August Movies: Movies to See and Movies to Avoid

Back a couple of months ago I talked about movies to avoid during the months of June and July.  I was right on some, and and wrong on others, it happens.  I will also add that many of the films I told people to avoid I ended up seeing like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which is the highest grossing domestic film right now (scary)!  After seeing Captain America: The First Avenger this past weekend I heard a young woman outside the theatre state "I hated it.  What was the point?  I wanted some struggle from the main character.  I did not want to see a film where the main character just plows through villain after villain.  I wanted some struggle."  My personal opinion is that this girl's emotions are valid, but she was also going to see a comic book movie and should realized what she was getting into, and her complaints held less merit.  Yet the thing about film is that everyone has opinion about what they think is good, bad, ugly, or just not their style.  Here is what I will be seeing in August, and what I will be avoiding.

August 5th:

Seeing it: The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  When I heard this was being released I groaned with

disdain, the Mark Wahlberg edition was terrible!  Then the preview for this film was released, and I was sold, great cast, interesting concept about how things start, and just looks pretty awesome.

Not Seeing it: The Change-Up.  Tale as old as time, another movie where people switch places, what's the point?  And, no Jason Bateman just because this is R rated does not mean it puts a spin on this type of a story it just means you can swear more and show more nudity.  This movie looks painfully unfunny.

August 12th:

Seeing it: The Help (August 10th).  The book was a bit dry and lacked the depth I wanted from the story, but with a great cast this film could pull off making the film better than the book.  I love Emma Stone and Viola Davis, and they are both reason enough for me to see any film (within reason).

30 Minutes or Less.  With Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari, where can you go wrong?  This comes from the director of Zombieland, another hilarious film so I am there (probably before I go see The Help).

Not Seeing it: Final Destination 5.  I thought the last film was called The Final Destination?  Enough already, the premise was clever in the beginning, but now you are just wasting money that could be spent on other films.

August 19th:

Not Sold Yet: One Day.  This film is based on a very popular book, and the director did an excellent job with the film An Education, but Anne Hathaway is not one of my favorite leading ladies; she has her strong and her annoying moments for me.  Going to see this film will be based on word of mouth for me.

Not Seeing it: Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night.  Two old concepts (as films) reimagined for the year 2011 and current audiences.  I have no interest in either of these films.  Sure Conan looks hot and Collin is sexy as a bad guy, but like I always say pretty people don't make me go to the movies.  I want good writing and acting, and it looks like these two films have neither!

August 26th:

Not Seeing: Anything! The wide realease films this week are Don't be Afraid of the Dark, a horro film starring Katie Holmes (nuff said), and Our Idiot Brother where Paul Rudd plays to schtick and not his strenghts.

August is when the summer movie season starts to slow down, there are less blockbusters and more smaller scales films.  I always look at August as the waste of the summer, the trail end.  August is is always a month where I do not see as many films, and it looks like this pattern will continue!