Thirteen Lives

I saw the documentary, The Rescue, and was quite impressed with it. It’s a shame it didn’t have much impact, but maybe this film narrative adaptation of the story will fare better with audiences. This does look really good. The cast is great, Ron Howard is generally speaking a fairly reliable filmmaker, and plus, you got Sayombhu Mukdeeprom doing the cinematography, which is very exciting to see on this scale. I have a pretty good feeling about this, I hope it turns out great.

Thirteen Lives hits theaters on July 29th before streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 5th.

 

Sharp Stick

I mean, who wouldn’t wanna get it on with Jon Bernthal, am I right? No judgment here. Jokes aside, I am actually not acquainted with the works of Lena Dunham, I haven’t seen her films, nor have I seen her show Girls. I hear she is quite the divisive figure. This trailer looks good, but I can’t say I haven’t seen stuff like this before. Doesn’t mean there isn’t something more here that the trailer is hiding, but I’m curious what Dunham is bringing here that has made her stand out so much. This might be my first of hers, unless I decide to catch up on her previous films.

Sharp Stick hits select theaters on July 29th, expanding on August 5th, before hitting VOD platforms on August 16th.

 

Honor Society

Oh, man, Christopher Mintz-Plasse is now old enough to play characters with administrative roles in a school. I am getting old. Anyways. I’m surprised Angourie Rice hasn’t blown up in a more significant way. I feel like she has shown off her skills through plenty of projects over the years, and this is like the first big leading role that I’m seeing her in. She looks great here, even if the whole fourth wall breaking stuff is oddly placed, and Gaten Matarazzo is certainly charming enough. Doesn’t look like it’ll do a ton new, but if done well, it might be fun.

Honor Society streams exclusively on Paramount+ on July 29th.

 

The Invitation

Not to be confused with Karyn Kusama’s awesome 2015 film of the same name, and also, I guess not to be confused with Ready Or Not, which shares a very similar vibe and to a certain extent aesthetics to this. It looks fine, if basic, and not as fun as something like Ready Or Not. I suppose the vampire angle is compelling, but we’ll see. Not a hundred percent sold on it yet, but I’m open to it.

The Invitation opens in theaters on August 26th.

 

Barbarian

I remember first seeing this trailer, and wondering, “hey, this doesn’t look half bad, I wonder who made this.” Come to find out it’s written and directed by Zach Cregger, of WKUK fame, and my brain nearly melted. I didn’t know this was coming, and now I’m very curious to see if this turn from comedy to horror ends up working out for him. It’s definitely a departure, but there’s some interesting stuff here, the cast is good, and I’m not sure where things are going just based on this trailer. Can’t wait.

Barbarian hits theaters on August 31st.

 

Mack & Rita

I feel like I haven’t seen Diane Keaton in a whole lot of stuff recently. I suppose this is one way to put yourself out there more. Aside from the obvious budgetary constraints and the flat digital look, I can see this possible being pretty fun. The casting here is solid, Keaton is obviously a legend, but Taylour Paige has been making some strong impressions recently, she’s even in Sharp Stick. I also saw Simon Rex in here, who I really hope gets more opportunities to do some interesting stuff after his turn in Red Rocket. I do find it funny that after a while, it’s like Keaton stops playing the character, and just kinda becomes herself. Which, hey, to some that’s pretty much an upgrade. I’m curious, but can’t say I’ll be holding my breath for this.

Mack & Rita opens in select theaters on August 12th.

 

Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!