Romance and Rom-Coms:
Blended –
Romantic Comedy – May 23
Plot
Summary: Jim and Lauren meet on a blind date. It goes poorly. They hope
to never see each other again. Inexplicably, they end up stuck together, along
with their respective kids, on an African Safari. As these things usually go,
they experience Stockholm syndrome and begin to fall in love with each other,
while their respective kids start to get along (while also being unruly). Key Filmmakers Involved: Director Frank Coraci and
producer Adam
Sandler. Actors Involved: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore,
Bella Thorne,
Terry Crews,
Wendi
McLendon-Covey, Joel McHale,
and Kevin
Nealon. Potential: At this point, Adam
Sandler has pretty much squandered all his goodwill. There is none left, and
yet his films continue to make money because people like to laugh at stupid
things. Maybe his best film is The Wedding
Singer (which Frank Coraci also directed), and his other collaboration with
Drew Barrymore, 50 First Dates,
is also well-liked (more or less), so why not just throw them together again,
it cannot be any worse than anything else he has made recently. On a side note,
Terry Crews is fantastic. Trailer: Here.
Drama:
Million Dollar Arm
– Sports Drama – May 16
Plot
Summary: J.B. Bernstein is a sports agent who is all washed up, but
unlike Jerry
Maguire not a single client believes in him. Desperate to get back on his
feet and back in the game, he comes up with a crazy idea: why not transform an
Indian Cricket player into a professional baseball pitcher. And yes, this is
based on a true story. Key Filmmakers Involved: Director
Craig Gillespie,
writer Thomas
McCarthy, composer A.R. Rahman,
and executive producer Bill Simmons
(for sports fans). Actors Involved: Jon Hamm, Lake Bell, Bill Paxton, Bar Paly, Alan Arkin,
and Suraj
Sharma (who some will know from Life
of Pi). Potential: Million Dollar Arm
looks like a typical Disney live-action release: lots of sappy charm (like
another baseball movie The Rookie). That said, this does have a
good team behind the camera. Todd McCarthy is a very good writer of dramas (The Station Agent,
The Visitor,
Up, Win Win – all
very good) and Craig Gillespie is a versatile director. This very well could be
a sleeper for May. I also love baseball movies. Honestly, I even really like For Love of the
Game. Trailer: Here.
Action/Adventure:
The Amazing
Spider-Man 2 – Action/Adventure/Superhero – May 2
Plot
Summary: Peter Parker is back with a new adventure. He is still trying
to find out what happened to his father who mysteriously disappeared, which
leads him back to Oscorp. To stop him, Oscorp throws a bunch of villains at
him, like Electro, Rhino, and Green Goblin, because why not. Key Filmmakers Involved: Director Marc Webb,
writers Alex
Kurtzman, Roberto
Orci, and Jeff
Pinkner, composers Johnny Marr, Pharrell Williams,
and Hans Zimmer,
cinematographer Daniel
Mindel, and production designer Mark Friedberg.
Actors Involved: Andrew Garfield,
Emma Stone,
Jamie Foxx,
Dane DeHaan,
Colm Feore,
Felicity Jones,
Paul Giamatti,
Sally Field,
Embeth Davidtz,
Campbell
Scott, and Chris
Cooper. Potential: The first The
Amazing Spider-Man was a bit of a letdown overall, really only succeeding
on the chemistry and talent of its leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (their
stuff is fun), but never approaching the heights of Sam
Raimi’s first two films. The first also had the awkwardness of again
rehashing the origin story. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, free from this, has now
the potential to tell a new story for Peter Parker, and Sony is certainly
throwing a lot of talent at it (although, I would argue that the writing team
of Orci and Kurtzman’s success is completely dependent on the quality of the
director, and Marc Webb is only ordinary, thus will this new Spider-Man ever
really be something special?). I suspect that the film will be entertaining and
fun, but again not approaching the quality of the best superhero films (the
likes of Spider-Man
2 for example). And yet, Garfield and Stone will probably be great in this
and I am optimistic that the other actors will bring something to the film as
well this time (unless they are terribly underwritten like the Lizard was last
time). Trailer: Here.
X-Men: Days of Future
Past – Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Superhero – May 23
Plot
Summary: The future is a mess with robotic monsters laying waste to
mutants and humans alike, in a ploy to change the future, Professor X and
Magneto send Kitty Pryde back in time…wait, wait that is the comic, I am sorry,
I forgot this is the movie version of the X-Men, which really means Wolverine…Professor
X and Magneto send Wolverine back in time to warn their younger selves about
the events that lead to the destruction of the world as they know it. To change
the future, they must change the past (or something like that, it is time
travel, it does not make sense). Key Filmmakers
Involved: Director Bryan Singer. Actors Involved: Every X-Man to ever appear
ever…not really, but there are a lot, here are the highlights: Jennifer Lawrence,
Peter Dinklage,
Michael
Fassbender, Hugh
Jackman (WOLVERINE!!!), James McAvoy,
Ian McKellen,
and Patrick
Stewart. Potential: Sadly, Matthew
Vaughn did not return to direct and write this movie. It is a big loss. His
X-Men:
First Class is by far the best in the series (like, it is not even close).
So, we are left with Bryan Singer returning to the fold, and he is bringing his
X-Men
cast with him (because what we all want is more Halle Berry
as Storm – said nobody, ever, or almost every other actor from his films as
their characters; that said, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are fantastic and
the redeeming quality of that original trilogy, if it can even be redeemed).
Singer has made a film that looks massive and incredibly ambitious. It actually
looks really cool, but I am of course highly skeptical, you know because of
every other film he has ever made being mediocre. Maybe I am being a bit harsh,
but honestly, those first two X-Men films are poor by comparison to what Vaughn
did and the cast he assembled. I am also completely over Hugh Jackman’s
Wolverine. Why does X-Men: Days of Future Past need to be yet another Wolverine
movie? Oh that is right, because Fox thinks that he is the only character
general audiences care about. And sadly, they might be right. X-Men: First
Class, the only X-Men film to not feature Wolverine heavily (he only has a
cameo) is also the lowest grossing (I think). So Fox will just keep rolling out
Wolverine stand alone and Wolverine plus pals films. Okay, okay, enough
complaining. The film looks big and should be entertaining. Maybe Singer will
pull it off? It is not impossible. Trailer: Here.
Maleficent –
Action/Adventure/Fantasy – May 30
Plot
Summary: This is basically a live-action version of Sleeping Beauty, but
focusing more on the villain character of Maleficent, her backstory and such.
It also features Princess Aurora heavily as well, and their dynamic (which
could be interesting). Key Filmmakers Involved: Director
Robert Stromberg.
Actors Involved: Angelina Jolie,
Elle Fanning,
Juno Temple,
Brenton
Thwaites, Sharlto
Copley, Imelda
Staunton, Sam
Riley, and Lesley
Manville. Potential: I am all for these
new live-action adaptation of the fairytales that Disney did fantastically as
animated films. I like the characters. I like the stories. But, so far, they
have not been very good at all. Alice in Wonderland
is fairly awful and Universal’s Snow
White and the Huntsman is very forgettable. Maybe Maleficent will be the
film to break the curse? Disney has hired Oscar winning visual effects man
Robert Stromberg to make his feature directorial debut. I just hope that this
film, like Alice in Wonderland and Oz
the Great and Powerful (which I mostly liked because of what Sam
Raimi brought to it), will not be too dependent of visual effects and thus
lacking good narratives and characters. Stromberg does have a good cast.
Angelina Jolie very well could can a wonderful Maleficent (she looks great in
the trailer), and Elle Fanning, Juno Temple, and Sharlto Copley are all actors
that I enjoy. I do not really expect great things for this film, but I hope
that it is much more satisfying than the few updated fairytales we have seen so
far – a step in the right direction ahead of the Peter Pan, The Jungle Book,
and Cinderella
updates. Trailer: Here.
Comedy:
Walk of Shame –
Comedy – May 2
Plot
Summary: Meghan is a news reporter who dreams of becoming an anchor.
Finally, after years of waiting and hard work, she has the opportunity of a
lifetime – a job interview to be a news anchor. But, she decides to go out and
celebrate the night before. Things get out of hand, and she finds herself
stranded in Downtown L.A. without a phone, car, ID, or money. She has only
eight hours to make it to the interview. What will she do?!?!? Key Filmmakers Involved: Writer-director Steven Brill. Actors Involved: Elizabeth Banks,
James Marsden,
Gillian Jacobs,
Sarah Wright
Olsen, and Ethan
Suplee. Potential: Most people will probably recognize
the name Steven Brill as the director of a couple Adam Sandler films
from the early 2000s (if they recognize it at all, which probably asking too
much). His track record is very terrible. The last two films he wrote were Ready to Rumble
and Little
Nicky, and the last two films he directed were Drillbit Taylor
and Without a
Paddle (but for those with fond memories of The Mighty Ducks
Trilogy, he did write those films too). So basically, Walk of Shame being
watchable is completely dependent on the comedic talent of Elizabeth Banks; and
to that degree, the film does have a check in the positive column (but that
might be the only one, well also one for Gillian Jacobs supporting, she is
really funny too). Watch this at your own discretion. Trailer:
Here.
Neighbors –
Comedy – May 9
Plot
Summary: Mac and Kelly Radner have a good, peaceful life in the suburbs
with their newborn child. Everything changes, however, when a fraternity buys
the house next door and converts it into their frat house. The Radner’s try to
play nice, but the noise, parties and other antics drive them up a wall. They
decide to engage in a prank war with the frat, thinking it will scare them off.
Big mistake. Things escalate to unforeseen heights of madness and debauchery. Key Filmmakers Involved: Director Nicholas Stoller
and producers Evan
Goldberg and Seth
Rogen. Actors Involved: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Christopher
Mintz-Plasse, Jake Johnson,
Lisa Kudrow,
Carla Gallo,
Craig Roberts,
and Jason
Mantzoukas (who is fantastically funny in The League).
Potential: Neighbors has a lot of comedic
talent behind it. Director Nicholas Stoller previously directed the very funny
films Forgetting
Sarah Marshall, Get
Him to the Greek, and The
Five-Year Engagement. Meanwhile, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen are
responsible for Superbad,
Pineapple
Express, and This
Is the End. Neighbors is the first potentially great R-rated comedy of 2014
and a dark horse for both comedy of the year and best film of May. The film has
played to excellent audience reaction during a few preview screenings (like at
SXSW). Critics also seemed to be enamored with it. This is worth checking out
for fans of R-rated comedy. Trailer: Here.
A Million Ways to Die
in the West – Comedy/Western – May 30
Plot
Summary: Albert is a cowardly farmer, but somehow he has wooed a
mysterious new woman who has come to town. He must summon up his courage,
however, when her husband, a notorious gun-slinging villain, arrives in town
looking for her. Key Filmmakers Involved: Writer-director
Seth MacFarlane.
Actors Involved: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron,
Liam Neeson,
Amanda
Seyfried, Neil
Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi,
Sarah
Silverman, Christopher
Lloyd, and Wes
Studi. Potential: I thought Ted
was funny and I like Family Guy and American Dad!,
but A Million Ways to Die in the West looks kind of ho-hum and a bit lazy
comedy wise. I will still rent it, but I am not convinced that it is worth
seeing in theaters. Comedy and the Western genre are things that usually do not
go well together (unless you like Little Big Man or Blazing Saddles,
both of which many do). This seems like a parody of the western genre, but that
genre is honestly and sadly all but dead in modern filmmaking. Usually,
parodies work because of their proximity to what they are making fun of, but
here MacFarlane is basically kicking a corpse (when, and maybe this is just me,
seeing westerns return as a viable genre would be great). All that said,
MacFarlane does have a talent for jokes and makes the absurd work. This could
end up being incredibly funny. Trailer: Here.
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