With over 23 films to choose from, September is a smorgasbord of possibilities — from intelligent thrillers to unusual chiller, creative kid flicks and the standard Tinseltown tripe.
By all accounts, 2010 has been a pretty mediocre year for movies… so far. In the eight months that have transpired, we’ve seen the lingering effects of Avatar‘s billion dollar success (translation: more 3D titles than ever before), a surprise vote of confidence for intellectually challenging, cinematically spectacular popcorn fare (read: Inception), and more than a few miscues (Kick-Ass) and misfires (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). In between, the same filmic flotsam and jetsam ebbed and flowed. The RomCom and CG family genre both underperformed, while action spectacles aimed at the easy to please PG-13 demo keeled over and died. In fact, if the last two-thirds of the calendar have taught us anything, it’s that Hollywood no longer cares about pleasing the masses. While it would be nice, a few micro-managed, focus grouped hits will do just as well. [READ FULL INTRODUCTION]
Film: The American
Cast: George Clooneym, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/a/americanposter.jpg
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1 September
The American
It’s George Clooney as a hitman in ersatz James Bond/Michal Clayton mode. It’s video maker turned director Anton Corbijn shunning the stylistic designs of his excellent Ian Curtis/Joy Division biopic Control to go thriller. The results are intriguing to say the least, though the late Summer/early Fall release indicates that someone counting the beans doesn’t believe it either artist’s viability beyond a certain set demographic. No matter, as long as our favorite man crush turns on the non-erotic machismo and Corbjin keeps some of his arch aesthetic, would could have an intriguing reinvention of the action flick on our hands.
Film: Machete
Cast: Danny Trejo, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/m/macheteposter.jpg
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3 September
Machete
Ever since it appeared as part of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s fake trailer take on the Grindhouse experience, there have been rumblings of an actual movie being made of the “angry Mexican” with a penchant for highly polished steel. While it looks like some of the sexual excesses have been toned down (drat!), Mr. Spy Kids has assembled a crackjack cast and from the looks of it, intends to deliver the anarchic action movie goods. Indeed, any film that give star Danny Trejo is due is aces in our book (and a dorked up Southern fried Robert DeNiro looks mighty fine as well).
Film: Winning Season
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Shareeka Epps, Emily Rios, Rooney Mara, Emma Roberts
MPAA rating: PG-13
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3 September
Winning Season
For some reason, Sam Rockwell just hasn’t become the bonafide A-listers his acting acumen demands. Luckily, that means more than a few independent filmmakers have found a way to feature him in their unusual (Choke), understated (Moon) work. This time around, the outsider star plays a down and out busboy give and chance to coach a girl’s basketball team. He takes the gig in order to be closer to his distant daughter (Emma Roberts). Rockwell hiumself has described the movie as “Bad News Bears meets Half Nelson meets Hoosiers”. We can only hope for something half as intriguing, or good.
Film: The Tillman Story
Cast: Pat Tillman
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/t/tillmanstoryposter.jpg
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3 September
The Tillman Story
It’s a shame what the Bush Administration did both in preparation for and the continued propagandizing of the War on Terror – and this specific story is perhaps the most god-awful of all. To take a noble gesture by a young NFL player and turn it into the stuff of legend is one thing. To complete lie to the American public – and the deceased man’s family – as the circumstances surrounding his death indicates a level of outrageousness unfathomable. It was unethical, unconscionable, and inexcusable. Luckily, the documentary made of the investigation into same is unforgettable.
10 September
Film: Resident Evil: Afterlife
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Spencer Locke, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/features_art/r/resident-evil-afterlife-poster-480×711.jpg
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10 September
Resident Evil: Afterlife
By now, this still somewhat formidable video game franchise is simply spinning its horror wheels. As long as Ms. Jovavich gets a hefty payday and some zombies bite the CG dust, all is right in the Resident Evil universe. So, how does a wary studio infuse some interesting into the water treading series. First, they retrofit the latest installment with the latest cinematic stunt, 3D. Then, to add intrigue to possible injury, you invite the original director responsible for the success, Paul W. S. Anderson, to return. The results will either remind fans of past glories, or have them checking when AMC’s Walking Dead series starts to air.
Film: I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix
MPAA rating: Unrated
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/i/imstillhereposter.jpg
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10 September
I’m Still Here
Hey, Mr. Phoenix, we knew Andy Kaufman. We admired his talent and his galling go-for-broke desire to do anything for a laugh. Indeed, sir, we knew Mr. Latka Gravas and you, with your supposedly real desire to be a rapper, is no celebration of same. With buddy and collaborator Casey Affleck behind the lens, this expose of celebrity eccentricity promises to be a fabulous disaster or a substandard Borat in the making. Either way, the early buzz argues for something funny, uncomfortable, confrontation, and completely in line with the anemic ambush comedy that came and went a few years back.
Film: Legendary
Cast: John Cena, Patricia Clarkson, Danny Glover, Devon Graye, Madeleine Martin, Tyler Posey
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/features_art/l/legendary.jpg
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10 September
Legendary
Now this is truly odd… a non-genre offering from the WWE’s own production company. When last we saw the Vince McMahon movie brainchild, it was spewing out average action efforts like The Marine, The Condemned, and 12 Rounds and hackneyed horror like See No Evil. Now, they are going legit (so to speak), giving grappling superstar John Cena a chance to show his acting chops. He plays a former interscholastic wrestling champ trying to reconnect with his distant, disaffected son. Naturally, the lessons learned in the square circle will act like a salve for their overly sentimental reconciliation. Either that, or Cena will just body slam him.
Film: The Virginity Hit
Cast: Matt Bennett, Zack Pearlman, Jacob Davich, Justin Kline, Krysta Rodriguez, Nicole Weaver
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/news_art/v/virginity_hit.jpg
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10 September
The Virginity Hit
The backstory here is far more interesting than the silly storyline — four buddies with video cameras chronicle their attempts at losing their sexual virtue — concocted by the team responsible for the equally uneven The Last Exorcism. In fact, writers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland were supposed to helm the Eli Roth produced horror effort when a deal came through for this one. Contracts mandated they step behind the lens here, and so far, the trailers indicate a problematic first person POV style reminiscent of other, more viable titles. The approach seems perfect for fright. For a dopey sex comedy — not hardly.
17 September
Film: Never Let Me Go
Cast: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Sally Hawkins, Charlotte Rampling
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/n/neverletmegoposter.jpg
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17 September
Never Let Me Go
Though it has enough pedigree behind (author and Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, noted director Mark Romanek) and in front of the camera to foster hope, the spoiler-esque subject matter (hint: cloning) smacks of Michael Bay’s The Island at that Mystery Science Favorite Parts: The Clonus Horror. Indeed, the subtle plot synopsis being offered by the studio seems to suggest that our trio of talented British thesps (Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield) will play sheltered young people of privilege who, upon leaving their idyllic UK boarding school, suddenly learn their “terrifying fate”. Again, we remain optimistic, though the track record for such sci-fi situations isn’t promising.
Film: Easy A
Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Lisa Kudrow, Thomas Haden Church
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/e/easyaposter.jpg
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17 September
Easy A
In 2010, are young girls really that concerned about their reputation. What with stripper pole accidents plaguing YouTube and a consistent cultural desire to be as skanky and Jersey Shore as slutty as possible, getting known as Miss Loose Virtue in your homecoming class has to be a post-millennial badge of honor. Still, the amiable comedy hopes there’s enough personal shame left out there to help up and coming actress Emma Stone break out at the box office. As the gal pal who helps her gay buddy avoid heterosexual harassment, let’s hope there’s a real message here. Referencing the Scarlett Letter is also shaky… isn’t that right Demi Moore?
Film: Devil
Cast: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O’Hara , Jacob Vargas , Matt Craven, Bojana Novakovic
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/d/devilposter.jpg
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17 September
Devil
Talk about a massive uphill climb – this claustrophobic creepshow could be the second coming of Sam Raimi and still director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, The Poughkeepsie Tapes) would have to overcome the laugh out loud ludicrousness represented by his producer — Mr. Last Lady in the Happening Water Airbender himself, M. Night Shyamalan. As a matter of fact, a viral video of audiences scoffing at said cinematic credit has already got the studio scattering to disassociate the horror film from its infamous creator. If it’s good, all will be forgiven. If not, some will see it as yet another nail in Shyamalan’s already shut career coffin.
Film: The Town
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/t/thetownposter.jpg
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17 September
The Town
With Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck proved there was life after a screenwriting Oscar and several semi-successful starring roles. As a matter of fact, many thought that directing should remain his true — and for the moment, only — calling. Well, Ben is back behind the camera again, though he’s also given himself a plum role as a career bank robber who lets love get in the way of his criminal endeavors. Once again working for a well loved novel, this could be a second step toward a successful career as an auteur or proof that his previous triumph was, like most of his efforts, a flash in the pan.
17 and 22 September
Film: Jack Goes Boating
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, Lola Glaudini, John Ortiz , Ricky Garcia, Elizabeth Rodriguez
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/j/jackgoesboatingposter.jpg
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17 September
Jack Goes Boating
Philip Seymour Hoffman does double duty as star and director of this adaptation of the Off Broadway play of the same name. The synopsis reads like a combination of working class Woody Allen and When Harry Met Sally: The Schlep Version. It’s all about established couples, lonely friends, and well meaning first dates, burgeoning relationships and inevitable divorces. While he’s untried behind the lens, we trust Hoffman can bring out the best in his cast. It’s the other elements of filmmaking — like narrative drive, continuity and coherence, as well as visual basics — that have us concerned.
Film: Catfish
Cast: Nev Schulman
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/features_art/c/catfish_movie_poster.jpg
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17 September
Catfish
When you hear the set-up — young ‘Net savvy man falls for the innocent plea of an online tween, only to try and hook up with her older sister — it sounds like an outtake from To Catch a Predator. From the unsettling age situation to the eventual cross country meet and greet, we prepare ourselves for something unseemly. But then documentarians Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman pull the rug out from under us by taking the true story in a whole other, equally unusual direction. The results may remains a cautionary tale about web-based bait and switch, but the people involved are so intriguing you forgive the fixed finale.
Film: Alpha and Omega
Cast: Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Danny Glover, Dennis Hopper, Eric Price, Chris Carmack, Vicki Lewis
MPAA rating: PG
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/features_art/a/alpha_and_omega.jpg
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17 September
Alpha and Omega
CG wolves, one from the right side of the pack (Panettiere) and the other (Long) whose a good-hearted goof, suddenly find themselves far from home and ordered to fall in love and procreate. Naturally, such divergent curs can’t cotton to each other — at first. By the time they’ve fall head over paws for each other, they must return to their respective families and save the day. Nothing like a mediocre meshing of Romeo and Juliet with Lady and the Tramp to keep the wee ones happy. Granted, it is in 3D, but that might not be enough to keep the cynical underage mindsets engaged.
Film: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Cast: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/w/wallstreet2poster.jpg
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22 September
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
While it seems especially timely, given our current countrywide financial crisis, do we really need another dose of Oliver Stone’s “root of all evil” ruminations. In the ’80s, when the first Wall Street arrived, it was a fiery foreshadowing of things to come. The sequel, picking up 23 years later with Gordon Gecko’s release from prison, feels like preaching to the already converted and downtrodden. Michael Moore faced a similar problem with his far more timely Capitalism: A Love Story. Stone is still capable of greatness, and if anyone can pull it off, however, it’s the original bad boy of moviemaking mavericks — Shia Lebouf aside.
24 September
Film: You Again
Cast: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Jimmy Wolk, Betty White, Kristin Chenoweth
MPAA rating: PG
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/y/youagainposter.jpg
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24 September
You Again
Andy Fickman is the kind of jaundiced journeyman director that is slowly killing Hollywood. Over the course of five feature films — Who’s Your Daddy, Reefer Madness: the Musical, She’s the Man, The Game Plan, and Race to Witch Mountain, he’s been nothing but polished, professional, and passive. His artistic temperament is so anemic that many of his movies are DOA before hitting the local Cineplex. This girl power RomCom looks just as lame, even with the shocking participation of Sigourney Weaver, Kristin Chenoweth and Jamie Lee Curtis. Even the whole romantic rivals angle seems left over from a failed script conference.
Film: Enter the Void
Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Ed Spear, Jesse Kohn
MPAA rating: Unrated
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/e/enterthevoidposter.jpg
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24 September
Enter the Void
The poster sure is electrifying! In fact, the entire production reeks of the proto-psychedelic noodlings of a teen-oriented ’60s sell out. Naturally, one expects more from the French, especially Gaspar Noe who made the controversial Irreversible. Focusing on the ghost of a dead drug dealer that floats over Tokyo trying to protect his sister, we get intriguing POV work, lots of F/X trickery, and enough cinematic style to put the average filmgoer in a creative coma. Of course, something like Scott Pilgrim offered much of the same and was more or less ignored by the general public. Destined to have a hard time connecting outside the arthouse crowd.
Film: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Barclay, Jay Laga’aia, David Wenham, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/news_art/u/uardians-the-owls-of-gahoole-movie-poster1-405×600.jpg
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24 September
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
How does Zack Snyder follow up the one-two-three punch of unleashing Dawn of the Dead, 300, and Watchmen on an unsuspecting world? Why, go the 3D CG family film route. Of course, anyone whose seen the trailer for this gorgeous, almost photorealistic rendering of birds out to save their simple society can attest to its viable “visionary” qualities. Still, it’s one thing to turn horror and pumped up peplum into box office gold. It’s another to invest a struggling cinematic category with a new sense of purpose. If anyone can do it, Snyder can. Just ignore the “from the producers of Happy Feet” tag line and everything will be all right.
Film: Buried
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Ivana Miño, Anne Lockhart, Robert Pattinson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samantha Mathis, Erik Palladino, Heath Centazzo
MPAA rating: R
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/news_art/b/buried_poster-535×824.jpg
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24 September
Buried
There has been a lot of hype around this movie since its premiere at Sundance, and many swear this is a suspense masterpiece waiting to be unveiled. Of course, many of those early reviews are from genre-specific websites that act more like shills than gaugers of future cinematic success. Still, the premise does sound intriguing — Reynolds is a truck driver in Iraq who suddenly finds himself buried alive with nothing but a Zippo, a flask of alcohol, a Blackberry, and a pen. Told in 90 minutes of real time, this could be a case where gimmickry trumps actual moviemaking acumen. Here’s hoping the buzz is prophetic and not just some calculated carnival barking.
24 September
Film: Waiting for Superman
Cast: The Black Family, Geoffrey Canada, The Esparza Family, The Hill Family, Michelle Rhee, Bill Strickland
MPAA rating: PG
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24 September
Waiting for Superman
An Audience Award winner at the recent Sundance Film Festival takes on our education system with shocking results. The work of solid documentarian Davis Guggenheim (It Might Get Loud, An Inconvenient Truth), we follow four families as their children vie, via a lottery, for spots in an exclusive magnet school program. Naturally, the outlandish odds dictate that many of the well meaning kids we see here will be disappointed, destined to be part of a shocking statistic come high school graduation (if they even make it that far). With its overload of bureaucratic bullshit and attention to government-inspired inanity, this is guaranteed to be more frightening than an environmental apocalypse.
Film: It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Cast: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Viola Davis, Zoe Kravitz, Aasif Mandvi, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan
MPAA rating: PG-13
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/k/kindofafunnystoryposter.jpg
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24 September
It’s a Kind of a Funny Story
In the never ending effort to overexpose and therefore, undermine the comic genius of Zach Galifianakis, the stand-up’s agents have him following up his hit turn in The Hangover (and his other appearances in G-Force, Youth in Revolt, Up in the Air, and Dinner for Schmucks) with this oddball turn as a mental patient. Of course, the story of a 16-year-old who checks himself into the hospital for depression just seems chock full of big belly laughs, right? The trailer really says it all: earnestness mixed with moments of halting humor, all meant to signify that insanity can be witty as well. Oh joy.
Film: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones, Christian McKay
MPAA rating: R
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24 September
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Is there really room for Woody Allen in today’s half-assed RomCom world? Are his ideas about angst ridden relationships between complicated smug intellectuals really relevant in a social setting of ChatRoulette, speed dating, and endless Internet hook-ups. Apparently, someone still thinks so, though early consensus has this aiming higher than his previous “triumph” Vicky Christina Barcelona — and landing far, far short. As usual, his cast is above reproach. But at 74, he’s become the Godard of the genre: highly influential, but currently and more importantly, commercially relevant. Guaranteed to get critics in a froth. Mainstream moviegoers? Not so much.