Serious Films:
Summary:
Rory Jansen, a struggling writer, finds a manuscript seemingly lost in time. It
is really good. He decides to publish it as his own. Initially, the novel
brings him the success he craved, but as time passes he realizes the true price
he must pay for stealing another writer’s work. Filmmakers:
Writer-directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal make their feature debut with
The Words. Previously, they worked on the screen-story for Tron:
Legacy. They are working with composer Marcelo Zarvos (The Good Shepherd), talented
cinematographer Antonio Calvache
(Little Children) and
production designer Michele
Laliberte (designing her second film, though she has worked in the art
department on many films). Cast: The film
stars Bradley Cooper (who is
still trying to establish himself as a star), and features a good supporting
ensemble with Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid (who will probably
just ham it up, having given up on acting years ago), J.K. Simmons, John Hannah, Zeljko Ivanek, Ben Barnes, Michael McKean, and Ron Rifkin. Expectations: The Words looks like a good drama,
dealing with what is usually the tricky narrative structure of multiple
intersecting stories. The cast is also strong enough to make the film a
compelling rental. Bradley Cooper is sort of on the cusp this year of either
making it as a leading man with this film and (more importantly) Silver Linings Playbook in
November or falling back into the B-list. Plus, it has been playing to acclaim
in its advanced screenings. Trailer: Here.
Summary:
Officers Taylor and Zavala make a routine traffic stop. Unbeknownst to them,
they are pulling over a member of a notorious LA cartel. The find a small cache
of money and firearms and confiscate it, thinking they have made the bust of
their careers. However, their world begins to crash down around them when they
are marked for death by the cartel. Filmmakers:
Writer-director-producer David Ayer is the go-to filmmaker for cop crime
dramas. He wrote The Fast and
the Furious, Training Day,
Dark Blue, S.W.A.T., and directed Harsh Times and Street Kings. He has a very
gritty style, which should be even more on display with End of Watch as it is
being done as a ‘found-footage’ style film. He is working with composer David Sardy (Zombieland),
Russian cinematographer Roman
Vasyanov and production designer Devorah Herbert (who also
designed Harsh Times). Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena star with Anna Kendrick (who is one of the
great young actresses right now), America
Ferrera, Cody Horn, Frank Grillo, and David Harbour in support. Expectations: Generally, I have enjoyed Ayer’s
work (especially Harsh Times and Training Day) and look forward to End of Watch,
which also features a good cast. Found-footage films have found their place in
mainstream filmmaking, allowing directors to pull their audience in by
presenting the material in a very realistic manner. It has worked well for
comedy and action this year with Project
X and Chronicle.
I am interested to see how Ayer uses it to really draw the audience in on this
crime drama/thriller. Based on what I have seen, it looks like it will be very
engaging (particularly if you like cop centric dramas). Trailer: Here. Review: Here.
Summary:
Charlie is an introvert freshman who has never really fit in. This life is
changed when two seniors, Patrick and Sam, take him under their wing and
introduce him to the real world. Filmmakers:
Novelists do not often convince Hollywood executives to let them write and
direct the film adaptation of their own novel,
but that is what Stephen Chbosky did with The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
However, he does have a background having created the loved cult series Jericho and writing and
directing The Four Corners of
Nowhere in 1995 (which no one has seen). Perks is really his commercial
feature debut though. He is working with composer Michael Brook (The Fighter),
cinematographer Andrew Dunn (Crazy,
Stupid, Love.) and production designer Inbal Weinberg (Our
Idiot Brother). Cast: Logan Lerman stars with Emma Watson (looking to
establish herself outside of the Harry
Potter franchise) and Ezra
Miller co-starring. Paul
Rudd, Nina Dobrev, Dylan McDermott, Mae Whitman, Melanie Lynskey, Kate Walsh, Nicholas Braun, Johnny Simmons, Reece Thompson, Julia Garner, and Erin Wilhelmi feature in
support. Expectations: From what I have
seen, The Perks of Being a Wallflower looks like it is going to be a good
coming-of-age high school drama. While we will have to wait and see how Chbosky
does as a director, the film has a fantastic young cast – particularly: Lerman,
Watson, Dobrev, Simmons, Thompson, and Miller (who was brilliant in We Need to Talk About Kevin).
Garner and Wilhelmi are also highly touted new talents. Plus, the film features
Paul Rudd who is always wonderful. This has the potential to be the best teen
drama of the year that really connects with its audience and a sleeper box
office hit (and maybe even be this generation’s The Breakfast Club, Dazed and Confused or Garden
State). Trailer: Here. Review: Here.
Summary:
Two mothers do whatever it takes to stand up against the bureaucracy to
make a change for the better at the failing inner city school their children
attend and to make a difference for the future of education. Filmmakers: Writer-director Daniel Barnz is back
for his third feature. His debut, Phoebe
in Wonderland, was fairly well received, but his second feature, Beastly, is awful. He is
working with composer Marcelo
Zarvos (who is also scoring this month’s The Words), cinematographer Roman Osin (who did phenomenal
work on Pride
& Prejudice) and production designer Rusty Smith (who worked with
Barnz on Beastly). Cast: The film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, with Holly Hunter, Ving Rhames, Oscar Isaac, Rosie Perez, Lance Reddick, and Bill Nunn in support. Expectations: Won’t Back Down honestly looks like
a Lifetime movie-of-the-week, but with heavy hitting acting talent like Viola
Davis (who probably could have/should have won Oscars for The Help and Doubt) and the feel-good
inspirational material this sort of feels like it might greatly overachieve
(even garnering awards buzz). Education is an important topic, as the public
school system in America, especially in poorer areas, is failing to an overly
depressing degree, and maybe this film will help to make a change. Trailer: Here.
Action/Adventure:
Summary:
Will Shaw, a young successful Wall Street trader, finds his life thrown into
peril after his family is kidnapped while on a sailing trip in Spain leaving
him to be pursued by the people responsible who are looking for a mysterious
briefcase they now believe he has. Filmmakers:
Director Mabrouk El Mechri’s last film was the fantastic JCVD (if you are a Jean-Claude Van Damme fan and
you have not seen this, you should). He is working with composer Lucas Vidal (The Raven), cinematographer Remi Adefarasin (who did
fabulous work shooting The
Pacific and Band of
Brothers for HBO) and production designer Benjamin Fernandez (Man on Fire). Cast: Henry
Cavill (who is looking to become an A-lister) stars, while Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver co-star. Expectations: The Cold Light of Day does not look
like much more than a forgettable action thriller, which is too bad, as I did
enjoy JCVD (but mostly because Van Damme is brilliant in it and the opening
shot is hilariously wonderful). For action fans, maybe this is worth a rental,
but for most of us this is probably one to skip. Trailer:
Here.
Summary:
Like the other movies, Alice continues her fight against the Umbrella
Corporation while having to deal with lots of zombies and other creatures (and
yes, this is in 3D). Filmmakers:
Writer-director-producer Paul W.S. Anderson is back yet again having directed
the first Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Afterlife as
well as producing and writing all of the four previous films. He is known for
making entertaining action films that lack deeper substance. He is again
working with composers tomandandy
and cinematographer Glen
MacPherson, while production designer Kevin Phipps (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance)
is new to the team. Cast: Milla Jovovich is back as Alice,
as well as many of the actors from the film series – Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, Kim Coates, Iain Glen, Ali Larter, Spencer Locke, Wentworth Miller, James Purefoy, Eric Mabius, Colin Salmon, and Boris Kodjoe. New to the cast is
Kevin Durand. Expectations: While I did enjoy the first film in
the series and was very much looking forward to the second, the sequels have
been lackluster (if not flat out bad) promoting spectacle above character and
truly thrilling moments that draw the audience in and really scare them. The
film series does not resemble the tone of the video games at all, as it has
become completely soulless. Yet, that said, the films still have some charm in
their escapist entertainment, and there is some beauty to the grand
choreography that goes into the elaborate action set pieces. Retribution, the
fifth film, will probably not be that great, but will likely be equally
entertaining as the others. Trailer: Here.
Summary:
Judge Dredd is a cop, in a violent futuristic society, who is also entrusted
with the roles of judge, jury and executioner (tagline!). He teams up with a
young trainee to take down a gang pushing the reality-altering drug SLO-MO
(which, incidentally, makes the taker’s perspective of life slow down
immensely, allowing for tons of slow-motion 3D antics on the part of the
filmmakers). Filmmakers: Director Pete
Travis’s past feature work is not overly impressive, as his two previous films
are the average Vantage Point
and Endgame. However, he did
also direct the very good miniseries The Jury. Writer-producer Alex Garland, though, is a
perfect fit for the film, having also penned 28 Days Later…, Sunshine
and Never
Let Me Go. In addition to Garland, Travis is working with producer Andrew Macdonald (friend and
longtime partner of Danny Boyle
and Garland) composer Paul
Leonard-Morgan (Limitless),one
of the best digital photographers (and
pioneer) right now Anthony
Dod Mantle (127
Hours) and production designer Mark
Digby (Slumdog Millionaire).
Cast: Karl Urban stars with Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey co-starring. Expectations: While Pete Travis has not yet given
us a great film, he is working with a phenomenal team (Danny Boyle’s team)
which at the minimum should give the film a great aesthetic and feel. Also,
there are rumors that Travis was fired from the film due to creative issues and
that Garland worked on the final cut. Dredd 3D is the remake of the awful Judge Dredd that none of us
knew we needed or even wanted, but it received acclaim from fans after its
screening at Comic-Con in San Diego earlier this year. The film is being called
violent, gritty and dark by critics, which for the most part enjoyed it. From
what I have seen, the film looks like an action thriller comprised of brutality
and visual beauty set against a grim dystopia. I am actually looking forward to
seeing it (something I never thought could be possible after the sheer
horridness of Sylvester Stallone’s
version – court’s adjourned). Trailer: Here.
Comedy:
Summary:
Dracula, wanting a place of peace and quiet for his monster buddies,
created and operates a high-end resort in Transylvania. There he lives,
happily, with his daughter Mavis. However, as Mavis comes of age, she wants to
see what else there is in the world, which is only made worse by a human coming
across the resort and falling for Mavis. Filmmakers:
Animator Genndy Tartakovsky makes his feature directorial debut with this film,
though he has directed many episodes of our favorite animated shows (things
like Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, and The Powerpuff Girls). He is
working with composer Mark
Mothersbaugh (Rushmore)
and production designer Marcelo
Vignali. Cast: The film features
voice-acting from Adam Sandler
(who is also executively producing), Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, David Spade, Fran Drescher, Jon Lovitz, Molly Shannon, and CeeLo Green. Expectations: Hotel Transylvania is essentially an
Adam Sandler movie – as it stars him and all his friends (plus Selena Gomez so
kids will recognize at least one person’s name in the credits) as well as being
written by longtime collaborator Robert
Smigel, and as we all know Sandler does not make good movies anymore
(unless he is working with Judd
Apatow). That said, this does look marginally funny and could be an okay
film to share with your kids (especially if, like me, you still find Sandler
funny, even though you know the jokes are bad – I may even have just talked
myself into renting this). Trailer: Here.
Horror:
Summary:
Elissa and her mother move to a new town, taking up residence next to a house
in which a young girl murdered her parents. However, Elissa still meets and
befriends the girl’s brother Ryan who still lives there. But, things are far
from over, as Elissa soon learns. Filmmakers: Director
Mark Tonderai has his first feature to be distributed, as his first film, Hush, went straight to video.
He is working with composer Theo
Green (who also scored Hush), cinematographer Miroslaw Baszak (The Bang Bang Club) and
production designer Lisa Soper
(The Day). Cast: The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, with Elisabeth Shue and Max Thieriot co-starring. Expectations: In all likeliness, House at the End
of the Street does not see distribution (being purchased by Rogue Pictures) if
not for the huge success of The
Hunger Games, and thereby Jennifer Lawrence’s swift ascension onto the
A-list. It looks like a fairly generic thriller, but Lawrence is one of the
great young actresses right now and could elevate it. At best though, this is
probably a rental. Trailer: Here.
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