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The Last Ride
Who: Henry Thomas, Jesse James, Fred Dalton Thompson, Kaley Cuoco, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ray McKinnon
What: A country music road trip biopic, about Hank Williams (born 1923, died 1953) set in 1952. Henry Thomas plays Hank Williams, whose manager hires a kid (James) to drive Williams to a New Years Eve gigs without getting drunk or waylayed. Hank Williams being Hank Williams, getting their won't be easy.
When: June 4th - DVD and online on demand
Why: Thomas was of course once famous for being the kid in E.T. He kept acting but hasn't really been a leading actor. James is still young and working to become established. I only vaguely know about Hank Williams, country not being my typical genre, but I'd be interested to see him depicted. I'm always interested in seeing Law & Order/The Hunt For Red October/former politician Fred Dalton Thompson back on screen, as well as Sneakers/Groundhog Day's Stephen Tobolowsky. Kaley Cuoco's star has shot up since starring on The Big Bang Theory, so fans of hers might want to see her in something else like this.

Mama
Who: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse, Daniel Kash
What: A paranormal suspense thriller playing on both the genre of creepy kids and an evil spirit. Chastain and Coster-Waldau play a couple who are informed that his nieces have been found living alone in the woods for five years, originally kidnapped and presumed dead. The feral kids are taken in to be cared for, but it's soon apparent that something else was caring for them and still feels very possessive.
When: June 4th - DVD and online on demand
Why: The big name of course is Jessica Chastain, who was receiving awards praise for Zero Dark Thirty at the time this movie was in theaters. The movie is based on an Argentinian short film and produced by Mexican horror filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Critics generally liked the movie. I liked Dark Skies from last week for its creepy suspense, and this movie looks like it will work in the same vein.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
Who: Toby Regbo, Marcia Gay Harden, Peter Gallagher, Lucy Liu, Stephen Lang, Deborah Ann Woll, Ellen Burstyn, Aubrey Plaza
What: A personal drama based on the young adult novel by Peter Cameron. Regbo plays James Sveck, who has graduated high school and is struggling to fit in as he enters college. Gallagher and Harden play his divorced parents, Burstyn plays his grandmother.
When: June 4th - DVD, online on demand, and streaming
Why: This movie first showed up in the festival circuit two years ago, and apparently Regbo is pretty good in his first leading role. You've got some Academy award pedigree in the the cast, but I'd be mostly interested in seeing Lang and Plaza, albeit in small roles.

Warm Bodies
Who: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, John Malcovich
What: A romantic comedy twist on the zombie horror genre: Hoult plays a zombie named R who actually has a soul and feelings, and when he saves Julie (Palmer), a living, breathing girl, they form an unusual post-apocalyptic bond. Julie starts to think that zombies can be saved, which puts her at odds with other humans who are all death-to-zombies. Corddry plays R's best zombie friend.
When: June 4th - DVD and online on demand
Why: The movie is based on Isaac Marion's novel, which I haven't read, but I thought the Romeo and Juliet twist on the genre was brilliant when I saw the trailer. Director Jonathan Levine previously directed Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cancer comedy 50/50, so he's experienced in dark humor.

Release Note: A Good Day to Die Hard is available in some formats; I'll include it in my July 2nd tally (its Netflix release date).

What I'm watching this week:Zombie movies seem like a dime a dozen (and I'm a devoted watcher of The Walking Dead), but they offer a fairly large palette to work with storywise, and every once in a while you can get something great. Shaun of the Dead was great; Zombieland was a ton of fun. I'm hoping for something similar from the zombie romance Warm Bodies. I'd only call that light horror, though. For my next pick of the week, I'll prepare myself for some serious scares in Mama. I don't expect Jessica Chastain's performance to be particularly notable, or the plot to be much different than others in this genre, but if it makes me look over my shoulder more than once (as Dark Skies did last week), I'll be a satisfied - if sleepless - viewer. Next I might check out It's a Disaster mostly to watch Julia Stiles and see how others might react to the end of the world - as an exercise in preparedness. If I were babysitting my niece, I'd have no problem watching Escape From Planet Earth but just for myself it doesn't interest me that much when I've already seen Monsters vs. Aliens and wasn't very impressed. Similarly, I've seen road movies and country music star biopics, and The Last Ride doesn't look like it offers much new there. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You could very well be well acted, but I'd be just looking for some of the brief performances and then dreading the somber introspection for the rest of the movie. Finally, up until now I've been a diehard Val Kilmer fan. And I mean diehard - I've rented all of his movies, including the one where he just played a corpse. But given how preachy Deep in the Heart looks, I may have to finally draw the line.

Coming next week:

Absolute Deception, Cloud Atlas, Frankie Go Boom, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Knife Fight, Oz the Great and Powerful, Snitch, Wrong

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