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Ginger and Rosa
Who: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Alessandro Nivola, Annette Bening, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Christina Hendricks
What: A coming-of-age drama set in London in the early 1960s. Fanning and Englert star as best friends whose relationship is strained by concern about the nuclear crisis of the Cold War, and Rosa's relationship with Ginger's father (Nivola). Hendricks plays the mother of Fanning and Bening plays the mother of Englert. Platt and Spall play a couple close to Bening.
When: July 23rd - DVD and online on demand
Why: I'm a big fan of Fanning; she was excellent in Super 8. I also really like Platt and Spall, so having them together in a movie is a big draw for me. Not so much the time period for me, but this looks like an interesting drama.

Hansel and Gretel Get Baked
Who: Molly C. Quinn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Welch, Cary Elwes
What: A horror? adaptation of the Grimm tale but set in modern day Southern California, where Hansel and Gretel (Welch and Quinn) are just a couple of pot smoking teens who get seduced by a witch (Boyle) who grows their favorite weed (and apparently uses her victims as fertilizer).
When: July 23rd - DVD, online on demand, and Netflix streaming
Why: I came across this movie title because of Molly C. Quinn because I enjoy her supporting performance in the tv show Castle. Based on that, I'd expect some teen spoof from a title like this. But watching the trailer, it appears they actually tried to make a horror movie. Yet, there's Cary Elwes as a ridiculous, almost buffoonish supporting character. Maybe it's just a low budget horror not trying to take itself too seriously? It is after all about pot. Not Rated, so at least kids won't be breaking any rules by watching this.

Love and Honor
Who: Liam Hemsworth, Teresa Palmer, Austin Stowell, Aimee Teegarden
What: A wartime romance set in the era of the Vietnam War. Stowell plays a U.S. Army soldier who decides to leave the war zone in Vietnam to visit his girlfriend (Teegarden) in Michigan. His buddy Hemsworth decides to tag along to make sure they both return without being AWOL. But back in the U.S., Hemsworth meets a girl played by Palmer, and exposed to the anti-war sentiment, both soldiers face a moral struggle of whether to honor their military commitments or stay with the women they love.
When: July 23rd - DVD
Why: Watching the trailer for this movie made me first check to see if it was based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. It's not, but I'd think that fans of his movies would also be the audience for this movie as well. Fans of Friday Night Lights will be familiar with Teegarden, and Hemsworth plays Gale in the Hunger Games movie series. I liked Palmer in Take Me Home Tonight and Warm Bodies, and would watch this movie to see her performance.

Phantom
Who: Ed Harris, David Duchovny, William Fichtner, Lance Henriksen, Sean Patrick Flanery
What: A submarine thriller set in 1960. Harris and Fichtner play Captain and senior officer of a submarine in the Soviet Navy, who are ordered to deploy with a small additional crew, apparently KGB technicians, headed by David Duchovny. As their secret progresses, it becomes apparent that Duchovny and his men have gone rogue and may be attempting to launch a nuclear strike.
When: July 23rd - DVD and online on demand
Why: From the trailer, this looks similar to The Hunt For Red October, or maybe Crimson Tide. Unfortunately, the CGI in the trailer looks like the quality you might expect from a SyFy Channel movie, and it sounds like they make no effort at either an accent or Russian language cadence. That surprises me for a movie starring Ed Harris. For further reading, the plot of this movie is inspired by a theory about the real life sinking of the K-129, which was later partially recovered by the CIA's Glomar Explorer.

Vehicle 19
Who: Paul Walker
What: An action thriller starring Paul Walker as a former criminal trying to live a normal life while traveling overseas. And wouldn't you know it, he just happens to rent a car that contains a gun and an unsconcious woman in the trunk. From there it's a race from the police in order to make sure he clears his name and doesn't have to go back to prison.
When: July 23rd - DVD and online on demand
Why: Walker of course starred in the sixth installment of The Fast and the Furious series earlier this year, so it's both not surprising and a little strange that he'd appear in a knock off convict/car chase movie. The movie segment available at Vudu.com includes a bunch of repeat edits, and movie car chase tropes like a shopping cart full of homeless stuff, a ladder on a sidewalk, and a blind man crossing the street (outside the crosswalk? what??). So, it's Walker and car chases, but not F&F. Caveat emptor.

The big movie this week is of course The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which I've seen. It's predictable, fairly safe comedy, which means it's not really that funny. The movie I most want to see this week is Welcome to the Punch, which is the slick British crime material I like. The face off between McAvoy and Strong looks good. The other movies don't appeal to me too much, but that doesn't mean they should be skipped. Dramatic performances by Elle Fanning in Ginger and Rosa and John Hawkes in Arcadia look strong. If you're looking for romance, I could imagine both teens and middle aged audiences getting something out of Crazy Kind of Love and Love and Honor. If you're interested in time period movies and the political events of the 1960s, we have three movies to cover that this week, in Phantom, Ginger and Rosa, and Love and Honor. For supernatural thrills, check out Wonderstone, Kiss of the Damned, and Hansel and Gretel Get Baked. Action thrillers are covered by Welcome to the Punch, Phantom, and Vehicle 19.

Coming next week:

Between Us, Black Rock, Filly Brown, G.I. Joe: Retaliation

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