This week is a
little confusing as far as releases go. There is the now-obligatory
attempt to get Bill Murray an Oscar in a movie most people don't care
for, and there is a real-deal contender for best of the year. But
there are also two movies that would normally be smack dab in the
middle of the summer season. Let's see what's up with this weekend at
the movies.
Jem and the Holograms
Director: Jon M.
Chu
Writer: Ryan
Landels
Starring: Aubrey
Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko
I have known two
people in my life who loved the Jem and the Holograms TV show,
but never once have I experienced what I have been promised as sheer
wonderfulness – I suspect those recommendations were either
facetious or based on nostalgia. Or maybe it's good! I don't know.
Pretty much
everyone here in the film adaptation is a newcomer, with the
exception of director Jon M. Chu, whose work, mostly in music videos
and dance-related films, I personally have not seen. This one's a
total wild card as far as quality goes, but it sure does feel like
it's out a few months late, doesn't it?
Rock the Kasbah
Director: Barry
Levinson
Writer: Mitch
Glazer
Starring: Bill
Murray, Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Leem Lubany
Bill Murray plays a
rock music manager looking for a spark, that artist who can do the
things of his dreams. He finds it in a young woman, played by Leem
Lubany, in the Middle East. Hence the Clash-inspired title. Get it?
The cast surrounding Murray is fun when they're not sleepwalking –
I'm looking at you, Bruce Willis. But there has not been a good
reception to it so far from the critical community, so I'm not
exactly rushing to get my ticket.
The Last Witch Hunter
Director: Breck
Eisner
Writers: Cory
Goodman, Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless
Starring: Vin
Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Michael Caine
The other “why
didn't this come out during the summer” movie has everything you
could want from a big-budget action adventure. It has Vin Diesel.
That's all you need. It also has witches and sorcery and a couple
good jump scares in the trailer. This one seems weirdly, maybe
unfairly, sandwiched into a season just because the studio didn't
know what to do with it.
Room
Director:
Lenny Abrahamson
Writer:
Emma Donoghue
Starring:
Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Wendy Crewson
This
one's the main event for my personal taste. I've had it on my radar
for a while. Brie Larson plays a young mother kidnapped with her son
and forced to live in a tiny shed in the back of some psychopath's
home. She pretends to her son that this is the world. It's just the
two of them. She wants to protect him, but probably has to shatter
his entire worldview in order to get him to escape when the chance
arrives. And once they get out – not a spoiler, it's in the trailer
you can see right above this paragraph – they have to adjust to
society after suffering through years of trauma. Brie Larson has
quickly risen to “must watch” status in recent years so her turn
here could be the tipping point into her becoming one of the
performers of her generation.
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