Monthly Movie Preview: July 2014

July is the third of the four months of the summer movie season, and the point where the pickings tend to dry up some before descending into the dumping grounds of August  July is the month most subject to what we call "blockbuster fatigue", after two months of big-budget, typical summer action fare has left audiences feeling weary of all the CGI destruction and longing for something smaller to shake it up.  Hollywood doesn't tend to take advantage of this though, instead throwing a last few blockbuster epics at the screens in hopes that one of them becomes a sweeping sensation across the nation, a la THE DARK KNIGHT or PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, which both opened in July and grossed a billion dollars worldwide.  But even while this summer so far hasn't had any big sensations or a presence of the action genre on the level of recent years, this July is pretty slight and eclectic.  Perhaps owing to the surprise success of last year's very scary THE CONJURING, released in July, this month has two horror offerings (one of them a sequel), plus a few comedies and a couple of low-rent sequels.  The only summer blockbuster-style films this month are DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which looks amazing, and HERCULES, which looks less so.

July 2nd
DELIVER US FROM EVIL  (HORROR/CRIME-THRILLER) 
Directed by Scott Derrickson; Starring Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn
Rated R for bloody violence, grisly images, terror throughout, and language.
This allegedly truth-based supernatural horror follows a New York cop played by Eric Bana who teams up with a priest, played by Edgar Ramirez, when a case he's working on takes on a demonic nature.  Director Scott Derrickson's last film, SINISTER, certainly had its fans, but the combination of Derrickson's unreliable batting average, the source material and Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer, it doesn't sound promising to me.

July 2nd
EARTH TO ECHO  (SCI-FI/ADVENTURE)
Directed by Dave Green; Starring Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt
Rated PG for some action and peril, and mild language.
An unlikely family film addition to the tired "found-footage" sub-genre, EARTH TO ECHO is by all appearances an E.T. rip-off about a group of kids who discover a friendly alien who they then help to get back home.  The film was made by Walt Disney Studios, but then sold to Relativity Media, which seems to have taken a Disney poster concept and just replaced the studio logos.  I'm not sure that there's much interest in this film, which uses the "shaky cam" handheld technique mostly used for cheap horror films and applies it to a brazenly unoriginal story aimed at preteen boys.  In all likelihood, the film will flop at the box office.

July 2nd
TAMMY  (COMEDY)
Directed by Ben Falcone; Starring Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Dan Aykroyd
Rated R for language including sexual references.
Comedienne Melissa McCarthy stars as the title character in her husband Ben Falcone's directorial debut, about Tammy, a luckless woman having a very bad day with the loss of her job, her husband and her car.  Without money or transportation, she reluctantly teams up with alcoholic grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), for a slapdash road trip to see Niagara Falls.  If you're a fan of McCarthy's big-mouthed, brash persona, this will undoubtedly deliver, and depending on how Sarandon interprets her potentially contrived role, it could be a lot of fun.

July 11th
AND SO IT GOES  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY/DRAMA) 
Directed by Rob Reiner; Starring Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Yaya Alafia
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and drug elements.
Rob Reiner's newest romantic comedy reunites him with both Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton for a "feel-good" story of a crotchety old realtor (Douglas) who finds himself saddled with a nine-year old granddaughter, leading him to turn to his neighbor (Keaton) for help, and everything we already know will happen, probably happens.  It sounds foul, but you know, if it's your thing, that's fine I guess.

July 11th  
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES  (SCI-FI/ACTION-THRILLER)
Directed by Matt Reeves; Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action,
This follow-up to the surprisingly good 2011 film RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is one of the most exciting releases this summer, even, and perhaps because of, a change in director, with accomplished horror director Matt Reeves (of CLOVERFIELD and LET ME IN fame) taking the reins with only the motion-capture ape performers returning.  Mo-cap pioneering actor Andy Serkis returns as Caesar, chimpanzee leader to a rising nation of genetically evolved apes in a dystopian future where most of humanity has been wiped out by virus ten years earlier.  Some of the surviving humans have befriended the apes and formed a fragile peace, but others blame the apes for the virus, threatening to explode into all-out war for domination of the planet.  With an excellent cast including Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman, and the promise of speaking apes wielding firearms atop horses, it looks even better than its predecessor.  Plus, 20th Century Fox has had such positive reactions to early cuts, that they've already signed Reeves on for another installment.

July 18th
PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE  (ANIMATED/CHILDREN)
Directed by Roberts Gannaway; Featuring the Voices of Dane Cook, Julie Bowen, Ed Harris
Rated PG for action and some peril.
Were there people over the age of five who liked the first PLANES?  Not that it matters, because the tykes dragged their reluctant parents into theaters and made the movie a success, but that doesn't even account for the millions of dollars made from toys that snot-nosed kids begged the parents for.  This sequel (to the original which had originally been intended as a straight-to-DVD release) brings back Dusty Crophopper, the cropduster racing plane voiced by every junior high boy's second-favorite favorite comedian, Dane Cook, who now ventures into the world of wildfire air attack.  Hopefully, there will be a veteran firefighting plane who goes down in flames for a poignant second act slow point.

July 18th
THE PURGE: ANARCHY  (THRILLER/HORROR)
Directed by James DeMonaco; Starring Frank Grillo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Michael K. Williams, Carmen Ejogo, Billy Parker
Rated R for strong disturbing violence, and for language.
Because last year's THE PURGE made back it's tiny production cost more than ten times over in just its opening weekend, a sequel was inevitable.  In the future United States, the annual "Purge" is a 12-hour period in which all crime is legal, including and especially murder, as a form of population control and an allegedly cathartic release of criminal urges.  This sequel follows five people who come together on the night of the Purge, stranded outside in the hellish landscape.  Despite its success, the first film has a generally negative reputation with audiences due to its slow and confined low-budget approach.  The sequel is attempting to address that concern, and the advertising emphasizes that THE PURGE: ANARCHY takes its characters out into the world of the Purge, but the fact that the budget is staying the same negates that potential.

July 25th

HERCULES  (ACTION/FANTASY)

Directed by Brett Ratner; Starring Dwayne Johnson, Irina Shayk, John Hurt, Ian McShane

Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences, violence, suggestive comments, brief strong language and partial nudity.

Brett Ratner, or The Rock?  Brett Ratner..., or The Rock?  Much-loathed filmmaker Brett Ratner (the RUSH HOUR trilogy, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) teams up with irresistibly charming muscle-head Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for the second, and more prolific, film this year inspired by the legendary Greek hero, following January's THE LEGEND OF HERCULES.  Based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars, the story finds the legendary Greek hero/demigod, as played by Johnson, at the completion of his famous twelve labors, living as a sword-for-hire, who finds purpose again in fighting for the King of Thrace against an evil warlord.  Initially, it was marketed as being "grounded in realism", without mythological elements, however, the trailers seem to refute that entirely, with hydras and gargantuan lions.  In any case, it's a big b-movie, but the question is, is this more Johnson's movie (good) or more Ratner's movie (bad)?

July 25th
SEX TAPE  (COMEDY)
Directed by Jake Kasdan; Starring Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry
Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.
Director Jake Kasdan re-teams with his BAD TEACHER stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, with a script from the writer of THE BACK-UP PLAN, for this raunchy comedy about a couple who attempt to reintroduce some spice to their love life by filming themselves, but when the video is accidentally let loose on the internet, they rush into damage control mode.  The premise is predictable, but the previews have had a few laughs, and Kasdan's films come in varying degrees of success.