This weekend follows suit with the rest the summer by containing a sequel. On top of that, it brings a musical bio-pic that no one under the age of 70 has asked for. I’ll take this as my cue to stay home and catch up on Blu-rays.
The weekend’s widest release is Clint Eastwood’s Four Seasons bio-pic ‘Jersey Boys‘. The 134-minute musical drama is based on the Tony award-winning Broadway smash hit of the same name. Aside from a small supporting role by Christopher Walken, the tonally inconsistent picture stars a batch of no-name actors, many of whom have theater credit (including roles in the stage version of ‘Jersey Boys’), but it’s all for naught. The cinematic experience is a train wreck. Enter ‘Jersey’ at your own risk.
I can’t speak for the weekend’s obligatory sequel because it wasn’t screened in my region. Just two years after the $12 million ‘Think Like a Man’ earned a massive $96 million domestically, the writers, directors and full ensemble cast have returned for a follow-up to the adaptation of Steve Harvey’s hit book. ‘Think Like a Man Too‘ follows all of the couples from the first movie as they travel to Sin City for wedding. As they always do, things get wild and put the relationships, friendships and impending wedding at risk. The movie stars a list of folks much too long to share here.
Once-hot (but now not) Oscar-winning writer/director Paul Haggis is back on five big screens this weekend with ‘Third Person‘. Mostly panned at its TIFF and Tribeca debuts, the trailer for this ensemble flick looks familiar to anyone who saw ‘Stranger Than Fiction‘. A writer struggles in life and in his career. The stories of three couples are studied, but which – if any – of them is real and which are fictional? Honestly, I can see that not at all being the plot to ‘Third Person’, but that’s definitely what the trailer looks like. The film stars Liam Neeson, Maria Bello, Mila Kunis, Kim Basinger, Adrien Brody, Olivia Wilde and James Franco.
Controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski quietly sneaks onto two screens with another adaptation of a stage play. ‘Venus in Fur‘ features only two actors and appears to have the same uncomfortable vibe as Polanski’s ‘Carnage‘. Entirely in French, the film reunites ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ stars Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner. Amalric plays a director casting his next production and Seigner plays a loose cannon actress willing to do whatever it takes to convince him to cast her.
