In Theaters: May 29, 2015

There are TWO wide releases this weekend!

Aloha

Writer/director Cameron Crowe lets you know right in the trailer for his latest (Aloha) that he wrote and directed Jerry Maguire.  That is no small notch in your belt, but that was nineteen years ago.  When the trailer mentions an older movie by the same writer/director, but skips over three or four other efforts in the interim there is cause for concern.  So I think this movie could be really quite good or really quite not good.

Aloha is a dramedy about Bradley Cooper's character, a man who used to be in the military (still is?  idk) but had a mental breakdown.  He has some sort of second chance thing going on in Hawaii.  Something about an old boss wanting him back.  Bill Murray is the old boss, Alec Baldwin is the old military commanding officer, Emma Stone is the new military liaison, Rachel McAdams is the ex, and John Krasinski is her new man.  I don't even really know why Danny McBride has a career in acting at all so I won't even bother with him.

Aloha is rated PG-13 for some language including suggestive comments.

San Andreas

San Andreas is a full-blown disaster movie a la 2012.  The San Andreas fault does it's whole major earthquake thing and everybody in California gets in big trouble.

This movie was actually announced ages ago.  It's one of the movies this summer that we have been hearing about for a really long time.  Dwayne Johnson stars as a search and rescue kinda guy.  I think casting him in the center of this movie was a really good choice.  It seems like a natural fit.  Dwayne Johnson has done well in the past playing a family man, and this movie is about him trying to rescue and protect his family.

This movie actually reminds me a lot of last year's Godzilla (which I loved) in that there is a major disaster, but the focus of the movie is on one family, and a man's efforts to keep them safe.

So, the question is, can you smell what The Rock is cooking?  Wait, no.  The question is, can The Rock protect his family from the biggest baddest movie earthquake ever?  The answer is in theaters Friday!  I for one will be going to see.

San Andreas is rated PG-13 for intense disaster action and mayhem throughout, and brief strong language.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 22, 2015

There are TWO wide releases this week!

Poltergeist

Another horror remake!  (On a side note: how long before they make a horror movie about horror remakes?)

All I remember about the old 1982 Poltergeist is Steven Spielberg produced it and I think the house they moved into was built on top of an ancient Indian graveyard.  I think that's why it was haunted.

I'm not really sure what more to say about Poltergeist.  I will point out that the house is not haunted.  There is a spirit (or more than one, I don't remember) that resides in the same location as the house.  Or something.

Oh!  And I will say that Poltergeist is not hardcore horror.  The original was rated PG.  Granted, the PG-13 rating didn't exist until a few years later, but still, don't go into this expecting an uber violent film.

Poltergeist (they should do a sequel about a haunted public pool called Pooltergeist) is rated PG-13 for intense frightening sequences, brief suggestive material, and some language.

Tomorrowland

Those of us who are Brad Bird fans have been waiting FOREVER for this one.  We've only had three Brad Bird films since the year 2000!!!  But that changes on Friday.

The production history of Tomorrowland is very unusual.  News broke that Disney (the company/employees of the company) had found an old chest or box full of Walt Disney's (the person's) stuff or notes or what have you.  Basically they found a time capsule (not sure if it was meant to be a time capsule) left by Walt Disney himself.  And then somehow they made the jump from that to an idea for a movie with the title 1952, and they announced that this movie was inspired by the contents of this box.  Brad Bird was signed to direct.  A little while later they changed the name to Tomorrowland.  We'll see if any of this makes more sense after seeing the movie.

The trailer doesn't really shed that much light on the story.  All we know is that there is a young girl who discovers "Tomorrowland", a sort of alternate reality that is always around us.  Everything is futuristic there (but sort of in a 1952 kinda way, in my opinion).  George Clooney is somehow involved.  It should be solid.

Tomorrowland is rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and peril, thematic elements, and language.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 15, 2015

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

Mad Max: Fury Road

2015 truly is the year of the far-too-late third sequel.  It's been fourteen years since the third Jurassic Park movie was released, yet the fourth is coming next month.  It has been a full THIRTY YEARS since the third Mad Max movie came out (heck, it's been three years since principal photography ended on THIS Mad Max movie).  There were nineteen years between the third and fourth Indiana Jones movies.  How long is too long?  In any case the question we will have answered this weekend is if thirty years is too long.

For the uninitiated, Mad Max is an Australian action franchise that launched the career of it's original star, Mel Gibson.  It all takes place in post-apocalyptic Australia, where the fight for control over oil is all consuming for just about everyone.  Also expect lots of leather and colorful characters.

I have heard that this movie is little more than one feature length chase scene.  I have also heard that that is okay because it's the most amazing chase scene in cinematic history.  That's the upside.

The first downside is that everyone is saying that Tom Hardy (our new Mad Max) has become a supporting character!  Everyone that has seen it says he doesn't have enough screen time.

The second downside is that there are warning signs all over the place telling me that this movie may have been completely co-opted by feminism.  I have nothing against feminism in general, but the last time we had a big movie co-opted by a political force we ended up with Russell Crowe portraying a genocidal Noah with giant rock monsters as side kicks.  Beware.

Mad Max: Fury Road is rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images.

Pitch Perfect 2

Honestly, if you want to go see a movie FULL of strong female characters this weekend just go see Pitch Perfect 2!  You'll probably have a better time of it.

Pitch Perfect 2 is the sequel to the 2012 fall hit about a women's a cappella vocal group.  I never saw the first one, but virtually everyone I know that did see it really enjoyed it.

Pitch Perfect 2 is rated PG-13 for innuendo and language.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 8, 2015

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

The D Train

In this independent (read: too weird and possibly unfunny for a major studio to finance it) comedy Jack Black is organizing a twenty year reunion for his high school.  He finds out his former classmate (Marsden) is a sort of famous actor and tries to book him first with the hope that others will follow.

The D Train is rated R for strong sexual material, nudity, language and drug use.  That sounds really awful.

Hot Pursuit

Reese Witherspoon is a cop escorting her witness (Vergara) to court.  It's an action comedy by the way, but early reviews (and the trailer) say it's really not funny.  Really though, the trailer was incredibly unfunny.  Just go see Avengers again this weekend.  I've already seen it twice.

Hot Pursuit is rated PG-13 for sexual content, violence, language and some drug material.

      Big Shot Critic