Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Making new cinematic connections in the Movie Trailer Park

Autumn is rarely seen as a season of change and that usually goes for fall films as well. However, I have spotted a trio of upcoming movies that do feature unlikely friendships(and romances) between people who otherwise would not meet that promises to change the course of their lives.

First up is Home Again, starring Reese Witherspoon as Alice, a newly separated woman with two kids who is far from looking for a new love. During a birthday night out with her friends, she meets a much younger man(Pico Alexander) who is not simply a one night stand.

Instead, Alice allows him and his two brothers, all three of them aspiring filmmakers, to move in with the odd approval of her mother(Candice Bergen). As soon as word spreads about this new family dynamic, Alice's husband Austen(Michael Sheen) decides to step back into the picture.

 Quite an extended family set up here but this does appear to be an amusing and possibly engaging portrait of the typical May-December romance flipping the script:


For something a bit more dramatic, we have The Mountain Between Us,  based upon Charles Martin's 2010 novel. Dr. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) is in need of a quick flight in order to perform a major surgery and photojournalist Alex
Martin(Kate Winslet) needs one as well to get to her wedding on time.

The two of them decide to share a charter plane after the airlines cancel their flight due to inclement weather. Unfortunately, they were unable to avoid the encroaching storm and while they survive the plane crash, Alex and Ben find themselves alone in the wilderness.

With Ben's medical training and Alex's determination as their main assets, the two of them head out into the unknown to reach civilization, relying on each other to make it through the numerous obstacles in their path. The trailer does showcase this as more of a survival story than a romance but I hope we do get a good mix of both genres here:


To round things off, Judi Dench is once again playing Queen Victoria in a film about Her Majesty feeling down in the doldrums and reviving her spirits by embarking on a new relationship that irks her contemporaries.

Victoria & Abdul takes place during the latter years of the Queen's life as many of her family and friends seem to be more than ready for her to be at the end of her time. Yet, she takes a renewed interest in living due to a growing friendship with Abdul Karim(Ali Fazul), a servant from India.

Fearful of the influence that Abdul may have over her, the Prince of Wales(Eddie Izzard) threatens to declare her insane, something that no one in their right mind would try to pin on this particular royal diva!  As a fan of her performance in Mrs. Brown, seeing Judi Dench take on this matriarchal mantle at the movies again is a treat suited for more than just tea time:


In times like these, it's good to see unlikely friends and lovers pair up onscreen to overcome the odds against them, both from without and within. Of course, some offbeat bonds have more practical purposes such as saving the world from a death goddess as the Hulk and Thor do, with a few dubious new companions, in Thor:Ragnarok. Yeah, teaming up to defeat a common enemy can bring very unlikely people together, that's for sure!:




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