New Movie Releases: Death Race, House Bunny, and More!
Death Race is one part Mad Max and one part Gladiator, although both Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe have Academy Awards, and we're not sure Oscars are doled out to the hottest abs (a prize Statham would surely win. You could grate cheddar off those things!). Set in the not-too-distant future of 2012, the economy has crashed, unemployment is at an all-time high, and corporations rule the world (hmmmmm....). Prisoners now compete in a three day race televised for the public's enjoyment, where they compete for freedom while trying not to get decimated. It's Death Race, you see...
Statham stars as an ex-con and ex-race car driver who's framed for a grisly murder and sent to Terminal Island, where the Death Race is held. There's he's forced to don the mask of fan-fave Frankenstein (who just secretly died in his last race) so that the warden (Joan Allen, yes, the Academy Award-nominee Joan Allen) can boost ratings. Fast cars, tons of explosions, dudes fighting, and chicks in tiny outfits round out the usual action fare.
Producer, writer, and director Paul W.S. Anderson (not the other Paul Anderson, mind you) gives audiences a quick and easy end-of-summer flick where you can get in, watch some shit explode (and some Statham abs flex!), and get out. Bing, bam, boom. Nothin' to it. Statham does what Statham does best. He growls, he punches, he flexes. Done and done. Ain't nothing too hard to swallow here, ain't nothing going to rewrite film history either. Although, make sure to leave young'uns and the elderly at home because Death Race isn't for the squeamish. Heads are lopped off and blood spews everywhere. Wouldn't be a Statham movie otherwise, but here it seems a wee bit gratuitous...except the ab flexing...that's perfectly acceptable. --Darcie Duttweiler
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
The House Bunny is the tale of an exiled Playboy bunny (Anna Faris) who must teach a reject sorority class how to act like hot women in order to gain a pledge class and keep their house. We're not sure how a Playboy bunny ends up at a sorority or why Colin Hanks is in this, but it sounds slightly like a girl version of Revenge of the Nerds except, instead of Booger, we have a Playboy bunny making women hotter. Okay, maybe not the same. Whatever. --Darcie Duttweiler
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
The Rocker stars Rainn Wilson (the U.S. The Office) in his first leading role as a washed-up '80s drummer who is given a second chance with his nephew's high school band. Okay, it sounds lame, but given all the rain this weekend (ha ha puns are fun), we might just need a slight chuckle if good ones can't be found. --Darcie Duttweiler
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
Mister Foe
Jamie Bell plays a young peeping tom who roams Edinburgh's rooftops in search of, er, love. The soundtrack looks decent--featuring Franz Ferdinand, Sons and Daughters, Orange Juice and more. Co-starring Sophia Myles, Ciarán Hinds, Jamie Sives, Ewen Bremner and Claire Forlani. -- Matt Smith
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
The Longshots
As an actor, Ice Cube's resume is less hit than miss. Arguably, his best role was his first--Boyz n the Hood ("arguably" because some people have an inexplicable love for the overrated Friday, and we have an inexplicable love for the hilariously awful Anaconda). In any case, a kiddie sports flick directed by Fred Durst (mm hmm) is not likely to break his streak of unfunny family fare. Oh, how far he's fallen since Kill at Will. --Matt Smith
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
