With Memorial Day weekend officially kicking off the 2014 summer movie season, you know that the cinemas will be full of big budget tentpole movies designed to attract big audiences, but if movies like "X-Men: Days of Future Past" or "The Expendables 3" aren't your cup of tea, here are a few alternatives (made outside of Hollywood) coming to a theater near you
If you're a fan of the "The Raid: Redemption" the sequel is likely to blow your mind. This is the movie that writer/director Gareth Evans wanted to make in 2012 but couldn't secure funding for. After the success of "The Raid: Redemption", "The Raid 2" was quickly green-lit. It has a broader scope and a bigger budget than its predecessor and takes great advantage of both. The body count is ramped up and the action is elevated to a level unlike anything we usually see on film. Check out the red band trailer to get a taste.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJKvZRlSSY[/youtube]
If scfi-fi is more to you liking, two promising choices are "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "Snowpiercer". Both films tell tales of humanity struggling to survive in a dystopian future. In "Snowpiercer" humanity is brought to the brink by a failed attempt to reverse global warming that leaves most of the planet uninhabitable. The survivors live on a massive globe-spanning train system, separated by a strict class system with the affluent living comfortably in the front of the train, and the poor living in squalor in the back. The allegory to class warfare and the income disparity debate are obvious but well handled.
Watch the trailer for "Snowpiercer: here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0IgVFiGyQM[/youtube]
"Deliver Us from Evil" is the story of an ordinary cop investigating demon possession. If you're a horror fan, burnt out by the deluge of demon possession movies that haunt (ha!) the genre, then "The Purge: Anarchy" may be for you. It expands on 2013's "The Purge". For one twelve hour period each year, all crime is legal and all emergency services suspended. Moving the action from the single home in the first movie to an entire city, the sequels seeks to show the full extent of a truly lawless modern American city.
See the Anarchy in the trailer:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzFCDqKE4yA[/youtube]
If you're interested in "22 Jump Street" see "Let's be Cops"
I am not ashamed to say that I loved "21 Jump Street". It's hilarious and one of the few revamps/remakes/reboots that really worked. I am a less excited about the upcoming sequel "22 Jump Street". The trailer seems to rehash quite a few jokes and situations from its predecessor. "Let's be Cops", however, seems like a worthy successor to the "bumbling cop" genre, with the added twist that they aren't cops at all. Two down on their luck buddies ("New Girls' Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.) become enamored with the power and perks that come with impersonating police officers and proceed to take their charade too far.
See the hijinks in the trailer:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2TpGj6q_qY[/youtube]
OK,"Interstellar" doesn't come out until the fall, but it has a total "summer movie" feel to it...an epic about humanity suffering from a crippling food shortage and Matthew McConaughey's attempts to find a solution by going off into space. While I love Nolan's work (I'm a potential Batman, remember?), McConaughey as a world saving astronaut seems like a bit of a stretch for me. "The Signal", on the other hand, sees a trio of college students fall into a sci-fi nightmare, waking up in the clutches of Lawrence Fishburne's , government agent.
Catch the trailer here
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXV_CU_ryKs[/youtube]
This summer is noticeably lacking in espionage movies. James Bond and Jason Bourne are both taking this year off and "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" was a disappointment. For those seeking their spy fix the only offering is "A Most Wanted Man" starring the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. A spymaster mentor's young spies as they seek to take down a terrorist network in Europe.
Feel the tension in the trailer:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3nIeRy5qHw[/youtube]
