QUICK FIX In Theaters is a weekly column dedicated to letting you know what’s new in theaters every weekend. If you’re a fan of buttering up a bucket of popcorn, topping off a large soda, and settling in to a theater seat for some escapism see what’s playing near you. “Buy the ticket, take the ride,” as a wise man once said.
After a nice opening entry the column was absent for a few weeks. It’s back for good!
This week’s note-worthy new releases include The Internship, The Purge, Much Ado About Nothing (limited), Rapture-Palooza (limited), and Violet & Daisy.
The Purge
Release: June 7th, 2013 Rating: R Director: Jame DeMonaco
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Rhys Wakefield
What would happen in a near future where one day of the year all crime is legal? Find out in this weekend’s big release The Purge.
Here’s the official film synopsis:
“If on one night every year, you could commit any crime without facing consequences, what would you do? In The Purge, a speculative thriller that follows one family over the course of a single night, four people will be tested to see how far they will go to protect themselves when the vicious outside world breaks into their home. In an America wracked by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity-including murder-becomes legal. The police can’t be called. Hospitals suspend help. It’s one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking. When an intruder breaks into James Sandin’s (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear a family apart. Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide.”
And here’s a trailer for The Purge:
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Much Ado About Nothing (limited)
Release: June 7th, 2013 Rating: PG-13 Director: Joss Whedon
Stars: Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion
For a few week’s while on down time from filming The Avengers director Joss Whedon brought some friends to his home and filmed a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s work Much Ado About Nothing.
Here’s an official synopsis for the film:
Leonato (Clark Gregg), the governor of Messina, is visited by his friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) who is returning from a victorious campaign against his rebellious brother Don John (Sean Maher). Accompanying Don Pedro are two of his officers: Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Claudio (Fran Kranz). While in Messina, Claudio falls for Leonato’s daughter Hero (Jillian Morgese), while Benedick verbally spars with Beatrice (Amy Acker), the governor’s niece. The budding love between Claudio and Hero prompts Don Pedro to arrange with Leonato for a marriage.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, Don Pedro, with the help of Leonato, Claudio and Hero, attempts to sport with Benedick and Beatrice in an effort to trick the two into falling in love. Meanwhile, the villainous Don John, with the help of his allies Conrade (Riki Lindhome) and Borachio (Spencer Treat Clark), plots against the happy couple, using his own form of trickery to try to destroy the marriage before it begins.
A series of comic and tragic events may continue to keep the two couples from truly finding happiness, but then again perhaps love may prevail.
And here’s a trailer for Much Ado About Nothing:
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Rapture-Palooza (limited)
Release: June 7th, 2013 Rating: R Director: Paul Middleditch
Stars: Anna Kendrick, John Francis Daley, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong, Thomas Lennon, Ana Gasteyer
If the existence for those not raptured continues on after the apocalypse life might get a little strange. That, most likely handfuls of laughs, are what we can expect from the end-of-the-world comedy Rapture-Palooza.
Here’s an official synopsis for the film:
When the Apocalypse actually happens and a billion people are raptured up to heaven, Lindsey (Anna Kendrick) and her boyfriend Ben (John Francis Daley) are left behind in suburban Seattle. The young couple tries their best to lead a normal life surrounded by talking locusts, blood rain showers and pot-smoking wraiths. But when The Beast (Craig Robinson) makes his home base in their neighborhood, Lindsey finds herself the object of his affection. With the help of her family, friends and a lawn-mowing zombie neighbor (Tom Lennon), the young couple set off to stop the Anti-Christ from taking her as his bride…and just maybe, saving the world in the process.
And here’s a red-band trailer for Rapture-Palooza:
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Violet & Daisy (limited)
Release: June 7th, 2013 Rating: R Director: Geoffrey Fletcher
Stars: Alexis Bledel, Saoirse Ronan, Danny Trejo, James Gandolfini
A lolli-pop sucking pair of teen girls pick up guns and decide to play hitman…or at least that’s what the trailer suggests of the film Violet & Daisy.
Here’s an official synopsis for the film:
Violet and Daisy are a pair of gum-cracking teenage assassins who casually snuff out crime figures in New York City, distracted only by the fact that a concert by their favorite pop idol Barbie Sunday has suddenly been canceled.
Determined to raise cash for some Barbie Sunday dresses, the duo takes on a new hit job targeting a mysterious loner who leads them into an unexpected odyssey of self-examination and catapults the junior enforcers into a world beyond Barbie Sunday and bullets for pay.
And here’s a trailer for Violet & Daisy:
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The Internship
Release: June 7th, 2013 Rating: PG-13 Director: Shawn Levy
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Josh Gad, Aasif Mandvi, Gary Anthony Williams
What appears to be a formulaic old-guys-meet-young-people-and-work-together comedy, The Internship has been getting some decent reviews saying a majority of the film works and is enjoyable.
Here’s an official synopsis for the film:
Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital world. Trying to prove they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking their way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant college students. But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with a group of the nation’s most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity really is the mother of re-invention.
And here’s a trailer for The Internship:
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