Sorry to say, there’s not much good coming out this holiday weekend. The good news, however, is that there are a number of worthwhile movies that you’ll have a second chance to catch on the big screen if you missed them the first time around.
One Direction: This is Us
The band is a phenomenon, that’s for sure. At least among a certain demographic. This “motion picture event,” half documentary, half concert experience, is sure to be quite entertaining if you fall in that demographic. Morgan Spurlock is directing, though, so there’s a chance that this could be at least somewhat interesting if you’re not a young teenaged girl. I wasn’t able to screen this one so I can’t verify that for you though.
Trailer:
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Closed Circuit
Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, and Julia Stiles star in this British crime thriller. As the title suggest, the plot relies heavily on the whole “someone’s always watching you,” theme, though it raises the stakes from the corporate espionage of Paranoia to government conspiracy and terrorism.
When two lawyers (Bana and Hall) and a reporter (Stiles) get involved with a case surrounding a high profile car bombing, they find themselves sucked into a pit of lies and coverups. Sounds intriguing but I’m hearing not so great things about it. I didn’t get a chance to screen this one either, but I might check it out anyway once it’s on Blu Ray.
Trailer:
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Getaway
Taken, by way of Speed, with the setup of Phone Booth and the stylings of Fast Six. Don’t be confused by the similarities to all those much better movies – even Taken, which I was not a fan of. This is not a good movie. Starring Ethan Hawke as a man who must follow the instructions of a voice on the phone to save the life of his wife, it also features Selena Gomez. It’s a feature length car chase without the excitement that should mean. You should probably skip this one.
Read my full review here.
Trailer:
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The Grandmaster
This Chinese film is the latest movie about martial arts legend Ip Man. Admittedly, I know very little about him other than that Wikipedia says he trained Bruce Lee and that there have been a lot of films about him. It’s been getting good reviews and it expands into wide release this weekend so if you like martial arts films, check it out.
Trailer:
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Also worth noting, as something of a last hurrah this holiday weekend, a number of summer hits are coming back into wide release, so check these out if you missed them the first time around:
Film Hamster 