The Odd Life of Timothy Green August 15th 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

A happy husband and wife receive a most unexpected gift in this enchanting comedy drama from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Peter Hedges (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Dan in Real Life). Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy Green (Jennifer Garner) are deeply in love and planning to start a family in Stanleyville when, one night during a thunderous storm, a young boy named Timothy (CJ Adams) comes knocking at their door. In time, the prospective new parents and their curious neighbors discover that the most amazing things can happen just when you least expect it. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Bourne Legacy August 10th 2012

 SYNOPSIS

The fourth installment of the highly successful Bourne series sees the return of the franchise's screenwriter, Tony Gilroy, this time stepping into the director's seat for an entry which sidelines main character Jason Bourne in order to focus on a fellow estranged assassin (Jeremy Renner). Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz co-star, with Joan Allen and Albert Finney reprising their roles from the previous films. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

• Release date:August 10, 2012

Step Up Revolution July 27th 2012

An aspiring dancer in Miami befriends an innovative flash-mob dance crew, and helps them to stage a footloose protest in order to save their neighborhood from a greedy developer. Emily (Kathryn McCormick) has always dreamt of becoming a professional dancer. Shortly after moving to Miami, she meets up with Sean  -- the leader of a crew called The Mob that takes the art of dance straight to the streets. Meanwhile, as Emily falls for Sean, a powerful businessman begins plotting to demolish the crew's historic neighborhood to make way for a highly profitable development. Now, with their homes at stake and nothing to lose, Sean, Emily, and The Mob prepare to stage a show that will save their families from getting thrown into the streets. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Well-Digger's Daughter July 20th 2012

A bitter class war erupts between two families after the daughter of a humble well digger is impregnated by the son of a wealthy shopkeeper. Aging widower Pascale Amoretti (Daniel Auteuil) works hard to provide for his six daughters. As the first shots of World War I are fired, his eldest daughter Patricia (Astrid Bergés-Frisbey) returns home from Paris to help raise her younger siblings. Meanwhile, Pascale wants to see Patricia marry his longtime assistant Felipe (Kad Merad), a hard worker who would make a loving husband. But shortly after arriving back home, Patricia has a fling with Jacques Mazel (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a fighter pilot from a wealthy family, who then disappears to the front lines after getting Patricia pregnant. At first, the Mazels are furious, accusing the impoverished Amorettis of using the situation to stake a claim on their fortune. When Jacques goes missing in action, however, the Mazels quickly realize that Patricia's unborn child may be their only link to the son who sacrificed his life fighting for their country. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Queen of Versailles July 20th 2012

epic proportions of Shakespearean tragedy, the film follows two unique characters, whose rags-to-riches success stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream. The film begins with the family triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America, a 90,000 sq. ft. palace. Over the next two years, their sprawling empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis. Major changes in lifestyle and character ensue within the cross-cultural household of family members and domestic staff.movies.com

The Dark Knight Rises July 20th 2012

Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy concludes with this Warner Brothers release that finds The Dark Knight pitted against Bane, an unstoppable foe possessed of tremendous physical and intellectual strength. Nearly a decade after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's death and disappearing into the darkness, a fugitive Batman (Christian Bale) watches from the shadows as the Dent Act keeps the streets of Gotham City crime free. Meanwhile, an elusive cat burglar seizes the chance to strike, and a masked anarchist plots a devastating series of attacks designed to lure Bruce Wayne out of the shadows. Determined not to abandon the people who he once risked his life to protect, The Dark Knight emerges from his self-imposed exile ready to fight. But Baneis ready, too, and once Batman is within his grasp, he will do everything in his power to break Gotham City's shadowy savior. Oscar-winner Michael Caine and Gary Oldman return in a sequel also starring Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

UNION SQUARE July 13th 2012

Nancy Savoca's first film in nearly a decade, stars Mira Sorvino as Lucy, a hard-drinking party girl from the Bronx who takes a trip into Manhattan to meet with her married lover, and ends up visiting her sister Jenny (Tammy Blanchard), who has cleaned up her life and is engaged to a man running a health-food business. Jenny has hid the truth about her past from her fiancé; he thinks she's from Maine, and Jenny wants nothing more than to get her out-of-control sister away from their apartment. Lucy, however, doesn't know how to take a hint, ends up spending the night, and soon the two are fighting about old resentments and Jenny finds she can't keep the facade going with her fiancé. Union Square played at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

"TRISHNA In Theaters" July 13th 2012

Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, a modern retelling of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles, stars Freida Pinto as the title character, a young Indian woman who meets Jay (Riz Ahmed), the son of a rich real-estate man. He convinces her to come work in a hotel owned by his father, and because her family is in desperate need of money -- and he's charming and handsome -- she accepts. While things go well at first, she becomes pregnant and is forced to leave the job. Although Trishna tries to make it on her own as a dancer, Jay eventually returns and attempts to sweep her off her feet again. Trishna played at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ perry seibert, rovi

Easy Money July 11th 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

Safe House director Daniel Espinosa delivers this gritty adaptation of Jens Lapidus' best-selling novel Snabba Cash to tell the tale of a Stockholm business student who gets entangled in a life of crime while attempting to impress a gorgeous heiress. JW (Joel Kinnaman) comes from meager beginnings, but he's got ambition to spare, and the motivation to succeed. Smitten by the scion of a powerful family, he turns to crime in order to maintain the illusion of wealth. Meanwhile, low-level crook Jorge finds the law closing in on one side, and the Serbian mafia gaining ground on the other. But if his next cocaine deal goes off without a hitch, he'll be set for life. Unfortunately for Jorge, ruthless mob enforced Mrado is closing in fast. But when Mrado must look after his young daughter at the last minute, a simple job turns unexpectedly complex. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

While this is  a remake of Raimi's perfectly good "Spider-Man" (2002), the lure of 3D and Imax showings should help rev up fanboys, even if they feel it's something they've already seen; still, such auds might be disappointed by how long it takes to get to the action.
The screenplay, surprisingly compact despite the 136-minute running time, is co-written by James Vanderbilt, "Harry Potter" scribe Steve Kloves and Alvin Sargent, who also worked on Raimi's version. Following that earlier template, the film roughly falls into two halves, the stronger of which is the first, set before the birth of Peter Parker's unitard-wearing alter ego.

Some elements have disappeared,and some concessions have been made to fit the new villain, Oscorp employee Dr. Curt Conners, aka the Lizard , into this origin story. Yet it's still essentially a coming-of-ager/romance hybrid, albeit one that feels even less comicbook-like than Raimi's.
Given that the film was shot in 3D, it seems appropriate that the prop connecting teen Peter (Brit thesp Garfield) to his dead father, scientist Richard (Campbell Scott), is a pair of glasses. The specs are  only a visual reminder of the film's underlying father-son theme but also drive home the point that Peter, a brilliant student who's occasionally awkward and overly gleeful, is a nerd. Indeed, high school, specifically the life lessons learned there, figures heavily in the pic, which returns to campus several times, including for a key battle sequence.
Webb and Garfield, in a commanding performance that combines boyish charm and manly backbone, establish early on that Peter's growing pains and search for an identity are common to any teenager, yet also inextricably linked to his lack of a father. Every issue may seem like a matter of life and death for an adolescent, but Garfield makes Peter an interesting hero precisely because his struggles involve real people -- and real lives.

After Peter's bitten by the requisite spider at New York-based Oscorp's genetic research facility, where he's been shown around by cute intern and classmate Gwen Stacy, he discovers his new powers in a subway car, and then the next morning in the bathroom. The two short scenes showcase Peter's maladroitness as well as the pic's underlying vein of character-driven humor.
Though the film is clearly set in the present day or not-too-distant future there are some nice retro touches, such as Peter's old-fashioned camera and skateboard, which comes in particularly handy when he tries to test the limits of his strengths in a scenic harbor-side hangar.

After his uncle Ben is killed in a robbery, Peter starts to think of ways he can harness his powers to find the killer, with a well-placed luchadores poster inspiring Spidey's mask. An hour has elapsed by the time the full transformation is complete, but it hardly feels like wasted time, since Webb, as in his debut, "500 Days of Summer," has drawn his characters and their predicaments in clear terms and with enough individuality to make auds feel invested.

Though the action-heavy is well executed, with long-held shots and clear editing allowing for a coherent, almost old-fashioned sense of spatial relations and never-intrusive use of 3D, it's clear that Webb is more interested in the story's human dimensions. A  setpiece involving Spider-Man's rescue of a small boy in a burning car, hanging off the Williamsburg Bridge, has much greater resonance than any confrontation with Connors' generally destruction-oriented Lizard, an ugly creature that's less human-gone-wrong than two-dimensional comicbook villain, with CGI and prosthetic makeup to match. Similarly, the palpable rapport of Garfield and the ever-affable Stone in the pic's home stretch wows far more than the climactic webslinging antics.

Technically, "The Amazing Spider-Man" is assembled in expert if classical fashion. while production and costume design set the film sufficiently apart from its predecessor without departing too much from the look of the comics. James Horner's nonspecific score is unfortunately deployed so often and indiscriminately that a scene in which it's not used, as Lizard looks for Gwen Stacy at Oscorp, suddenly crackles with a nervous energy absent from some of the bigger fight sequences.by boyd hoeij

"The Hunger Games" Coming To Blu-ray August 18th 2012

The Hunger Games (2012)

North America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss' young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

"THE IMPOSTER" In Theatres July 13th 2012

Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.

Genres: Documentary

Documentary filmmaker Bart Layton uses vivid reenactments to tell the tale of a Texas family whose prayers are answered when their missing teenage son returns home after nearly four years, and the mystery that begins to emerge as the newcomer's actual identity comes into question. San Antonio, Texas: 1994. A local teen vanishes from his parents' own home. As the clues run cold over the next three years, his grieving family continues to fear the worst. Incredibly, they later receive word that their son has been found in Spain. Despite being  tortured by his abductors, he miraculously appears to be in good health. But the more questions that inspectors ask, the less his answers seem to add up. And while his tattoos match those of the kidnapping victim, that's just about where the resemblance ends. Meanwhile, everyone but the victim's family seems to recognize that something is amiss. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Coming Soon "TRISHNA" jULY 13TH 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, a modern retelling of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles, stars Freida Pinto as the title character, a young Indian woman who meets Jay (Riz Ahmed), the son of a rich real-estate man. He convinces her to come work in a hotel owned by his father, and because her family is in desperate need of money -- and he's charming and handsome -- she accepts. While things go well at first, she becomes pregnant and is forced to leave the job. Although Trishna tries to make it on her own as a dancer, Jay eventually returns and attempts to sweep her off her feet again. Trishna played at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

RED LIGHTS In Theatres July 13th 2012

 SYNOPSIS

Rated: Language and Some Violence

Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.

Genres: Suspense/Thriller

Buried director Rodrigo Cortes follows up his claustrophobic sophomore feature with this tale of two paranormal investigators who encounter unimaginable terror while attempting to debunk a world-renowned psychic whose powers put all others to shame. Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her partner Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) have built their careers on exposing the so-called "red lights" used by fraudulent psychics to assert their abilities. When blind mystic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) emerges from his 30-year retirement and sparks a public frenzy, Buckley sees exposing Silver as the ultimate challenge. Matheson, sensing that her ambitious colleague is about to get in over his head, strongly advises him to drop the investigation at once. But Buckley persists, and with the help of his star pupil (Elizabeth Olsen), he plots to expose Silver before the entire world. Unfortunately, Buckley has not only underestimated Silver's telepathic abilities, but his famous target's vengeful and unforgiving nature as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

SAVAGES In Theatres July 6th 2012

Drama ,Suspense/Thriller
Runtime 2 hr 10 Min

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone adapts author Don Winslow's best-selling novel into this all-star ensemble crime drama about a pair of peaceful, Laguna Beach marijuana dealers who are targeted for extortion by the ruthless Mexican Baja cartel. Ben (Aaron Johnson) is a devout Buddhist and dedicated philanthropist, and his best friend Chun (Taylor Kitsch) is a former mercenary who trained as a Navy SEAL. They may not seem like major drug dealers, but  they make a comfortable living selling top-quality marijuana. And they share more than just a profitable business; their mutual girlfriend Ophelia (Blake Lively) is more than enough woman for the two ambitious young entrepreneurs to handle. But just as Ben and Chun are feeling like they're on top of the world, their blissful life of lawless hedonism threatens to yield dire repercussions. The Mexican Baja cartel wants a piece of the action, and their cruel leader Elena (Salma Hayek) has dispatched her top hatchet man Lado (Benicio Del Toro) to ensure that she gets it. When the cartel kidnaps Ophelia and threatens to kill her unless Ben and Chun comply, the desperate pot dealers enlist the aid of a shady DEA agent (John Travolta) to try and avert a tragedy. Emile Hirsch and Uma Thurman also star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

"CRAZY EYES" In Theatres July 6th 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

Drama
Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.

One of those glamorous L.A. people with too much money and too much time on his hands, Zach (Lukas Haas) looks like he’s living the Hollywood dream. There’s a steady stream of beautiful women coming in and out of his posh home in the hills, and every night he makes his way through the hottest nightspots for a party that never ends. A divorcée with a 5-year-old son, Zach has become a master at seducing women without ever getting too close. But all that’s about to change — he’s met a girl he calls “Crazy Eyes”she’s not like anyone he’s ever met before. Flirty but withholding, intelligent but damaged, she’s the one woman Zach can’t have, so naturally he wants her above all others. While Zach’s hard-partying lifestyle — aided and abetted by his bartender pal Dan (Jake Busey) — threatens to go off the rails, family concerns begin to play a major role in Zach’s life.

What Is a Darker Superman?

Zack Snyder and screenwriter David Goyer actually mean when they say that this version of Superman will be “darker” than past incarnations. This is all in an attempt to make the character “relevant” again. Does that mean that the character, the circumstances, the villains or simply the tone will be taken to a darker degree than previous incarnations? My honest answer is that I expect all of the above, but to varying degrees.

Since Superman achieved such amazing success as the #1 comic book hero for over 40 years, his writers were certainly on the right track for the times. As the first-ever superhero in 1938, his comics and merchandise sales along with success in other media like radio and television made him into an icon. Eventually Batman became more popular, as did other heroes from other companies like Spider-Man and The X-Men. Before the character’s death in 1992, a good friend of mine told me about how people would make fun of him for liking Superman. Of course once he died, they were jealous that he had all of the lead-up comics sitting in a hold box at his local comic store.
Thanks to the success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, Warner Brothers seems to be trying to copy the darker, grittier realism with other major characters like Superman. But that can be a slippery slope because Superman isn’t like Batman. Although they were good friends in the comics from the 40’s-70’s, when John Byrne recreated Superman for the comics in 1986, he set them at odds with each other because their methods would necessarily have to be so opposite. Superman can fly and is bulletproof, so how hard would it be to stop the likes of Catwoman or Two-Face? And Batman would have a much harder time taking on someone like Brainiac or Darkseid who could probably crush him with bare hands. The fact that Batman gets the job done by using fear and intimidation, plus that he is effectively a criminal vigilante working outside the law, meant that the first thing Superman tried to do when they met was arrest him and take him to jail. If they are so completely different, what are some of the ways that the success of the Batman films feed into success with Superman?
My friend Frankie Addiego pointed out to me the other day that we should notice that nobody ever asks if Mickey Mouse or Dick Tracy are “still relevant” even though neither have starred in movies in a long time. If Superman had such a drastic influence on every other superhero in comics, shouldn’t his relevance already be implicit?by jeffrey taylor

Box Office Report: 'Ted' Breaks Records

Here's your weekend box office returns (new releases bolded):
1. Ted - $54.1 million
2. Magic Mike - $39.1 million
3. Brave - $34.0 million
4. Madea's Witness Protection - $26.3 million
5. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - $11.8 million
6. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - $6.0 million
7. Prometheus - $4.9 million
8. Moonrise Kingdom - $4.8 million
9. Snow White and the Huntsman - $4.4 million
10. People Like Us - $4.3 million
That sound you hear is the collective applause, high fives and heavy sighs around the offices of Universal and Warner Bros. today. Both studios have had less than stellar summers which has put the first-run columns of their books more in the red than any others this year.
Echoes of The Hangover are reverberating in connection to the teddy bear comedy having the highest opening weekend for an "R"-rated non-sequel comedy. A lot of subheadings there, but there is still plenty of good news in the numbers to look out for after Ted and Magic Mike become the first R-rated duo to open the box office #1-2 in their first weekend since The American and Machete did it with $13.1 & $11.4 million back on Labor Day weekend 2010
In that list being bandied about, your top five R-rated non-sequel openings now looks like this:
Ted ($52.5 million), The Hangover ($44.9), Scary Movie ($42.3), 21 Jump Street ($36.3), Wedding Crashers ($33.9).byerik childress