Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.
The Internship
Beloved onscreen couple Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are back together—but rather than attending age appropriate celebrations, they are joining the unpaid workforce. It's already been called the "best worst comedy of the year thus far." It does not attempt topicality. Google CEO Larry Page loves it!
Much Ado About Nothing (Limited)
Joss Whedon's "backyard experiment" is jazzy and velvety, or as others will say, silken. While it's got a joyous party atmosphere, it's also got things to say about slut shaming. Also Whedon has cast his reliable favorites: Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, Jillian Morgese, Reed Diamond, and Fran Kranz.
The Purge
Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in this horror film that is either high-concept or catchpenny depending on who you ask. No matter, one reviewer writes, it's "got no business being as good as it is." The Purge takes place in the near future of America, when we have emerged into a utopian society that takes out its anger through an annual event called "The Purge," when laws, emergency services, police are suspended for twelve hours and people can go about murdering and pillaging. A Roomba makes an excellent cameo.
Tiger Eyes (Limited)
The first movie adaptation of a book by the much-beloved Judy Blume, Tiger Eyes is a coming of age story set in the American southwest. Though it's "soggy with emo music," it's an engaging and sensitive portrayal of growing up.
The Wall (Limited)
This supernatural, suspenseful psychological thriller is based on Marlen Haushofer's feminist classic of the same title. Martina Gedeck plays a woman living in a rural cottage in Austria, and finds her way back to the world is blocked by a invisible wall. Gedeck's performance and "spectrally wearied face" are amazing.
Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie (Limited)
The movie is high decibel and absurdly foul-mouthed—and most of this is coming from the subject, Mr. Morton Downey Jr. himself. The conservative television talk show host perfected the angered performance that paved the way for the likes of Hannity, Reilly, and Beck. The most interesting part of this documentary is the way it questions the nature of performance and how reality television shapes its participants.
Violet & Daisy (Limited)
The directorial debut from Precious writer Geoffrey Fletcher is an attempt at a stylish murder flick starring Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan. While it's questionably sentimental, somehow dopey and arch simultaneously, it is admirably ambitious. Some scenes are truly fantastic looking, but it barely holds up beyond its surface value.
As Cool As I Am (Limited)
A slight coming of age story about an articulate young woman navigating the world with her young parents—played by James Marsden and Claire Danes, who is crying in the trailer.
Wish You Were Here (Limited)
Four friends journey to have some debauchery in Southeast Asia, one goes missing, they can't remember anything. But it's not The Hangover II—it's a domestic drama, with "structural fireworks" and "emotional authenticity." From first time director Kiernan Darcy-Smith, it expertly depicts "lovely façades and the rot within."
Rapture-Palooza (Limited)
Rapture-Palooza is an ironic, parody rapture flick starring Anna Kendrick as a young woman caught in the middle of the rapture, trying to trick the antichrist who gets stuck on earth. Oh and Craig Robinson is antichrist! Written by Chris Matheson, of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, this film should play right into the hands of Shaun of the Dead fans.
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