Welcome back to this month’s Media Roundup! While it seems to be a mild month for movies, there may be some good surprises in store nonetheless. However it pales in comparison to next year at this time, when we will be mere weeks away from watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Crazy to think about, huh? This month we will be getting Neill Blomkamp’s third feature Chappie, the second installment of The Divergent Series, Cinderella, and a few surprises.
March 6th
Chappie
Official Synopsis:
In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.,
Neill Blomkamp is one of the best young directors working today, due mostly to District 9, which happens to be one of my favorite films. Sure Elysium was a little disappointing, but it had some of the best exo-skeleton action around…until Edge of Tomorrow raised the bar. Chappie looks like it has at least been loosely inspired by Short Circuit, which was one of my favorite sentient robot movies as a kid. I mean, we all have a favorite sentient robot movie, right? Wall-E anybody? Plus Blomkamp has just announced that he will be directing Alien 5. He is making a name as a science-fiction action wizard and I can’t wait to see the next step in his progression.
Unfinished Business
Official Synopsis:
A hard-working small business owner (Vince Vaughn) and his two associates (Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco) travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way, including unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit.
Hey, it’s a Vince Vaughn movie so at least you know what you are getting. Dave Franco was surprisingly funny in Neighbors last year, stealing the majority of the scenes that he was in. This looks like one of the better comedy offerings of the month, so it might be worth a shot. If Vaughn recaptured a little bit of his Old School magic, we may be in for a pleasant surprise.
March 13th
Cinderella
Official Synopsis:
The story of “Cinderella’ follows the fortunes of young Ella (Lily James) whose merchant father remarries following the death of her mother. Eager to support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new Stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and her daughters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera) into the family home. But, when Ella’s father unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and cruel new family.
Soon, she is forced to become their servant, disrespected, covered in ashes and spitefully renamed Cinderella. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella will not give in to despair nor despise those who mistreat her, and she continues to remain positive, determined to honor her mother’s dying words and to “have courage and be kind.”
When Ella meets a dashing stranger in the woods, unaware that he is really the Prince (Richard Madden) and not merely Kit, an apprentice at the palace, she believes she has finally found a kindred soul. It appears her fortunes may be about to change when the King (Derek Jacobi) summons all maidens in the kingdom to attend a royal ball at the palace, raising Ella’s hopes of once again encountering the charming Kit. Alas, her Stepmother forbids her to attend and callously destroys her dress.
Meanwhile, the calculating Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgård) devises a plan to thwart the Prince’s hopes of reuniting with Ella and enlists the support of the devious Stepmother. But, as in all good fairy tales, help is at hand. Soon, a kindly beggar woman (Helena Bonham Carter) steps forward and, armed with a pumpkin, a few mice and a magic wand, changes Cinderella’s life forever.
In all honesty, even watching the trailer made my eyes tear up out of boredom. But I can certainly appreciate the look and feel of the movie, which does undoubtedly look majestic. Hey, it is what it is. It’s Cinderella!
Run All Night
Official Synopsis:
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass. But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself…at the wrong end of a gun. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.
My first instinct was to totally write this movie off without even checking out the trailer. After all, I have skipped Taken 3 and Non-Stop, simply because Liam Neeson’s action movies seem so formulaic. However, in Run All Night, he is squaring off against Ed Harris…and suddenly I am interested again. Plus it features Joel Kinnaman who is rumored to have secured the role of Rick Flagg in Suicide Squad. It will be another opportunity for him to prove his action movie cred, after the Robocop reboot he starred in was met with a tepid response. Damn you Neeson! You tricked me again! See you at the movies.
March 20th
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Official Synopsis:
“The Divergent Series: Insurgent” raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world.
Judging from the marketing of this movie, it looks like Insurgent is a mess. I have a limit of three YA adaptations that I can watch a year and Divergent just missed the mark last year. The only reason that I can talk myself into watching this, is to see more of Miles Teller after his dynamic performance in Whiplash and before the Fantastic Four movie premieres at the end of the summer. However, even that might not convince me to check this out…
The Gunman
Official Synopsis:
An adaptation of Jean-Patrick, Manchette’s “The Prone Gunman.” Sean Penn stars as Jim Terrier, an international operative who is betrayed by the organization he worked for, and must go on the run in a relentless game of cat and mouse across Europe.
Sean Penn has made a career out of avoiding blockbuster style moviemaking. While The Gunman doesn’t look to be a huge movie by today’s standard, it is directed by Pierre Morel, who is responsible for Taken and Liam Neeson’s career rebirth as an action hero. It looks like Penn is looking to be redefined in his golden years the same way that Neeson was able to do . Fortunately the movie looks pretty entertaining, primarily due to an extraordinarily accomplished cast. Penn is joined by Javier Bardem and Idris Elba, who should be able to elevate the material. Hopefully The Gunman doesn’t miss the mark.
What movies are you looking forward to? Let us know what you think of the upcoming films in the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Coming Soon