It's the last gasp
for the summer season right now. The movies released this weekend are
not the types of things studios look at and think, “We're going to
make history.” And that's okay! Each has sleeper potential and,
once again, the studios have varied the genres of the competing films
very well. Let's see what's in store for us.
Unsullied
Director: Simeon
Rice
Writers: John
Nodilo, Simeon Rice
Starring: Murray
Gray, Rusty Joiner, James Guadioso
This was as off my
radar as something can be. I'm usually fairly adept at knowing what's
approaching on the movie release calendar, but until I started
writing this article, I had never even heard of Unsullied. At
the risk of probably sounding like every other person on the internet when
they see the trailer, it has a Most
Dangerous Game-meets-sexual-menace
thing going on. It looks like a cheapie, but if it's performed and
edited well, that's all it will need to succeed as an indie thriller.
A
young woman (Murray Gray) gets stranded when her car breaks down on
the side of the road. A couple young men in a pickup truck pull over
to “help,” but they instead kidnap her and chain her to a bed for
unknown horrors. They then release her into a forest and go
a-huntin'. She jumps from a cliff into a lake. It seems
straightforward and like a standard revenge plot will kick in, but
the execution in totality is what matters in these things. It could
end up a genre classic or a total thud.
We are Your Friends
Director: Max
Joseph
Writers: Max
Joseph, Meaghan Oppenheimer, Richard Silverman
Starring: Zac
Efron, Wes Bentley, Emily Ratajkowski, Jon Bernthal
This is a product
of Magic Mike's success. It has the same golden/green color
palette and handsome/sweaty young men involved in a nightlife
profession. This time around, though, it's the much less visual
milieu of club/backyard DJ-ing. To its credit, there appears to be a
slick style to the direction in the trailer, with tracking shots,
swooping motions, quick editing, and more to spice things up.
Will it live up to
Magic Mike's capitalism-critiquing excellence? With a creative
team that is composed of almost complete unknowns, the possibilities
are all over the place. The cast is good, with people like the
charismatic Zac Efron and a guy who has been popping up in all kinds
of good things the last few years, Jon Bernthal. I'd peg the chances
of it being good at “moderate.”
No Escape
Director: John
Erick Dowdle
Writers: John Erick
Dowdle, Drew Dowdle
Starring: Lake
Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson
An American man
(Owen Wilson) gets a job in a Pacific Island country and moves his
family across the world. Too bad for them, the country is in the
middle of an uprising. There appears to be a genuine sense of dread
and thrills to the trailer. With the horror-thriller sibling team,
John Erick and Drew Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil) behind
it, there could be some not-happy-ending surprises to the thing.
The interesting
thing about No Escape, though, is the casting of the central
couple. Despite dipping his toes in action in the past (anyone
remember Behind Enemy Lines? No? I had to look up the title,
too. It's okay), Owen Wilson has buttered his bread by being a
likable comic actor. Lake Bell has made a name for herself almost
purely in the alt-comedy scene in recent years, too, including this
summer's Netflix series, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of
Camp. Seeing them dodging bullets is a change of pace that could
pay off well, as we are used to them providing us comfort and laughs.
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