April 4th
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (ACTION/SCI-FI)
Directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo; Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Hayley Atwell
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, gunplay and action throughout.
Oh boy, I'm excited for this one. For this ninth film in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe", and the last "Avenger" film before THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON comes out next year (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY comes out in March, but doesn't appear to have major characters directly related to the Avengers), Marvel Studios unconventionally picked a pair of sitcom directors known for cult classics Community and Arrested Development, Joe and Anthony Russo. Although their background is primarily in comedy, the advertising has highlighted some spectacular-looking action and some interestingly dark character developments. Plus, the early buzz has been comparable to THE AVENGERS, and the recommendations don't get much higher than that.
April 11th
DRAFT DAY (SPORTS DRAMA)
Directed by Ivan Reitman; Starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Tom Welling, Terry Crews, Chadwick Boseman, Ellen Burstyn, Frank Langella, Denis Leary
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and sexual references.
Evidently an attempt to score a MONEYBALL-esque appeal, this comedy-drama goes behind the scenes of NFL football as Cleveland Browns general manager played by Kevin Costner fights for the number one draft pick in a desperate attempt to turn his long-time losing club around. With a cast that includes Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary and Frank Langella, the onscreen talent is adequate enough, but director Ivan Reitman is a long time running without a real hit himself, which could either lend an emotional authenticity to Costner's character's similar plight, or prove unsuitable to sustain a sports business dramedy.
April 11th
OCULUS (HORROR)
Directed by Mike Flanagan; Starring Katie Sackhoff, Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, James Lafferty, Rory Cochrane
Rated R for terror, violence, some disturbing images and brief language.
When a young woman's (Doctor Who hottie Karen Gillan) brother is released from a mental hospital ten years after shooting their father after witnessing him kill their mother, she's determined to prove that the true culprit of the crimes attributed to her brother and father is a possessed mirror with previous owner who like wise met bloody ends. It's so difficult to make a clear judgement of most upcoming horror movies, because the genre is one of the most subjective and potentially unpredictable. On the one hand, WWE Studios is behind the film, which is typically a deterrent, but it is an interesting concept and a likable lead.
April 11th
RIO 2 (ANIMATED COMEDY/CHILDREN'S)
Directed by Carlos Saldanha; Featuring the Voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Bruno Mars, George Lopez, Jemaine Clement, Jamie FoxxRated G
Of the highest-grossing, most notable animation studios (particularly headlined by the likes of Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks), Blue Sky Studios, noted for the hit ICE AGE franchise, is definitely the most mediocre, but they churn the movies out and the dollars roll in from non-discriminating families with young children. RIO 2 is the sequel to the 2011 surprise hit about Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), a rare blue macaw who learns to fly; now he's with fellow blue macaw Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and their three kids, and when they hear about the world's last flock of blue macaws living in the Amazon rainforest, they leave their domesticated lifestyle for a wild one. Once there, they run into Jewel's cantankerous dad, resulting in MEET THE PARENTS-style hijinks, while Nigel, the evil cockatoo from the first film, returns to get revenge. It's looks very much like Blue Sky's usual low form of children's entertainment rooted in formulaic storytelling, cliches and shameless stunt casting. Kids aren't likely to mind much.
April 16th
HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (DRAMA)
Directed by Randall Wallace; Starring Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum, Margo Martindale, Thomas Haden Church
Rated PG for thematic material including some medical situations.
Whether or not the film is any good, it's the kind that really upsets me because its audience is so willing to overlook the aspects of quality or lack thereof, and so militant in their defense of it, because its Christian propaganda, but not for the sake of promoting the faith for the unconverted. Based on a book written by an evangelical preacher (played in the film by Greg Kinnear) about his little boy's claims that during emergency surgery he went to Heaven where he saw deceased family members and Jesus riding a "rainbow horse". The trailers are nauseating and embarrassing for the discriminating viewer, with weepy-eyed people listening to the four-year old tell them about their dead relatives, but I suppose if it makes you feel good, then just as well, I guess.
April 18th
TRANSCENDENCE (SCI-FI/THRILLER)
Directed by Wally Pfister; Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Cillian Murphy
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, some bloody images, brief strong language and sensuality.
This much-anticipated directorial debut of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister, known for his work on the Dark Knight trilogy and INCEPTION, is from an original and acclaimed debut script by Jack Paglen, but the concept as shown in the advertising feels overly familiar. Johnny Depp stars as Will Caster, a brilliant scientist who's developing the most advanced artificial intelligence system of all time, but when extremists attempt to stop his work in an assassination attempt, they give him the final ingredient he needs to create a sentient artificial intelligence as he makes himself very much a literal part of the technology. As we very well know by now, from HAL 9000 (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), Skynet (the Terminator films) and Auto (WALL-E), just to name a few, the technology proves to be too advanced for human safety. Visually, it's bound to succeed, but without providing a sufficiently human story in its familiar territory, it's bound to fail. This is one to watch the reviews for.
April 18th
BEARS (NATURE DOCUMENTARY)
Directed by Alastair Fothergill & Keith Scholey; Narrated by John C. Reilly
Rated G
Disneynature's fifth annual Earth Day theatrically-released nature documentary is about grizzly bears filmed in Alaska's Katmai National Park, focusing on a pair of mother bears as they raise their cubs. It's from the directors of Disneynature's 2011 offering, AFRICAN CATS, so hopefully, like that film, there'll be some corny characterizations of the wildlife subjects in the tradition of the classic Disney True-Life Adventures that the studio made from 1948 to 1960.
April 18th
A HAUNTED HOUSE 2 (COMEDY)
Directed by Michael Tiddes; Starring Marlon Wayans, Jaime Pressly, Cedric the Entertainer
Rated R for crude and sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violent images.
If you're actually interested in this, well, you deserve it.
April 25th
BRICK MANSIONS (ACTION/CRIME)
Directed by Camille Delamarre; Starring Paul Walker, David Belle, RZA
Rated PG-13 for frenetic gunplay, violence and action throughout, language, sexual menace and drug material.
In this remake of the 2004 French cult hit DISTRICT 13, which was essentially a parkour showcase that became hugely popular through the internet, Paul Walker, in one of his last completed roles, stars as an undercover cop, yet again, who infiltrates a violent gang with terrorist potential in an attempt to take down their boss. Co-written by Luc Besson, an auteur of idiotic and lurid plotlines overloaded with ludicrous action set pieces, and directed by Camille Delamarre, editor on some of Besson's more recent stinkers, there's undoubtedly an audience for this. That audience, though, likes their movies late at night with as little thought as possible and possibly with a little bit of affecting substance.
April 25th
THE OTHER WOMAN (COMEDY)
Directed by Nick Cassavetes; Starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Kinney
Rated R for some sexual references. (Note: Rating pending an appeal; expect either a changed rating to PG-13 or edits to attain a PG-13)
Not unlike a couple of Cassavetes better-known previous films, THE NOTEBOOK and MY SISTER'S KEEPER, THE OTHER WOMAN looks like a film far better for a girls' night out than for a date, and God help the man who gets dragged along. Cameron Diaz plays a businesswoman who finds out that her boyfriend is married, but unexpectedly bonds with the wife (Leslie Mann), with whom she has much in common. Together, they discover yet another affair being carried on by their assumed lover, this with a gorgeous but ditzy young woman (Kate Upton), and the trio bond while planning their revenge on the three-timing man who inadvertently brought to together.
April 25th
THE QUIET ONES (HORROR)
Directed by John Pogue; Starring Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke, Erin Richards
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, sexual content, thematic material, language and smoking throughout.
The latest from the legendary horror company Hammer Film Productions, who've made a couple of pretty good horror films in the past few years with LET ME IN and THE WOMAN IN BLACK, is THE QUIET ONES, in which an unconventional university professor (Jared Harris) leads his best students into a dark experiment in an attempt to create a poltergeist, which is obviously a bad idea. John Pogue's only other directorial credit to date is a straight-to-DVD sequel to QUARANTINE, so there isn't a lot to go on there, but in all likelihood, it will satisfy most horror fans at the very least.
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