Welcome to this week’s edition of Back Lot 605’s Coming Soon column! Here’s what coming soon for the week of August 13th, 2021:
Featured Title: Free Guy
As we continue to work our way through the blockbuster movies that are finally being released due to COVID delays, we can’t help but encounter those movies that we’ve seemingly been hearing about for forever. To me, Free Guy is one of those movies… as its first trailer dropped way back on December 7th, 2019, touting a July 3rd, 2020 theatrical release date. (I distinctly remember watching said trailer on my phone during a break in my theatrical double feature of Jojo Rabbit and Parasite… just to give you an idea of how long it’s been.) The second trailer premiered in October of 2020, back when Disney was still pretending it was coming out that December… and I happen to remember that trailer because it featured a cameo by Alex Trebek, just weeks before his tragic passing. And after all the fits and starts, it’s finally here this weekend… and it’s especially notable because it’s the first truly exclusive theatrical release by the Walt Disney corporation in 2021, with no Disney+ Premier Access to support it. As such, it will be intriguing to see how it fares with audiences, who may still be reluctant to trot out to see this due to the Delta variant… and who may honest think that this movie came out already. 🙂
But, onto the movie itself… and it’s the latest attempt to video-game-ify the box office, in the wake of such hits as Ready Player One, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and even last month’s Space Jam: A New Legacy. Ryan Reynolds stars as Guy, a bank teller who realizes that he’s a NPC (non-playable character) in an action-packed open-world video game. Spurred on by Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), the online avatar of a video game developer who’s trying to find in-game evidence that her boss (Taika Waititi) stole her game code, Guy decides to break out of his fixed game role and tries to change his city forever. The movie also stars Joe Keery (Steve from “Stranger Things”), Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and several other big-name surprise cameos. Directed by Shawn Levy, who’s given us such blockbusters as the Night at the Museum trilogy, Real Steel, and Date Night… as well as producing Stranger Things (hence the presence of Mr. Keery). (Opens Friday, August 13th in theaters nationwide, including the Century Stadium 14 & XD, the Century East at Dawley Farm, and the West Mall 7 in Sioux Falls, with preview showings beginning at 6PM on Thursday, August 12th.)
Opening in Theaters
Don’t Breathe 2
2016’s Sam Raimi-produced Don’t Breathe was a tremendous suspense movie, and paid off dividends at the box office… so it’s no surprise that Raimi and his crew (including original director/co-writer Fede Alvarez, and co-writer Rodo Sayagues, who helms this sequel) decided to find a way to give us more of Stephen Lang’s chilling “The Blind Man”. But if you watch the trailer below, this movie paints a decidedly different picture of Lang’s character: He’s now raising a young orphaned girl (?!?!?!), and he seems to be positioned as the hero (?!?!?!?!) of this movie, as he takes on yet another crew of home invaders who have no idea what they’re in for. It’s the kind of creative choice that could go very wrong very quickly… but given the high quality of the first movie, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. (Opens Friday, August 13th in theaters nationwide, including the Century Stadium 14 & XD and the Century East at Dawley Farm in Sioux Falls, with preview showings beginning at 7PM on Thursday, August 12th.)
Respect
New to Streaming and VOD
CODA
Beckett
The Kissing Booth 3
What If…?
John and the Hole
Returning to Theaters
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Rifftrax Live: Hobgoblins
Nosebleeds Film Festival Returns!
Showing at the State!
Pig
School of Rock
This week’s entry in the State’s ongoing summer music series is Richard Linklater’s 2003 family comedy, starring Jack Black as a rock-band reject who schemes his way into a substitute teacher job at a highbrow private school, ultimately forming a new band with his students. Also starring Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman, Mike White (who also wrote the movie), and, in her feature film debut, a pre-iCarly Miranda Cosgrove. (Showing Friday, August 13th and Sunday, August 15th at the State Theatre.)
Friday the 13th
Late Night at the State returns this weekend with a fitting selection: the original Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th! As the State was the original home of Friday the 13th when it first opened in May of 1980, this will be a fun homecoming for the horror classic that kicked off the long-lasting franchise! As of this writing, only a handful of single seats remain… so if you’re still interested, get your seat now! (Showing one night only, Friday, August 13th at the State Theatre.)
Napoleon Dynamite
Break out the tater tots, feed your pet liger, and brush up on all your skills, because 2004’s endlessly quotable cult comedy is rounding out the State’s lineup! Jon Heder stars in his breakout role as oddball Idaho high schooler Napoleon Dynamite, GOSH! 🙂 Also starring Efren Ramirez as Pedro, Tina Majorino as Deb, Jon Gries as Uncle Rico, and Diedrich Bader as Rex Kwon Do! Directed and co-written by Jared Hess (who went on to make Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos). (Showing Saturday, August 14th and Sunday, August 15th at the State Theatre.)
Moonlight Movies: Wonder Woman!
Fawick Park’s Moonlight Movies series continues its month of superheroes with Gal Gadot’s first solo vehicle as Wonder Woman, from 2017! The movie begins at dusk this Saturday, August 14th; for more info, check out the event page on the Downtown Sioux Falls web site!
New This Week to Blu-ray and 4K
- Finding You (2021)
- Profile (2021)
- Till Death (2021)
- Queen Bees (2021)
Older Movies New to Streaming
Netflix:
- Walk of Shame (2014) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
Hulu:
- Held (2021) (premieres Thursday, August 12th)
- Homeroom (2021) (premieres Thursday, August 12th)
- The Virtuoso (2021) (premieres Thursday, August 12th)
- Silo (2021) (premieres Sunday, August 15th)
- The Hate U Give (2018) (premieres Sunday, August 15th)
- The Skeleton Twins (2014) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
- The Marijuana Conspiracy (2021) (premieres Wednesday, August 18th)
- Unsane (2018) (premieres Wednesday, August 18th)
Amazon Prime:
- Evan Almighty (2007) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
- In Bruges (2008) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
- La La Land (2016) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
- The Skeleton Twins (2014) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
Shudder:
- A Field in England (2013) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
- Borgman (2013) (premieres Monday, August 16th)
- Dave Made a Maze (2017) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
- Anguish (1987) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
Disney+:
- Aquamarine (2006) (premieres Friday, August 13th)
HBO Max:
- Jurassic Park (1993) (premieres Saturday, August 14th)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) (premieres Saturday, August 14th)
- Jurassic Park III (2001) (premieres Saturday, August 14th)
- Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
Peacock:
- The House (2017) (premieres Tuesday, August 17th)
Paramount+:
- No movies premiering on Paramount+ this week. Sorry!
The Criterion Channel:
- Thursday, August 12th: Three Dimensions: Three by Mani Kaul: Poet of Parallel Cinema: Our Daily Bread (1970), One Day Before the Rainy Season (1971), Duvidha (1973)
- Friday, August 13th: Double Feature: Through the Looking Glass: Alice (1988), Black Moon (1975)
- Saturday, August 14th: Saturday Matinee: The Secret of NIMH (1982)
- Monday, August 16th: Exclusive Streaming Premiere: To the Ends of the Earth (2019)
- Tuesday, August 17th: Short + Feature: Bureaucratic for the People: Sticker (2019), Sorry We Missed You (2019)
- Wednesday, August 18th: Women Filmmakers: Three by Lynn Hershman Leeson: Conceiving Ada (1997), Teknolust (2002), Strange Culture (2007)
The Shameless Plugs
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