What’s New In Theaters This Weekend (8/16)
Daniella Cuencas ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor
Kick Ass 2
Rating: R
Run Time: 103 minutes
In this sequel, we have Kick Ass (Taylor-Johnson), and Hit Girl (Moretz), are a few years removed from the original movie Kick Ass, and are now joined by a new group of masked superheroes. The big supervillain in this movie turns out to be Red Mist (Mintz-Plasse). Both Hit Girl and Kick Ass must take him down, but unfortunately, Hit Girl’s identity is revealed so she must retire. Still angry about what happened to his father in the last movie, Red Mist, now The Mother F&^%&r, is out for revenge against Hit Girl and Kick Ass. So far this series has been a bit controversial because of the blood, cursing, and general violence all surrounding an 11 year old girl and a high school boy. This brash film was rated really poorly on rotten tomatoes. A lot of critics are saying the film is too violent without a point and lacks any of it’s original weirdly twisted idea of fun. In changing directors, this movie has lost some of its originality. If you’re looking for the same quality as Kick Ass keep looking, because Kick Ass 2 will be a disappointment. That doesn’t necessarily mean this movie will be terrible, but in comparison to the first, which is undoubtedly going to happen, his film will only disappoint.
Watch the trailer now:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt39nS-kJ9U&w=560&h=315]
Lee Daniel’s: The Butler
Rating: PG-13
Run Time:132 minutes
Forest Whitaker stars as the butler in this drama dating to the time during Eisenhower’s presidency. This movie is about the a butler coming to work for different presidents during the civil rights, Vietnam, and other struggles all the way up until Ronald Reagan’s presidency. This movie has some great Oscar winners as well as some candidates. The trailer looks like a powerful movie full of some great acting from Whitaker, Winfrey, and David Oyelowo. Richard Roeper believes this is Forest Whitaker’s best performance so far in his career. This is high praise and looking at the trailer makes me think it will be amazing. The only caveat this film seems to have is that the other actors surrounding the main characters of Cecil Gaines, Forest Whitaker, and his wife were not the best picks for the job. Liev Schreiber plays Lyndon Johnson, a president from Texas who has an accent, which he doesn’t pull off well. Compared to the other great comments on the storie’s ability to keep the facts straight about the history surrounding Cecil’s life and the main characters are well written. The other problem of casting might be distracting, but I don’t think it will make the movie an overall bad experience.
Watch the trailer now:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uBXH_DLxsU&w=560&h=315]
Paranoia
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 106 minutes
In this drama thriller, Adam Cassidy (Hemsworth), must work as an entry level employee at Wyatt Corporation, owned by Nicholas Wyatt (Oldman). Here he makes a ghastly mistake and in exchange for his job, Cassidy must spy on his boss’ old mentor Jock Goddard (Ford). Basically, Cassidy finds himself in over his head, as his actual boss will stop at nothing to gain an advantage in the business world including murder. This movie is unbearably average and even has a bit of Wall Street, 1987 movie staring Michael Douglas, infused into it. From the characters to the plot, it all seems remarkably familiar. Paranoia in technology and the question of whether anything in this field is ever really original anymore is a great question and theme for this movie. Unfortunately, this lackluster film produces a typical show of all around good guy gets mixed up in a world he knows nothing about, finds a girl to love him, and then must deal with the horrible truth of his decisions. Oldman and Ford are guaranteed to make this movie a lot more bearable than it would be without them. This film offers nothing in the way of originality, but could still be a good weekend watch just for the fun of it.
Watch the trailer now:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mjtqcOp_64&w=560&h=315]
Jobs
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 122 minutes
The beloved Steve Jobs, that invented the very computer I am typing on, now has a movie following his rise to technological immortality. This film will feature the story of Steve Jobs’ (Kutcher), start of Apple to his success. The trailer does a great job of showing just how small and grass roots the starting of Apple was. Jobs’ story is interesting as well as unique. Like all biographical movies, this film tries to show the good and bad parts of the man behind the company. In the trailer, Jobs is tough and unforgiving when it comes to his brainchild. A true and honest showing of Jobs is a little shocking because he looks so mild mannered, which is what makes this movie interesting. This film really tries to capture the entire story of the making of apple even if it involves the less glamorous and possibly a little funny side of the story of apple. Some controversy surrounding this film would be whether Ashton Kutcher was a good choice to play Steve Jobs. Some critics believe he did a great job of being able to mature in this movie compared to his other roles as a sort of man-boy, but sometimes his acting can fall short of really embodying the man this movie is about. An interesting watch if you don’t know much about the start up of apple, or just want to see what Ashtun Kutcher could be like in a serious role.
Watch the trailer now:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrvkCS0ZGPU&w=560&h=315]