The Suicide Squad and the Candyman bookend a packed August at the movies
Next month also brings Annette, Free Guy, Don't Breathe 2, Reminiscence, and The Kissing Booth 3
Film News Candyman
August is traditionally a Hollywood dump month, one of the times of the year when the studios unload the projects in which they have the least faith. But does standard release protocol really apply to our unusual present moment? This coming month certainly boasts fewer prospective blockbusters than the one that’s coming to a close, but it’s not devoid of big-ticket titles, including James Gunn’s colorful Suicide Squad sequel, the Ryan Reynolds action comedy Free Guy, and the much-anticipated return of ’90s-horror legend the Candyman. Meanwhile, art-house crowds can rally around the already divisive Adam Driver musical Annette, while Netflix courts the kids with a third Kissing Booth and a teen-comedy reboot. Do your tastes swing really highbrow? It’s not just the movies but also Tsai Ming-liang who’s back, baby! Keep reading for everything that’s coming to theaters and a living room near you at the end of an unprecedented summer movie season.
9 Comments
Sure, Daldry has had some misses. But he also directed Billy Elliot (the original film, which is a gem, and a stage version, which was filmed in 2014 and is wonderful). He gets a lifetime pass from me for that alone. And I know people have issues with The Hours as nothing but an Oscar-bait movie, but I think anyone who has seriously lived with depression can see more in that movie, especially Julianne Moore’s character, than maybe has ever been captured on film before or since. (People without a deep connection to depression seem to think she was boring and doing nothing — different people coming from different perspectives see the same movie differently.) Anyway, Together doesn’t look like much fun, but Daldry’s stage directing career is pretty celebrated and although his movie career is spotty, I wouldn’t bet against him. (And I would never bet against Sharon Horgan.)
Ema sounded familiar, and then I remembered that David Ehrlich already had it on his list of the best films of 2020 (which, confusingly, also contained “Emma.”).https://www.yearendlists.com/2020/01/david-ehrlich-the-25-best-films-of-2020
2022 will have a film called Ea and 2023 one just called E.
Ema was on MUBI for one day last year, and I watched it then. One of the worst movies I saw last year, about a complete sociopath that every other character is inexplicably in love with. Was astonished to read all the glowing reviews of it afterward.
I’m glad the Candyman reboot is going to keep the Chicago/Cabrini-Green angle. Too many reboots/remakes of things set in Chicago (or any other non NYC/LA city) get transplanted to NYC or LA as if these are the only places that exist in the US.
I caught the trailer for Reminiscence in front of Pig (Go see Pig! It’s fantastic).The overwhelming vibe I got from it was very much a ‘sci-fi lite’ romance, in the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife with a noir plot on top. The science fiction of it was presented in a way that makes you think it’s just ‘magic realism’ with lab coat. That’s not to say it’s going to be a bad film, but from MY take on the trailer, I wouldn’t go in expecting a hard sci-fi “Primer” or twisty “Prestige” type of film.Mostly, it looks like Phillip K. Dick story that got so shredded in the adaptation that only the title and some singular central feature remain. But it is NOT a PKD adapation. afaik, so there probably won’t even be lurking inhereent weirdness waiting to eat your eyeballs..
Forget it, Lord John. It’s Sci-finatown.
Ah yes, “Don’t Breathe 2.” Where we’re asked to root for the man who kept a woman prisoner in his basement after forcibly impregnating her with a turkey baster.
Not “Joel and the Hole?” Coulda had a rhyming title.Do we really need to mock Paw Patrol? It’s a harmless series and I’m tired of people having to come up with sarcastic hot takes for every children’s movie they don’t even plan to see