Rants and raves about burning topics that have caught my attention midweek, be it greedy corporate shenanigans, frustration or joy in regards to the Philly sports teams, a movie, show or DVD that has fired up my imagination, an intriguing personality, or what’s happening in the region. — Lori Hoffman, Associate Editor, Atlantic City Weekly.

Every year I list the ten movies I’m most excited about for summer moviegoing. Of course, with over a 100 movies being released in the next four months, that means there are a lot more movies to talk about. I thought I’d talk about the movies that appear to be anti-blockbuster programming, movies that are for people who either hate tentpole super blockbusters or just prefer smaller scale movies, especially dramas and slightly off-kilter comedies. And let’s toss in a few wacky low budget action flicks too.

Everything Must Go — If you’re not the biggest fan of Will Ferrell, you might like him playing against type as a drunk who gets fired and kicked out of his house on the same day. When he comes home and sees all his belongings scattered on his front lawn and is locked out, he decides to live on the lawn and organize a lawn sale. Lots of wry humor and an understated Ferrell performance are the draws in this film I saw at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival, directed by Dan Rush. May 13 in limited release.

'Hobo' star Rutger Hauer.

Hobo With A Shotgun — Rutger Hauer is the bum with the shotgun. What else do you need to know?  Well, that this is directed by Jason Eisener, and is an expansion of the fake trailer he entered to win a contest director Robert Rodriquez created to promote his film Grindhouse. Opening in May.

Bad Teacher — Cameron Diaz has the title role in this edgy black comedy about a really bad educator. With Justin Timberlake and Jason Segal; directed by Jake Kasdan, son of director Lawrence Kasdan. June 24.

A Better Life — From Chris Weitz, the director of Twilight: New Moon,  comes this tender drama about a Mexican-born gardener (played by Weeds’ Demian Bichir) trying to keep his teenage son out of the local gang world in L.A. June 24.

Horrible Bosses — Three friends (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) decide to kill their overbearing bosses, played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. July 8.

30 Minutes Or Less — Here’s a bit of summer insanity. Jesse Eisenberg stars as a guy who is forced to rob as bank wearing a bomb because the guy who strapped him up (played by Danny McBride) needs money to hire a hitman (Michael Pena) to kill his dad (Fred Ward). Toss in Aziz Ansari and you’ve got to love this cast. Aug. 12.

Fright Night — I loved the 1985 comedy-horror flick of the same name starring Roddy McDowell. Now Colin Farrell stars in the remake about a family that comes to realize that their new neighbor (Farrell) is a vampire out for blood. With Anton Yelchin, Toni Collette. Aug. 19

Tags: summer movie preview

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Film, Hump Day Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.