What If...


Release Date: August 20, 2010 (limited)
Studio: Five & Two Pictures
Director: Dallas Jenkins
Screenwriter: Chuck Konzelman, Andrea Gyertson Nasfell, Cary Solomon
Starring: Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, Debby Ryan, Taylor Groothuis, John Ratzenberger
Genre: Drama

"What If..." tells the story of Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo), who fifteen years ago left his college sweetheart Wendy (Kristy Swanson), and his calling to be a preacher, in order to pursue a business opportunity. Now with a high-paying executive gig, a trophy fiancée, and a new Mercedes, he hasn't considered a family nor felt the need to set foot in a church in fifteen years.

But God has other plans. While on a thrill ride outside the city, his new car mysteriously breaks down, and hes visited by a tow truck driver named Mike (John Ratzenberger) who claims to be an angel sent to show Ben what his life would look like had he followed his true calling. Suddenly Ben wakes up in the middle of domestic chaos as his wife Wendy and daughters (including Disney Channels Debby Ryan) are getting ready for church, where Ben is the new pastor.

Before he can get back to his old life, Ben must first embrace this reality and discover the value of faith and family, and perhaps restore his love for those who were heartbroken fifteen years ago: Wendy and God. In the tradition of "Its a Wonderful Life" and "The Family Man," "What If..." is a story of finding your true purpose in life.

The Tillman Story


Release Date: August 20, 2010 (limited)
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Director: Amir Bar-Lev
Screenwriter: Mark Monroe
Starring: Not Available
Genre: Documentary

When Pat Tillman gave up his professional football career to join the Army Rangers in 2002, he became an instant symbol of patriotic fervor and unflinching duty. But the truth about Pat Tillman is far more complex, and ultimately far more heroic, than the caricature. And when the government tried to turn his death into propaganda, they took on the wrong family. From her home in Northern California, Pat's mother, Dannie Tillman, led the family's crusade to reveal the truth beneath the mythology of their son's life and death. "The Tillman Story" resounds with emotion and insight, and goes beyond an indictment of the government to touch on themes as timeless as the notion of heroism itself.

Nanny McPhee Returns


Release Date: August 20, 2010
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Susanna White
Screenwriter: Emma Thompson
Starring: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Maggie Smith, Asa Butterfield, Ralph Fiennes
Genre: Comedy, Family

In "Nanny McPhee Returns," Oscar winning actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson returns to the role of the magical nanny who appears when she's needed the most and wanted the least in the next chapter of the hilarious and heartwarming fable that has enchanted children around the world.

In the latest installment, Nanny McPhee appears at the door of a harried young mother, Mrs. Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. But once she's arrived, Nanny McPhee discovers that Mrs. Green's children are fighting a war of their own against two spoiled city cousins who have just moved in and refuse to leave.

Relying on everything from a flying motorcycle and a statue that comes to life to a tree-climbing piglet and a baby elephant who turns up in the oddest places, Nanny McPhee uses her magic to teach her mischievous charges five new lessons.

Mao's Last Dancer


Release Date: August 20, 2010 (limited)
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Director: Bruce Beresford
Screenwriter: Jan Sardi
Starring: Kyle McLachlan, Bruce Greenwood, Joan Chen, Jack Thompson, Aden Young, Amanda Schull, Shungbao Wang
Genre: Biography, Drama

From the Academy Award nominated director Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy," "Tender Mercies"), comes the inspiring true story of Li Cunxin and his extraordinary journey from poverty to international stardom. Based on the bestselling autobiography, "Mao's Last Dancer" weaves a moving tale about the quest for freedom and the courage it takes to live your own life. The film poignantly captures the struggles and triumphs, as well as the intoxicating effects of first love and celebrity amid the pain of exile.

A Film Unfinished


Release Date: August 18, 2010 (NY; LA release: Aug. 20)
Studio: Oscilloscope Pictures
Director: Yael Hersonski
Screenwriter: Yael Hersonski
Starring: Alexander Beyer, Rüdiger Vogler
Genre: Documentary

Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate.

Peepli Live


Release Date: August 13, 2010 (NY, LA)
Studio: UTV Motion Pictures
Director: Anusha Rizvi
Screenwriter: Anusha Rizvi
Starring: Omkar Das, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffar, Malaika Shenoy, Vishal Sharma
Genre: Comedy

After losing their plot of land over an unpaid government loan two brothers and farmers by profession, Natha and Budhia residing in the heart of rural India seek the help of a local politician. Not concerned with their plight the politician mockingly suggests that the brothers commit suicide and benefit from a government scheme that aids the families of indebted farmers who have done so. Budhia the shrewder of the two immediately encourages Natha a simpleton by nature to think of the greater good of their family and do the needful. Their drunken conversation in a bar is overheard by a journalist. The next day it appears in a local newspaper under the header "A Death Foretold in Peepli Village." The article sparks off a chain of events that reaches the highest corridors of power in India's political machinery. With elections around the corner what would otherwise have been common fare turns into a 'cause celebre' with everybody wanting a piece of the action. From the glitzy television studios in New Delhi to the Agricultural Ministry, journalists, newsmen, local and national politicians descend upon the little village to stake their claim. The question on everybody on everyone's lips is, "Will he or Won't he?" As the circus propagates itself what will be the fate of farmer Natha where nobody stops to ask how he really feels.

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest


Release Date: August 6, 2010 (limited)
Studio: National Geographic Entertainment
Director: Anthony Geffen
Screenwriter: Mark Halliley
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Dancy
Genre: Documentary

The Wildest Dream is not simply a gorgeous adventure film—it's a suspenseful quest that attempts to unravel mysteries surrounding the death of legendary mountaineer George Mallory on Mount Everest. Was he, in fact, the first to reach the summit of the world's tallest peak? Transcending the edutainment genre, the film also explores the enigma of Mallory himself, who passed into legend when he vanished in his ill-fated assault on the mountain in 1924.

Seventy-five years later, high in Everest's "death zone," American climber Conrad Anker discovered the body of Mallory, who was last seen 800 feet from the summit. Remarkably, Mallory's body was found with all his belongings intact—except, significantly, for a photograph of his wife, Ruth, which he'd promised to place at the summit. The Wildest Dream records Anker's attempt, along with Brit climbing whiz Leo Houlding, to replicate Mallory's climb to ascertain whether he might have reached the peak. Reproducing the exact conditions faced by Mallory, they set out wearing the same gabardine and hobnailed boots (later replaced with state-of-the-art gear), and with the help of sherpas they remove a bolted-on ladder that aids the current generation of climbers.The film artfully deploys a double narrative consisting of archival footage and re-enactments of the Mallory expedition, coupled with Conrad and Leo's in 2007. At the center looms the beguiling Mallory, captured in part by haunting black-and-white photos of a rugged fellow with riveting, pale eyes that appear to be contemplating icy vastness. Mallory comes across as a charismatic dreamer, obsessed, in the golden age of exploration, with conquering Everest "because it's there," as he famously stated.


The film is also, in a sense, a love triangle, featuring Mallory, his beloved wife, and her dread rival, Mount Everest. To judge by the couple's letters and accounts by his granddaughter, Mallory deeply loved Ruth and their children—but not enough, apparently, to resist the allure of the great white fang. The mystery of why at age 38 he left his idyllic-seeming household to court peril is the enigma underpinning the story—and, by extension, the motives of all those who attempt death-defying feats.This masterful documentary delivers awesome views and thrilling feats, while exploring the psyche of a fascinating figure.

Twelve


Release Date: August 6, 2010 (limited)
Studio: Hannover House
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Jordan Melamed
Starring: Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Esti Ginzburg, Emily Meade, Ellen Barkin, Kiefer Sutherland
Genre: Drama

The grand finale of Nick McDonell's book Twelve is one of the most powerful and successful buildups I've ever experienced. After an entire story of fairly tranquil moments, McDonell absolutely blows the reader away with an astonishingly gripping conclusion. However, director Joel Schumacher doesn’t come anywhere close to creating as much suspense in his film adaptation, rendering a grand finale that packed such an intense punch on the page ineffective.At the center of the story is White Mike (Chace Crawford), a good guy turned drug dealer after the passing of his mother. Chris (Rory Culkin) is the kid with a house prime for parties. He just threw one on Friday, but when the school hottie, Sara Ludlow (Esti Ginzburg), asks him to host her 18th birthday party, he obliges. Mark Rothko (Charlie Saxton) and his buddy Timmy (Erik Per Sullivan) are always hounding White Mike for drugs. They're overbearing, but harmless. The same goes for White Mike's cousin Charlie (Jeremy Allen White), but when he puts his gun in the wrong guy's face, White Mike's drug supplier, Lionel (50 Cent), he winds up getting himself, his friend Hunter (Philip Ettinger) and a kid Hunter plays basketball with, Nana (Jermaine Crawford), into some serious trouble.

Then there's Sara's badass boyfriend Sean (Ethan Peck) who gets a giggle out of totaling his father's Porsche and Andrew (Max Brawer), a boy Sara is affectionate towards. Then again, she's affectionate towards just about every guy, so he’s no big deal. However, Tobias (Nico Tortorella) is one guy who's busy with every girl but Sara. He's a male model who thinks very highly of himself, highly enough to introduce himself to the innocent Molly (Emma Roberts) in a coffee shop. She's a good friend of White Mike's, but knows nothing of his occupation. Lastly we've got Jessica (Emily Meade), a girl with a bright future that becomes addicted to the newest drug on the market, twelve.

On the Upper East Side, it's not about what you need; it's all about want.

Powered by Blogger