Summer Movie Monday: The 2013 Finale!

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Opening Wednesday, August 21st
Directed by: Harald Zwart
Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Jemima West, Robert Sheehan, Robert Maillet, Kevin Durand, Godfrey Gao, Lena Headey, Harry Van Gorkum, CCH Pounder, Jared Harris, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Aidan Turner, Stephen R. Hart
16% on Rotten Tomatoes

The next Twilight? This is certainly being marketed as such and I hope for the sake of the movie that they only mean that in terms of box office and not quality of content. I do like Lily Collins (she's got killer brows) and the supporting cast is intriguing so maybe... Jury is definitely still out though, because this could just be a train wreck. I mean seriously - what's a shadowhunter? Hopefully it's not just YA fluff that's not worth our time.

Lee Daniels' The Butler, Short Term 12, Drinking Buddies, and The World's End after the break!

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Opening Friday, August 16th
Directed by: Lee Daniels
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, David Oyelowo, Colman Domingo, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding jr., Lenny Kravitz, Robin Williams, John Cusack, James Marsden, Minka Kelly, Elijah Kelley, Liev Schreiber, Nelsan Ellis, Colin Walker, Alex Manette, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda
72% on Rotten Tomatoes

Feel free to judge me on this next statement: What really made me want to see this movie (besides Forest Whitaker) when I saw its trailer was the presences of James Marsden as JFK and Danny Strong. You probably don't know who Danny Strong is by just hearing his name. You might remember him as Paris Geller's crazy boyfriend at Yale in Gilmore Girls. He also wrote the script for Game Change. His participation (he wrote the script) sealed the deal for me. As for James Marsden - he is just delicious. It's gonna be good.

Short Term 12

Opening Friday, August 23rd
Directed by: Destin Cretton
Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek, Alex Calloway, Kevin Hernandez, Lydia Du Veaux, Keith Stanfield, Frantz Turner, Diana Maria Riva, Harold Cannon, Silvia Curiel, Melora Walters, Bran'dee Allen
100% on Rotten Tomatoes

I first saw the trailer for this when I was seeing The Spectacular Now, another great movie starring Larson (see my post on it here). It looks to be a moving and emotional look at a woman who gives herself to the great cause of helping children who need a little help. If this is genuine and stays away from being self-righteous it could be staggeringly beautiful. If it does what it should, it'll hit you right in the gut. I've really enjoyed Larson lately so I've got really high hopes!

Drinking Buddies

Opening Friday, August 23rd
Directed by: Joe Swanberg
Starring: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Ti West, Jason Sudeikis, Mike Brune
76% on Rotten Tomatoes

It's hard not to be hopeful for a movie with some of my favorite working actors today in it! I just love Johnson on New Girl, Kendrick is just all around awesome, as is Wilde, and Livingston has just been around for a while doing consistently good work. Put them all together with all of their awesomeness and consistency and it should be a no-brainer. The idea of putting these four people together and seeing what relationships come out of it is interesting.

The World's End

Opening Friday, August 23th
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, David Bradley, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike
94% on Rotten Tomatoes

Have you seen Shaun of the Dead? Have you seen Hot Fuzz? The answers should be yes. They are the first two (totally unrelated) movies in Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy. They both star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and are uproariously funny. This is the third and final installment in the trilogy (but I am ready to start a riot if that's the third and final film that Wright, Pegg, and Frost make together), and there's not too much to say. It's going to be amazing. Oh, and it's an epic end of the world pub crawl. Perfection!

So this is the end of this year's Summer Movie Monday! What have your favorite summer movies been? Stay tuned for selected movies to see this fall - keep up with the Oscar contenders here!