You know you’ve officially hit the dregs of late summer when the most interesting film is a re-release of a movie that only came out 8 months ago. Granted “Avatar” is the highest grossing film of all time, so there’s plenty of 3D milk left to be drawn from the cash cow. Lionsgate also drops the religious-themed horror flick “The Last Exorcism,” hoping to take the #1 spot from their own surprisingly profitable “The Expendables.” Aiming for that same audience is “Takers,” which boasts an somewhat interesting cast, but little buzz. Peruvian Oscar-nominee “The Milk of Sorrow” gets a limited release this week, and we think it’s your best bet. Nothing else too exciting this week at the art-house, with the pointless Roman epic “Centurion” and the disappointing “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” making their way to a few screens.
In Wide Release: James Cameron‘s world-beating blockbuster gets a victory-lap with “Avatar: Special Edition.” The new cut of the film ads about 9 minutes to the running time of the original and is being released only on 3D screens. Cameron felt the film still had life left in it when the movie pulled from some 3D screens in March in anticipation of “Alice In Wonderland” opening. The August release is timed perfectly to build anticipation for a new DVD/Blu-Ray version of the film for the holidays, so the director probably won’t need to worry about overdraft fees anytime soon. We haven’t seen the re-release, but you can find our original review here.
Although it is being sold as a straight up genre picture, “The Last Exorcism” is a “Blair Witch“-style mockumentary. The film follows a preachers summoned to a small Louisiana town to perform a routine exorcism. He brings a film crew along with him, ready to confess to a lifetime of shaming people out of their cash, when the finally encounters true evil. “Paranormal Activity” was able to make big bucks on-the-cheap last year, but the buzz was much stronger coming out of the gate and after seeing the film at Fantasia earlier this year, we thought the picture was more mystery than horror. The Eli Roth-produced film is directed by Daniel Stamm and stars Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, and Iris Bahr. RT: 63% Metacritic: 63.
In “Takers,” a group of professional bank robbers come together to perform one last heist, soon becoming in entangled with a workaholic detective. Director John Luessenh put together a broadly hilarious cast for his thriller combining a couple of good actors (Matt Dillon and Idris Elba) with a motley crew of other folks (Hayden Christiansen, T.I., Chris Brown, Paul Walker) in order to ensure wide appeal. The film has low overhead, so don’t be surpised to find a sequel in the works it does decently at the box office. We reviewed the film, finding it to be Michael Mann-lite with mediocre acting and about as intelligent as your average music video. RT: 33% Metacritic: 42.
In Limited Release: An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Peru’s “The Milk of Sorrow” centers around a woman suffering from a rare disease transmitted through the breast milk of women who were abused or raped during pregnancy. We reviewed Claudia Llosa‘s sophomore feature, finding it to be an art-house gem and one of the year’s finest offerings so far. The film is really flying under the radar, so hopefully it picks up some attention in the next few weeks as it opens on more screens. RT: 81% Metacritic: 68.
Director Neil Marshall (“The Descent,” “Dog Soldiers“) returns this week with the 200 AD-set action epic “Centurion.” Michael Fassbinder stars as the leader of a splinder group of Roman soldiers who must go behind enemy line to rescue a captured General played by Dominic West. While Marshall has demonstrated talent in the past, he doesn’t live up to his potential with this empty digital bloodbath of a film. Many expected to see the film get a big-budget release, but the limited rollout along with the no-confidence release date aren’t good signs for the picture. RT: 53% Metacritic: 69.
Part one of a nearly 4-and-a-half hour-long French epic, “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” arrives on our shores this weekend. The 60’s set gangster film stars the brilliant Vincent Cassel as Mesrine, a former soldier seduced by the criminal underworld when he returns to Paris. As we noted in our review, “Instinct” is the weaker of the two, but both films are a bit of a disappointment. If you’re looking for an international crime saga to sink your teeth into this weekend, we still recommend checking our the superior “Animal Kingdom.” RT: 79% Metacritic: 67.
