2013
7/4
The Lock: Tammy
Working For It: I know very little about the movie other than who the lead is. Even if I haven't been impressed by her post-Bridesmaids projects, I still like Melissa McCarthy a lot. This movie is written by McCarthy and her husband (Ben Falcone) and directed by her husband. The cast features her, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, and many others. There's a lot of potential here.
Working Against It: So far, my issue with McCarthy's starring roles since Bridesmaids is that when everything is written for her to riff and be crazy, there's not much surprise or challenge to it. Identity Thief and The Heat basically kept the camera rolling until McCarthy was done talking rather than bothering to direct her. The nature of her control in this project leaves me worried about the number of bad habits that will be on display.
Odds I'll See It: 63%
Other Options:
Deliver Us from Evil
Working For It: It doesn't have the look of a lazy horror movie. It's big on the catholic imagery and exorcism stuff from the look of it. That can be fun. I like Eric Bana and I'm curious to see how Olivia Munn plays in horror.
Working Against It: I could find a dozen movies that look the same as this. Something needs to set it apart before I consider seeing it.
Odds I'll See It: 38%
Earth to Echo
Working For It: It's like a found footage E.T. from my understanding. I like found footage movies. I like E.T.
Working Against It: It's also geared more toward kids and Relativity Media isn't a production company I trust yet (Oculus was good. Don Jon was ok. 21 & Over was forgettable. Certainly not much evidence of doing family friendly movies well).
Odds I'll See It: 12%
Life Itself
Working For It: A documentary about a film critic (Roger Ebert). That could be interesting. He lived a long life, had a long career, and was one of the most influential people in the business.
Working Against It: Sorry, but, documentaries don't get me into theaters easily and there's too much potential for this to be 90 minutes of hero worship for me to risk it.
Odds I'll See It:7%
7/11
The Lock: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Working For It: Gary Oldham, Jason Clarke, and Keri Russell are an upgrade from James Franco and Freida Pinto. It fits the story better to not force Franco and Pinto to stay along since its Caesar's story. I didn't assume the first movie would be as good as it was and the early July release date is a bigger vote of confidence from Fox.
Working Against It: I still have memories of the 2001 Planet of the Apes to remind me what can go wrong. That's something to live down. Rise was such a surprise that I wonder how this one will play now that there's expectations for it.
Odds I'll See It: 88%
Other Options:
Boyhood [Limited]
Working For It: Richard Linklater is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors/writers in Hollywood. He's been around forever. I'm only now realizing all his great work. Boyhood is perhaps his most ambitious project yet, filming it over 12 years in order to track the growth of the lead actor (Ellar Coltrane). Even without the positive reviews, this would be worth seeing just to see what Linklater does with Coltrane's journey from first grade to graduating high school.
Working Against It: Ambition is dangerous because when it fails, it fails big. For this, the risk is more in the production (what if the kid opts out or someone dies?) and in the editing (I'm scared to think how much footage they had to go through). If the reviews are looking good coming out of the festivals, then I feel pretty good about it. So much could've gone wrong though.
Odds I'll See It: 25%
A Long Way Down [Limited]
Working For It: Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Potts, and Aaron Paul almost define the indie casting formula, all being actors people have given up on or want to see more of. That's about all I know about it.
Working Against It: Apparently, reviews have been bad. It also can't help that the movie is being released now but is about some people on New Year's Eve yet it's being released in July. Oh, and apparently it's based on a book about a suicide-pact. Fun, right?
Odds I'll See It: 2%
Land Ho! [Limited]
Working For It: This looks like an Icelandic The Bucket List and the title has a exclamation point in it. That can't be all bad.
Working Against It: I've never desired to see The Bucket List either. The directors haven't done anything I've heard of. The actors are ones I'm not familiar with. It would take a lot to convince me that this is worth my time.
Odds I'll See It: 1%
7/18
The Lock: NoneOther Options:
Sex Tape
Working For It: I love Jason Segel and can potentially really like Cameron Diaz in the right role. Credentials don't get much better for a director at this level than Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher, Walk Hard, Freaks and Geeks, Orange County). Nicholas Stoller and Segel are two of the names attached to the screenplay. This doesn't look like a deep movie, nor does it need to be.
Working Against It: I can't be the only one already predicting third act problems in this comedy. First Act: the setup to the premise. Second Act: the fallout from the sex tape. Third Act: ...some sort of romance issues? I don't know. This looks very much like a comedy where I'll have to focus on what works and ignore what doesn't.
Odds I'll See It: 57%
Wish I Was Here [Limited]
Working For It: It's one of those Kickstarter movies. This time, it's Zach Braff doing it, making a movie about a listless father in L.A. trying to...I'm not sure, not have a mid-life crisis, I guess. It actually looks pretty good and I hear that Braff uses the lack of studio interference to make something fairly unique.
Working Against It: The fear with vanity projects is that they will only appeal to the person who made it. I doubt that's the case with this, but it could be.
Odds I'll See It: 38%
The Purge: Anarchy
Working For It: Based on the previews, this movie takes the interesting concept presented in the first movie and goes much bigger with it. It's a nimble concept for a movie franchise. It is going for scares from things that are hard to mess up (moral decay, being trapped and in danger, middle of the night, ticking clock) so even a bad version of the movie is likely to still be effectively scary.
Working Against It: The first movie was made on the cheap with the limited scope of a family in their house during the Purge. This goes out on the streets. The freedom may cause the movie to get away from the director. They rushed this out a year after the original, so it's hard to expect a polished final product.
Odds I'll See It: 18%
Mood Indigo [Limited]
Working For It: The director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That has to count for something. This one sounds like a RomCom version of that and could be one that sneaks up on me when I finally see it.
Working Against It: "Sneaks up" implies that I won't be going out of my way to see it. I believe it's a foreign film, to start. I don't get out of domestic all that often. Despite a delightful French cast (Audrey Tautou, Omar Sy, and others), I doubt I'll see it.
Odds I'll See It: 5%
Planes: Fire & Rescue
Working For It: ...Threre's planes...and probably a lot of low-hanging fruit kind of jokes that 7 year olds will love.
Working Against It: This is as much of a cash-and-grab job as you get. There's no sign of a plot in the trailer. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as its Pixar brothers. There's no reason for anyone to see this after finishing the third grade.
Odds I'll See It: 3%
And So It Goes
Working For It: Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton have Oscars. It's Directed by Rob Reiner which meant a lot in 1995. There's not a lot to the plot (Douglas gets Keaton, his neighbor, to get him out of a bind. Estranged children and grandchildren are involved) and when the ambition is low, so is the bar for complete failure.
Working Against It: I'm not sure how this isn't Something's Gotta Give but the producers assure me that it isn't. Regardless, this looks generic and forgettable.
Odds I'll See It:2%
Persecuted [Limited]
Working For It: A murder mystery about an evangelist. That's a new one.
Working Against It: There's probably a reason that idea hasn't been done before. This sounds like one that is aimed toward the church crowd, so I'll let them check it out first.
Odds I'll See It: 1%
I Origins [Limited]
Working For It: I like Britt Marling from Sound of My Voice and that one episode of Community in which she plays Britta's not quite lesbian friend. This is from the same director as Another Earth and looks like another science fiction movie that does the most it can with a small budget.
Working Against It: There are limits to a small budget. I never saw After Earth. It sounded like it was impressive in its efficiency, not it's effectiveness. I'd expect the same here as well.
Odds I'll See It: 1%
Alive Inside [Limited]
Working For It: A documentary about the problems with the health care system and how music can help your health. It sounds interesting.
Working Against It: Interesting enough to watch on Netflix, maybe.
Odds I'll See It:1%
7/25
The Lock:Other Options:
Working For It: Dwayne Johnson is a more reliable draw than he's credited for. It's nice to finally see a different take on Greek Mythology from the 300 style. This could be very entertaining, because, well, The Rock is the best available casting choice for Hercules right now.
Working Against It: Directed by Brett Radnor. You know, Tower Heist, X-Men: The Last Stand, all the Rush Hour movies. That doesn't give me high hopes.
Odds I'll See It: 50%
Magic in the Moonlight [Limited]
Working For It: I think we all know by now if we like Woody Allen or not. A cast with Emma Stone, Colin Firth, Hamish Linklater, and others has my interest, especially given Allen's penchant for getting great performances out of his leading ladies. This is called a romantic comedy, but I'd say you can assume it'll have the same tone as his last half-dozen movies, which I've mostly liked.
Working Against It: He puts out one movie a year which is an insane pace. The end result is a lot of hit or miss. People loved Midnight in Paris, then ignored To Rome, With Love. Blue Jasmine got a ton of adulation. Something tells me this one will be largely forgotten.
Odds I'll See It: 40%
Lucy
Working For It: It's about time Scarlett Johansson gets the lead in an action movie (Marvel's sure dragging their feet). Being in a Luc Besson movie is certainly a way to do it.
Working Against It: This looks like a telekinetic Limitless and I'm just going to go ahead and say the logic of the science in it makes no sense. At best, this movie is going to be Salt. At worst, it's going to be Transcendence. That's a low swing.
Odds I'll See It: 15%
Very Good Girls [Limited]
Working For It: Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen play two high school seniors with a pact to lose their virginity before college. No, this isn't girl-Superbad...at least I don't think. I think this isn't even a comedy. They have my attention though.
Working Against It: Apparently, these two friends fall for the same guy. So yeah, this just fell into familiar RomCom territory. Again though, it's not a comedy. That means this could be pretty insufferable.
Odds I'll See It: 8%
Happy Christmas [Limited]
Working For It: This sounds like a buddy movie starring Anna Kendrick and Lena Dunham, directed by the guy who made Drinking Buddies. Mumblecore trappings aside, that has my attention. Throw in Melanie Lynskey and you've got a movie that I'll watch no matter what it's about.
Working Against It: I understand the complaints people had about Drinking Buddies. Happy Christmas is not something I feel good enough about to consider seeing in theaters but I better hear about it the second it comes to Netflix.
Odds I'll See It: 7%
The Fluffy Movie
Working For It: The Gabriel Iglesias concert movie. It's a stand-up special interspersed with hit life story. It's a simple an effective formula. I know so friends who are big fans of Iglesias who I imagine are very excited for this.
Working Against It: I can't remember the last comedy special that made it to theaters that I actually liked. Kevin Hart's special have gotten inflated. The Wild West Comedy Show movie was underwhelming. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour movie never matched the hype. Perhaps this will buck the trend.
Odds I'll See It: 5%
A Most Wanted Man [Limited]
Working For It: Does it really matter what it's about. This is one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's final movie roles. It's an international thriller of some sort with a pretty good cast beside Hoffman (Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe), but this will primarily be remembered for being in Hoffman's Brick Mansions period.
Working Against It: Thrillers have a lot of potential to suck, don't they. For every great one, there's a dozen that think that a lot of jump cuts, closeups, and twists are all you need for a good movie. That's bad odds for any movie.
Odds I'll See It: 3%
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