Where can you visit a freaky frontier, a prehistorically-styled island, and a WWII-era nest of spies this weekend? No, it’s not in Westworld, it’s at the movies! Whether your tastes run towards the epic, the strange, or the stranger-than-fiction, this crop of new releases have you covered. Bonus: Each one also features one of our favorite leading men. The thirst is so real, we recommend splurging on the largest soda the concession stand sells—the one you need two hands to carry! Here’s what you need to know about this weekend’s hottest (and coolest) new movies:
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Dinosaurs, Jeff Goldblum, an active volcano, and at least one of the Chrises…that’s what summer blockbusters are made of! While the trailer really emphasizes all the action going down on the soon-to-explode Isla Nublar, and ponders whether or not a deadly reptile can learn to love, we now know that that’s only half the story: The other half involves, without too many spoilers, literally eating the rich. Director J.A. Bayona is best known for The Orphanage (Horror), The Impossible (drama), and A Monster Calls (fantasy), and this project sort of puts those three in a blender with Colin Trevorrow’s script (which, no offense meant, isn’t exactly a Michael Crichton novel) and a whole lotta liquid hot magma. Will the result go down smooth, or will unappetizing chunks emerge? Either way, it won’t have much of an effect on the original’s enduring legacy. But hey, at least Bryce Dallas Howard finally gets her boots!
Damsel
Until this offbeat offering from Fandor favorites the Zellner brothers, we thought Robert Pattinson’s most dramatic departure from the Twilight saga would be his turn in last year’s breakneck-paced, white-knuckler Good Time. But this? This is something else altogether. Yes, folks, Pattinson’s gone comedic, and this time, it’s on purpose. If the trailer for Damsel leaves you with no real sense of what’s actually going on, you’re not alone—apparently, Pattinson spent most of the filming feeling the same way! If you’re looking for something comforting and predictable to watch this weekend, do yourself a giant favor and skip this. If you’re ready to take one weird and wild ride, however, then saddle up for what might be the most subversive Western since Meek’s Cutoff. Except, you know, funnier, or at least way more absurd. And if you’re one of those who like to know exactly what other people thought of a movie before you cough up your hard-earned twenty bucks, check out our review of Damsel.
The Catcher Was a Spy
If you can’t wait until the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp next month to get your recommended dose of Paul Rudd, you’re in luck: The Catcher Was a Spy, which mixes WWII and baseball for maximum Americana, will have a limited release this weekend. Rudd plays Moe Berg, a Princeton-educated, multi-lingual major-leaguer who went on to work for the OSS—in other words, not exactly a dumb jock. As the race to create the atomic bomb accelerates, Berg is asked to take drastic action, but all the while, he is harboring secrets of his own. Rudd, the everyman if there ever was one, is in many ways an ideal choice to play a man who could fit in anywhere, but who was perhaps truly known by no one at all. Paul Giamatti, Jeff Daniels, Sienna Miller, and Guy Pearce round out the cast, and Ben Lewin, who is probably best known for his 2012 festival hit The Sessions, directs. Sure, it’s no dinosaur disaster flick, but sports-meets-espionage still makes for a pretty solid summer movie, don’t you think?
