It’s August, traditionally the tail end of the summer blockbuster season. But there’s still plenty of choices for your big screen viewing pleasure.
Cuckoo
Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), an American teenager, moves to the German Alps to live with her divorced Dad (Jan Bluthardt). But things are not all as they seem in the picaresque mountain town. Her father’s wealthy boss Herr Koing (Dan Stevens) has some plans that seem … unnatural. This psychological horror by German director Tilman Singer is giving off heavy Midsomer vibes.
It Ends With Us
Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively stars in this adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s popular romance novel of the same name. Lily (Lively) has just opened her own floral shop in Boston when she has to return to her Maine hometown to eulogize her abusive father. She finds herself with a choice between an emotionally distant neurosurgeon boyfriend (Justin Baldoni) and an old flame (Brandon Sklenar).
Borderlands
The first person shooter hit from 2009 gets a film adaptation. The great Cate Blanchett stars as Lilith, an adventurer who descends to the planet Pandora (no relation to the Avatar homeworld) in search of a rumored vault full of alien treasure. To help her navigate the savage planet, she bring along her robot Claptrap (Jack Black), the mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart), demolitionist Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) and more familiar characters from the game.
Lawrence of Arabia
If you loved Dune: Part Two earlier this year, now you can see the inspiration for Denis Villaneuve’s sweeping desert landscapes. David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia is one of the great masterpieces of cinema, and was actually one source of inspiration for Frank Herbert’s original novel. On Sunday Aug. 11 and Monday Aug. 12 at the Paradiso, there’s a special Fathom screening of the film, which starred Peter O’Toole as British intelligence officer T.E. Lawrence who tried to rally Arab resistance against the Ottoman Turks during the First World War. If you’ve wondered why things in the Middle East have been so screwed up for so long, this film will give you a little bit of insight. Lawrence was, depending on who you ask, either the guy whose arrogance started the still-roiling conflicts or the guy who saw the future and tried to head it off. Both points of view are aired in Lean’s immortal epic, and O’Toole’s legendary performance hints that maybe they’re both right. Unlike some films, this is one you’re going to want to watch on the biggest screen available. But don’t take my word for it, ask Steven Spielberg.
Breakin’
Breakdancing is making its debut as an Olympic sport this weekend, so it’s appropriate that Crosstown Arts is screening the first film focused on the dance phenomenon. Breakin’ is about as 1984 as you can get. Helmed by exploitation director Joel Siberg, who tried to recapture the dance magic a few years later with Lambada, it’s got a paper thin plot, but memorable characters and no shortage of great dance moves. Check out this scene, featuring a very young Ice-T.
Breakin’ screens on Thursday, August 15 at Crosstown Theatre.
