2014
2013
4/1
Working For It: If you couldn't get enough of Scary Movie or A Haunted House or any of those awful parodies, here's one for The Purge. Mike Epps takes the role that I assume a Wayans brother was too busy to fill as the father of a black family moving into an affluent neighborhood in a world that has a Purge. It's definitely a funny pitch.
Working Against It: The Purge is already so laughably over the top that making a parody of it is too easy. Seriously, nothing in the preview would be out of place in the real movies, save a few self-aware jokes. This is the kind of movie that I wouldn't see with a free ticket and snacks provided.
Verdict: I'll hopefully never see it
Working For It: Damn, that's an intriguing title. I almost watched the first one out of sheer curiosity. It actually seems like a more interesting angle for there spiritual movies than the standard "miracle happens" or "town is saved by Christian virtues" setups. I'm not sure how the sequel will be any different from the first (I recognize much more of the cast though), but does that matter?
Working Against It: I can forgive a lot of things, but refusing to call this God's Still Not Dead is inexcusable.
Verdict: Maybe on Netflix if I'm reeeealy bored.
Working For It: A 1980's Dazed and Confused centered around a college baseball team. Yeah, Richard Linklater is back at it! It's hard to tell if this is him retreating to something that he knows or further developing something he's done before (certainly, the latter case sounds much more like him). Regardless, I'm on board. The cast looks like one of those that's filled with people I can't name now but will be able to in a decade. Just watch the trailer and tell me you don't think there's another Matthew McConaughey in there somewhere.
Working Against It: I worry that at some point with Richard Linklater, the experiment will matter more than the quality of the project. It's worked so far in the Before series. Some might argue that Boyhood was the tipping point (the story of the production is much more interesting than the actual movie).
Verdict: Good chance I'll see it in theaters
Working For It: Nicholas Hoult is some sort of recording agent/serial murderer. This has a major American Psycho vibe and its success really will come down to how you answer the next question: Can Nicholas Hoult be the next Christian Bale?
Working Against It: I worry about any movie that is called a cult movie before it's released. It's like someone trying to make a viral video. It doesn't work like that. Cult movies are reactions, not a genre.
Verdict: Likely to be a permanent fixture in my Netflix queue that I'll never get around to
Working For It: Don Cheadle's directorial debut. He also stars (and cowrote the screenplay) as Miles Davis in a biopic, set later in his career, that looks back at his past. I like Don Cheadle and I'm always interested to see when actors make the jump to director. Sometimes, it's the beginning of a whole new phase of their career. Other times, it's this weird, one-off experiment.
Working Against It: I don't know much about Miles Davis and it's been a while since I saw a biopic about a musician that didn't underwhelm me. The preview has a bit of a The End of the Tour vibe except it embraces the eccentricities of the main subject more. I'll probably wait on this for reviews and word of mouth.
Verdict:I might Netflix it
4/8
Working For It: The woman from Blue Crush (Kate Bosworth) and the guy from Hung (Thomas Jane) adopt the kid from Room (Jacob Tremblay) who has nightmares that cause butterflies and demons to happen.
Working Against It: I don't really understand what the conflict is all about. I tend to like my horror either starkly realistic and batshit crazy. This looks like it's something in between. I don't care much for half-measues.
Verdict: Probably never seeing it
Working For It: Melissa McCarthy is a Paula Deen-type who gets out of jail after going for insider trading. Broke and out of options, she begins a Girl Scout Cookie empire. It looks big and zany and just right for what McCarthy does well. There's also people like Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, and Cecily Strong who I like a lot.
Working Against It: The last time McCarthy's husband, Ben Falcone, wrote and directed a movie was Tammy which was a mess of a movie. What I've determined though, is that when McCarthy is given a character that is good at what she does (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy), it's a pretty good movie. When she's just playing an oaf with no redeemable skills (Identity Thief, Tammy), I don't care for the movie. The Boss looks more like the former than the latter. Then again, the good Melissa McCarthy movies were also all her movies with Paul Feig, so maybe that's the missing link. What I'm trying to say is, I'm probably seeing this movie, but I don't know what to expect.
Verdict: Opening week
Working For It: This is a first-person action movie which, as an idea, is intriguing as hell. A lot of people are dismissing it with glib comments about already owning [insert first person shooter video game title], and that's fair. I'm a sucker for found footage movies. This is the next logical step, so I'm pretty interested to see how this turns out.
Working Against It: This might be the shaky-cam movie that finally puts me over the edge and makes me sick. That's a small concern. Otherwise, I only recognize two cast members (Sharlto Copley - the Neill Blomkamp muse, and Tim Roth) and it's from an unproven director. I'm heard something about reshoots as well that's made me worry that the final product might be pretty rough.
Verdict: I'll definitely see it, maybe in theaters
Working For It: As far as I can tell, this is Jake Gyllenhaal starring in Everything Must Go meets Punch Drunk Love. I like all three of those things, so that's a good start. Gyllenhaal is a man who just lost his wife and goes about systematically destroying everything he has to try to process his grief or lack thereof. Along the way, he meets Naomi Watts, who works for a vending machine company that he wrote complaints to. I can't tell if the trailers are holding something back or if there isn't much more to the story than that.
Working Against It: There's a wide margin of error for this kind of movie. It could be great, or it could be wallowing and overly self-reflective, confusing big acting for meaningful emotions. I just don't know. It sounds like the definitive, half-drunk, watching Netflix kind of movie.
Verdict:A lock for Netflix
Working For It: Anna Kendrick falls in love with a hit man played by Sam Rockwell. In other words, this is either Killers with a better cast or Mr. and Mrs. Smith with a less famous cast. Either way, I love Kendrick and Rockwell. Writer Max Landis also penned American Ultra which looks to pair nicely with Mr. Right.
Working Against It: There's a lot of comedies that I appreciate the levity of but don't actually find funny at all. That looks like this in a nutshell. And, I think we can officially call that story a stale idea at this point.
Verdict: Netflix, for sure
4/15
Working For It: The Barbershop franchise is easy. Ice Cube can make as many of these as he wants without needing to worry about diminished returns. The Next Cut brings all the regulars back, welcomes in the Beauty Shop ladies, and adds a few new comic actors. The end result will be the same laid back feel with a couple detours into higher stakes.
Working Against It: Those trailers and TV spots sure are repetitive with the same jokes. I sure hope that's because they don't want to ruin the better jokes, not that those are the strong ones they're using to pull in an audience.
Verdict: Doubtful that I'll ever see it
Working For It: Ryan Reynolds' mind is put into Kevin Costner. Costner must try to unlock his secrets in order to save the world or something. Ryan Reynolds has never been hotter thanks to Deadpool and I keep waiting for another Kevin Costner movie to break big. It feels like we're due a comeback, doesn't it? Gary Oldman's there too. And Gal Gadot and Alice Eve. Tommy Lee Jones. Michael Pitt. I assumed this was a throwaway project, but it has the cast of a superhero movie*.
Working Against It: Self/Less just came out. Is Ryan Reynolds trolling Hollywood or something? It's like he knows that he's too handsome, talented, and funny to not get another movie role, so he actively tries to halt his career momentum whenever he can. Why is he making the same movie he was in a year ago?
Verdict: Unlikely that I'll ever see it
*Literally. By my count, I've get Deadpool, Wonder Woman, Two-Face, Superman's dad, Commissioner Gordon. Quite frankly, I'm shocked that Michael Pitt hasn't been a super villain or Alive Eve hasn't been the reporter/scientist love interest in a movie yet.
Working For It: Jon Favreau assembles an all-star voice cast for a live action remake of the classic movie/book. Visually, the movie looks great, and I'm among the many excited for Bill Murray as Baloo. In the same way that missing Cinderalla last year was never an option, it won't be for The Jungle Book either.
Working Against It: Thanks to my Club 50 project, I've seen more than my fair share of Jungle Book movies recently.
Verdict: I'll see you there opening weekend
Working For It: Emma Watson joins the Colonia Dignidad community in search of her boyfriend. Check out the wikipedia page. I'm guessing things don't go well. Watson is enough to get my interest. It's got Daniel Bruhl too, who was excellent in Rush.
Working Against It: Watson's post Harry Potter career has been more about finding interesting roles than great movies. This fits that mold. The trailer didn't really pull me in the way I think it was meant to.
Verdict: Probably eventually
Working For It: A punk band has to survive against a group of skinheads after witnessing a murder. The leader the the skinheads: Patrick Stewart. That sounds just crazy enough to be interesting. It's also got Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) and Imogen Poots (from, uh, Need for Speed). Oh, and Anton Yelchin. Another Star Trek alum.
Working Against It: There's a lot of versions of this movie that I wouldn't like. If it revels in the violence too much, for example, I'll pass. I haven't seen any of Jeremy Saulnier's other movies, so I don't know what to expect.
Verdict: I'll be looking for it on Netflix
4/22
Working For It: You know that picture of Nixon and Elvis. The awkward one. Imagine a comedy movie about that day with Kevin Spacey playing Nixon and Michael Shannon as Elvis. Sounds fun, right? It has a pretty solid supporting cast too, with Colin Hanks, Alex Pettyfer, Evan Peters, and Ashley Benson.
Working Against It: I think this will come down to people's response to Shannon's Elvis. I got tired of it just from the trailer, so that's a bad sign.
Verdict: I already forgot about this movie
Working For It: I guess no one told the actors that Snow White and the Huntsman wasn't that big of a hit. Maybe it was the success of Frozen, or a killer idea, or perhaps Universal just had nearly everyone still under contract, but here we are, with a sequel (or prequel, I think) with only a tenuous connection to the first movie. I respect the absurd amount of star power here. In addition to bringing back Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth, they got Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain to join. This is a textbook example of how casting can overcome any creative worries I have about a movie.
Working Against It: It's rare that a movie of this profile gets a better cast. Maybe you could argue that Kristen Stewart's appeal trumps Blunt's and Chastain's, but that a very 2012 mindset. Looking at the trailer, the franchise has been retooled for the sequel with a flimsier story. Also, I can't be the only one bothered by a movie that is so clearly highlighting its female characters is named for the one, fairly uninteresting male lead.
Verdict: It would take stunningly bad reviews to scare me away from it.
Working For It: Tom Hanks goes through a midlife crisis that leads him to the Middle East to sell hologram technology to a king or sultan or someone. Hanks must've really like working with Tom Tykwer on Cloud Atlas.
Working Against It: While watching the trailer, I kept feeling like there's something about the movie that its hiding. It looks like a pretty standard Eat, Pray, Love movie. It's something a little weirder though. I'm probably wrong though, so that's why I'll pass on this initially.
Verdict: Right after I get to Larry Crown
Working For It: This is the WASP mom's response to The Guilt Trip. Susan Sarandon is a recent widow who is overbearing in her daughter's (Rose Byrne) life until she start dating motor cyclist (J.K. Simmons). I'm really not sure what the plot is supposed to be, but with those three and a deep roster of supporting characters (Trust me. There's too many to list), I don't need to know much else.
Working Against It: Is it possible that Susan Saradon can do too good of a job in this? I'm already kind of annoyed by her character from a two minute trailer. I know that's the point. Hopefully this is a case of the movie putting it in better context, but I'm not sure I want to risk the price of a ticket to find out. I do like Rose Byne though...
Verdict: Eventually
4/29
Working For It: Key & Peele. Adorable cat. Gang fights. What more do you need?
Working Against It: Answer: nothing.
Verdict: Maybe I should pre-order my ticket now
Working For It: Sometimes, you just want to see Jennifer Aniston, Britt Robertson, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Sudeikis, Sarah Chalke, Shay Mitchell, Christine Lakin, Margo Martindale, Jon Lovitz, and Aasif Mandvi in a movie together.
Working Against It: Sometimes, Jennifer Aniston, Britt Robertson, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Sudeikis, Sarah Chalke, Shay Mitchell, Christine Lakin, Margo Martindale, Jon Lovitz, and Aasif Mandvi in a movie isn't enough to make you want to see it.
Verdict: Not in theaters but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't get to it eventually
Working For It: It's a popular game series and this looks like it's full of kid jokes.
Working Against It: I am not a kid and I never played the games.
Verdict: Definitely not in theaters. Hopefully not after that.
