The summer season is wrapping up and with Inception and Toy Story 3 as our only true saviors, will there be another in store this final month? There are also a number of other notable escapades before we head into the long Oscar season.
See:
10. Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy; Aug. 13th)
Synopsis: Happily married Elizabeth Gilbert (Roberts) takes a right turn in her life by enduring a painful divorce and proceeding to take a round-the-world journey of self-enlightenment and fulfillment.
Why You Should See It: Directed and written by the creator of Glee and Nip/Tuck, this romantic comedy adventure features some of the most talented actors working. Even if you don’t like Julia Roberts she is joined by Javier Bardem, James Franco, Richard Jenkins and Billy Crudup. Based on the best selling novel this looks to be one of better “chick flicks” of recent.
9. HappyThankYouMorePlease (Josh Radnor; Aug. 20th)
Synopsis: Captures a generational moment – young people on the cusp of truly growing up, tiring of their reflexive cynicism, each in their own ways struggling to connect and define what it means to love and be loved.
Why You Should See It: A Sundance crowd pleaser, this is the directorial and writing debut of How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor. Receiving solid reviews since its premiere, it is finally getting a small theatrical release.
8. Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin; Aug. 20th)
Synopsis: In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.
Why You Should See It: Akin is certainly one of my favorite working directors after Head-On and Edge of Heaven. He is finally getting a crack at comedy with this ensemble piece which was nominated for the Golden Lion at Venice and went home with a special jury prize.
7. Middle Men (George Gallo; Aug. 6th)
Synopsis: In 1995, businessman Jack Harris (Wilson) partners with two enterprising troublemakers (Ribisi and Macht) to sell adult entertainment over the fledgling Internet.
Why You Should See It: It’s like Goodfellas, only with porn. It’s also Luke Wilson’s first respectable film role in quite some time and he is joined by the usually great Giovanni Ribisi.
6. Lebanon (Samuel Moaz; Aug. 6th)
Synopsis: June, 1982 – The First Lebanon War. A lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town – a simple mission that turns into a nightmare. The four members of a tank crew find themselves in a violent situation that they cannot contain. Motivated by fear and the basic instinct of survival, they desperately try not to lose themselves in the chaos of war.
Why You Should See It: Taking home the Golden Lion at Venice last year, this war tale takes place entirely inside a tank. The interesting premise should provide a fascinating look at a war we normally don’t see represented on film.
5. Piranha 3D (Alexandre Aja; Aug. 20th)
Synopsis: A tremor under the surface of Lake Victoria unleashes scores of prehistoric piranhas, an event which rallies the local sheriff (Shue) who will risk everything to save her townsfolk.
Why You Should See It: If you have any doubts this won’t be one of the best times at a theater this year, check out the extremely NSFW Comic-Con footage. Hell, they couldn’t even show it at the con because of how graphic it was. Aja knows blood and now he isn’t taking himself seriously so this, by all accounts, should deliver.
4. The Other Guys (Adam McKay; Aug. 6th)
Synopsis: Two mismatched New York City detectives (Ferrell and Wahlberg) seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops whom they idolize — only things don’t quite go as planned.
Why You Should See It: McKay has consistently delivered and even if you are tired of Ferrell, he is matched with the hilarious Wahlberg. For further proof just see his work in Date Night….and The Happening.
3. Flipped (Rob Reiner; Aug. 6th)
Synopsis: Despite their many differences, romance blooms between 8th grader Juli Baker (Carroll) and the boy she’s liked since elementary school, Bryce Loski (McAuliffe).
Why You Should See It: Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner is returning to his roots in this tale of childhood love tale. Marketing seems to be dismal, but I’ve heard strong early word.
2. Animal Kingdom (Michod, Aug. 13th)
Synopsis: Tells the story of seventeen year-old J (Josh) as he navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.
Why You Should See It: Our own Josie M. calls it one of the absolute best films of the year and it took home one of the top prizes at Sundance this year. This Australian crime drama also features Guy Pearce and who can deny more of that?
1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright; Aug. 13th)
Synopsis: Layabout musician Scott Pilgrim (Cera) falls for the new girl in town, Ramona Flowers (Winstead), but in order to win her heart, he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends.
Why You Should See It: The hyperbole is strong with this one. Some are calling it a bigger artistic leap than Avatar and others “a generational milestone.” While I think it has a few problems, it is still mindblowingly fun and delivers beyond belief in the “I’ve never seen that before” area. An absolute must-see.
Avoid:
Vampires Suck (Jason Friedberg + Aaron Seltzerl; Aug. 18th)
Synopsis: A spoof of vampire-themed movies, where teenager Becca finds herself torn between two boys. As she and her friends wrestle with a number of different dramas, everything comes to a head at their prom.
Why You Should Avoid It: As if Twilight wasn’t bad enough, we now have an entire film dedicated to reminding us how stupid it is. If the trailer doesn’t turn you off enough let me remind you it is from the guys that brought us Disaster Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet The Spartans.
The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone; Aug. 13th)
Synopsis: A team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.
Why You Should Avoid It: Every single piece of marketing I’ve witnesses for The Expendables looks laughably bad. Unlike the upcoming Machete and Piranha 3D, this looks to be taking itself way too seriously and missing the charm of the earlier films these once-great action stars were known for.
Takers (John Luessenhop; Aug. 27th)
Synopsis: A hard-boiled detective (Dillon) gets in between a group of bank robbers and their plan to make away with a $20 million bounty.
Why You Should Avoid It: I’m not sure this comedy is taking it to the highest level during marketing. While I only laughed a few times at the trailer, I’m sure the film will deliver beyond measure. Oh, post-Wire Idris Elba….
Matinee:
Cairo Time (Ruba Nadda; Aug. 6th)
Synopsis: A romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
Why You Should See A Matinee: Taking home the best Canadian feature film award at Toronto last year, this should give Patricia Clarkson a much deserved spotlight for those interested.
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev; Aug. 20th)
Synopsis: Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn’t done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev’s riveting and enraging documentary.
Why You Should See A Matinee: Amir Bar-Lev’s last documentary My Kid Could Paint That was completely engaging and showed strong promise. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, his latest is finally getting a limited release.
Going the Distance (Nanette Burstein; Aug. 27th)
Synopsis: A romantic comedy centered on a guy (Long) and a gal (Barrymore) who try to keep their love alive as they shuttle back and forth between Chicago and Los Angeles to see one another.
Why You Should See A Matinee: After directing the enjoyable, but slightly manufactured doc American Teen, Burstein is jumping into narrative territory. The Black List script looks to have been stripped down but it’s got Charlie from It’s Always Sunny, that’s got to be worth something.
Centurion (Neil Marshall; Aug. 27th)
Synopsis: After the Roman Ninth Legion is attacked by the Picts — Celtic tribesmen who serve as some of the Roman Empire’s toughest opposition — a band of soldiers who survived the brutal massacre try to make their way back across enemy lines.
Why You Should See A Matinee: Already released in many other countries (our very own Paul C. gave it a mediocre review) Neil Marshall’s latest seems to be all blood and little else. With the breakout star Fassbender leading I don’t see anything wrong with that.
The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm; Aug. 27th)
Synopsis: A troubled evangelical minister (Fabian) agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew, where a possessed young (Bell) brings him face to face with the devil himself.
Why You Should See A Matinee: Produced by Eli Roth, this horror flick has been getting solid reviews during its early film festival run. We have been low on great horror this year so I hope this will be a nice jolt.
The Switch (Josh Gordon Will Speck; Aug. 20th)
Synopsis: An unmarried 40-year-old woman (Aniston) turns to a turkey baster in order to become pregnant. Seven years later, she reunites with her best friend (Bateman), who has been living with a secret: he replaced her preferred sperm sample with his own.
Why You Should See A Matinee: From Blades of Glory directors, this rom-com written by Allan Loeb (Wall Street 2) seems to be unfortunately getting zero promotion. Jason Bateman has had a healthy post-Arrested Development career so I’ll definitely check this out.
What are you seeing this month? What are you avoiding?