? (2014) – [Limited]
PG-13 Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi
Director: James Manera
Stars: Kristoffer Polaha, Laura Regan, Rob Morrow, Peter Mackenzie
Summary: Approaching collapse, the nation’s economy is quickly eroding. As crime and fear take over the countryside, the government continues to exert its brutal force against the nation’s most productive who are mysteriously vanishing – leaving behind a wake of despair. One man has the answer. One woman stands in his way. Some will stop at nothing to control him. Others will stop at nothing to save him. He swore by his life. They swore to find him. Who is John Galt?
Thoughts: I see this series of movies as the highest form of philosophical cinematic irony of the medium. A movie based on a book about the importance of self-sufficiency and excellence of craft and intellectual rigor executed in such a lackluster and shoddy Harlequin Romance way that Syfy Originals feel superior is flat out hilarious.
Bird People (2014) – [Limited]
127 min – Drama | Fantasy | Romance
Director: Pascale Ferran
Stars: Josh Charles, Anaïs Demoustier, Roschdy Zem, Radha Mitchell
Summary: In an airport hotel on the outskirts of Paris, a Silicon Valley engineer abruptly chucks his job, breaks things off with his wife, and holes up in his room. Soon, fate draws him and a young French maid together.
Thoughts: It’s French. What are you gonna do?
Swearnet: The Movie (2014) – [Limited]
Not Rated 112 min – Comedy
Director: Warren P. Sonoda
Stars: Mike Smith, Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, Patrick Roach
Summary: Fed up with being censored in their post-Trailer Park Boys lives, the out of work stars/world-renowned ‘swearists’, Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay decide to start their own uncensored network on the internet.
Thoughts: It’s Canadian. What are you gonna do?
My Old Lady (2014) – [Limited]
PG-13 107 min – Comedy | Drama
Director: Israel Horovitz
Stars: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Michael Burstin
Summary: An American inherits an apartment in Paris that comes with an unexpected resident.
Thoughts: I have seriously missed Leading Man Kevin Kline. Don’t get me wrong, I love Character Actor Kevin Kline, but there is something very unique and hopeful about Leading Man Kevin Kline. And he is all over this trailer.
The Green Prince (2014) – [Limited]
PG-13 95 min – Documentary | Drama | Thriller
Director: Nadav Schirman
Stars: Mosab Hassan Yousef, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Sheikh Hassan Yousef
Summary: The son of a founding leader in the Palestinian organization, Hamas, becomes a spy for the Israelis.
Thoughts: Holy cow, this looks intense. And pretty relevant right now. That whole thing is incredibly complex. I used to have pretty clear ideas on what I thought of the situation there and then I read “Palestine” by Joe Sacco and I have never taken anything that is reported there by either side at face value again.
I Am Eleven (2011) – [Limited]
93 min – Documentary | Biography
Director: Genevieve Bailey
Stars: Billy, Dagan, Fang, Ginisha
Summary: The lives and thoughts of children from all around the world. It weaves together deeply personal and at times hilarious portraits of what it means to stand on the cusp between childhood and adolescence.
Thoughts: I think I love this movie already. This is why we watch film to find something like this.
Honeymoon (2014) – [Limited]
R 87 min – Horror
Director: Leigh Janiak
Stars: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Ben Huber, Hanna Brown
Summary: A newlywed couple finds their lake-country honeymoon descend into chaos after Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of their first night.
Thoughts: Blergh.
Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.