The PopMatters Fall Movie Preview – September 2011

September starts out with nearly 30 titles, including some Summer season leftovers (Shark Night 3D, Killer Elite), a few poorly timed temptations (Drive, 50/50) and at least two date hopping aesthetic question marks (The Debt, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy).

 

Director: John Madden

Film: The Debt

Cast: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Jessica Chastain

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/t/thedebtposter.jpg

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31 August
The Debt

It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for this film. It debuted last year at the Toronto Film Festival and was scheduled to make an end of the year awards run. Then the Weinsteins shelved those plans and posted distribution to February, then Summer, then 31 August specifically. Luckily, the end result was worth the wait — delays and all. As a smart, sensible thriller with an intriguing main premise — the capturing of an aging Nazi war criminal — the company may think it has another Oscar contender on its hands. While not quite up to that caliber, it is a solid cinematic experience.

 

Director: David R. Ellis

Film: Shark Night 3D

Cast: Sara Paxton, Alyssa Diaz, Dustin Milligan, Katharine McPhee, Joel David Moore

MPAA rating: PG-13

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2 September
Shark Night 3D

It figures that a mere two days after a thoughtful look at the lasting impact of the Holocaust, a exploitative bit of schlock would arrive in theaters. It just makes some manner of mad Tinseltown marketing sense. Anyway, the trailers have been touting this as a bloody good time at the movies, even with the wholly unnecessary PG-13 rating (are the under 12 crowd really lining up to see a film about killer sharks???) and we are a bit suspect of the whole thing. An R would indicated gore and gratuity. A less mature MPAA mark probably means basic B-movie BS.

 

Director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego

Film: Apollo 18

Cast: Lloyd Owen, Warren Christie

MPAA rating: PG-13

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2 September
Apollo 18

Like The Debt, this was another heavily promoted release that suddenly up and flew its pre-Summer season coop. Now, after moving it to a post-popcorn slot, the studio is canceling proposed press screenings. Always a sign of assured quality. In any case, this “found footage” effort (are we almost done with this genre subcategory, please?) argues that the last Apollo astronauts landed on the moon and then found something not too friendly. Lots of shaky cam chaos ensues. Frankly, since [REC] and its amazing sequel, we haven’t seen a good first person POV thriller. This doesn’t look to change that.

 

Director: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck

Film: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Bibb, Lake Bell, Michelle Borth, Nick Kroll, Tyler Labine, Lindsay Sloane

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/news_art/a/a_good_old_fashioned_orgy.jpg

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2 September
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

While the title it titilating, the resulting film is far from it. Meld Animal House and any Judd Apatow film with The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill and you have this earnest ensemble piece. The premise — a group of best friends decide to throw a sex party as their last ‘gasp’ at a favored Hamptons home — should be the stuff of prime R-rated ribaldry. Unfortunately, the MPAA label is for language, not lewdness. Indeed, this is another work of wit which sees the F-bombs as an exclamation point, not a straight ahead subversive strike. Indeed, the entire movie plays passive instead of perverted.

 

Director: Beto Gómez

Film: Saving Private Perez

Cast: Miguel Rodarte, Jesús Ochoa, Joaquín Cosio, Gerardo Taracena

MPAA rating: PG-13

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2 September
Saving Private Perez

The plotline sounds like a spoof. A Mexican gangster and his fellow hoods are forced by his mother to save his brother from one of the most unlikely places on Earth, Iraq. Now. During the American occupation of same. In essence, it’s the War on Drugs vs. the War on Terror. Based on a comic book by co-writer Francisco Payó González, one could easily see Robert Rodriguez turning this into an exercise in style over satire. As it stands, there is little known about this film, aside from the cast and the unusual approach.

 

Director: Matt Russell

Film: Seven Days in Utopia

Cast: Robert Duvall, Lucas Black, Melissa Leo, Kelly Tilghman

MPAA rating: PG

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2 September
Seven Days in Utopia

When something is called an “inspiration”, it usual means it’s quite mediocre. Few films that use faith or religious values resonate at the box offices. Generally audiences want to escape or be told a compelling story, not be evangelized. Some, however, have come to call this Cars for the pro-golf circuit, since the story centers on a former champion who finds himself stuck in the title small town. There, he meets a wise old pro (Robert Duvall) who shows him a more spiritual path to success. Considering the competition and its inherent lack of universality, this should be a big hit on the Hallmark Channel… six months from now.

9 September

 

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Film: Contagion

Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet

MPAA rating: R

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9 September
Contagion

As his self-imposed retirement winds down (apparently, we are at five more films and counting), Stephen Soderbergh has decided to go commercial again, this time taking on the end of the world from a pandemic standpoint. With an amazing cast and a concept that has yet to be fully explored, he’s on to something spectacular. Of course, when the trailer was released a few weeks back, the Internet was agog with what they saw (“they revealed the death of a big name star!?!?!?”). Leave it to Soderbergh to stir up controversy before the movie is released, kind of like announcing the planned end of your career.

 

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Film: Warrior

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Nick Nolte

MPAA rating: PG-13

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9 September
Warrior

Lionsgate LOVES this movie. In this critic’s market alone they have screened it seven times, and are adding yet another the week of release. Clearly, they want early word of mouth and lots of it. Some have even come to call it the MMA Rocky of 2011, referencing Sylvester Stallone’s unlikely Oscar winner of 1976 (beating out All the President’s Men, Taxi Driver, and Network — wow!). Whatever the case, the formulaic story about two brothers fighting for the same prize may seem old school, but the new sport setting and contemporary casting (British actor Tom Hardy looks like a beast!) could easily win over film fans as well as sports nuts.

 

Director: Tom Brady

Film: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Cast: Nick Swardson, Christina Ricci, Don Johnson, Stephen Dorff

MPAA rating: R

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9 September
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Sigh. It’s a Happy Madison production you know, Adam Sandler’s shingle. Not only has it been responsible for most of the comedian’s low brow efforts as of late, but it’s also thrust the unfunny Kevin Smith down our throats for one too many films. Now, the nominal Nick Swardson is getting vehicle, an R rated raunch out which has the stand-up playing the offspring of two ‘famous’ ’70s porn stars. So naturally, he has to step in and follow in the family flesh peddling footsteps. Groan. Oh, and it’s directed by the guy who did the god-awful college football film The Comebacks. Need we say more?

 

Director: Göran Olsson

Film: The Black Power Mix Tape 1967 – 1975

Cast: Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Erykah Badu, Danny Glover

MPAA rating: R

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9 September
The Black Power Mix Tape 1967 – 1975

So here’s a novel idea for a documentary. Take footage shot in the 1970s by documentarians hoping to capture the full force and funk fury of the Black Power Movement, and then give it to a Swedish filmmaker to slice, dice, recast and remix into whatever he wants. What makes the approach doubly unique is that the original material came from other Scandinavian journalists and reporters, all of whom were fascinated by the urban rebellion of the Me Decade. Critics love to laud foreigners, sighting their ability to do a better job of capturing our zeitgeist than American moviemakers. This seems to be the case here.

16 September

 

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Film: Drive

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Isaac Oscar, Albert Brooks

MPAA rating: R

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16 September
Drive

He’s directed Bronson, Valhalla Rising, and Pusher. He’s written Jude, The Four Feathers, and Killshot. Together, Nicolas Winding Refn and Hossein Amini are taking Ryan Gosling and turning him into a Hollywood stuntmen walking dangerously close along the edge of legal and unlawful. When a heist goes wrong, it’s contract killers on his tail. With Albert Brooks as the chief bad guy and a cast including Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Ron Pearlman, the acting appears ready to deliver. Now, if our duo can find a way to make this otherwise familiar material seem fresh — perhaps ala David Lynch’s Lost Highway — they may have something.

 

Director: Douglas McGrath

Film: I Don’t Know How She Does It

Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Christina Hendricks, Olivia Munn, Kelsey Grammer

MPAA rating: PG-13

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16 September
I Don’t Know How She Does It

Frankly, we can’t understand why the moviegoing public ALLOWS her to do it. For all her Sex and the City sizzle, Sarah Jessica Parker is an underachiever when it comes to all other areas of pop culture. That she is considered a fashion icon is as much about hype as a real lack of style trendsetters. Like Jennifer Aniston, she continues to ride the coattails of something that was so last Lohan and yet here she is in yet another contemporary comedy (apparently, no one involved with this one heard of the Morgans, either). This story of a supermom discovering her limits sounds lame, and our guess is that it will be.

 

Director: Rod Lurie

Film: Straw Dogs

Cast: James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård, Dominic Purcell, Laz Alonso, Willa Holland, James Woods

MPAA rating: R

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16 September
Straw Dogs

Remake The Wild Bunch and be done with it… oh wait, they’re doing that as well. In this case, the formidable 1971 thriller which starred Dustin Hoffman and Susan George has been retrofitted to the heart the deep South and recast with James Madsen as the husband and Kate Bosworth as the potential sexual assault statistic. The trailer makes it all seem like a revamp of Last House on the Left, with the revenge element taking splattery center stage. While Sam would appreciate the blood, he’d probably hate everything else.

 

Director: Gus Van Sant

Film: Restless

Cast: Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Chin Han

MPAA rating:

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16 September
Restless

It looks like former indie darling Gus Van Sant is up to his old oddball tricks again. After a decade wandering in the complicated combined commercial/arthouse wilderness, he’s back to being a baffling, challenging filmmaker. The story here centers on a girl dying of cancer who meets a funeral “groupie”. They fall in love, while he seeks advice from the ghost of a World War II Kamikaze pilot. Though withdrawn from both Sundance and a January 2011 release, advanced word on this supposed return to form has been very positive. Let’s hope it’s more My Own Private Idaho and less Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

23 September

 

Director: Bennett Miller

Film: Moneyball

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt, Casey Bond

MPAA rating: PG-13

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23 September
Moneyball

Brad Pitt is Billy Beane. Who, you say? Well, unless you are well versed in the behind the scenes strategizing of big league baseball, you probably don’t recognize the name of the Oakland Athletics vaunted General Manager. Celebrated for the changes he brought to the business of America’s former pastime (if very few playoff wins/ World Series appearances), the film version of the popular tell-all tome has been embroiled in a bit of controversy since it was announced. Original, Steven Soderbergh was set to direct, but budget and time constraints got in the way. Now, Capote‘s Bennett Miller is behind the lens. An interesting choice for an unusual subject, to say the least.

 

Director: John Singleton

Film: Abduction

Cast: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Sigourney Weaver

MPAA rating: PG-13

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23 September
Abduction

Ever since hitting it big — really big — some three years ago with the Twilight saga, shoulder shrug himbo Taylor Lautner has been looking for the right starring vehicle. Apparently, life as a ripped Native American werewolf is not all it’s cracked up to be. Here, the more than capable John Singleton puts the poster boy through his paces as a young man who discovers his entire life is a lie. The title seems to refer to the fact that he was kidnapped and declared missing as a child. One has to assume lots of amped up action ensues.

 

Director: Gary McKendry

Film: Killer Elite

Cast: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Robert De Niro

MPAA rating: R

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23 September
Killer Elite

Not to be confused with Sam Peckinpah’s action thriller The Killer Elite (the man’s legacy can only handle one unnecessary remake per cinematic cycle), this is actually based on the book The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The novel tells the tale of the British Special Air Service and the assasination of their membership by a group of hitmen called the Clinic. The “Feather” Men are actually a group that comes together to counteract the threat. With the titanic testosterone talents of Jason Statham and some solid supporting work from Clive Owen, Robert DeNiro, and Dominic Purcell, this could be the jolt September always seems to need.

 

Director: Marc Forster

Film: Machine Gun Preacher

Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Madeline Carroll, Kathy Baker

MPAA rating: R

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23 September
Machine Gun Preacher

It sounds like an exploitation title from 1973. The premise even plays like Walking Tall relocated to the Sudan. However, with a little more research, it turns out that this Gerard Butler vehicle is actually based on the true story of Sam Childers, a motorcycle riding former gang member who traveled to Africa to defend and rescue children trapped in the aforementioned country’s contentious war zone. We get the typical backstory — drugs, alcohol, violence, run-ins with the law — but then Childers straightens out his life, heads to the embattled country, and begins his new mission. He currently have over 300 kids in his care. That being said, this film better do his story justice. He apparently deserves it.

 

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Film: Dolphin Tale

Cast: Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, Nathan Gamble, Morgan Freeman

MPAA rating: PG

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23 September
Dolphin Tale

It’s based on a true story: a bottlenose dolphin which had lost its tail is taken in by a Florida Aquarium and eventually retrofitted with a prosthetic. Of course, this being Hollywood, we have to have a cute little tow-headed kid involved to provide the necessary Free Willy waterworks. While the cast includes Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, most of the heavy lifting here is being done by Harry Connick, Jr. and interchangeable child star Nathan Gamble. While it’s perhaps unfair to criticize something sight unseen, here’s imagining a syrupy, saccharine five handkerchief time for audiences everywhere.

 

Director: Ami Horowitz, Matthew Groff

Film: U.N. Me

Cast: David Bosco, Ken Cain, Roberta Cohen, Norm Coleman, Simon Deng

MPAA rating: PG-13

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23 September
U.N. Me

This is nothing new. Back in the ’60s, road signs along American highways used to read “Get the US out of the UN.” Still, first-time filmmakers Ami Horowitz and Matthew Groff believe they have stumbled upon some sort of investigative truth — that the United Nations no longer supports the principles upon which it was founded — and are walking away with film festival prizes because of it. This documentary, which hopes to expose the organization’s highly politicized and pandering positions, has been accused of the very same thing. While we can accept such from someone like Michael Moore, these two novices have their work cut out for them.

30 September

 

Director: Jonathan Levine

Film: 50/50

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston, Philip Baker Hall

MPAA rating: R

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30 September
50/50

A comedy about cancer? Wait, hasn’t Showtime been milking that entertainment improbability for the last year or so. On the plus side, the cast — including lead Jonathan Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Angelica Huston, and Bryce Dallas Howard — is impressive. On the other hand, director Jonathan Levine still has to answer for The Wackness… as well as the fact that his horror movie All the Boys Love Mandy Lane has yet to see an American release some four years after it was made. Still, the trailers have been encouraging, the dark humor and ample heart on display providing a nice balance between subject and approach.

 

Director: Jim Sheridan

Film: Dream House

Cast: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas Claire Geare Taylor Geare

MPAA rating: PG-13

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30 September
Dream House

This Daniel Craig thriller is already getting a lot of attention… and not necessarily in a good way. Messageboard Nation has been mocking the trailer which seems to give away a major plot point (our lead’s character is a recently released mental patient) but one has to believe that accomplished filmmaker Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In America) has more up his sleeve than such a sloppy reveal. Of course, once one learns that the studio, Universal, wrestled control away from the filmmaker and that Craig and co-star Rachel Weisz hate the end result so much they refuse to promote it, the preview possibility becomes all the more probable.

 

Director: Mark Mylod

Film: What’s Your Number?

Cast: Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Joel McHale, Ari Graynor, Matt Bomer, Zachary Quinto

MPAA rating: PG-13

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30 September
What’s Your Number?

Anna Faris plays a woman who looks back at the last 20 relationships she’s had, wondering if one of them was her true love. Hoping to avoid his rush of ridiculous girlfriends, her male buddy Colin decides to help her find out. Guess what happens next? If you are a student of the stunted Hollywood RomCom, you can draw your own cliched conclusions. Until someone radical like Quentin Tarantino or David Fincher comes along and reinvents this rotten genre, we’ll be stuck with more and more mediocre love stories. At one time, the cinematic category was fun and inviting. Now, it’s just irritating.

 

Director: Alex Kendrick

Film: Courageous

Cast: Alex Kendrick, Ken Bevel, Kevin Downes, Ben Davies, Robert Amaya, Renee Jewell, Elanor Brown

MPAA rating: PG

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30 September
Courageous

Christian Drama… two words which sound death knells at box offices all across America. As much as parents and other concerned adults argue for more wholesome and moral entertainment fair, film such as this one just don’t kick up a lot of commercial dust. Instead, they wear their dated dogma on their preachy sleeves, leaving non-believers cold and the faithful frustrated. The name behind this law enforcement film — Alex Kendrick — has had some success with titles such as Facing the Giants and Fireproof, but he’s still a long way from mainstream success. One doubts this otherwise noble effort will change that fact.

 

Director: Eli Craig

Film: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Chelan Simmons

MPAA rating: R

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30 September
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

The title alone grabs one’s attention. Then, when you learn that this is a horror comedy where blood and guts are used as punchlines, your spirits brighten again. Finally, upon discovering that Eli Craig’s subversive spin sees our redneck hillbilly heroes attacked by a group of teens who are sure they are chainsaw wielding maniacs, the smiles just grow and grow. Of course, with all this promise and anticipated comic carnage, the movie could definitely drop and ball and underwhelm. But with early reviews already ecstatic over the combination of splatter and satire and the genre in desperate need of a jolt, this could be the scary slapstick savior we’ve been waiting for.

 

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Film: Margaret

Cast: Anna Paquin, J. Smith-Cameron, Matt Damon, Krysten Ritter, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick

MPAA rating: R

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30 September
Margaret

Oh boy, here’s another long dormant project finally seeing the light of day. Thanks in part to her stunning success as part of HBO’s True Blood, Anna Paquin’s presence here is of interest, and writer/director Kenneth Lonergran was responsible for the beloved indie hit You Can Count on Me (he is also an accomplished writer and playwright). But the near five-year post production on this film doesn’t argue for its ultimate success. The plot revolves around a young girl who may or may not have contributed to a deadly school bus accident while she flirts with her teachers. Sounds like it should stay on the shelf a bit longer.

 

Director: Jeff Nichols

Film: Take Shelter

Cast: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Katy Mixon, Shea Whigham, Kathy Baker

MPAA rating: R

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30 September
Take Shelter

Michael Shannon is due. After amazing work in film after film, he is owed at least one Oscar (for his work as Kim Fowley in The Runaways) and at least a couple of Academy nods. This latest effort, involving a simple workingman suddenly plagued by disturbing apocalyptic visions, seems right up his alley. Co-starring female flavor of the moment Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life, The Help) and offering a more personal and psychological view of the End of the World, Shannon seems perfect for this role. Let’s just hope that relative novice Jeff Nichols can pull this off. His star deserves it.