In Theaters: August 29, 2014

There are three wide releases this weekend.  Two of them are new.

As Above, So Below

It's a horror movie.  Can you tell?

You already know the story of every horror movie.  Some teenagers are out looking for adventure and they get caught up in something scary.  No surprises here.  They are in catacombs underneath Paris and supernatural stuff starts to happen.  I'm pretty sure that's everything I do know and would ever care to know about this movie.

As Above, So Below is rated R for bloody violence/terror, and language throughout.

I do wonder what bloody terror looks like though.

Ghostbusters

It's been thirty years so why not a re-release?

If you need me to tell you about this movie you have bigger problems than I can help you with.  Go see it if that is the case.  It's worth it.

Ghostbusters is rated PG and was rated in a time without ratings information.

The November Man (Wednesday Release)

Pierce Brosnan is once again a super spy on the big screen!  This time he's an ex-CIA operative who somehow gets involved again after retirement or something.  Because, you know, movies.

The November Man is rated R for strong violence including a sexual assault, language, sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: August 22, 2014

There are three wide releases this weekend.

Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

This movie looks TERRIBLE.  It's been nine years since the first Sin City, so, as a sequel, it's a little bit late.  And unjustified.  And besides that it has a stupidly long title.

Judging from the trailer it's about dead people in some kind of comic book world who team up to take down a corrupt politician.  If that sounds confusing you should try watching the trailer - it's worse.  No way this takes number one this weekend.  I bet Ninja Turtles or When the Game Stands Tall takes it.

Don't go see this it looks awful.

Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is rated . . . oops it appears it's not rated yet.  It'll be rated R though, for sure.

If I Stay

I take it back, this one could also take number one this weekend.

If I Stay is based on a novel of the same name and it's one of those novels that girls in high school go crazy over.  So just like The Fault In Our Stars earlier this year, this one could draw out the hordes of teenage girls.

This one looks like a much more interesting story than The Fault In Our Stars, however.  For one thing, it's not basically a remake of a much better Mandy Moore movie from 2002 (someone had to say it).

The main character gets in a car wreck with her family and while she is comatose she has an out of body experience.  It seems from there she has a choice to come back to life or pass on.  But if she stays nothing will be the same.

Chloë Grace Moretz is a very worthy young actress who I absolutely believe can carry a movie on her own.  Which is good, because her major costars are "that lady from World War Z" and "not Steve Coogan."  At least that is how I refer to them.

that lady from World War Z

Steve Coogan

not Steve Coogan

If I Stay is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some sexual material.

When the Game Stands Tall

There was a high school football team that won 151 consecutive games - the longest winning streak in sports history.  But when the streak ends, what happens then?  That is where this movie happens.  It's an interesting idea for sure.  And I'm a big fan of Jim Caviezel, who plays the coach.  As an added bonus, the movie also features that guy that Katniss shot in the hand at the end of the first Hunger Games!

that guy that Katniss shot in the hand at the end of the first Hunger Games

When the Game Stands Tall is rated PG for thematic material, a scene of violence, and brief smoking.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: August 15, 2014

Three this weekend.

The Expendables 3

The Expendables, as a movie originally, and now as a franchise, is the straightforward idea of casting all the aged-out action stars you can get into one movie.  And The Expendables 3 is the first to be rated PG-13 instead of R.  Notable new additions this time are Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford.

If you like a good over-the-top action movie, then why not?

The Expendables 3 is rated PG-13 for violence including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes, and for language.

The Giver

I am wary of this film.  It comes in the wake of The Hunger Games and Divergent.  Young Adult adaptations are very popular right now, but there's one or two problems.  First, The Giver was not a YA novel.  The main character was eleven in the book, not a teenager.  Therefore this adaptation has been tailored to "current tastes."  That's a red flag.  And secondly, Meryl Streep.  I'm not a fan.

But on the other hand we have Jeff Bridges as the title character.  He's really good.  I am a fan.  Who else can step into a classic John Wayne role and get no complaints?  I refer to the 2010 remake of True Grit.

The Giver is rated PG-13 for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence.

P.S. I just learned director Phillip Noyce directed Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and Salt.  All very taut action thrillers.

Let's Be Cops (Wednesday release)

So two friends dress up like cops for a party and when people actually think they're cops they keep taking it further and further until they get tied up in real dangerous situations.  Not a bad idea for a movie.

Let's Be Cops is rated R for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity, violence and drug use.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: August 8th, 2014

There are four wide releases this weekend.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Being honest, this one looks like a winner to me.  The trailer has me sold.  Director Lasse Hallström is a novel-adapting fiend, having adapted at least ten in the last twenty years.

Helen Mirren plays a renowned restaurant owner in southern France (that's the south of France for you Europeans).  Then the Kadam family moves into town and opens their own restaurant across the street, one hundred feet away.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is rated PG for thematic elements, some violence, language and brief sensuality.

Into The Storm

The trailers for this movie are designed to make you think it's a big deal, but it's not.  Make no mistake.  This is a B movie.  The only interesting thing about it is Richard Armitage as a human instead of a dwarf (he is Thorin in The Hobbit films).

How do I know it's a B movie?  Movie people don't talk about it.  It was directed by a man whose only feature film credit is Final Destination 5.  And it was written by a man whose only feature film credit is also being released this weekend.  More on that later.

It's a B movie. But the special effects should be good.

Into The Storm is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense destruction and peril, and language including some sexual references.

Step Up All In

Writer John Swetnam is best known for Into The Storm.  Or this.  Take your pick because they both come out the same day.  If you see either of them he will have a good weekend, but you might not.

If you just gotta have dancing in your movie this is the one for you.  It's all about dancing.  I don't know if they're ever going to stop making these.  The good news is that Moose is in it.  He's a character in these films and he's a really good dancer.

Step Up All In is rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive material.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

They were gonna come back to the big screen some day.  I just don't know why Will Arnett has to be in it.

This movie is special for at least one reason.  This movie represents the reconciliation of Michael Bay and Megan Fox!  How beautiful is that?  A well documented feud comes to an end not in a statement to the press but in an actual collaberation!  Truly inspiring.

I think we should all give this movie a fair chance.  Yes, Hollywood can ruin cherished memories.  Yes, it's happened more than once.  But I think they might be going the right direction with this.  We'll find out.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

COWABUNGA!!

      Big Shot Critic