In Theaters: September 1, 2017

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
(2017 Re-Release)

I'm not sure whose cash grab this is.  I don't think it's Spielberg's.  Maybe Sony's?

Honestly, this is a pretty smart cash grab, as cash grabs go.  I don't know if you've heard, but the box office has been in a real slump lately, so it's the perfect time for moves like this.  They literally couldn't have picked a better weekend.  Because it's gonna be SLOW.

I admit here and now that I have never seen Close Encounters.  I never really wanted to see it.  I'm more a fan of that other science fiction movie that came out in 1977.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is rated PG.  They didn't offer ratings information back then, but when it went back to theaters for its twentieth anniversary it was rated PG for intense sci-fi action, and thematic elements.

Tulip Fever

Alicia Vikander turns one too many heads in seventeenth century Amsterdam.

The premise is really simple.  A beautiful orphan marries a wealthy aristocrat.  It's a loveless marriage, and when the man commissions a painter to do a portrait of himself and his wife, the painter and the wife become romantically involved.

Tulip Fever is rated R for sexual content and nudity.

      Big Shot Critic

Almost all tickets for almost all shows are only $5 this weekend at Harkins!  So go see Spider-Man again!

In Theaters: August 25, 2017

There are THREE wide releases this weekend.

All Saints

The Christian film industry would like you to know that the guy from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is now old.

In All Saints, John Corbett plays a pastor who is sent to a church to oversee its downsizing.  There aren't enough people attending, and it's going broke.  While everyone encourages him to just let it happen and not drum up some scheme, he comes up with an almost Field-of-Dreams-esque plan to save the church, turning excess land into farmland, and some recent immigrants (with skill in farming) into farmers.

All Saints looks like another run of the mill faith-based film to me.  There will eventually be another Christian film that elevates the genre, but likely not this one.

All Saints is rated PG for thematic elements.

Birth of the Dragon

So for some reason they decided to make a movie about Bruce Lee.

Normally I wouldn't feel so against a movie about an old actor, but Bruce Lee is still a household name, and remains a sort of pop culture icon.  He is not even close to forgotten, and I just think these movies work better when they are able to revive interest in a historic figure, instead of ride the wave of their popularity.

The action scenes look pretty amazing though.

Birth of the Dragon is rated PG-13 for martial arts violence, language and thematic elements.

Leap!

It just looks awful.  It really does.  I'm sorry, my readers know I like reporting good things about movies, but I am bound by honesty.

Leap! is about two orphans in France (time period indicated by the partially constructed Eiffel Tower) who escape their orphanage to chase their dreams.  The boy wants to be an inventor and the girl wants to be a ballerina.  Count on the girl being the main character.  In other markets this movie is actually called Ballerina.

Balleri - I mean Leap! is rated PG for some impolite humor, and action.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: August 18, 2017

There are TWO new wide releases this weekend.

Logan Lucky

Director Steven Soderbergh is really a genre all to himself.  I'm not sure how to explain it, but if you've seen any of the Ocean's films he directed, you know he has a very distinct style.  They weren't quite heist films, or action films, or comedies.  It's as if he makes style become his substance.  And he's always doing things just a little bit differently, seemingly just because he can.

Take Logan Lucky for example.  On the face of it everything looks very normal.  A normal movie.  But the credited writer, Rebecca Blunt, might not be real.  No one has been able to find her.  While shooting, she never appeared on set, but did communicate with at least three of the actors via email from the UK.  The film news world has had a minor fuss about this, but is afraid to plaster it all over, lest Rebecca is indeed real!  And Steven Soderbergh's only comment?  "Well, that's going to be news to Rebecca Blunt.  When people make a statement like that they should be very careful, especially when it's a woman screenwriter who is having her first screenplay produced."  So is she real and Steven is protecting her?  Or is she fake and Steven is trolling?  I wouldn't put either one past him, and theories abound.  Some say it's Steven himself.  Other people suggested have been Steven's wife, and Steven's wife's co-worker (I'm not kidding).  My guess is that Rebecca Blunt is Steven Soderbergh, but I have no idea.  It wouldn't be the first time he used a pseudonym.

On to the story.  Logan Lucky is about a group of hillbillies who come together to perform a heist on the vault of a Nascar race in North Carolina, the Coca-Cola 600.  Channing Tatum's character leads the crew, with his brother played by Adam Driver, and a convicted bank robber who helps them played by Daniel Craig.  Also starring Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, and Seth MacFarlane.

Daniel Craig looks like he is having the time of his life playing a hillbilly in this movie.  And I will definitely be going to see this one this weekend.

Logan Lucky is rated PG-13 for language and some crude comments.

The Hitman's Bodyguard

Okay so it's an action comedy.  Ryan Reynolds is a professional bodyguard, and Samuel L Jackson is a hitman.  The hitman needs to testify at a high profile trial against a former dictator, and the bodyguard is supposed to protect him.  That's the premise.

It would look like an okay action movie if it wasn't so thoroughly rated R.

The Hitman's Bodyguard is rated R for strong violence and language throughout.

      Big Shot Critic

Editorial: The Daniel Craig Years

When I was sixteen years old Daniel Craig was announced as the sixth actor to play James Bond.  I wasn't all that familiar with James Bond at the time.  I knew there had been many films, and I liked GoldenEye the best.

I was just starting to understand and examine movies a little deeper, at least as far as deciphering what I liked and what I didn't like.  I learned that my expectations had a big impact on how much I enjoyed a movie - or how unimpressed I might be.  And after learning this about my expectations, Casino Royale - Daniel Craig's first Bond film - became the grand experiment, so to speak.  Having learned that measured expectations can be the key to enjoying a movie, I let my expectations for Casino Royale run wild.  I got just as excited as I darn well wanted to get.  And that was pretty excited.

Why did I get so excited for Casino Royale?  I'm not sure.  I don't remember.  Probably because I always liked the idea of spy movies and this one looked like it would get it just right.  I honestly don't remember.  The point is that I was very excited.

The grand experiment was a monumental success.  My expectations were met and exceeded in every way.  I loved the movie.

Walking out of the theater I remember feeling that I had just seen something special.  It's the feeling you get when you realize, in the moment, that something important has just happened, you just don't know how important yet.  It changed my world.  I didn't know movies could do what it did.

What if the movie disappointed me?  What if it was lame?  Would I have my own movie blog today?  Would I be half as fascinated with film?  We'll never know.  But when I was new on this path - just starting out, relatively speaking - Casino Royale came along at just the right moment and propelled me further down that road in a single bound than any other individual event in my life.  I had to learn all I could about how movies could affect people so dramatically.  And while I've learned a whole lot about this in the intervening years, there's still an inexhaustible amount of learning ahead.

For this reason I have to wonder if Casino Royale will ever be surpassed as my favorite movie of all time.  Its place in my heart runs deep.  Its impact is ongoing.

Last night we learned that Daniel Craig will be returning as 007 for a fifth time.  His tenure as James Bond means more to me than just an actor I like in a part.  It's become a part of my personal history.  These are the Daniel Craig years.  When they come to a close James Bond will be recast.  But thanks in large part to Mr. Craig and the rest of the team, I've already been recast.

      Big Shot Critic

(the "recast" double meaning narrowly beat out the "part he played" and "role he played" double meanings)

In Theaters: August 11, 2017

Can you believe we're already in August of 2017?  Anyway, there are THREE wide releases this week.

Annabelle: Creation

You all know my stance on horror movies.  They're a dime a dozen and almost always worthless.  But here we have a possible exception.

I know very little about this movie.  The trailer was just a trimmed down scene from the movie - a very well-executed scene.  I remember the first Annabelle from a few years ago was about a creepy doll, but I had no idea Annabelle was connected to The Conjuring franchise until I read the top of the above poster, and that's an important distinction.  The people behind The Conjuring have become the current kings of horror, and they are known to be reliable filmmakers.  So while I will not endorse this movie (it looks super creepy and I'm not into horror), I can honestly say that it looks to be of good quality.

Annabelle: Creation is rated R for horror violence and terror.

The Glass Castle

This is a drama of reconciliation.  What makes this one potentially special is the cast.

Brie Larson plays the daughter of Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts.  Or, you know, she plays the daughter of the characters that they play.  You know what I mean.  Anyway, that by itself is almost enough to get me to the theater.  They're all such good performers, especially Woody Harrelson.  Sorry, Naomi and Brie, but he singlehandedly made Now You See Me tolerable, and that alone should have got him an Oscar.

Anyway, Woody and Naomi are these ultra free spirit hippy parents who move around a lot because Woody loses his job a lot.  And they are serial squatters, never setting up real roots.  After growing up this way, Brie makes the transition to what you would call a normal lifestyle and a steady life in New York City.  But she has to face up and make peace with her upbringing, and her relationship with her parents, when they come squatting in the city and want to spend time with her.  I think it looks pretty interesting.  It is based on true events though, from a memoir, and that can come with structure issues when you turn it into a movie.

The Glass Castle is rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving family dysfunction, and for some language and smoking.

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature

As stupid as this movie looks, there are some things I have to admire about it.

The original Nut Job in 2014 was a clever story with a clever title.  And it was an independent production, which is impressive.  I'm always proud of independent productions that achieve wide releases and wide audiences with success, and this one has done the same.  I think this kind of thing ought to be supported.  But don't count on me to put my money where my mouth is this weekend.

This one is about the group from the first coming together once again to save a park from being turned into an amusement park.  I'm not clear why.  Probably because, you know, save the trees and stuff.

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is rated PG for action and some rude humor.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: August 4th, 2017

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

The Dark Tower

This project has been circling Hollywood for so long now.

The Dark Tower is one of those adaptations that has been talked about periodically for at least the last twelve years.  It comes up, then it goes away.  Some talent is attached, and then it fades.  The producers want a tie-in TV series combined with several movies, then they decide to start with one.  Seven years ago it was announced that Ron Howard would direct with a release date of May 7, 2013.  Obviously that didn't happen.  And Ron Howard did not direct this movie.

The Dark Tower is adapted from a Stephen King novel, or rather, a series of Stephen King novels.  Apparently they're very popular.  And it's not horror.  In the story there is another world connected to ours by a structure called The Dark Tower.  One can travel between these two worlds, and the other world has an order of protectors called gunslingers.  Idris Elba plays what seems to be the last remaining gunslinger from that world.  And Matthew McConaughey plays the villain that these gunslingers tried to protect their world against.

It looks kinda cool in my opinion, but I feel obligated to mention that early reviews have been overwhelmingly negative.

The Dark Tower is rated PG-13 for thematic material including sequences of gun violence and action.

Kidnap

Girl power!

Halle Berry's child gets kidnapped and she goes full Mark Wahlberg to get him back.

I'm sorry.  I am sorry.  But you can't just give male roles to women.  It's never going to work.  To be fair, I haven't seen this movie.  But if you replace Halle Berry with Mark Wahlberg in the trailer, it would change nothing about the character.  This is the problem with movies like this.  It's obviously meant to be empowering for women, because "Look!  Women can do awesome man stuff too!"  But it's just pandering.  I want female leads to display femininity, not masculinity.  Not because that's their place and they shouldn't get out of line.  But because that's what actresses can provide to a level that actors just can't.

Just rotoscope lipstick onto Mark Wahlberg in The Lovely Bones and you have the same movie.

Kidnap is rated R for violence and peril.

      Big Shot Critic