By Chris Kavan - 09/16/11 at 02:41 PM CT
A week after one of the slowest on record, can any new films help boost a sagging box office?
1) Ryan Gosling is hoping you'll take a Drive with him. A stuntman/wheelman finds himself in over his head after a heist gone wrong. Boasting a cast including Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman this is an action flick with the heart of an arthouse film. Whether that sounds compelling or not to you is another matter. It looks intriguing, I'll give it that much. Maybe you can enjoy action and not melt your brain cells.
2) I'm loathe to say a remake is the next best thing... but alas, I feel it is. The original Straw Dogs was a very raw journey. Dustin Hoffman was brilliant as a man who is pushed just too far. Do I think James Marden can compare? Not by a long shot. However, compared to what's left over - I would rather see a mediocre remake any day.
3) Sarah Jessica Parker wants to remind us she's still relevant with I Don't Know How She Does It, but considering the scathing reviews, maybe she should have just stuck to another Sex and the City sequel. This is exactly the kind of film that makes me gag and die a little each time - the worst tropes of female-centric comedies all rolled into one with a story about a high-society workaholic that, in these times, can anyone relate to? I know I don't even want to think about it.
4) After floating around for some time, the Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper romance/drama/I see dead people film Restless is also being released. This looks like one bizarre story involving the terminally ill and Kamikaze pilot ghosts and other morbid things. Hey, I like different, but this looks too strange even for my tastes.
You can always check out Lion King 3D as well - just in time to be released from the Disney vault - and make the company a few extra (million) or so dollars. EDIT - Friday box office numbers indicate Lion King may blow away the new competition over the weekend. Anyway, I'll be back Sunday to see whether the box office can break out of the fall doldrums or not.
