Romance and Rom-Coms:
Plot
Summary: On his 21st birthday, Tim discovers that he can time
travel – a family trait passed on through the men in the family. Using this
newfound ability, Tim is determined to win the heart of Mary, a girl he fancies
(but it is proving more difficult than he anticipated). Filmmakers: About Time is the new film from writer-director
Richard Curtis, the master of the British romantic comedy who gave us such films
as Notting Hill, Bridget Jone’s Diary, and Love Actually (he also wrote The Black Adder,
Mr. Bean,
The Girl in the
Café, and War
Horse). This will be his third time writing and directing a feature film
(his first two were Love Actually and Pirate
Radio). He is working with composer Nick Laird-Clowes
(of The Dream Academy), cinematographer John Guleserian
(Like
Crazy), and production designer John Paul Kelly
(Bloody
Sunday). Cast: The film stars Domhnall Gleeson
and Rachel McAdams
(veteran of many romance films). Bill Nighy
(who frequently works with Richard Curtis), Lindsay Duncan,
Tom Hollander,
and Tom
Hughes feature in support. Expectations:
About Time looks like a lot of fun. Yes, the whole time travel romance thing
has been down before (see The Time
Traveler’s Wife, which also stars Rachel McAdams, coincidentally), but Richard
Curtis is a great writer and should bring a fresh take to the material. The
film already came out in the U.K. earlier this year. It played to strong
reviews from moviegoers, but critics were a bit more mixed. In a month crowded
with big adventure films, this might be a nice change of pace. Trailer: Here.
Serious Films:
Plot
Summary: Liesel is a young orphan girl living amongst the horrors of
WWII Germany. The only way she is able to keep herself from being lost in the
anguish of it all is to steal books that have otherwise been banded by the
Nazis so that she can share them with others, including the Jewish refuge her
adoptive parents are hiding in their house. Filmmakers:
Director Brian Percival comes from a background in British television,
including directing multiple episodes of Downton Abbey.
The Book Thief is his second feature. He is working with genius film composer John Williams (Lincoln),
cinematographer Florian
Ballhaus (Red),
and production designer Simon Elliott
(Byzantium).
Cast: The film stars newcomer Sophie Nelisse and
co-stars Geoffrey
Rush and Emily
Watson. Ben
Schnetzer and Nico
Liersch feature in support. Expectations:
The Book Thief looks like the kind of drama that is trying to be an Oscar-made
prestige film, but ends up missing the mark. That said, it does look like a
decent drama that is probably worth renting for fans of the book and war
dramas. The primary cast is very strong and Sophie Nelisse looks like she gives
a potentially breakthrough performance. Trailer:
Here.
Action/Adventure:
Plot
Summary: Aliens attacked Earth, and the world just barely survived. In
an attempt to be better prepared for a future invasion, the military begins
training new young leaders whose brains are better situated to deal with the
aliens. Ender Wiggins is one such recruit. He is sent to a military school in
space, where he soon begins to separate himself from the rest of the class with
his strategic brilliance. Will he be Earth’s saving grace? Filmmakers: Writer-director Gavin Hood made a name
for himself with his breakout hit Tsotsi (which
won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film), but has since struggled in
Hollywood directing two underwhelming films: Rendition and
X-Men Origins:
Wolverine. Looking to finally capitalize on his potential, he is working
with composer Steve
Jablonsky (Pain
& Gain), cinematographer Donald McAlpine
(who shot X-Men Origins: Wolverine for Hood), production designers Sean Haworth (The Thing)
and Ben Procter,
and producers Alex
Kurtzman and Roberto
Orci (Star
Trek Into Darkness). Cast: The film
stars Asa
Butterfield, and co-stars Harrison Ford
and Hailee
Steinfeld. Abigail
Breslin, Ben
Kingsley, Viola
Davis, and Nonso
Anozie feature in support. Expectations:
Ender’s Game has potential to be good. Gavin Hood is a director with talent; he
has just struggled within the confines of Hollywood. And, the cast features a
good mix of solid young talent and quality veterans. But, I suspect it will be
a throwaway blockbuster – entertaining and fun, yeah probably, but nothing
special. The sour taste of Hood’s Wolverine movie (which is fairly terrible)
serves as a hard-to-forget reminder of what happened last time he tried to make
a big budget genre film. Plus, this feels like a weak attempt for Summit
Entertainment to reenter the Young Adult Genre Film bonanza now that their
golden goose (Twilight)
has expired. For fans of summer blockbuster style films, this is probably worth
renting, but for everyone else, there are other big genre movies to wait for (The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire and Thor: The Dark World).
Trailer: Here.
Plot
Summary: A new enemy has come to the universe, one so menacing and
powerful that not even Odin and the might of Asgard can withstand it. Thus,
Thor must embark on his most trying adventure yet, looking to both Jane Foster
and his troublemaker brother Loki for help. Filmmakers:
With Kenneth Branagh
not returning, Marvel engaged veteran HBO series director Alan Taylor to give
Thor a much more grounded, gritty feel – using his work on Game of Thrones as
a template. He is working with composer Brian Tyler (Iron
Man 3), cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau
(who shot Taylor’s season two episodes of Game of Thrones), and production
designer Charles
Wood (Wrath
of the Titans). Cast: Returning are Chris Hemsworth,
Natalie
Portman, Tom
Hiddleston, Stellan
Skarsgard, Idris
Elba, Kat
Dennings, Ray
Stevenson, Tadanobu
Asano, Jaimie
Alexander, Rene
Russo, and Anthony
Hopkins, while new to the series are Christopher
Eccleston, Adewale
Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Zachary Levi,
and Chris
O’Dowd. Expectations: Thor
is probably my favorite of the Marvel Phase One individual superhero films. It
has a great mix of action, drama, and comedy, and Kenneth Branagh brought a
fantastic tone and look to the world. Plus, Chris Hemsworth is phenomenal as
Thor. Thus, Thor: The Dark World is a film I am really looking forward to
seeing. Alan Taylor is on paper a very good and smart choice, as his work on
Game of Thrones is wonderful (a darker style Marvel is very interested in
bringing to Thor, as Phase Two overall seems to be darker tonally). However,
Taylor is accustom to coming into a series with the main, strong creative force
being someone else and just directing what is on the page (all the aesthetics
and other big creative decisions already made). Here, he will need to step up
and make those decisions (Marvel’s overall creative overseer, Joss
Whedon, did need to step in to punch up a few scenes). From what I have seen, the film looks
visually fantastic and I think it will probably end up being about as good as
the first Thor film (which would be slightly disappointing given that The
Avengers and Iron Man 3 are both very good and elevated the expectations of
future Marvel films). Trailer: Here.
Plot
Summary: After winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss
Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have become symbols of hope in Panem, inciting
rebellion in many of its districts. Thus, Katniss and Peeta are targets for a
government desperate to retain their power – but how to deal with these
national heroes? Filmmakers: Writer-director
Gary Ross is not
returning (which is probably not a bad thing), and thus Lionsgate hired Francis
Lawrence to take over. His work on Kings
probably best translates to what he will need to do with Catching Fire.
Although, he has shown he can capably direct action too with Constantine
and I Am
Legend. He is working with composer James Newton Howard
(who also scored the first
film), cinematographer Jo Willems (Limitless),
and production designer Philip Messina
(who also worked on the first film). Cast: Jennifer Lawrence,
Josh
Hutcherson, Liam
Hemsworth, Elizabeth
Banks, Woody
Harrelson, Stanley
Tucci, Willow
Shields, Paula
Malcomson, Lenny
Kravitz, and Donald
Sutherland all return. New to the series are Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright,
Toby Jones,
Amanda
Plummer, and Philip Seymour
Hoffman. Expectations: The Hunger Games,
while entertaining, lacked a good story with a true dramatic arc for Katniss.
Everything just felt too easy, as she never really has to make a tough choice,
and thus the film is dramatically uninteresting. In an effort to correct this,
Lionsgate hired two Oscar winning screenwriters to adapt Catching Fire for the
screen: Simon
Beaufoy and Michael
Arndt (who is currently writing Star Wars VII).
Francis Lawrence has never really made a good film (his best work coming on
Kings), but Catching Fire does not need to be anything amazing. It just needs
to be entertaining and create a more dynamic dramatic narrative arc for
Katniss. From what I have seen, the film looks a lot more compelling than the
first. I am interested to see how it turns out narratively (as its box office
success is all but assured). Trailer: Here.
Plot
Summary: The Kingdom of Arendelle has been plunged into eternal winter
by the icy sorceress Elsa. Now, it is up to her sister Anna and her rag-tag
group of friends (which includes a talking snowman) to save the kingdom,
battling the harsh elements and beasts that await them. Filmmakers: Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee have never
worked together before, but each comes from an animation background within
Disney. Buck co-directed Tarzan (and
also Surf’s Up
for Sony Animation) while Lee co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph.
I think Buck will be focused on the animation and Lee the story aspects. They
are working with composer Christophe Beck
(The
Muppets) and producer John Lasseter
(Disney Animation’s head guy). Cast: The
voice cast includes: Kristen Bell,
Alan Tudyk,
Josh Gad, Idina Menzel,
and Jonathan
Groff. Expectations: Disney’s Pixar film
this year, Monsters
University, while commercially successful did not really make the same type
of impact that Pixar films usually do, leaving 2013’s Animation Oscar wide open
(much like 2011 when Pixar released Cars 2, their
worst film). Frozen looks good, in a safe Disney sort of way. Although, to me,
it kind of looks like they are trying to just recapture the feel and general
story ideas of Tangled
(Disney’s best animated film in some time). In any case, this certainly looks
like it should be in the running to compete for the Animation Oscar and parents
taking their kids should not be too disgruntled at the prospect of watching it
(as it looks funny). Trailer: Here.
Comedy:
Plot
Summary: Four friends in their sixties decide to get together for one
last hurrah in Vegas to celebrate the final member of their group’s last days
as a single man. Filmmakers: Director Jon
Turteltaub is well versed in making forgettable Hollywood fair with films such
as Cool
Runnings, National
Treasure, and The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice, and this looks like more of the same. He is working with
composer Mark
Mothersbaugh (21
Jump Street), cinematographer David Hennings
(Horrible
Bosses), and production designer David Bomba (The Company Men).
Cast: The film stars Robert De Niro,
Morgan Freeman,
Kevin Kline,
and Michael
Douglas. Mary
Steenburgen, Jerry Ferrara,
and Romany
Malco feature in support. Expectations: Last
Vegas is The Bucket
List version of The
Hangover – I mean, I guess this had to happen eventually right? Yes, it
does have a strong group of actors, but this is essentially just a paycheck to
them – they show up, say some lines, make some faces, and get paid (Dennis Quaid has
been doing it for decades). And yet, there will probably be some laughs for
those willing to use a rental on it. Trailer: Here.
Plot
Summary: Brett has fathered 533 children. How did he do this? A mix-up
at a fertility clinic he made donations to twenty years ago. Now, 142 of them
have filed a lawsuit to reveal his identity. Brett has always been an
underachiever and must now decide if he wants to step up and take
responsibility. Filmmakers: Writer-director
Ken Scott already made this film in Canada and released it in 2011. It is
called Starbuck.
Apparently unafraid to rehash the same material again (I mean, what is the
difference between remaking your own film and directing any other Hollywood
movie that just recycles past narratives), he is working with composer Jon Brion (This
Is 40), cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards
(The
Change-Up), and production designer Ida Random (No
Strings Attached). Cast: Vince Vaughn
stars (and will once again treat us all to his tired shtick), while Cobie Smulders,
Britt
Robertson, and Chris Pratt
feature in support. Expectations: Delivery
Man looks like a lot of Vince Vaughn’s comedies – an underachieving but mildly
charismatic man-child who tries to finally put his life together. Vaughn plays
this character pretty well (Dodgeball
and Fred
Claus – for the five people that enjoyed it, me included), and the
supporting cast, particularly Chris Pratt (who is hilarious), should add some
good stuff. More than likely, this film will just be a throwaway comedy, but
maybe it will turn out to be funny and somewhat emotionally resonate. Maybe
even worth renting. Trailer: Here.
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