Friday, August 2, 2013

Fresh Popped Corn #5 August Theatrical Trailers

Great Stories' new column for our movie trailer preview series is here.  Once per month, we will be taking a look at movies released for the upcoming month, and telling our readers where we would be spending our movie dollars each week, based on the look of the trailers.  Links to the chosen trailers will be provided so you can see just what we are so excited about.

August 2nd
August brings with it the final month of the summer blockbusters, though admittedly the movies with much less fanfare.  But we have the box office gold Denzel Washington starring alongside Mark Wahlberg in the crime actioner 2 Guns, which sees the two star as undercover specialists from different government outfits trying to bring down the same drug syndicate with no trust for one another the whole way.  Also being released is Lindsay Lohan's return to the big screen in The Canyons, which looks somewhat intriguing.  The Smurfs 2 rolls into theaters, for those of you who love tiny blue talking things.  Christina Ricci, Brendan Gleason, and Katy Perry lend their voices to the cast.  Cockneys v Zombies is a British import looking to gag it up with the tired zombie trend.  Europa Report looks like a pretty intense sci-fi excursion to one of Jupiter's moons for a group of brave astronauts.  And The Spectaclur Now features a tale of unlikely love between the shallow charismatic boy who is the life of the party and the "nice" girl, starring Sutter Keely and Shailene Woodley.  At the risk of being unimaginatively predictable, Great Stories is hopping on the Denzel train, and thinking that 2 Guns is a good dose of fun for this Friday night!  Check out the trailer below.


August 9th
The second week of August features a Wednesday release of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters for this franchise's second outing.  Matt Damon and the makers of District 9 want to make a political statement with Elysium, about a man who desperately needs to get the medical attention offered on a space station where the well to do have excaped to following the decay of Earth, where the less fortunate still languish.  We're the Millers is an adult comedy featuring Jennifer Aniston as a stripper and Ed Helms as a small time dealer who along with two younger counterparts pose as a family to bring a large shipment of contraband into the country.  Planes is the heir apparent to the wildly successful Cars series from Disney, sure to capture the hearts of young children everywhere and pick clean their parents wallets through a mass merchandising campaign.  In a World stars Lake Bell as the daughter of a famous voice over artist who tries to defy the male dominated industry by earning a shot at being the voice for the ad campaign of a new blockbuster trilogy.  Lovelace is Amanda Seyfried portraying the first famous adult actress and how a small town girl from a religious family went on to create such controversy, notoriety, and the consequences those decision wrought.  Prince Avalalanche is a low budge buddy comedy about two guys (Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch) whose job it is to lay traffic lines on new road in remote parts of America.  You'll find us trying to adopt a kid for a day as our excuse to see Disney's latest Planes.  Here is the trailer below!


August 16th
This particular week is stacking up to be our hardest decision yet.  First up, there is Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of the brilliant visionary Apple creator in the movie JobsKick Ass 2 promises to do exactly that in theaters and in spite of Jim Carrey's disavowal of the movie due to its excessive gun violence, he looks simply great in his role as Captain Stars and Stripes, vigilante extraordinaire.  One of our favorites, Forrest Whitaker, portrays Lee Daniels-The Butler, a White House butler who served eight administrations, in what appears to be a very cool historical drama piece which also stars Oprah Winfrey and John Cusack.  Paranoia tells the tail of a promising young tech head (Liam Hemsworth) who gets hired by billionaire Gary Oldman to work undercover against his competition (Harrison Ford) and steal the secrets to a new technology promised to be the next big thing.  Ain't Them Bodies Saints is the tail of an outlaw (Casey Affleck) who falls in love with a young woman (Rooney Mara) and how they run afoul of a local lawman played by Ben Foster.  Austenland stars the wonderful Keri Russell and Stiffler's Mom...we kid we kid....Jennifer Coolidge as women obsessed with the world of Jane Austen, and how Russel's life might be changed by meeting her fantasy English regent.  Lee Daniels does not seem the expected summer fare, but looks like a great choice for history buffs like us.  If not for nothing else, after his truly scary role in The Last King of Scotland, this role may wipe Mr. Whitaker's face from our nightmares.  Check out the trailer here:


August 23rd
A new franchise for the teens is set to launch with The Mortal Instruments:  City of Bones, which follows the story of a young girl who discovers she is a descendant of a breed of half-angel Shadowhunters, sworn to protect humanity from demons on earth.  Lily Collins is cast in the lead role.  The World's End features the Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz team regroup in their hometown for the pub crawl of the ages.  Little do they know, their lovely home town has been taken over by robots posing as the residents and it is up to these unlikely heroes to set things right.  You're Next is a freaky home invasion movie that is sure to make your date hug you close.  Drinking Buddies is a comedy starring Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Jake Johnson, and Olivia Wilde has a pair of couples who may be in the wrong relationships, and that may mean the end of their friendships. Short Term 12 is an indie that features a foster care supervisor who cares for troubled teams while also reconciling her own past.  Frozen Ground stars Nicholas Cage on the hunt for a serial killer played by John Cusack.  Vanessa Hudgens is the young woman who escapes his clutches and triggers the hunt.  Sad to say, but I am not sure Cage has made a good film in the last decade.  As a fan of both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, it would be hard to not go with The World's End.  Here is the trailer below for your enjoyment!




August 30th
The last week in August features Closed Circuit, a terrorist/political thriller with London as the backdrop and starring Erica Bana, Rebecca Hall, and Julia Stiles.  The Lifeguard stars Kristen Bell as a young woman reporter/former valedictorian who decides that she needs to hit life's reset button and moves back to her hometown to be a lifeguard at the local public pool.  Getaway is a action flick with Ethan Hawke as former race car driver whose wife is kidnapped.  At the mercy of a voice (Jon Voight) who provides him instruction, Hawke attempts to save his wife.  Selena Gomez is along for the ride as a young criminal who stumbles into the plot.  Brian De Palma returns to his highly successful erotic thriller motifs (see Dressed to Kill and Basic Instinct) with Passion, which stars Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams as two powerful business women in a deadly power struggle.  With the summer riding out in style, we'll jump in the backseat of Getaway and go out having a little intense fun while we are at it.  Here is the trailer.


Thanks for checking into our movie picks for August, and please let us know what you are most looking forward to seeing at the cineplex!

Chris (for the Great Stories Team)

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