It’s another week with another big movie coming out and here I find myself doing something that I never thought I’d do. Here are the movies coming out the week of June 3rd.
Billiam’s Pick of the Week
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows: My God. I have a Michael Bay movie as my pick. That’s right, Hollywood’s version of a rectal thermometer may have actually done something good. But here’s my question. Do these really count as Michael Bay films? He didn’t direct the first one or the second and he’s not even an executive producer. So did the first one suck completely on it’s own and if this one is good, should Bay get any credit? The trailers for this movie are looking better and better as I see less of Megan Fox (Transformers, Jennifer’s Body) and more Turtles. If you saw the first one you may agree with my friend Nick who said it was a movie about Megan Fox with the Turtles as a side note. Hopefully Bay, or Hollywood as a whole, is starting to realize that Fox isn’t a very good actress. There are far better actresses out there who would be willing to do a CG heavy blockbuster. But more about the movie. The trailers don’t show much about the plot besides what the blurb from IMDB already says “The Turtles return to save the city from a dangerous threat.” I’m not sure if they could have been more vague. Either way we already know Bebop and Rocksteady are in it and they look pretty good. Shredder looks kind of dumb, but I’m willing to overlook that. And oh yeah, Kraang? Hell yeah! Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman? Sure, why not? The Turtles act like the Turtles of my youth and they’re pulling more from the cartoons then I ever could have hoped. But will this be as good as it looks? Will it do my childhood justice? Will we see Baxter in full fly form? I can only hope. I will see this movie. That’s a promise. So stay tuned for my review.
Approaching the Unknown: Remember Moon with Sam Rockwell? That was a great movie. The Approaching the Unknown trailer gives off the same vibe that Moon did. This is a Sci-Fi drama starring Mark Strong (Kingsman, Sherlock Holmes) and Luke Wilson (Idiocracy, The Royal Tenenbaums) but it seems to primarily focus around Mark Strong. He plays an astronaut being sent to Mars but something happens along the way, the question is, what happened? From the looks of the trailer, he starts to lose his mind and then goes rogue. This has promise even though it’s being helmed by a first time director and writer. My friend Dan who used to write movie reviews for a local newspaper once said that it doesn’t really matter if it’s a first time director or not and he has a point, but it’d be good to have a point of reference.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping: I’m really torn on this movie. It looks absolutely stupid yet sometimes the stupid movies can be pretty good. Idiocracy, for example, looked dumb and is dumb, but it’s also hilarious. This movie stars Andy Samberg of SNL fame along side Imogen Poots (Fright Night, Need for Speed), who has the best name in the history of names, and various celebrities and SNL alumni. This movie is about a pop star who breaks away from his successful boy band to go solo. His album turns out to be a failure and he goes on damage control with his people to help save his image. This is a familiar character in a familiar setting but never done with such glitz and glamour before. This may be worth a watch though I’m not holding my breath. It’s good to see Tim Meadows working still though he’s been working steady since SNL, just not in anything I’ve seen.
Me Before You: It’s time for a romance. We’ve had too many superhero movies lately and I’m sick of it!… That’s a lie, but I do love a good romance. I tend to draw the line when it comes to romance at Nicholas Sparks movies. You know, the kind where you’re going to be crying at the end because one or both of the main characters are going to die. This isn’t a movie based on a Sparks novel, this one is by Jojo Moyes and even though I haven’t read it, the trailer alone tells me all I need to know. I think this movie looks great but I’m probably going to end up sobbing more than if I sat on my balls. This movie stars Daenerys Targaryen, Finnick Odair, Clara Oswald, and Tywin Lannister. If you’re not familiar with Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and Doctor Who, then I’ll just say Emilia Clarke, Sam Claffin, Jenna Coleman, and Charles Dance. I know I’m going to like this movie and I know I’m going to watch it, but I’ll save my uncontrollable sobbing for home, thank you very much.
Okay, quick aside. If any of you read my X-Men: Apocalypse review you’ll know that I think Sophie Turner was pretty bad in it. She’s a relatively new actress who has great potential, she just needs more experience. Emilia Clarke has just a tad more experience and it shows. She’s great. Her eyebrows alone can act better than Megan Fox. Two actresses on the same TV show and one is an example of experience while the other is an example of inexperience. That is all.
Also Coming Out the Week of June 3rd
Andron: I said I wasn’t sure about Popstar… I’m REALLY not sure about this one. The only reason I know this movie exists is because the internet told me so. I’ve seen nothing about it on TV or even ads on web pages. This looks like some mutant offspring of Battle Royal, Saw, and Snowpiercer with just a touch of Divergent. The film takes place in the future a group of people wake up in a maze and have to fight their way out as Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, The Hunt for Red October) and Danny Glover (Leathal Weapon, Saw) watch on. This looks like a cheesy made for TV sci-fi thriller that somehow made it to the big screen. Check out the trailer and if you see it then drop me line at billiamreviews@gmail.com. I’d really love to know what you thought.
The Fits: I wanted to give this a longer description in the section above but the trailers I saw just didn’t show enough. The trailer just showed some young girl training while a bunch of words splashed on the screen about how people loved it at Sundance. That’s great, but tell me more about the movie! According to the synopsis it’s about a girl who joins a dance troupe and has a hard time fitting in. The troupe is apparently dangerous and the girls start to suffer fits and fainting spells. This movie is going on my “to watch later” list just because something about it is intriguing but I can’t recommend it unless I know more.
Housefull 3: This is an Indian romantic comedy that’s… wait for it… the third in the series. I know. Crazy right? I only watch Indian movies under one of two circumstances. Either their fantastic pieces of art or their amazingly ridiculous and funny. This one looks like it falls just short of being the latter. This movie is about 3 men who have to convince the father of their girlfriends to let them marry. Each one has something wrong with them that they have to rise above or hide.
The Wailing: This is a Korean thriller about a sickness that starts to spread after a Japanese stranger moves into town. A lone policeman is on the case when his daughter comes down with the sickness. This looks interesting but not interesting enough to make it above the fold and definitely not interesting enough for me to find it in a theater. If I couldn’t find High-Rise in a theater near my area, I sure as hell won’t find this one.