This week is incredibly strong at the theater with a great looking Boston set bank heist flick starring Ben Affleck (Daredevil) opening and an Emma Stone (Superbad) high school comedy that borrows equally from The Scarlet Letter and John Hughes movies from the 80s. Of course, no weekend is complete without a couple of Baby Ruths floating in the pool, which is where you’ll find Devil and Alpha & Omega. Correct me if I’m wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key.
The Town – I admit, some movies I am just biased for, and the trailer for this movie made me giddy the first time I saw it. First, you have Ben Affleck with his followup directorial effort to his damn good debut Gone Baby Gone. Second, you have the cast. You want to make a film about lowlife crooks in Boston trying to pull one last score before the FBI finally figures out who they are looking for and need talent? Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper, Blake Lively…yeah, that’s a good start. Third, Boston. I’m sorry, I know there’s a backlash, but I like to see actors put on think Bahstan accents and play thugs and beat the crap out of each other while the Dropkick Murphys are playing on the soundtrack. So sue me. This appears to be the perfect storm of a flick that you can take your girl to on date night or watch with your buddies. Check out the trailer here.
Easy A – I know what you are thinking. What makes this different from the seemingly dozens of other dumb high school comedies that come out every year? Hell, the same director (Will Gluck) brought us last year’s horrible Fired Up!, so why should you give him the benefit of the doubt on this one? Because I had the chance to catch a screening of this a few nights ago, almost as a goof, and it was one of the best of movies of I have seen in months. Emma Stone does a fine job in her role as Olive, a high school student that uses the school’s rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing until it all goes to crap. Buy an admission ticket for the supporting casts’ performances though. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are both outstanding as Olive’s parents, with each stealing scenes as if they are working as a tag team. The surprise of the film for me however were the characters played by Thomas Haden Church and Lisa Kudrow. Not only could these characters’ story have been stretched into a film of their own, but it’s a shame that this is Church’s best role since Sideways and it only amounts to maybe 10 minutes of screen time. This doesn’t guarantee that I will be waiting in line for Gluck’s next film, but I will definitely keep an eye on where he goes from here. Watch the trailer and swoon over Ms. Stone here.
Devil – A group of people trapped in an elevator realize that the devil is among them. Meh. The trailer for this movie has become famous for having crowds interested until the moment when the screen is filled with the words, “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan“, and then they are filled with equal parts laughter and anger. Has anyone had a fall from grace as quick as our good Mr. Shyamalan? First you had everyone calling him the new Hitchcock for The Sixth Sense, to a lot of fanboys saying, “This is how comic movies should be done,” about Unbreakable. With Signs and The Village, you had your first sense that something was wrong. Well, maybe not your first. I mean, why did everyone whisper all the time in these movies? Even kids while they were playing…really?!? So now, M. Night is making crap with a wink, like, “Hey, you think everything I make is going to suck anyway, so here’s something really horrible.” Seriously, if you buy a ticket to this, you may as well make it a double feature and finally take your girlfriend to see Vampires Suck. Watch the trailer here…IF YOU DARE!
Alpha & Omega – Wow, this looks bad. Two young wolves at opposite ends of the pecking order of the pack must work together to get back to their family when they find themselves far from home. Featuring the voice talents of Justin Long, proving once again brother man will do anything to pay the mortgage. The animation looks like it was done by a junior college, and it appears from the website for the film that the movie may be one big advertisement for the Canadian vacation board. But hey, it’s in 3-D! Live the adventure in the trailer here.