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.

And this is how it starts – not with a whimper, but a roar. A big giant, slightly digitized, crazily awesome loud roar. When Godzilla Attacks, it can only be time for the latest installment of the BSR! Weekend Movie Previews. This one is for the weekend of May 16, 2014.

As always, before we get started, a quick disclaimer (so I don’t get slammed for copying the majority of the content down below): 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/). Only the “Thoughts” are my own. I have not seen any of these movies (yet), nor have I researched any of them (well, maybe I have researched Godzilla, but nothing specifically for this post). Join us this week as we preview Godzilla, The Immigrant, Million Dollar Arm and more.

Please hold your comments and trollish remarks for the end.

Godzilla (2014)

PG-13 123 min   –   Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director: Gareth Edwards

Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe

Summary: The world’s most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.

Thoughts: Guys? I am really, really worried. I think my expectations are too high for this movie to sustain. I think I have built it up into this giant rampaging monster of awesomeness that will stomp my heart into a quivering pile of love and Saturday morning matinee nostalgia. I think I have turned it into a beautiful, smart, funny, sexy super model of a monster movie, and deep down in my subconscious I know that she just cannot exist. I am worried that the Asian cut of the movie is going to be better than the US cut, even though there will probably only be a few minutes of footage total difference. I am concerned that the score by Alexandre Desplat will have more Glockenspiels than it actually needs. I am scared that the final shot will be Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch breaking up in the foreground as Godzilla and the Muto walk away mournfully in the deep semi-focused background. I am just worried, guys. And there is nothing I can do but go see the movie and hope that it is every bit as awesome as I suspect. (Also check out the BSR! review here, or BSR’s very own Jeff Michael Vice‘s review for Cinephiled here.)

Million Dollar Arm (2014)

PG Biography | Drama | Sport

Director: Craig Gillespie

Stars: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Arkin, Suraj Sharma

Summary: A sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Indian cricket players to play Major League Baseball.

Thoughts: Where do I start. My first gut impression is that this seems kinda racist. Not racist in the vile, dumb, dismissive Donald Serling or Cliven Bundy way, but racist in that passive do-gooder way in which ‘if we just give these poor other races a chance maybe they can rise up to a level at which we can celebrate them and they can entertain us in slightly depressing knock off movies in which they replace the adorable performing dogs from Air Bud’. If there is a scene in the movie in which they realize that baseball has no rule saying that an Indian can’t play in the MLB, then we riot in the streets. Ok? (Jeff Vice disagrees with me – but he has seen it, so you should probably trust him more than me. His review is here.)

The Immigrant (2013)

R 120 min   –   Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Director: James Gray

Stars: Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner, Dagmara Dominczyk

Summary: On the mean streets of Manhattan, Ewa falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution.

Thoughts: This hits right in my soft spot – emotional gritty period piece with a bit of romance, but not too much. It looks beautifully executed. And who doesn’t agree that Marion Cotillard was the only really great thing about The Dark Knight Rises? I am not a big fan of Jeremy Renner as an action or romantic lead, but he was great in American Hustle. I don’t think his role here will live up to that. Did I mention how great Cotillard was in The Dark Knight Rises? Also, Joaquin Phoenix is evil again. Finally, if the title character is the lovely Ms Cotillard, I do kinda take issue. The name is so brusque and unseemly, while she appears to be the complete exact opposite.

Chinese Puzzle (2013) – [Limited]

R 117 min   –   Comedy | Drama | Romance

Director: Cédric Klapisch

Stars: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile De France, Kelly Reilly

Summary: A 40-year-old father’s life is complicated when the mother of his two children moves to New York. Since he can’t bear them growing up far away from him, he decides to move there as well.

Thoughts: I have a serious love for French Cinema. Especially comedies. I mean, I don’t watch a lot of it, but I really have a soft spot. And this looks energetic, fun, full of personality, quirky and very, very French. Plus, it has Audrey Tautou. Who looks just every bit as freaking adorable now as she was in Amelie. Separately, while I am thinking about it, do you know what would be cool? A French Action Comedy starring Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Gerard Depardieu, and Marion Cotillard, written and directed by Luc Besson.

Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) – [Limited]

R 111 min   –   Drama | Romance

Director: Biyi Bandele

Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, John Boyega

Summary: Sisters Olanna and Kainene return home to 1960s Nigeria, where they soon diverge on different paths. As civil war breaks out, political events loom larger than their differences as they join the fight to establish an independent republic.

Thoughts: Holy cow, this looks fantastic. And, is it me, or does Thandie Newton just keep getting better and better? And Chiwetel Ejiofor is seriously wonderful in everything he does.

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case (2013) – [Limited]

86 min   –   Documentary | Drama

Director: Andreas Johnsen

Stars: Lao Ai, Weiwei Ai, Jerome A. Cohen, Wang Fen

Summary: A documentary reflects on artist Ai Weiwei’s battle against the lawsuit thrust upon him by the Chinese government in an effort to silence him.

Thoughts: China scares me, and I’m part Chinese. Ai Weiwei is the real thing. I look at his life and feel kinda disappointed in my own. I don’t know if this documentary is any good, but you don’t need to see it to know more about him, just Wiki or Google him and drink up.

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