Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 26th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's that time once again for Sarah and I to chat about the new releases hitting our local theatre for your reading enjoyment. Last week was a relatively weak crop with only Alex Cross and Paranormal Activity 4 coming out wide (the latter of which we reviewed HERE). This week, however, is a different story as we see four wide releases coming out this last weekend in October.

We have the epic looking Cloud Atlas, brought to us by Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run) and the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix trilogy); a new Gerard Butler film about surfboarding and based on a true story called Chasing Mavericks; a sequel to 2006's video-game adaptation/horror film Silent Hill that no one was asking for, called Silent Hill: Revelations 3D; and last but not least a Halloween-themed comedy aimed at tweens called Fun Size, which is the directorial debut of television producer/writer Josh Schwartz.

So Sarah, a lot of films coming out this week. Which one do you want to talk about first?

Sarah: Let's talk about the biggest one, Cloud Atlas. I am so confused about this one! It totally looks super confusing but has a powerhouse cast that would make any director in Hollywood jealous! I honestly don't know how I feel about this one. What do you think?

Official Trailer for Cloud Atlas

A: I'm a little torn on Cloud Atlas. It's a film adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel of the same name that essentially consists of six different stories that span different time periods, with characters in each successive story reading/watching the previous story in some form (as a journal, as a movie). That sounds like a cool idea, but from what I can tell from the trailer for Cloud Atlas and from some articles on the Internet, what the directors did was take all six stories and interweave them together, jumping from one story to the other in a single cut and then back again eventually. THAT I don't like.

I'm also torn because while I think The Matrix is a modern classic like most everyone else does, I hate the second and third Matrix films with a passion. So the Wachowskis don't have a great track record with me.

S: I agree with you. On top of all that, I think that having multiple directors is asking for nothing but trouble. With each storyline, the same actors show up but in very different ways, sometimes even changing gender. I think it will be a fun "Where's Waldo" movie trying to pick out who's who. I think this looks like nothing more than Oscar bait and while I'm interested to see how it turns out, I think it will be a weird one to sit through.

A: I actually disagree with you on the Oscar bait part. I think this is just another way for the Wachowskis to try to make a grand, eloquent, wordy-as-hell statement about the world we live in. How we're all interconnected, etc. From what they've done so far (The Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer) I don't think the Oscars are they're biggest concern.

I will say, Cloud Atlas LOOKS gorgeous. But gorgeous looking cinematography can only do so much for a movie. If the storyline starts to get confusing (and it very well might with the skipping around and using the same actors in a bunch of different roles) then I wouldn't be surprised if I check out of it real quick.

S: Well I guess we will find out when we see this one on the big screen.

Now our next film is Chasing Mavericks starring Gerard Butler. I don't think this one looks that good. It looks like just another attempt to make Butler into a Matthew McConaughey character and they are becoming successful...that's not a compliment. But I will bet that this one is going to be a big one in the theatres this weekend. It's just about the only one that appeals to a younger and older crowd.

Official Trailer for Chasing Mavericks

A: Hmm. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one either because I think the cast looks fine enough and it looks like the filmmakers genuinely care about the topic at hand, but will audiences care about the topic?

Chasing Mavericks is based on the true story of Jay Moriarty (played a Jonny Weston, whom I've never seen before), a young aspiring surfer who was taken under the wings of an experienced surfer named Frosty Hesson (Butler). While I'm a little curious about the fact that this is a true story and Mavericks are a real thing (huge waves, apparently), I'm not sure if I'm into the whole real story aspect of it and I don't know why.

S: I'm just not sure why the content material is so worth having made into a movie. While I'm not sure about this one, I think that the whole ginormous waves thing is kinda cool. 

Let’s move on to Silent Hill: Revelations 3D. Now everyone knows I'm totes not into the scary movie thing, but every time I see the movie trailer, it does nothing for me and it doesn’t look scary. When a trailer says, "rated E, rated R" you know it probably wasn't ever supposed to be on the big screen.

Official Trailer for Silent Hill: Revelations 3D

A: "Rated E, rated R?" You lost me there.

Anyhow...I have absolutely no desire to see this film. The original version did absolutely nothing for me and is pretty forgettable other than the town of Silent Hill being pretty cool looking with the ash and disintegrating buildings, but the movie itself was a mess and boring as all get out. I do remember the original being somewhat gory and having some inventive kills, but the special effects were terrible, as was the acting. I have no reason to believe a sequel will be any better, and I have no idea why anyone thought a sequel needed to be made.

That said, this has Eddard Stark AND John Snow from Game of Thrones! Awesome! 

S: When you listen to the trailer, at the end the announcer says "Rated E" for the videogame, "Rated R" for the movie. It's weird. 

Yeah, that's about the only reason this movie looks slightly entertaining is because of the Game of Thrones characters. Other than that, this one is probably going to be one I skip seeing altogether.

A: Are you talking about the trailer or a commercial? Because I have no memory of that said in the trailer. But maybe I'm wrong,  but again, I digress.

Ok, now our last one - Fun Size. It's the directorial debut of Josh Schwartz who is most famous for creating/producing/writing television’s The O.C., Gossip Girl and Chuck. It also stars Victoria Justice of the Nickelodeon’s Victorious fame, and Jane Levy who is on ABC’s Suburgatory and the star of next spring's Evil Dead remake.

I remember we watched the trailer for this once and while it looks like it's targeted at tweens, I actually thought it was kind of funny. It’s a simple idea – a teenage girl is forced to take her younger brother Trick or Treating and hijinx ensue. What do you think?

Official Trailer for Fun Size

S: Oh and I had completely forgotten about this one! Aimed directly at tweens, Fun Size looks a little cheesy with some cheap laughs thrown in. But it has come out just in time for the holiday next week and the kids will come to the movies in throngs. I suppose it is about time there are some straight up teen movies that come out and this is a good time for them to come out, in-between the summer and winter blockbuster seasons. While it looks cute and funny, I'm not sure if it's a theatre must or a rental. 

A: Yeah, I'm not totally sure we'll see this one in theatres but it might be entertaining.

Okay, that does it for our preview this week! We won't be seeing ANY of these movies this weekend because I'm going to Detroit for the weekend, but when I return Sarah and I will check some of these out. And while we won't be seeing any of this weekend's new films we did see Skyfall and Lincoln on Thursday, so be on the lookout for our reviews of those over the weekend!