The Way Way Back

Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.

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Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Writer[s]: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Starring: Liam James, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, AnnaSophia Robb, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

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A 14 year old boy heads to a summer house with his mother and her new boyfriend, and has to break out of his shell and make the best of his life. Nothing new on the story and theme front, but coming from the writers of The Descendants (with the exception of writer/director Alexander Payne), which was similarly cliche ridden but still managed to get on my list of favorites, I am hoping to find an enjoyable film capable of keeping my interest and invoking some good emotions/memories (as The Descendants did).

Gravity

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

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Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Writer[s]: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

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Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men might be the best visually directed movie I have ever seen. This conventionally shot film has held that title [according to me] for seven years of cinema, including the reinvention and revolution of 3D production. Not included in those seven years since Children of Men is another film written and directed by Cuarón. In that time, I have been patiently waiting for the return of the master. And then, in 2010, it was released that he was working on a movie based in space. Alfonso Cuarón and outer-space. That’s all I needed to hear.