Where, oh where, is this summer going? It seemed like just last weekend was the start of June with the sun beaming down on us and jackets were thrown into the closet for good! Maybe it’s just me and the summer disappeared. Maybe it’s a symptom of getting older and time going by quicker. It seems each month these reviews creep up on me, and before I know it, they are past due to be submitted to my editor! The enjoyment part for me comes from getting to watch movie trailers. I know some people deride them as spoiler killers or that they make the movie look like something it is not. After a while you can see the tricks of the trade, and rarely have I been burned by a trailer. If you know what to look for, you won’t be surprised if the movie is good or crap. I can only think of a very small handful of times that I thought a movie would be good and it turned out to be a crapfest. The rest of the times my first instincts are usually correct. I hope with these previews you may have caught a film you didn’t know about or thought wouldn’t be very good. There are usually more films I want to include, but it would be an exercise in futility to include them all of course.
New Theatrical Releases
Straight Outta Compton
Release Date: August 14th
Directed By: F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job)
Starring: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Paul Giamatti
IMDb Summary: The group NWA emerges from the streets of Compton, California in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes pop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Why I Am So Excited: A movie about the gangster rap pioneers N.W.A.? Sounds interesting enough to me! Plus with Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. playing his father that has to intrigue people. If this movie is a flop as a whole at least we can count on Paul Giamatti bringing his usual A-game, plus the music will be fantastic.
American Ultra
Release Date: August 21st
Directed By: Nima Nourizadeh (Project X)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins
IMDb Summary: A stoner – who is in fact a government agent – is marked as a liability and targeted for extermination. But he’s too well-trained and too high for them to handle.
Why I Am So Excited: It seems like a mix of Salt, The Americans and Wanted but imagined as a comedy and he is awakened as a sleeper agent unknowingly. Eisenberg when he is on, is an amazing actor and with Stewart drawing high praises for her role in the Clouds of Sils Maria, maybe she has turned a corner and we can expect better things from her in the future. The action seems well directed and the movie seems firmly tongue in cheek as far as having a non-action star in the lead. I am cautiously optimistic about this film, but the R rating has me hopeful for the best.
Grandma
Release Date: August 21st
Directed By: Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy, Little Fockers)
Starring: Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer
IMDb Summary: Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future.
Why I Am So Excited: Lily Tomlin is a legendary actress that doesn’t get near enough the credit or acclaim that she so richly deserves. Maybe this will help turn the tide a bit and remind people that she isn’t just a funny voice. This is another typical coming of age film that we are pretty used to seeing Paul Weitz direct so I wouldn’t expect anything too original, but a grandmother taking her teenaged granddaughter to get an abortion is a clever twist on an old classic.
Z for Zachariah
Release Date: August 28th
Directed By: Craig Zobel (Compliance, Great World of Sound)
Starring: Margot Robbie, Chris Pine, Chiwetel Ejiofor
IMDb Summary: In the wake of a disaster that wipes out most of civilization, two men and a young woman find themselves in an emotionally charged love triangle as the last known survivors.
Why I Am So Excited: All three actors have varying degrees of success with Chris Pine being the most famous, Robbie fresh off of The Wolf of Wall Street (and soon to be Suicide Squad) and Ejiofor with his Oscar nomination for 12 Years a Slave make an impress cast. It will be easy to make comparisons to this year’s Ex Machina, another three hander sci-fi flick, but in reality seeing intimate and boundary pushing science fiction thrillers the past few years has amazing. From Ex Machina to Moon to Safety Not Guaranteed means it is a good time to be fan of the strange.
New On Blu-Ray
Far from the Madding Crowd
Release Date: August 4th
Directed By: Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, The Celebration)
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge
IMdB Summary: In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
Why I Am So Excited: Thomas Vinterberg directed the amazing The Hunt (I’ll wait here until you go watch that), and while I’m less interested in a moody costume drama, the director and the stars have me intrigued. Mulligan has been rocketing up the ladder of elite actresses and she is paired with the always electric Sheen and a really interesting foreign actor in Schoenaerts. If you like period pieces then it is worth a shot.