While this past week had a few fun trailers, unfortunately there wasn’t anything that I’m going to be waiting in line opening night to see. It seems that we have fully transitioned out of the exciting summer films and are now getting prepared for the mediocre releases that didn’t quite make the summer block.
This week we have a couple big budget films that I feel obligated to talk about, a couple smaller indies I’m a little more excited for, and — Moon Nazis!
Real Steel
There was an early teaser that came out for this last year, but this is the first chance that we really get to see the story of this film. On one level you instantly want to dismiss this film as “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie,” sure to be filled with terrible dialogue and cheesy one-liners. But on another level you hope that this interesting premise might actually turn out to be a fresh take on inspiring boxing films.
Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Prestige) is usually pretty decent in whatever he does, but who I would be most interested to see is Evangeline Lilly in this role, who is most famous as Kate from Lost. Although she was in The Hurt Locker for a bit, this will definitely be her biggest step into features.
While part of me is excited to see some fun robot violence, I feel ultimately this film has to disappoint. Everyone is going to be expecting Transformers quality CGI, but there is no way they had the budget to pull that off. And, I get the feeling that people are going to want this film to have more heart that it will end up having.
I can see how some might initially dismiss Hesher as a quirky indie drama that struggles to find a consistent tone. One minute you’re watching an emotional family dinner, only to be followed by pounding guitar riffs emphasizing comedic beats. Some might also complain about a lack of character motivation and backstory. But whatever is lacking in this film is more than made up with compelling characters and strong performances from the entire cast.
