WEEKEND MOVIE PREVIEW for 6/22/12

A busy weekend with 3 major motion pictures and 1 Woody Allen movie hitting screens all over the country.

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER- Based on the piece of historical fiction by Seth Grahame-Smith, Directed by action master Timur Bekmambetov(WANTED, NIGHT WATCH) and Produced by Tim Burton(I’m Surprised he didn’t at least try to get Johnny Depp to star in this). If you have not heard of the book then you probably laughed fairly hard when you saw the trailer. The Book is hilariously good yet even with a cast that includes Anthony Mackie and Dominic Cooper along with relative unknown Benjamin Walker playing easy abe do not be surprised if this movie does poorly with critics and struggles to make it’s budget back. I’d say right now its buyer beware and wait and see what your friends think because it could be a cult classic or it could really stink it is very difficult to tell.

BRAVE- The Newest film from Ultra-Successful Disney/Pixar. Someone can correct me on this one but i really don’t think they have EVER made a bad movie. The synopsis sounds like a old time disney classic “Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.” A solid cast of voices including Kelly Macdonald(NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) Billy Connolly(THE BOONDOCK SAINTS, and Emma Thompson (NANNY MCPHEE) and with supporting roles to Kevin McKidd(KINGDOM OF HEAVEN), Robbie Coltrane(HARRY POTTER SERIES) and Craig Ferguson( THE LATE LATE SHOW) it has that disney starpower. Mike Finklestein has already seen it and liked it but did not love it but it’s Disney/Pixar and BRAVE is a solid choice to get the kids out of the sun.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD- This one is fairly straight forward, a Romantic Comedy/Drama starring Steve Carrell(I REALLY DON’T NEED TO LIST WHERE HE IS FROM RIGHT?) and Keira Knightly play two neighbors who after their lives have fallen apart due to an incoming meotor that will destroy earth go on a roadtrip to see their families and reunite Dodge(Carell) with the one that got away. Co-starring are Patton Oswalt, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry and Melanie Lynskey SEEKING A FRIEND actually looks pretty funny with a solid cast and very intruiging plot for a comedy. Directed by Lorene Scafaria making her directorial debut from the script she wrote. She looks to get people to see a movie in which we already know the ultimate ending yet the whole idea looks like if it plays out could be very rewarding. I look forward to seeing this movie this weekend to see if she pulls it off with the excellent cast of comedy pros.

TO ROME WITH LOVE- An all star cast that include Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, Penelope Cruz, Woody Allen and Roberto Benigni about finding love, fame and trouble in rome. I am a fairly big fan of most of Woody Allen’s work, some of his new stuff, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS especially has been very good as well. Woody Allen always seems to find a way to transport the audience to every location especially his trips through the streets of Paris and Barcelona would make anyone want to take a long vacation. Yet Woody finds a huge cast that rivals the brilliant one in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS but probably a little bigger thanks to the emergence of Greta Gerwig and Jesse Eisenberg. The question is always how will he find enough screen time to tell the stories of all of these characters without making the movie an unbearable 3 hours long? If anyone can do it besides Tarantino and Scorsese its a pretty good bet that its Woody Allen. TO ROME WITH LOVE is not playing everywhere to start off but will look to jump to more theaters over the next few weeks.

In Summation, Be weary of most vampire movies even if they star the 16th president, Disney/Pixar’s BRAVE is a good bet to get the kids out of the heat, SEEKING A FRIEND AT THE END OF THE WORLD looks very funny even if it’s characters are already doomed, and Woody Allen movies rarely disappoint.