September 2016 - Captain Fantastic, Cafe Society and more...

I've been waiting months to see this film, so I have made Café Society my Movie of the Fortnight. Set in 1930's Hollywood, the film follows Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) as he moves from the gangster-run underworld of New York to work in the L.A. film scene with his talent agent uncle (Steve Carrell). When he meets Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) though, he falls immediately in love but she is already seeing someone, so a heartbroken Bobby heads back to New York. He finds it hard to shake off the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but discovers it isn't the only place that can put on a show and soon his thrilling new lifestyle begins to unravel.

 

Sausage Party is the first movie of its kind, an R-rated CG animated movie about Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) and his friends who dream of one day finding themselves in a shopping trolley and on their way to the "Great Beyond". With the 4th of July celebrations approaching, their dreams come true but when they witness a potato mercilessly diced, Frank and his pals realise they must act quickly to survive the holidays.

The second film of Kevin Smith's little known True North Trilogy is Yoga Hosers. An ancient evil has risen in Canada and two teenage yoga enthusiasts and phone addicts, Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose Depp) and Colleen McKenzie (Harley Quinn Smith), who have an after school job working at a local convenience store, find themselves teaming up with detective Guy LaPointe (Johnny Depp) to defeat an army of Bratzis, little Bratwurst Nazis, so they can get back to their sophomore partying lives.

When four guys need a way to save their local pub, they come up with a crazy plan. ChickLit is a comedy about their idea to write a 50 Shades of Grey style novel, but the publisher insists that the young woman "author" does the publicity for the book. No one can know who wrote it, so they hire Zoe (Dakota Blue Richards), an out of work actress, to act as the author. She then becomes the star in the film version of the book, putting her in control and the guys are left with the prospect of writing more sex novels for the foreseeable future.

Ben (Viggo Mortensent) and Leslie (Trin Miller) are idealistic parents who chose to raise their children in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to protect their family from the distractions of the technological age. When his wife commits suicide, Ben and his family have to leave the forest and enter the modern world to attend to attend her funeral. Captain Fantastic shows what happens when they have to exchange the innocense and tranquility of nature for the complexities of modern life.

The final four movies on my list this fortnight begins with the fantastical animated action adventure set in Japan, Kubo and the Two Strings. When Kubo (Art Parkinson) accidently summons a spirit from the heavens with an age-old vendetta to settle, he must go on the run. He sets out on a quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen Samurai father, joining forces with Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) and battling gods and monsters along the way.

After powerful people steal their money, Toby (Chris Pine), a straight-living, divorced father and his short-tempered, ex-con brother, Tanner (Ben Foster) come together, in Hell or High Water, to save their families' future by attempting to rob a branch of the bank which is foreclosing on their land. The brothers' plan seems to working but as their final heist nears, a showdown looms between them and a relentless, foul-mouthed Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges) who has them in his crosshairs.

Ben-Hur is the third big screen adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ in which a Jewish prince (Jack Huston) spends years toiling in slavery after an old friend, now an officer in the Roman army occupying Jerusalem (Toby Kebbell), falsely accuses him of a crime. In time, he wins his freedom and competes against his betrayer in a violent chariot race, but an encounter with Jesus Christ (Rodrigo Santoro) teaches him the importance of mercy and compassion.

Investment banker Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn) fights her way to the top of a competitive Wall Street firm in Equity, a film about woman who thrive on competition and ambition but also have to carefully calibrates their lives to stay equal in the game. The story follows her as she navigates a controversial tech IPO in the post-financial crisis world, where loyalties are suspect, regulations are tight, but pressure to bring in “big money” remains high.  

UK Release Dates

Cafe Society                               02 September 2016 TRAILER
ChickLit                                      02 September 2016 TRAILER
Equity                                        02 September 2016 TRAILER
Sausage Party                             02 September 2016 TRAILER
Ben-Hur                                      07 September 2016 TRAILER
Captain Fantastic                         09 September 2016 TRAILER
Hell or High Water                        09 September 2016 TRAILER
Kubo and the Two Strings             09 September 2016 TRAILER

USA Release Dates
Yoga Hosers                              02 September 2016 TRAILER