Happy Summer everyone. This week feels like the studios are resting up for the big push in the next couple of weeks. Still there are a lot of limited releases coming out as a result with less big budget competition out there..
This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of June 20, 2014. 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 Think Like A Man Too, Jersey Boys, Third Person, and more.
Think Like a Man Too (2014)
PG-13 106 min – Comedy
Director: Tim Story
Stars: Kevin Hart, Gabrielle Union, Wendi McLendon-Covey, La La Anthony
Summary: All the couples are back for a wedding in Las Vegas, but plans for a romantic weekend go awry when their various misadventures get them into some compromising situations that threaten to derail the big event.
Thoughts: I don’t get the appeal of Kevin Hart. That might be because, even though I am not white (well, half white and half Asian), I am actually pretty white. Having said all of that, this looks like it a lot of high energy silliness, which I am totally for. Plus it has Wendi McLendon-Covey (wife of Mr. Franklin Covey of book fame, I believe) and Romany Malco who has never not been good in anything he has been in.
Jersey Boys (2014)
R 134 min – Biography | Drama | Musical
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza
Summary: The story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons.
Thoughts: I have high hopes for this adaptation, but the early buzz is mediocre at best. I am hoping the disappointment is in people who have seen the original stage performance and can’t make the jump to the screen setting. But I don’t know. It could be that they it just isn’t very good. Which would be sad because Clint Eastwood is directing and he has been one of our most consistently solid filmmakers for years. I also want to laugh at Frankie Valli every time he starts to sing in that hilariously high pitched voice.
Third Person (2013) – [Limited]
R 137 min – Drama | Romance
Director: Paul Haggis
Stars: Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Olivia Wilde
Summary: Three interlocking love stories involving three couples in three cities: Rome, Paris, and New York.
Thoughts: Paul Haggis is super hit and miss. And that is just inside of one film. There will be a scene that just nails it completely, and then the exact next scene will be so tone deaf that you feel like you accidentally sat on your channel changer and switched over to something completely different. But, this does have Liam Neeson, so there is the possibility, regardless of how low, that he will kill someone violently at some point in the film. Possibly Adrian Brody. And you certainly don’t want to miss that.
Venus in Fur (2013) – [Limited]
96 min – Drama
Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
Summary: An actress attempts to convince a director how she’s perfect for a role in his upcoming production.
Thoughts: I think it has been well established that Polanski is a terrible person, but a brilliant filmmaker, and we all struggle with how to reconcile our loyalties in situations like that. Do we support him for his art? Or do we boycott him for his actions? Does it help any if we promise to not read the subtitles at all so that we only understand generally what is going on? I guess we will never really know. Still, this looks great.
Le Chef (2012) – [Limited]
PG-13 84 min – Comedy
Director: Daniel Cohen
Stars: Jean Reno, Michaël Youn, Raphaëlle Agogué, Julien Boisselier
Summary: A veteran chef faces off against his restaurant group’s new CEO, who wants to the establishment to lose a star from its rating in order to bring in a younger chef who specializes in molecular gastronomy.
Thoughts: I love Jean Reno. Especially in comedies. I’m not sure I have much to add to that statement. Other than, do you think Italy will have a movie soon about a Chef dealing with a professional crisis called, “Lo Chef”. Or a Spanish one called “El Chef”. Or even a German one called “Der Küchenchef”?
The Last Sentence (2012) – [Limited]
126 min – Biography | Drama
Director: Jan Troell
Stars: Jesper Christensen, Pernilla August, Ulla Skoog, Björn Granath
Summary: A story based on the life of journalist Torgny Segerstedt, who alerted the Swedish public to the threat of Fascism in the 1930s.
Thoughts: This looks super interesting. In a historical sense. But if I had to be honest here, which I guess I don’t really have to, and probably am not about 30% of the time, I would have to say that technically it looks a bit too TV. The lighting, the direction, the acting. Everything. Is that a bad thing? Probably not, but it does kind dampen the expectations of the viewing experience.
A Summer’s Tale (1996) – [Limited]
G 113 min – Comedy | Drama | Romance
Director: Eric Rohmer
Stars: Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet, Gwenaëlle Simon, Aurelia Nolin
Summary: A shy maths graduate takes a holiday in Dinard before starting his first job. He hopes his sort-of girlfriend will join him, but soon strikes up a friendship with another girl working in town. She in turn introduces him to a further young lady who fancies him. Thus the quiet young lad finds he is having to do some tricky juggling in territory new to him.
Thoughts: I am not much for nostalgic coming of age tales, mainly because my coming of age was pretty boring and I refuse to romanticize any of it. Plus, at my age, there is a certain creepiness factor that starts to occur when watching movies that have teenagers falling in love or hooking up (as the kids say). Still, this looks adorable.
Norte, the End of History (2013) – [Limited]
250 min – Drama
Director: Lav Diaz
Stars: Sid Lucero, Angeli Bayani, Archie Alemania, Soliman Cruz
Summary: An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence; a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption.
Thoughts: This trailer is fantastic. Seriously. Mesmerizing and beautiful. I want to see the movie just because it is such a perfect trailer.
Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.