Right Cinema

Now that we’ve made it through the end-of-summer movie slump, we’ve got some potential blockbusters on our hands. The movies releasing Friday include “The Express” (sports movies always do well) and “Body of Lies” (Leonardo DiCaprio always does better).

“The Express” Releases Friday

The Express

“The Express” is the story of first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, Syracuse running back Ernie Davis. Even though this is Dennis Quaid’s 137th sports movie, it’s still moving people. Actor Rob Brown, who plays Davis, discussed what it was like to film in Syracuse, where he ran into people who knew the legend that was Ernie Davis:

“A lot of the best sports movies are tearjerkers. Now, this isn’t Brian’s Song—we wanted to celebrate Ernie’s life, not focus on the tragedy of his death—but it is a bit of tearjerker. It’s never easy to cry on cue, but understanding the adversity in Ernie’s life made it easier. And the tears really flowed the last two days of the shoot when we finally shot in Syracuse. A lot of the locals who knew Ernie were on set. People were crying just meeting me—and I only play Ernie. I got a real sense of how important Ernie was to the community, and how he touched people’s lives.”

When you have a good story, it generally makes for a good movie, and Davis’ story is fantastic, though tragic.

Body of Lies

Starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, “Body of Lies” is a suspense spy movie that takes the idea of the Bourne trilogy one step further. DiCaprio plays a CIA operative who is sent to Jordan to track a big name terrorist. In doing so, he is paired with the head of Jordan’s covert operations, which turns tense and filled with clashes. And when you’re trying to work covert ops together, that can’t be good. But it sounds like just because you combine the director of “American Gangster” with the screenwriter of “The Departed” doesn’t automatically make a good film. One critic calls it, “finally excessively shrill, convoluted and distasteful, when not outright ridiculous.”

Quarantine

From the looks of the previews, “Quarantine” runs about parallel to the “Saw” movies and “Hostel” - you’re trapped inside a creepy looking warehouse with a killer. Get ready to scream. And even if you like that sort of thing, it sounds like the acting is up to snuff, as one critic calls Jennifer Carpenter’s acting job “the most hysterical over-the-top performance in a horror movie since Marilyn Burns in the original 1974 Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”

City of Ember

I started to wonder if I was living under a rock with this one because I hadn’t heard of it, but it looks to be a little family adventure oriented. “City of Ember” stars Tim Robbins and Bill Murray. It’s the story of a city built underground to save the human race, but it could only last 200 years. When time runs out, how do you get out of the City of Ember?

See the trailers for the movies below.