April is usually reserved for one
big movie and in years past it's either been a Marvel movie or a Fast and
Furious movie. This month it's the latter and if Colossal wasn't
also coming out then this entire article would be about how excited I am for
the 8th film in the Fast and Furious saga. Along with those two films
there's also a few other interesting projects, several melodramas, a bunch of
documentaries, a couple biographies and a few films that seem to have been made
strictly because the money was right.
I love a good sequel title. My
favorite so far this year has been Logan. It wasn't called X-Men:
Origins:Wolverine:3:Logan, because there are just way too many colons in
that title. It's a simple title and it's made for adults who don't need a title
to spell out what the film is for them. Well, The Fast and the Furious
series is not made for adults but it has become known for its titles (2 Fast
2 Furious being the most ridiculous, Fast and Furious being the most
obvious and Fast and Furious 6 being the laziest). The 8th
and newest film delivers another great title with The Fate of The Furious (F8,
get it?). The trailers for the F&F films tend to be very spoiler
heavy so I avoid them. I show up early when I go to the theaters so this means
I've run out during the trailers for nearly every movie I've attended this
year. While I may not know much about the action I do know a little about the
plot. When Dom, Vin Diesel, is coerced by a mysterious woman known as Cypher,
Charlize Theron, to work with her it puts him at odds with everyone he loves
and cares about. This means he turns his back on his family, Michelle
Rodriguez, Ludacris and Tyrese etc. It also puts him in the cross hairs of government
agents Hobbs, Dwayne Johnson, and the mysterious/resourceful/charismatic Mr.
Nobody, Kurt Russell. Somehow Jason Statham and Helen Mirren work their way
into the story. The addition of Theron and Mirren to the series adds to the
long list of all too respectable people that Diesel has worked with. While the
plot may not matter there is a guarantee for fast cars, a lot of actors I
appreciate and plenty of stuff blowing up. Hopefully I don't burst into tears
at the end like I did during Furious 7.
The coming-home-after-life-falls-apart
sub-genre of comedy-drama is a tale as old as time. Someone gets dumped, goes
home, parties with friends, eventually has a realization and tries to get their
life back on track. That's part of the plot of Colossal but it's
not the part that made it such a big deal at film festivals. The other part of
the plot is that after coming home and partying Gloria, Anne Hathaway, awakes
to discover that a gigantic monster appeared in Seoul, South Korea and began
wreaking havoc. She then learns that she has a strange connection to the
monster. So yeah, it' not your average coming home story. This one has elements
of comedy, drama and science fiction. It looks like a ton of fun
but I imagine there's some smarts behind it, too. It's probably a film that
works better the less you know.
Films about making films usually
make for an interesting topic, plus Hollywood loves a film about Hollywood. Too
bad for Hollywood, Their Finest is about a British film crew
making propaganda during World War II after the Blitzkrieg. Now that might seem
like a heavy subject, so to reel it in and make it more entertaining they've
cast Bill Nighy (not the Science Guy). Look him up, he's in everything.
The story of El Dorado, The City of
Gold, is a pretty popular tale and there are plenty of stories about people
traveling there. Based on a true story The Lost City of Z is
about one particular expedition in the 1920's. A British explorer named Percy
Fawcett and a small crew ventured into the Amazon to locate the oft told about
city. I believe the film is an account of his journey because, spoiler alert,
he disappeared completely and the how and why are debated still to this day. So
since there's no way to know the whole story, expect some embellishments. Early
reviews are that this movie is great.
Sleight is smaller film that caught my attention strictly because
the plot sounds cool. A young street magician has to take care of his little
sister after losing their parents, gets in too deep with some criminals and has
to use his skills to save her. Now I'm not sure what his skills are but being
that this is listed as an Action/Drama/Sci-Fi/ Thriller, I can't help but be
interested. Plus this is the director’s first feature film and he's rumored to
be doing The Fly remake, which we obviously don't need, but whatever - it
means someone thinks he's got talent so maybe this one is all right.
Another topic worth talking about
besides the new Fast and Furious film is the unfortunate passing of Bill
Paxton. This guy was in loads of great films. Yes, Twister is a great
film and people seem to like Titanic as well. Then there's Aliens,
Apollo 13, Predator 2, True Lies. The list goes on.
Fortunately his final film stars Tom Hanks and Emma Watson so people will see The
Circle. Unfortunately Paxton only has a small role as Watson’s sick
father so I'm not sure how much of him we'll see. The Circle is a huge
tech company that Watson is hired at and quickly rises in the ranks and becomes
a sort of protégé to the founder, Hanks. While working there she begins to
notice that this company knows everything about her, including her father’s
illness, and that privacy is quickly becoming a thing of the past. That's never
a good thing.
It's hard to ignore a title like
How to Be a Latin Lover and for me, it was even harder to ignore
because it's directed by Ken Marino, one of my favorite comedians. His feature
length directorial debut is about a man, future Overboard remake star
Eugenio Derbez, who has made a career of seducing rich older woman but now has
to move in with his sister and learns about love and family. It sounds cute and
fortunately, Marino has brought along plenty of friends like Kristen Bell,
Michael Cera and Salma Hayek and the three Robs: Lowe, Cordry and Riggle. No
complaints about that cast.
Melodrama 1 - A proud
atheist/journalist/lawyer takes umbrage when his wife finds Christianity and
decides to use his skills to disprove her beliefs in The Case for Christ.
This comes from a production company whose previous films have heavy religious
themes so I'm pretty sure I can guess how this one ends.
Melodrama 2 - Chris Pine dons a 5 o'clock
shadow and battles his own mother for custody over his daughter who's like
super smart a.k.a. Gifted. Jenny Slate also appears and it being
a more dramatic role, I imagine her brand of comedy will not make it into this
one.
Melodrama 3 - More of a thriller but
I'm pretty sure the overacting will be on display when ex-wife Katherine Heigl
makes life hell for new wife Rosario Dawson in Unforgettable.
Easy paycheck 1: Zack Braff fancied
himself a director in the early 00's with Garden State and some Scrubs
episodes. His film career didn't really take off and his most recent indie
flick didn't garner much attention but he's back as a director for Going
in Style. Starring Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin it's
about a group of lifelong friends who decide to rob the same bank that ruined
them financially and hilarity (or safe pg-13 comedy) ensues. It’s a remake of a
film with the same name.
Easy paycheck 2: If there was to be
another televised version of 'We Are the World' I imagine the cast of singers
would read something like the cast of Smurfs: The Lost Village.
There's a lot of people providing their vocal talents to this sequel that
focuses on Smurfette as she and her friends follow a map to locate a mysterious
village before Gargamel locates it. It also features Unbreakable Kimmy
Schmidt stars Ellie Kemper and Tituss Burgess and if the producers knew
what they were doing, they'd give these two a musical number.
Easy paycheck 3: Sometimes
I read a description to a film and I get excited because the plot sounds so
bonkers that I can't wait for one of my movie podcasts to cover it and discuss
its ridiculousness. Spark: A Space Tail is one of those movies.
It's an animated tail (ha) about a monkey and his animal friends who try to
retake Planet Bana (yup) when an evil conqueror takes over. Like the Smurf's
sequel this also has quite the voice cast, just not nearly as currently
popular.
Documentary 1: Alive and
Kicking takes a look at the world of swing dance.
Documentary 2: Born in China takes
a look at the lives of a panda bear, a monkey and a snow leopard.
Documentary 3: SHOT! The
Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock takes a look at the history of rock n'
roll through the eyes of photographer Mick Rock.
Documentary 4: Jeremiah Tower:
The Last Magnificent takes a look at the life of celebrity chef
Jeremiah Tower.
Biography 1: A Quiet Passion
takes a look at the life of Emily Dickinson.
Biography 2: Cezanne and I
takes a look at the life of painter Paul Cezanne.
