Gracie Gets Knocked Up by Mr. Brooks at Theater Near You
The three nationwide releases, Gracie, Knocked Up and Mr. Brooks, plus the limited release film Rise: Blood Hunter are what films are at a theater near me this weekend. Those are the four movies to choose from for my Friday viewing experience.
I think that Mr. Brooks will get the Friday pick. I am a sucker for a movie that promises a twist that you won’t see coming. I hope they are right, as this promise gets made a lot and very seldom pays off.
But, I also want to see Knocked Up. So, I will probably take in that movie over the weekend as well. They really did a good job with The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Gracie looks to be quite an uplifting story as well. I mean, who doesn’t like a sports story where the hero is told they can’t do something and then they show that they can. It has proven to be quite the formula for a good movie when executed correctly. But, this one will probably have to wait until the DVD can be added to the old Netflix queue.
Rise: Blood Hunter will probably be watched some on some boring Sunday night via HBO or Showtime On Demand. Surfing through the On Demand menu one night, I will come across this movie, read the description and then think, yah, I remember that movie from last year. A couple clicks of the remote later and viola, it is playing on my TV.
Will you be heading out to a theater near you this weekend? Of all the movies that come out Friday, June 1st, what looks good to you?
What New Movies Come Out Friday, June 1st?
Eight new movies open this Friday. Three open wide and five are in limited release.
Movies Opening Nationwide on Friday, June 1st:
Movie: Gracie (PG-13)
Starring: Carly Schroeder, Elisabeth Shue, Dermot Mulroney and Andrew Shue
Genre: Family Sports Drama
Synopsis: Based on events and experiences of the Shue Family growing up in the 1970s. The story revolves around a family obsessed with soccer that loses the oldest brother. The sister decides that she wants to play soccer in her brother’s place on the varsity team. This idea is met with many roadblocks, including from her father, rest of the family, school and friends.
First Thoughts: Who doesn’t like a sports movie where the main character overcomes all the odds and performs like people say they couldn’t.
Movie: Knocked Up (R)
Starring: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Synopsis: A journalist on the rise heads out to celebrate a promotion and after a one-night stand her life changes. She hooks up with an irresponsible slacker. She wants to give him chance to step up and help her raise the child. Can he show he is really father material? He doesn’t know if he is ready to be a parent. Both of them wonder if they are compatible partners.
First Thoughts: It is from the people behind The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Movie: Mr. Brooks (R) (Read Review)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Dane Cook, Demi Moore and William Hurt
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: The story of a family man and pillar of the community who is actually quite a flawed individual, as he is a sadistic killer. He wants to quit but just can’t. Detective that has her own problems is trying to figure out who is committing these murders. After being seen by a voyeur that then wants to know what it is like to do what he does. An extremely dangerous game plays out.
First Thoughts: The TV commercials for the film promise twists that you won’t see coming. This is a promise that a lot of films make and very few pay it off very well.
Movies in Limited Release this Week:
- Crazy Love – A biographic film examination of the bizarre love affair in the 1950s of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss.
- Day Watch – Sci-fi supernatural thriller about a man that fights in the battle between light and dark that finds a device that could restore Moscow after an apocalypse.
- Pierrepoint – Political drama about a man who finds great fame and notoriety as a public executioner in Britain, but at the peak of his popularity he starts to question what he is doing at the same time a group start trying to outlaw the practice of hanging.
- Rise: Blood Hunter – Lucy Liu (Code Name: The Cleaner, TV’s Ally McBeal) as a reporter investigating a cult and ends up becoming a victim. When she awakes with a taste for blood in the morgue she vows to hunt down those who did this to her and his helped by a cop played by Michael Chiklis (The Fantastic Four, TV’s The Shield).
- The Trials of Darryl Hunt – The story of a man wrongfully convicted of a rape/murder in the south.
For New Movie Friday there are four of these to choose from for Friday. Gracie, Knocked Up, Mr. Brooks and Rise: Blood Hunter are playing in theaters in the area. It is nice to have a week without a threquel on the marquee. What new movie will you be heading out to see this weekend?
Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – Starring Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley & Johnny Depp
Released: May 25th, 2007
Runtime: 2 hr. 45 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Swedish Fish
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley & Johnny Depp
Director: Gore Verbinski
Rating: Worth a Rental
Synopsis: Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner join with former enemy Captain Barbossa to rescue Capt. Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. Once the task is completed they head to a meeting of the pirate council and an ultimate face off against the East India Trading Company and Lord Beckett. Many ups and downs, betrayals and reversals take place along the journey, during which they have to deal with the crew of The Flying Dutchman and an infamous Chinese pirate. Ultimately, the pirate life may come to an end. Who will survive?
Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the third in the Pirates of the Caribbean
It makes you wonder if the production team was just doing their best Capt. Jack Sparrow impersonation? Did they have a plan or did they just make it up as they went along? Except, things usually work out for Capt. Jack. Not so much here. It is a bit better than the second one mind you, but not much.
Dean Man’s Chest left you sitting there wondering what was going on, wondering if you had missed something. It wasn’t you; it was the filmmakers that missed something, a cohesive plot. It was more a bunch of scenes strewn together to get you from the Pearl to the End.
Yet, At World’s End suffers from much of the same problem, just not quite as badly. It does seem to have a basic plot arc, but with all the twists, turns, betrayals and plethora of characters to keep up with, it is hard to tell.
The saving grace of the film is its special effects, which include a spectacular climactic battle scene and the few funny moments throughout. Without these, At World’s End would be almost completely unwatchable.
Great special effects allow you to stay in the moment within a movie even though you know what is happening is not real. Bad special effects reveal themselves to be fakes and pull you out of your suspension of disbelief. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has great special effects, as did the previous two movies in the series. Whether it is the fish people pirates, a beached and dead Kraken or a ship sailing through the desolate sands of Davy Jones’ Locker, you are there in the moment.
On the comedic side of things, Capt. Jack Sparrow is still pretty good. Unfortunately for the movie, he doesn’t show up until well into it and when he does, there is plenty of him that tries to make up for it. Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones guitarist), who was Johnny Depp’s inspiration for the look and mannerisms of Capt. Jack, making an appearance in pirate gear, as Capt. Jack’s father Capt. Teague, was fun as well.
The final scene before the credits lends itself to the possibility of a fourth Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Water of Life. Yet, the final scene, which runs after the credits have finished, leaves you to believe that Turner and Swann wouldn’t be around for that adventure.
As a summer popcorn movie, it might be worth a matinee of some sort, if for nothing else, but to take in the spectacle of the special effects. Overall, you should probably wait for the rental. Maybe if you watched all three in a row, the last two might make more sense. Or better yet, just watch the first one again, as it was actually good.
What did you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End? Did it live up to the hype for you? Where would you rank it in the Pirates trilogy?
The Summer of the Third Sequel Continues
To start May off it was Spider-Man 3. Then came Shrek the Third last week. Now, it is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, the third in the Pirates franchise.
I hope that it is better than the second one. I don’t know if I missed something, didn’t remember something from the first one, or what, but I just couldn’t stay interested in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Unlike other trilogies, the second one of this franchise doesn’t seem to be able to stand on its own. It is not a movie unto itself. It is just a bridge from part one to part three.
Hopefully, tomorrow the third one will be both a complete movie and a great ender to the series. What have you thought about the Pirates of the Caribbean
-
Subscribe via RSS
