September Movie Releases Part Three

The second Friday of September sees a few noteworthy movie releases hitting movie theaters. First up is The Other Man, starring Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas - where the hell has he been? The poor man has finally been freed from Melanie Griffith’s lips, so let’s hope this is a good comeback movie (since the Nasonex bee can’t be his proudest work). Unfortunately, the movie’s got one huge problem stacked against it: it’s basically Unfaithful, except it seems to focus more on the two men involved rather than the woman. I mean, the woman’s played by Laura Linney, they must not want you to concentrate too hard on the female lead or they would have cast someone with a pulse. Well, Neeson’s reputation may mean the film has something we’re missing from descriptions and trailers, so we’ll give it a shot before we decide to trash it.

FINALLY the long awaited big screen debut of acting legend Audrina Patridge! All kidding aside, Audrina was perfectly cast in Sorority Row, a horror movie about a murder of one of the sisters. I can’t think of anyone that plays dead more naturally. Her only competition in effortlessly letting her eyes roll back in her head is fellow cast member, Rumer Willis. Are they serious with this cast? No, really, are they? There’s no one to carry this film, and the only way it will be half decent is if everyone dies in the first scene. Fingers crossed. (Ten bucks says the killer’s Lauren Conrad.)

My first reaction when I saw the trailer for Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself was of course. I thought it had been like five minutes since Perry dropped another one off of the assembly line. I can’t imagine that all of his movies are original, unique compelling stories, since he jots them down over breakfast every morning and drops them off on set. But, no lie, this one looks half decent. Perry’s old standard character, Madea, catches her teenage grandkids looting her house (their grandma? that’s messed up!) and sends them off to live with Taraji P. Henson. Well, Aunt April, played by Henson. Aunt April ain’t so great herself, she’s a heavy drinking jazz singer with a married boyfriend. But the kids and her new basement tenant, Sandino, start to make her change her ways. Okay, I know this sounds really boring, but I saw the trailer and it looks pretty inspirational and all that good stuff. Even Mary J. Blige is in it.

There’s this movie called Walt & El Grupo coming out September 11, and I just tried to read the description three times but my eyes kept glazing over, so I’m just going to borrow some of it from www.ropeofsilicon.com: Walt & El Grupo chronicles the amazing ten-week trip that Walt Disney and his hand-picked group of artists and filmmaking talent (later known as “El Grupo”) took to South America in 1941 at the behest of the U.S. Government as part of the Good Neighbor Policy. Within just three short years after the phenomenal success of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the Walt Disney Studios experienced a chain of financial challenges that ultimately led to the infamous animators strike. Also during this time, the Roosevelt administration had growing concerns about Nazi and Fascist influence in Latin America, and the rest of the world was slipping further into war. In stark contrast to these trying times, Disney and his colorful group of artists found themselves on a lively trip full of hope and discovery as they explored various South American cities, spending the majority of their time in the countries of Argentina, Brazil and Chile.” I mean, I could see catching this on the History Channel or something, but actually traveling to a movie theater and spending money on movie tickets? Dear Lord.

Whiteout: Um…I mean, this sounds stupid and everything, but it’s a thriller with a bit of a unique twist: it focuses on the first murder investigation of Antarctica, and the events that follow (that sounded like it’s a true story - it’s not). What with the whiteout conditions, as titled, it could be fairly creepy. Kate Beckingsale stars.

August 6th, 2009 by Courtney Iseman | Posted in Movie News | (3)