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. 

I had to start cooking for myself again this week, which means I have stocked up on a ton of Smucker’s Uncrustables. They are these awesome prepackaged Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches that don’t have crusts. Science is pretty wonderful. Also, lots of new movies opening this week.

This BSR! Weekend Movie Preview is for the weekend of October 24, 2014.  A quick 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 “Ouija”, “John Wick”,  “Happy New Year”, and more.

Ouija (2014)

PG-13 89 min   –   Horror

Director: Stiles White

Stars: Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff, Bianca A. Santos

Summary: A group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board.

Thoughts: Coming soon: Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board – a horrifying descent into the evil of pretend levitation.

John Wick (2014)

R 101 min   –   Action | Thriller

Directors: David Leitch | Chad Stahelski

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe

Summary: An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

Thoughts: I actually saw this last week at a sneak peek. Totally worth your time. Here is my review: https://bigshinyrobot.com/58133/review-john-wick/

Happy New Year (2014)

180 min   –   Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Musical | Romance

Director: Farah Khan

Stars: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani

Summary: A team of losers win the love of millions in their quest to pull off the biggest diamond heist ever.

Thoughts: I have no idea what even… where to begin… “English, english, english.” I think I really gotta see this, otherwise I will never know. So many slow walk scenes. So many.

White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) – [Limited]

R 91 min   –   Drama | Thriller

Director: Gregg Araki

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Angela Bassett

Summary: In 1988, a teenage girl’s life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears.

Thoughts: My initial instinct is to make fun of this, but man, what a great cast. And Arraki is a very distinct filmmaker. I am not a fan of Shailene Woodley, but that is more of a generational thing I guess. And Eva Green looks seriously pissed off here.

Laggies (2014) – [Limited]

R 99 min   –   Comedy | Romance

Director: Lynn Shelton

Stars: Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Mark Webber

Summary: In the throes of a quarter-life crisis, Megan panics when her boyfriend proposes, then, taking an opportunity to escape for a week, hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year-old Annika, who lives with her world-weary single dad.

Thoughts: What is happening to me!! I should hate something like this. When did Hollywood start casting their shitty teen rom-coms with good actors. I call foul!!

Citizenfour (2014) – [Limited]

R 114 min   –   Documentary

Director: Laura Poitras

Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Jacob Appelbaum, Julian Assange

Summary: A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.

Thoughts: I am seriously personally conflicted on the whole Edward Snowden situation. On one hand I think Whistle Blowing is the height of modern day everyman heroics. On the other hand, holy cow he took a lot of documents. More than he would ever need to make his case, and a lot that don’t have anything to do with what he wanted to expose. But I kinda get the impulse to do that as well. I have read that this film is very one sided on the issue, which I guess is okay, since it is pretty one sided in the mainstream as well.

Force Majeure (2014) – [Limited]

R 118 min   –   Drama

Director: Ruben Östlund

Stars: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren

Summary: A family on a ski holiday in the French Alps find themselves staring down an avalanche during lunch one day; in the aftermath, their dynamic has been shaken to its core, with a question mark hanging over their patriarch in particular.

Thoughts: Based on the summary, this sounds like an awful movie, but the trailer is pretty wonderful. IMDb really needs to hire someone new to write their movie summaries.

23 Blast (2014) – [Limited]

PG-13 98 min   –   Drama | Family | Sport

Director: Dylan Baker

Stars: Mark Hapka, Bram Hoover, Stephen Lang, Max Adler

Summary: When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.

Thoughts: I think I need to see a doctor or a therapist. I am not hating anything this week, and that is very unlike me. Maybe it is Ebola. Does anyone know if Ebola makes you change your mind about what you like and hate.

Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014) – [Limited]

R 94 min   –   Action | Crime | Drama

Directors: Wai-keung Lau | Andrew Loo

Stars: Justin Chon, Kevin Wu, Harry Shum Jr., Ray Liotta

Summary: Two best friends rise through the ranks of New York’s Chinese underworld in the 1980s.

Thoughts: The early word on this is not good, but I still would like to see it. If only to determine if the early poor reception is due to a misunderstanding of the Asian film aesthetic, which is very different from the American aesthetic. Asian films are looser on plot, and more character driven, and love mixing a bit of slapstick into extremely violent stuff. They can swing wildly from one emotional place to another in the space of a scene, which is not done hardly at all in the west.

Exists (2014) – [Limited]

R 86 min   –   Horror

Director: Eduardo Sánchez

Stars: Samuel Davis, Dora Madison Burge, Roger Edwards, Chris Osborn

Summary: A group of friends who venture into the remote Texas woods for a party weekend find themselves stalked by Bigfoot.

Thoughts: I wanna start my own film festival and call it the Bigfoot Film Festival, and we will show only Bigfoot films. And maybe an occasional Abominable Snowman movie, and possibly a special screening of Prophecy. 

All in all, a pretty great week of releases I would think. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Finally, a light week of movies. Or is that “a lite week of movies”? Anyway, there is at least one winner in the bunch and that makes for a good week at the movies.

This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of October 3, 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 “Gone Girl”, “The Good Lie”, “Annabelle”, and some others.

Gone Girl (2014)

R 149 min   –   Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Director: David Fincher

Stars: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry

Summary: With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.

Thoughts: I like the filmmaker that David Fincher has matured in to. He has always been a very strong technical director, sometimes mind bogglingly so, but his films always felt, to me, a bit forced thematically. However, since Zodiac, I feel like he has loosened up that part of him and has become more invested in the characters rather than forcing the characters to fit his plot or vision, and I think that is a very good thing.

The Good Lie (2014)

PG-13 110 min   –   Drama

Director: Philippe Falardeau

Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal

Summary: Sudanese refugees given the chance to resettle in America arrive in Kansas, where their encounter with employment agency counselor forever changes all of their lives.

Thoughts: I am not the audience for this movie. Or even movies like this. At all. The trailer does it no favors. White people saving humorous, uneducated brown people, who even though they aren’t very smart teach the white people a little something, too. So condescending. And even if the movie isn’t that, the trailer doubles down on it heavily. Ugh.

Annabelle (2014)

R 98 min   –   Horror

Director: John R. Leonetti

Stars: Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola

Summary: A couple begin to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences involving a vintage doll shortly after their home is invaded by satanic cultists.

Thoughts: Man, if the movie is even half as long as that trailer, I don’t know if any viewers will come out of it unscathed. Our very own awesome Sithbot reviews it here.

Men, Women & Children (2014) – [Limited – Expands on 10/10]

R 119 min   –   Comedy | Drama

Director: Jason Reitman

Stars: Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ansel Elgort, Jennifer Garner

Summary: A group of high school teenagers and their parents attempt to navigate the many ways the Internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives.

Thoughts: I like Jason Reitman. There, I said it. I didn’t like “Juno”, but I loved “Up In The Air”. I have no idea what this movie is actually about, but I think I really want to see it because the trailer is so vague but really makes you ask a lot of questions. Questions like; “Is that Adam Sandler googling prostitutes?”, “Is that Alias girl?”, and “So many teenagers being mopey, maybe I don’t want to see this”.

Left Behind (2014)

PG-13 110 min   –   Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Director: Vic Armstrong

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Lea Thompson, Cassi Thomson, Chad Michael Murray

Summary: A small group of survivors are left behind after millions of people suddenly vanish and the world is plunged into chaos and destruction.

Thoughts: OMG! The first 20 or so seconds of this trailer are awesome!! And then it gets really sing-y and sad. It looks like the whole thing takes place in the space of a plane flight. Do you think Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel show up at all in it? Actually, wouldn’t it be awesome if Craig Robinson is in it, and then he gets the Hat Trick for being in all three Left Behind-ish movies in the last two years? I hope Craig Robinson is in it.

The Blue Room (2014) – [Limited]

76 min   –   Crime | Thriller

Director: Mathieu Amalric

Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Léa Drucker, Stéphanie Cléau, Laurent Poitrenaux

Summary: A man and a woman, secretly in love, alone in a room. They desire each other, want each other, and even bite each other. In the afterglow, they share a few sweet nothings. At least the man seemed to believe they were nothing. Now under investigation by the police and the courts, what is he accused of?

Thoughts: Seriously guys!! Don’t have sex. Especially with hot, mysterious French women. It may sound awesome, and actually be awesome, but the price is really really high.

The Hero of Color City (2014) – [Limited]

G 77 min   –   Animation

Director: Frank Gladstone

Stars: Owen Wilson, Christina Ricci, Rosie Perez, Wayne Brady

Summary: A diverse band of crayons strive to protect not only their magical multihued homeland but the imagination of children everywhere from a terrifying monster.

Thoughts: Wait, I’m confused here. Doesn’t Magnolia Pictures make, like, real movies? Is this a joke? Tell me they all turn to monsters by the end of the movie and pull the little boy into their CGI hell world. Crayon Monsters. All melted together into one big blobby brownish, greenish mix of blech. My hopes aren’t very high on that, though.

Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments, especially “The Hero of Color City”. No way it can be as bad as it looks, but I am hoping so hard right now, I might burst a blood vessel in my brain.

Man, so many movies. Again. What is going on? And all of them so mopey. We need more comedies. I am thinking of going to see “Guardians of the Galaxy” again.

This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of September 19, 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 “The Equalizer”, “The Box Trolls”, “Two Faces of January”, and so much more. So much…

The Equalizer (2014)

R 131 min   –   Action | Crime | Thriller

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Stars: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour

Summary: A man believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and has dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her.

Thoughts: When is Denzel Washington going to team up with Liam Neeson and finally save the world from all of the unprincipled Russian mobsters?

The Boxtrolls (2014)

PG 97 min   –   Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Directors: Graham Annable | Anthony Stacchi

Stars: Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade

Summary: A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.

Thoughts: I love Laika. Coraline was great, and ParaNorman approached art. I actually visited their studios back in ’02 when I was selling Production Music Libraries, and I have had a soft spot for them ever since. Having said all of that, I would really like them to team up with Liam Neeson in their next film, and maybe throw in some Russian mobsters. That would be really cool.

Pride (2014) – [Limited]

R 120 min   –   Comedy | Drama | History

Director: Matthew Warchus

Stars: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine

Summary: U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.

Thoughts: I find it endlessly interesting that movies with, shall we say, sensitive subject matter are much more easily accepted when they come with a British accent than with an American one. If this was made in the US with a series of Tier 1 character actors, it would be an absolute hot button topic, but since it has Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton it will be seen by a much broader range of people. Next is the historical drama about how gays found equality in the Russian mob, starring Liam Neeson.

The Two Faces of January (2014) – [Limited]

PG-13 96 min   –   Thriller

Director: Hossein Amini

Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Bevan

Summary: A thriller centered on a con artist, his wife, and a stranger who flee Athens after one of them is caught up in the death of a private detective.

Thoughts: Everything about the pedigree of this movie says “classic”. It says “fantastic filmmaking at its highest”. But the trailer just makes it seem so mediocre. How is that possible with this cast and the behind the scenes above the line talent? I don’t think it can all be blamed on Kirsten Dunst.

Más negro que la noche (2014) – [Limited]

R Horror

Director: Henry Bedwell

Stars: Zuria Vega, Adriana Louvier, Eréndira Ibarra, Ona Casamiquela

Thoughts: Greta moves into her recently deceased aunt’s mansion and starts throwing wild parties with her friends; however, what looks to be the best summer of the lives turns into a fight for their lives after Beker, her aunt’s prized cat, drowns in the home’s pool.

Summary: I tried to find a version of the trailer with English subtitles, but no luck (to be fair, when I say I tried, I probably spent a good 2 minutes looking for a source channel that looked like it was based in the US and then gave up). I did find this trailer that has no dialogue, so there is that. It kinda looks like a cross between “Spring Breakers” and “Pan’s Labyrinth”, which in theory sounds like a pretty good recommendation.

Lilting (2014) – [Limited]

91 min   –   Drama | Romance

Director: Hong Khaou

Stars: Pei-pei Cheng, Ben Whishaw, Andrew Leung, Peter Bowles

Summary: In contemporary London, a Cambodian Chinese mother mourns the untimely death of her son. Her world is further disrupted by the presence of a stranger. We observe their difficulties in trying to connect with one another without a common language, as through a translator they begin to piece together memories of a man they both loved.

Thoughts: This is everything I love and hate about movies. Challenging, emotional content = good. Mopey and weepy = bad.

Believe Me (2014) – [Limited]

PG-13 93 min   –   Comedy | Drama

Director: Will Bakke

Stars: Alex Russell, Zachary Knighton, Johanna Braddy, Miles Fisher

Summary: Desperate, broke, and out of ideas, four college seniors start a fake charity to embezzle money for tuition.

Thoughts: No idea if this is supposed to be a flat out comedy, or serious social commentary. Sure it can be both, but if it is, I don’t think it is going to pull it off.

Advanced Style (2014) – [Limited]

72 min   –   Documentary | Biography | Comedy | Drama | Family

Director: Lina Plioplyte

Stars: Joyce Carpati, Ari Cohen, Lynn Dell, Zelda Kaplan

Summary: Advanced Style examines the lives of seven unique New Yorkers whose eclectic personal style and vital spirit have guided their approach to aging.

Thoughts: Old people fighting the inexorable march of time. I am becoming familiar with this story. There is only so much time to make something, to leave a mark. To impact, in some small way, the world around you. I probably wouldn’t do it through fashion, but to each their own. Alright, that felt kinda mean. I am sorry. I am feeling a bit grumpy right now after all of these “Life is Hard” movie trailers. I wonder if Liam Neeson spends time on staying young through clothes.

The Song (2014) – [Limited]

PG-13 116 min   –   Drama | Music | Romance

Director: Richard Ramsey

Stars: Alan Powell, Ali Faulkner, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Danny Vinson

Summary: An aspiring singer-songwriter’s life and marriage suffer when the song he writes for his wife propels him to stardom.

Thoughts: Movies like this should have a disclaimer right at the beginning: “Warning: Bible story updated for mopey Christians.” The same is valid for Left Wing Documentaries by the way.

Days and Nights (2014) – [Limited]

92 min   –   Comedy | Drama

Director: Christian Camargo

Stars: Katie Holmes, William Hurt, Allison Janney, Jean Reno

Summary: Reckless desire wreaks havoc over Memorial Day weekend as a family confronts the volatile and fragile nature of love. Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” set in rural New England in 1984.

Thoughts: Great cast. I am starting to realize that it is Fall. All of these missed opportunity/lost love movies. It is going to be a long winter.

The Little Bedroom (2010) – [Limited]

87 min   –   Drama

Directors: Stéphanie Chuat | Véronique Reymond

Stars: Florence Loiret Caille, Michel Bouquet, Éric Caravaca, Joël Delsaut

Summary: One day, a bad fall forces Edmond to accept Rose’s help. Eventually, the two grow closer. The young woman finds relief in confiding painful memories to the older man; things she cannot even bring herself to tell her husband. Meanwhile, Edmond, too, opens up, sharing recollections of his beloved wife.

Thoughts: And I rest my case. Everyone of these movies need more Liam Neeson. If you are going to be mopey, you gotta be Liam Neeson mopey. It is a new rule.

Holymoley. There are a ton of movies out this week. Most of them limited release arty films. So, hopefully you are in a better market than I am in to see them all. Every last bummer one of them. And there are a lot of bummer ones. But, luckily, one or two upbeat ones to hold off the inexorable tide of cinematic death.

 This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of September 19, 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 “The Maze Runner”, “This Is Where I Leave You”, “A Walk Among The Tombstones”, and a whole ton more.

 The Maze Runner (2014)

PG-13 113 min   –   Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Director: Wes Ball

Stars: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Summary: Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they’re all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow “runners” for a shot at escape.

Thoughts: Not quite sure what to think about this, but the online early feedback has been moderately positive. I suspect that it is a YA version of a Twilight Zone like story. It turns out they are all stuck in a Super Walmart on Black Friday or something. Or they are really actually lab mice. I mean real mice that have human self images. Yeah, that is probably what it is about.

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

R 103 min   –   Comedy

Director: Shawn Levy

Stars: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver

Summary: When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

Thoughts: I flat out love Tina Fey. Rather, I love Liz Lemon as portrayed by Tina Fey. And Liz Lemon buys Tina Fey a lot of grace in my book. And as an extension of that, so do her movies. Date Night might have been a seriously miscalculated tonal mess, I still sat all the way through it to see Tina Fey. This looks like it is a bit all over the place, but Liz Lemon gets it a look, and so does Jason Bateman. And Rose Byrne. So, the cast will probably be better than the movie, but that is okay.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

R 113 min   –   Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Director: Scott Frank

Stars: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Astro

Summary: Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

Thoughts: There is literally nothing better than Liam Neeson on a mission. Nothing. No argument.

The Guest (2014)

R 99 min   –   Thriller

Director: Adam Wingard

Stars: Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe, Joel David Moore

Summary: A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

Thoughts: Holy cow!! This movie looks awesome!! I have no idea if he is a good guy or a bad guy. That is awesome. And the action looks great. It is like they are taking all of the clichés that we have been fed in action movies for the last forty years and saying that we’ve been doing it wrong. I hope I am right.

Tusk (2014)

R 102 min   –   Horror

Director: Kevin Smith

Stars: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez

Summary: When podcaster Wallace Bryton goes missing in the backwoods of Manitoba while interviewing a mysterious seafarer named Howard Howe, his best friend Teddy and girlfriend Allison team with an ex-cop to look for him.

Thoughts: I am not a big Kevin Smith booster at all. I liked Clerks back in the day, but really hated Dogma and most of the rest. I used to say if he was a journeyman Hollywood writer, he would have a great career, but he just wasn’t a fimmaker. Having said that, this looks, technically, like a real film. If Smith has been able to kinda pull together the craft part of making movies, and could learn to self-edit some, that would be a very good thing and I could start rethinking how I feel about him. The rest of the BSR! guys though, I think for the most part, are big fans. Here is a great review from the very awesome Zendobot: https://www.bigshinyrobot.com/57994/kevin-smiths-tusk-walrusyes-or-walrusno/

The Zero Theorem (2013) – [Limited]

R 107 min   –   Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Director: Terry Gilliam

Stars: Christoph Waltz, Lucas Hedges, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis

Summary: A computer hacker whose goal is to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; namely, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.

Thoughts: Welcome back Mr. Gilliam, welcome back. You were deeply missed.

Tracks (2013) – [Limited]

PG-13 112 min   –   Adventure | Biography | Drama

Director: John Curran

Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl, Philip Dodd

Summary: A young woman goes on a 1,700 mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with her four camels and faithful dog.

Thoughts: I don’t know that I am the right audience for these kinds of films. On a certain spiritual level, I think it would mean something positive about me if I were, but on a pragmatic level, I have real issues with “based on a true story” films that aren’t completely open about what was invented for the screen and what wasn’t. Anyway, I am sure that it is good for someone.

20,000 Days on Earth (2014) – [Limited]

97 min   –   Documentary | Drama | Music

Directors: Iain Forsyth | Jane Pollard

Stars: Nick Cave, Susie Bick, Warren Ellis, Darian Leader

Summary: Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth.

Thoughts: Nick Cave is a seriously weird cat, and I mean that in the best way possible. He does it all. He plays, he writes, he acts, he directs. All of it. And well. And unapologetically in his own voice. This looks like a must own.

Keep on Keepin’ On (2014) – [Limited]

R 84 min   –   Documentary

Director: Alan Hicks

Stars: Clark Terry, Justin Kauflin, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock

Summary: A documentary that follows jazz legend Clark Terry over four years to document the mentorship between Terry and 23-year-old blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin as the young man prepares to compete in an elite, international competition.

Thoughts: I always love documentaries on the stories behind the music and the musicians. They are invariably interesting viewing and this doesn’t look like an exception.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014) – [Limited]

R 114 min   –   Adventure | Comedy | Drama

Director: Peter Chelsom

Stars: Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Jordan Schartner, Tracy Ann Oberman

Summary: A psychiatrist searches the globe to find the secret of happiness.

Thoughts: I feel so mediocre and bland when I say that I love Simon Pegg, because that is what everyone says and then feel smug about it. But it is the truth. He has a certain on screen sensibility and wonderment that connects really well to all of us. He is always elevating the actors and material that surrounds him. Except in Mission Impossible 3. That was just awful.

Pump (2014) – [Limited]

PG 88 min   –   Documentary

Directors: Joshua Tickell | Rebecca Harrell Tickell

Stars: Adhemar Altieri, Dr. Greg Anderson, Edwin Black, David Blume

Summary: A documentary that tells the story of America’s addiction to oil, from its corporate conspiracy beginnings to its current monopoly today, and explains clearly and simply how we can end it – and finally win choice at the pump.

Thoughts: Soooooo heavy. The word is ending!! And it is all your fault for supporting the illuminati. Listen I get that fossil fuels create more problems than they solve, but stridency rarely ever accomplishes anything of lasting value.

Stop the Pounding Heart (2013) – [Limited]

98 min   –   Drama

Director: Roberto Minervini

Stars: Sara Carlson, Colby Trichell, Tim Carlson, LeeAnne Carlson

Summary: Sara, a girl being home-schooled on a goat farm alongside her 11 siblings, finds her devout values challenged after she meets Colby, an amateur bull rider.

Thoughts: No idea what that was about. It looks like, and based on the short summary, a preachy indictment of growing up a preachy christian.

Swim Little Fish Swim (2013) – [NYC]

95 min   –   Comedy | Drama | Music

Directors: Ruben Amar | Lola Bessis

Stars: Lola Bessis, Dustin Guy Defa, Brooke Bloom, Anne Consigny

Summary: When a bubbly young artist moves into a couple’s tiny Chinatown apartment, their already fragile balance is upset even further.

Thoughts: Seriously, I am tired of stories about the young person as an artist.

Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments. I am actually really only interested in how “20,000 Days On Earth” is.

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.

Huge number of movies opening this weekend. Nothing super anticipated, though, but still a solid week of releases. This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of July 18, 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 “Sex Tape”, “The Purge: Anarchy”, “Planes: Fire & Rescue”, and more.

Sex Tape (2014)

R 94 min   –   Comedy

Director: Jake Kasdan

Stars: Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper

Summary: A married couple wake up to discover that the sex tape they made the evening before has gone missing, leading to a frantic search for its whereabouts.

Thoughts: I’m not a big fan of Cameron Diaz, but I am a big fan of Jason Segel (Go Freaks and Geeks!!). However, they were pretty good together in “Bad Teacher”. This looks like a pretty one premise comedy film that will beat that premise until it is rolling around on the ground crying for its mommy. And I don’t mean that in a good way. And does anyone else find it creepy and unfair at how quickly Jason Segel (and celebrities in general) put on and lose weight? I want a full time chef and personal trainer, too. C’mon Sony Pictures Entertainment, show me some love too!!

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

R 103 min   –   Action | Horror | Thriller

Director: James DeMonaco

Stars: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez

Summary: A couple are driving home to their kids when their car runs out of gas just as the Purge commences. Meanwhile, a police sergeant goes out into the streets to get revenge on the man who killed his son, and a mother and daughter run from their home after assailants destroy it. The five people meet up as they attempt to survive the night in Los Angeles.

Thoughts: I didn’t see the first The Purge, I have an issue with overtly politically metaphorical horror movies. Except Zombie movies. And Captain America: Winter Soldier. But, Crossbones is in this one and looks like he is fighting back against the Purgers. Crossbones looks like he would be a good Punisher. We need a good Punisher at some point. There have already been three bad ones, I think we are due.

Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)

PG 83 min   –   Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Director: Roberts Gannaway

Stars: Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Curtis Armstrong

Summary: When Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he joins forces with fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his team, The Smokejumpers, to battle a massive wildfire.

Thoughts: So, to start, let’s be clear – this isn’t a Pixar movie and as such I think its status as a true”Cars” sequel is suspect – so we aren’t able to pile on to the mediocrization of Pixar. And as opportunistic and cyncial as I am with regard to that (C’mon, the moral of “Up” was to throw a mentally unstable old man out of a Zeppelin to his death rather than get him medical attention?), I think they have earned the right to make a couple of movies that are just designed to delight the littler kids. This looks like it falls right into that space. No harm, no foul. But I could be wrong, check out what our very own CitizenBot has to say in his review here.

Wish I Was Here (2014) – [Limited]

R 120 min   –   Comedy | Drama

Director: Zach Braff

Stars: Zach Braff, Joey King, Pierce Gagnon, Kate Hudson

Thoughts: Aidan Bloom is a 35-year-old man who finds himself at major crossroads, which forces him to examine his life, his career, and his family.

Summary: This looks so premeditated and sitcom-ish that I just can’t get up any excitement. I actually contributed to the Kickstarter for this at the $35(?) level, and once I realized none of the levels included the ability to get a copy of the movie or see it as part of the contribution, I un-contributed. If I am contributing above the cost of seeing the movie once it is released, then I should be able to see the damn movie for my contribution!! Bad form Zach Braff, very bad form.

Persecuted (2014) – [Limited]

PG-13 91 min   –   Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Director: Daniel Lusko

Stars: James Remar, Dean Stockwell, Raoul Trujillo, Bruce Davison

Summary: An evangelist finds himself framed for murder and on the run after he refuses to back a senator’s proposition calling for sweeping religious reform.

Thoughts: I have no idea what is even going on here. What I find interesting in movies that deal with religious faith is that Main Stream Hollywood doesn’t understand how to portray it, and neither do the Religious Right. This movie looks like a total mess of tonal contradictions. Sex, violence, lots of gun shots at people. A preacher as Jason Bourne. I am all for Niche Filmmaking, and the faith market creating content for their audience. I just don’t know if this is the way to do it.

I Origins (2014) – [Limited]

R 113 min   –   Drama | Sci-Fi

Director: Mike Cahill

Stars: Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Brit Marling

Summary: A molecular biologist and his laboratory partner uncover evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it.

Thoughts: This by the filmmakers that made “Another Earth” a couple of years ago and which I hated with a deep burning hate. My expectation isn’t high for this one. Already from the trailer, it feels like they don’t understand how science is done, or labs are set up, or people are. But it has a lot of good reviews, so, whatever. Man, I am feeling super negative today. I am sorry.

Mood Indigo (2013) – [Limited]

Not Rated 94 min   –   Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

Director: Michel Gondry

Stars: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Omar Sy

Summary: Wealthy, inventive bachelor Colin endeavors to find a cure for his lover Chloe after she’s diagnosed with an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.

Thoughts: I have no idea how this could possibly not be wonderful. Michel Gondry? Audrey Tatou? Practical on-set whimsy and effects? I am totally in.

Alive Inside (2014) – [Limited]

Not Rated 73 min   –   Documentary | News

Director: Michael Rossato-Bennett

Stars: Dan Cohen, Louise Dueno, Nell Hardie, Norman Hardie

Summary: Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it.

Thoughts: This looks wonderful. I don’t know how locked down the science is – I suspect not much. But it still looks like it is kind and uplifting look at our older generation having some renewed moments of joy. A definite will see.

Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Crap! I am so tired of July already. I just want August to get here so that we can see “Guardians of the Galaxy”. Luckily and fortunately, this week we have the other remaining most anticipated geek movies of the year – “Dawn of the Rise of the Morning of the Breakfast of the Planet of the Apes”.

This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of July 11, 2014. Happy Post Independence Day!!

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 “Boyhood”, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”, “A Long Way Down”, and one more.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

PG-13 130 min   –   Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Director: Matt Reeves

Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, Kodi Smit-McPhee

Summary: A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

Thoughts: Holy… Can this be anything other than a flat out masterpiece of Ape cinema? The bar is set pretty high. For the most part. The original “Planet of the Apes” is a classic. Sci Fi Film doesn’t come much better than that. The following installments were all good to varying degrees, but none approached that first one in brains and scope.  Ok, so maybe it isn’t a very deep bench of great films. “Congo” was okay, but like every Michael Crichton story it ended with a big explosion. “Monkey Shines” was creepy and a treat in that George Romero had strayed briefly from his Zombie gravy pot. Helena Bonham Carter gave us nightmares from her performance in Tim Burton’s hugely miscalculated Apes re-boot. Peter Jackson forgot the word restraint in his remake of the classic “King Kong”. But this… This one looks like the one.

Boyhood (2014) – [Limited]

R 166 min   –   Drama

Director: Richard Linklater

Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith

Summary: The life of a young man, Mason, from age 5 to age 18.

Thoughts: I adore Richard Linklater and I have never ever met him. He is the kind of artist I wish we all could be. He has a muse that he follows and figures out how to feed it in every project he works on. And “Boyhood” looks like it all comes together for him. Conceptually, I cannot stop smiling about how wonderfully wonderful it is. And that, by all accounts, he has pulled it off without betraying the soul of the vision is miraculous. I can’t even stay true to my lunch plans (never eating at Beto’s ever again), let alone something that spans 12 years. It just looks marvelous and I cannot wait to see it. It is a movie I would travel distances to go see, which I don’t say easily anymore.

Land Ho! (2014) – [Limited]

R 95 min   –   Adventure | Comedy

Directors: Aaron Katz | Martha Stephens

Stars: Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn, Daníel Gylfason, Þrúður Kristjánsdóttir

Summary: A pair of former brothers-in-law embark on a road trip through Iceland.

Thoughts: I hope this is good, but based solely on the trailer, it is everything I hate about movies, art, and treacly pop entertainment.

A Long Way Down (2014) – [Limited]

R 96 min   –   Comedy | Drama

Director: Pascal Chaumeil

Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Aaron Paul

Summary: Four people meet on New Year’s Eve and form a surrogate family to help one another weather the difficulties of their lives.

Thoughts: I take back everything I said about “Land Ho!” This is everything I hate about movies, art, and treacly pop entertainment.

Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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.

Wow, every day for the rest of the year is now getting shorter and shorter. Winter depression is already setting in. No way better to mark that sad, sad occurrence than the release of a new Transformers movie. Early box office forecasts for it are huge. I blame Generation X.

This BSR! Weekend Movie Previews is for the weekend of June 27, 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 “Transformers: Age of Extinction”, “Begin Again”, “Snowpiercer”, and more.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

PG-13 Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director: Michael Bay

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci

Summary: An automobile mechanic and his daughter make a discovery that brings down the Autobots and Decepticons – and a paranoid government official – on them.

Thoughts: I seriously don’t think I am going to see this anytime in the next week. I liked the first one well enough, but each new installment since then has grown increasingly tone deaf and structurally coarse. Not to mention just the overall aesthetic. Don’t get me wrong – I think Michael Bay is probably the most technically gifted filmmaker we have working currently, but his story sense and character sensibility is for s**t. Having said that, this Russian language trailer makes it seem 10 times more interesting than the English trailers that we have been repeatedly bludgeoned over the head with the last couple of months.

Begin Again (2013) – [Limited]

R 104 min   –   Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Director: John Carney

Stars: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld

Summary: A chance encounter between a disgraced music-business executive and a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan turns into a promising collaboration between the two talents.

Thoughts: I was about to totally pass by this movie until it said it was by the director of “Once”, which is probably one of the best small films made in the last 10 years, easily. Now I kinda am interested in seeing this. If I can get past Keira Knightly’s unmovable forehead and the presence of Adam Levine. Everyone else in the cast looks great, especially the Incredible Hulk.

Snowpiercer (2013) – [Limited]

R 126 min   –   Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Director: Joon-ho Bong

Stars: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris

Summary: In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on the planet except for a lucky few that boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system evolves.

Thoughts: Ok, before I start on this one, quick confession. I have seen this already (and it is really, really good), but I am going to write the rest of this as if I haven’t (it is seriously good, don’t miss it). What?  Hahahah! A movie about a giant train with the last remnants of civilization surviving on it? Does it Star Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves? (Actually , Chris Evans and he is really great in it.) I am going to wait for it to show up endlessly on TNT to watch it. (I didn’t, and you shouldn’t either. See it now.) Rocket Trains. How lame. (Not at all.)

They Came Together (2014) – [Limited]

R 83 min   –   Comedy

Director: David Wain

Stars: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Cobie Smulders

Summary: When Joel and Molly meet, it’s hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex. But amazingly, they fall in love, until they break up about two thirds of the way through, and Molly starts dating her accountant. But then right at the end…well you’ll just have to see. (Hint: Joel makes a big speech and they get back together.)

Thoughts: I want to give David Wain all of the movie money. Just give him the money and let him make whatever he wants. “Wet Hot American Summer 2”? Here you go, Mr Wain. “The Next 10”? Yep, can’t wait. “Ant Man”? Absolutley, we should’ve thought of you to begin with. “Wainy Days – the Sci-Fi Musical Spectacular”? Genius, go for it. Just everything. The world would be a much better place.

Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014) – [Limited]

R 120 min   –   Documentary | Biography | Crime

Director: Joe Berlinger

Stars: Stephen Rakes, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, Tommy Donahue, David Boeri

Summary: Number 2 on America’s Most Wanted list after Osama Bin Laden, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger terrorized the city of Boston for years without ever being charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Bulger was a monster, murdering over a dozen known victims, but did the FBI and local law enforcement give his reign of terror over South Boston a free pass?

Thoughts: Joe Berlinger is just flat out solid as a filmmaker and documentarian. This film looks intense and aggravating at the same time, but in a good way.

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014) – [Limited]

105 min   –   Documentary | Biography | Crime | News

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Stars: Aaron Swartz, Tim Berners-Lee, Cory Doctorow, Peter Eckersley

Summary: The story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz, who took his own life at the age of 26.

Thoughts: I kinda followed along with interest the reports and blogs and stuff when Aaron passed away. All very sad. I think though, and I will probably ruffle some feathers, that as sad as the loss of Aaron was for a lot of people, the story is really less about him and his lost promise, though that this is certainly tragic, it is more about the broad prosecutorial zeal that our government has undertaken over the last several decades. I understand the importance of creating a martyr in a cause, but I hope that the big issues don’t get lost in the struggle.

Yves Saint Laurent (2014) – [Limited]

R 106 min   –   Biography | Drama

Director: Jalil Lespert

Stars: Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne, Charlotte Le Bon, Laura Smet

Summary: A look at the life of French designer Yves Saint Laurent from the beginning of his career in 1958 when he met his lover and business partner, Pierre Berge.

Thoughts: I am not very familiar with the fashion world, but do know that Yves Saint Laurent is someone of distinction there. The movie itself looks well appointed, and everyone very fashionable.

Now, it’s your turn – if you have seen any of these movies, let us know your thoughts in the comments.