Movies to Look Forward to - Summer 2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction is stomping into cinemas with almost $400 million in recipts already. We're right at the pinnacle of the summer movie season and there's plenty to enjoy right now but what of the weeks to come? Check out our list of filmed entertainments on the way while the sun still shines.Once director John Carney is back with a tale of more music - this time starring Kiera Knightley as a down on her luck musician who falls into things with a down on his luck music promotor played by Mark Ruffalo. Sweetness abounds.Richard Linklater made a movie over a period of more than 12 years, showing the actual real-time boyhood of Ellar Contrane. It's an incredible exercise in patience from one of the most interesting filmmakers around and the result is one of the most beguiling and unforgettable films of the year. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke also star. -The reviews are already billing this as one of the best blockbusters of the year and everything we've seen points to something truly special. Years after a virus takes out most of the human population a tenous peace exists between the remaining homo sapiens and the increasingly sophisticated apes. But it won't take much to shake that balance. Andy Serkis' motion capture skills are back opposite the likes of Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman.Dwayne Johnson is basically Hercules so its fitting that he takes top billing for this take on the legend - albeit sans supernatural stuff. Though there will still be plenty of giant monsters for him to beat down in a tale that's based on a graphic novel. A great supporting cast includes Ian McShane, John Hurt and Rufus Sewell. Also some lady in a thong.Last year's super cheap The Purge was a surprise hit - it didn't hurt that it was actually a suspenseful little horror with a great dystopian premise. For the sequel, the universe remains the same but we get to focus on a whole new set of characters (for obvious reasons) - as a small group bands together to try to survive the night. The super good Frank Grillo stars. We can' t wait.Disney and Marvel have been on quite the roll with their superhero stories to date and we're hoping it continues for many moons to come. That said, Guardians of the Galaxy is a pretty unusual prospect with no familar characters and a really strange tone. And as far as we're concerned it looks like it could be one of the best films of the year! Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel star in a film directed by James Gunn.Ok so here's the deal - we like the Step Up movies. They're like big action movie spectacles without the actual violence and the Step Up series has been doing amazing things with slow motion and 3D in the last couple of entries. They make no sense but who cares! This time, all the previous stars from the other movies (who don't have anything better to do - don't expect Channing Tatum) come together for an amazing Las Vegas event.The lads are back, doing a thing that seems quite similar to what they were doing before. It definitely worked in the first film, which was one of the biggest successes of the year, so we'll have to wait and see if the joke has been stretched too far. This time, they're heading to Australia for some antipodean shenanigans.Planes was a perfectly watchable animated flick, from a Pixar offshoot and basically all about promoting new toys. So there's a sequel, which looks to be upping the action (perhaps in hopes of getting more boy children in) with some fire and rescue stuff.
The Expendables movies are what they are - an excuse for getting the really, really old gang back together to shoot some folks without moving very fast. Other than that, the entertainment factor feels fairly weak - the action is bleh and the dialogue even worse. Maybe the presence of genre faves like Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford though its less likely with the recently confirmed PG-13 rating.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
