While the summer movie season has already been kick started a few weeks ago, July has many releases that have been anticipated all year long. Movies from original story, action and reboots of fan favourite franchises… let’s take a look all the releases of July 2015.
TERMINATOR: GENISYS (July 1st, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc
Similar to ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’, the next instalment of ‘The Terminator’ franchise seeks to reboot the entire series, by acting as a sequel that resets the timeline and possibly opens the franchise to newer films. ‘Game Of Thrones’ star Emilia Clarke is the new Sarah Connor while Jai Courtney plays Kyle Resse and the headliner of the franchise, Arnold Shwarzennegger returns as the Terminator.
MAGIC MIKE XXL (July 1st, 2015)
Directed by the original Director’s protege, the sequel to ‘Magic Mike’ brings back the entire muscular cast, while adding many female actors to the cast in a movie that promises to be bigger and better. (Pun very much intended.) The original ‘Magic Mike’ (my Review here) provided he viewpoint of 1 character’s entrance into the world of male stripping; the sequel looks to focus on the rest of the amazingly talented cast, which includes ‘True Blood’ alum Joe Mangeniello and ‘White Collar’ lead Matt Bomer.
While Jada Pinkett-Smith replaces Matthew McConaughey from the original, and with the inclusions of Elizabeth Banks, Angie Dickinson and Donald Glover, ‘Magic Mike XXL’ looks to be an impressive follow up.
JACKIE & RYAN (July 3rd, 2015)
The daughter of gritty filmmaker Michael Mann, brings forth a heartwarming love story about a free spirited musician and a woman with a past. Prince Caspian Ben Barnes himself essays the role of the nomadic singer whose paths cross with Katherine Heigl’s characters, and the story is about how they help each other through their lives. Ami Canaan Mann directed films of other genres before, but never a endearing love story. So it should be interesting to see how this one fares.
MINIONS (July 10th, 2015)
The runaway characters of the ‘Despicable Me’ films are the adorable henchmen that were conceptualized only as cutesy side characters and almost like set dressing, meant to fill up the background. But becoming fan favourites has now allowed them to be starring in their own film this summer. Acting as a prequel to the original films, ‘Minions’ will tell the story of these merchandising favourite characters and be their origin story. I can just see the toys piling up in my house this Christmas.
BOULEVARD (July 10th, 2015)
The final performance of the late Robin Williams comes in the form of this movie; a story about a man living under a cloud of his own life as an outside influence brings him back. The Trailer of the film seems almost cut in a manner to remind audiences of the actor’s own real life issues. Nonetheless, it’s effective in invoking many emotions and Williams performance seems intensely perfect.
‘Boulevard‘ is directed by the helmer of many forgettable films such as ‘Empire State’ and ‘The Son Of No One’, so it should be interesting to see how he treats Williams’ last film.
TANGERINE (July 10th, 2015)
From an indie director of quirky dark comedies, comes another quirky dark comedy about a working girl and her attempts to reconcile her relationship with her lover. The movie looks to have been shot documentary style, with enough heart, intrigue and laughs as two hookers ransack the town looking for ‘the other woman’ in her relationship.
ANT-MAN (July 17th, 2015)
Quite possibly Marvel Studios’ biggest long shot since ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’, ‘Ant-Man’ looks to be an action packed adventure with the type of humour that Marvel movies have become associated with. Despite my feelings about ‘Age Of Ultron’not living up to the franchise, ‘Ant-Man’ is devoid of all the baggage of the previous films, and can freely tell an origin story about a brand new super hero, one that looks to be quite different from the rest as well.
TRAINWWRECK (July 17th, 2015)
The hottest woman in comedy right now makes her big screen leading lady debut with a movie directed by Judd Apatow. Amy Schumer plays a reckless one night stander who finally meets a guy she likes and those feelings of intimacy scare and shock her. While not a fresh new concept, with the team behind movies like ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and many other great films, who has launched multiple actors who are now start in their own right, ‘Trainwreck’ is a definite must watch for anyone who enjoys dark and endearing comedies.
IRRATIONAL MAN (July 17th, 2015)
While Woody Allen films are usually associated with eccentricities, ‘Irrational Man’ seems to be the most straight forward film from the auteur in a while. Despite an unusual premise, the film is devoid of trademark Allen-isms and seems to be a pretty straight forward story about a lost man, who is suddenly found (pun unintended) much to the chagrin of people who happened to be enamoured by his despair and found it charming. The film looks to be a dark comedy at its finest.
MR. HOLMES (July 17th, 2015)
Guy Ritchie successful rebooted Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century with a steampunk action period piece with his movies featuring Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. Along with his films, the world has been obsessed with the adventures of the detective with BBC having his own show led by Benedict Cumberbatch and a U.S. version as well featuring Jony Lee Miller in the role. Now, legendary actor Ian McKellen will reprise the legendary character, in a story about the original Dr. Holmes, and how he revisits his own life, as gets tangled with an old unsolved care from his own career.
The film acts almost as a meta story about Holmes, the person and fictional character as depicted in the movie itself. An Aging Holmes writes his own story to correct the misgivings and myths of his own legacy, while stumbling across an old case. McKellen looks brilliant as Holmes, and the film is directed by the noted directors of movies such as ‘Gods And Monsters’ and ‘Dreamgirls’.
THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT (July 17th, 2015)
Based on a real life psychological study, ‘The Standford Prison Experiment’ focuses on a college study that gets out of hand. Pretending to be prisoners and guards, college students take the faux authority and helplessness too far as the commentary of power in society becomes all too real of a thing. With an amazing cast that includes Billy Crudup, the film looks to be something to be on the look out for. The movie also stars Ezra Miller, cast as the DC Universe’s Flash, so fans of those movies should check out this film to evaluate the young actors talent in a movie where he seems to portray a pretty intense role.
PIXELS (July 24th, 2015)
Chris Columbus, the director of some classic family friendly movie like ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ teams with Adam Sandler and friends for a movie that’s gonna rekindle every bit of nostalgia for audiences growing up in the 80’s. A movie about pixelated videos games sent to Earth by Aliens to destroy is going to be fodder for every 80’s child, who will enjoy reliving the past with their own kids today. While a lot of the usual Adam Sandler comedy is toned down here, the cast appears to be top notch while the concept itself is a fresh take on the Alien attack movie.
SOUTHPAW (July 24th, 2015)
The latest spellbinding drama by the director of ‘Training Day’ is a gripping boxing movie with Jake Gyllenhaal. ‘Southpaw’ comes off looking like a ‘Rocky’ meets ‘Over The Top’, in an emotional story about a champion’s fall from grace after a tragedy. The underdog elements of this movie are obvious, and while not being a new formula, Gyllenhaal is at the top of his game and Director Fuqua is always able to squeeze the best performances from his actors, making this a highly anticipated movie of the year.
Which movie are you most looking forward to this month?
Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @theshahshahid
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