Riddick
Vin Diesel is back, and this time he’s not driving cars. Abandoned and alone on an alien planet that clearly isn’t human-friendly, he soon makes friends with a CG alien dog… Thing. Cue bounty hunters, gratuitous side-boob, giant scorpions and some really ugly green-screening and what we’re left with is the version of 2000’s Pitch Black as it would appear on Looney Tunes. Crazy, but strangely entertaining in the same way those awful Syfy B-movies are. The most appropriate title of the year.
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Pain & Gain
Pain & Gain is being hailed as Michael Bay’s greatest achievement to date, and if that’s not “damning with fake praise” then I don’t know what is. Here’s all you need to know: Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson play personal trainers whose lives are turned upside-down by way of some rather illegal activities. Bay’s signature explosions are as numerous as ever, Johnson still can’t act and whatever satire this film attempts is drowned out by all the gunfire. Probably Bay’s best movie yet…
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About Time
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About Time isn’t really about time; it’s got time IN it, but then again so do most movies. Richard Curtis’s (famous for Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually) latest romantic comedy stars Domhnall Gleeson as time-travelling Tim, a shy and struggling lawyer who uses his supernatural powers to help him in the pursuit of love. Funny and sentimental without being too sweet, this movie will attract legions of female viewers, but any male accompaniment shouldn’t be too bored either.
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Upstream Color
I sat riveted throughout this movie and yet I’ve no idea what it’s about – safe to say it involves pig farmers, druggings, mysterious worms and commuting. An “arthouse” flick with a capital A, this film will undoubtedly be deemed too pretentious and self-serious for many people to suffer through. But for those that are into this sort of thing, Upstream Color is a memorable experience full of surrealism and some of the best sound design of recent years.
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The Way Way Back
Think way, way back to the forgotten times of 2009 and you might remember Adventureland, a movie with Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. The Way Way Back has a similar premise: an introverted and moody kid who hates his family finds solace in the friendly staff at a water park while on holidays. It may be unoriginal and totally formulaic, but the amazing performances by Steve Carell, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell make this the feel-good movie of the summer.
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