Weekend Movies: The End of the September Drought?

We’ve made it! The September slump is over! Movies open this weekend that are actually worth seeing!

OK, by saying “movies,” I really mean “a movie.” Indie director Rian Johnson returns to the big screen with his third feature, ‘Looper‘. His previous movies were the brilliant ‘Brick’ (2005) and the not-so-brilliant ‘The Brothers Bloom’ (2008). What was he doing in the meantime? Well, he directed some television, and it looks like working on ‘Breaking Bad’ has driven him to the dark side. Joseph Gordon-Levitt leads this time-travel sci-fi action thriller as an assassin whose marks are sent back to his time to die. In many cases, they’re killed before they’re even born. He’s thrown for a loop when a version of himself (played by Bruce Willis) is sent back to be killed. Without thinking twice, go see this. Now.

Want to take the family out to the flicks? Adam Sandler can’t entertain adult audiences anymore, so he’s taking another whack at voicing a kids’ movie with ‘Hotel Transylvania‘. Dracula’s fancy resort for monsters and ghouls is turned upside down when a human boy makes his way inside and falls for Dracula’s daughter. Be prepared to hear Sandler do dumb voices with all of his usual friends and few new ones: Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, CeeLo Green, Jon Lovitz, Chris Parnell and Rob Riggle.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter star in something called ‘Won’t Back Down‘, a little-advertised drama about two inner-city mothers fighting to fix the problems facing today’s education problems. From the director of ‘Beastly‘, I can’t imagine what to expect with this.

Oddly, Universal is giving ‘Pitch Perfect‘ the indie treatment by opening it on a few hundred screens this weekend and expanding to more than 2,000 next weekend. Anna Kedrick takes the lead as a misfit college freshman who stumbles into an all-girls a cappella competition group. While the story may seem extremely familiar, ‘Pitch Perfect’ constant takes jabs at itself. It’s fully aware of what type of film it is, and banks on its actually-funny comedy for entertainment value.

The 2009 fantasy flick ‘Solomon Kane‘ finally opens on 15 screens. This movie is so old that it actually co-stars the late Pete Postlewaite. Set in the 16th century, a killer has a spiritual experience that drives him to fight against the devil’s warriors in England. Sounds horrible to me.

First-time writer/producer/director Famke Janssen has a small family comedy called ‘Bringing Up Bobby‘. A con artist decides to retire and move her son to a small Oklahoma town. Of course, their past catches up with them and forces them to make some serious, life-altering decisions. Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman star.

1 comment

  1. Chaz

    Yeah dont sell Solomon Kane short, its much better than you think, and its about time it opened over here….this beats Van Helsing with a lead pipe, much more character and story with this one, I highly recommend you check it out 🙂

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