New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Turbo
Who: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Snoop Dogg, Richard Jenkins
What: An animated family adventure about a snail who dreams of going faster. Due to a mishap with a car, he suddenly gains the ability to move as fast as a human-sized race car, and pursues a goal of racing in the Indy 500.
When: December 10th - DVD and online on-demand
Why: I keep trying to sell my brother on this but he won't have it. It's a snail! And racing! I liked the movie Cars a lot, so maybe I'm projecting on to this one, but the voice work in the trailer for Turbo amuses me. The movie didn't do very well in theaters, possibly due to everyone seeing the animated comedy Despicable Me 2 instead. I don't know what they were thinking - this is about a *racing snail*. I'm excited to rent it.

We're the Millers
Who: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly C. Quinn
What: An R-rated road trip comedy. Sudeikis plays a pot dealer who owes his supplier and must smuggle a load of marijuana from Mexico to the U.S. To make it look like he's a family man, he recruits a stripper and two teens to create a fake family. They run into more trouble than just the border.
When: December 17th - DVD and online on-demand
Why: I thought the trailer for this comedy looked pretty good, but who am I kidding, I'm thinking almost entirely of Jennifer Aniston as a stripper. She had a similar sexy-comedic role in Horrible Bosses (which also featured Sudeikis). Sudeikis can be funny or a bit too much depending on your perspective. Reviews have been mediocre, but even if it's not great, this appears to be suitable weekend comedy. Roberts currently stars in the TV series American Horror Story: Coven, and Poulter appeared as Eustace Scrubb in The Chronicals of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Winnie Mandela
Who: Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard, Elias Koteas
What: A drama that tells Mandela's story from the viewpoint of his wife, from their courtship through his time in prison.
When: December 3rd - DVD, Netflix streaming, and online on-demand
Why: Apt timing for this movie, given Mandela's passing this month. Oscar-winner Hudson and Terrence Howard provide some strong acting pedigree, but reviews haven't been good. I expect that the movie would come across as a movie-of-the-week more than a serious biopic.

The World's End
Who: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike
What: A sci-fi comedy that combines nostalgia and alien invasion. Pegg plays a screwup perennially living in the past glory days of high school. He manages to convince his former friends, now all leading stable lives, to join him (reluctantly) in their home town for an epic pub crawl. During the crawl, they discover that body snatching aliens have invaded.
When: December 17th - DVD and online on-demand
Why: I saw this in theaters at the end of the summer and absolutely loved it - it's currently my favorite movie of the year. The first half hour is like one long monologue from Pegg, which is hilarious, especially his nostalgia for the late '80s and early '90s. The rest of the movie is just crazy fun.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8