In Theaters September 18th, 2015

The dam has finally broke in September and there are a ton of new movies coming out this weekend that are worth checking out. We’re especially excited for Johnny Depp’s turn as infamous mobster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Also, there has been a lot of critical buzz around Sicario starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro. That is out in limited release with a wider release on October 2nd! Check out everything that is coming out this week and let us know what you are looking forward to.

Opening In Wide Release

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

The second movie in the YA novel adaptation, The Maze Runner, this follows the group of survivors from the first movie called “The Gladers”. Having found out their maze was a smaller cog in a much bigger post-apocalyptic world, the group of teens led by Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) must discover the secrets behind the organization that put them in the maze; the WCKD.

Probably the most exciting part of this movie is that Aidan Gille, Littlefinger on Game of Thrones, and Alan Tudyk, Wash from Firefly, both have roles in the movie. Both of those actors are well distinguished and really good. However, just like  Miles Teller in Insurgent, I don’t think either of those fine actors can save this YA franchise. I was extremely bored and did not like Insurgent, and this second movie of The Maze Runner series appears to be of the same ilk. I could be proven wrong, but early reviews look like this one might be worth avoiding in favor of a bunch of other high potential movies.

Black Mass

Johnny Depp is Whitey Bulger. An infamous violent criminal from South Boston’s Irish mafia group known as the Winter Hill Gang, and the brother of Massachusetts state senator Billy Bulger. Purportedly as early as the mid-70’s he began informing for the FBI on the Boston Italian Mafia which led to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies ignoring a lot of Bulger’s criminal activity. The movie is a biopic of Bulger’s life of crime, inofrmant days, and subsequent fifteen years as a fugitive from the law before his capture in 2011.

The major hype for this movie has been around Johnny Depp’s performance. Depp has had some pretty dismal performances as of late, especially comedic ones, and supposedly this performance is a full envelopment of a pretty nasty dude that calls back to performances from movies like Dead Man and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Super excited to check this one out and hopefully his performance is as good as advertised.

Captive

An intriguing film to say the least. One of our wonderful readers, Joanna Rutter, shared this on Facebook with us the other day and it was an intriguing early review from the LA Times. However, it is not produced by one of the “faith-based” movie production companies, and it isn’t looking to be that kind of movie. Would we call something like Calvary a “faith-based” movie? I think not. That tends to be an alternate category of movies that relies on certain evangelical elements and appeals to a certain demographic. Maybe this movie could be called a movie? A novel idea, I’m sure, but I don’t think any movie that assumes there is faith in the world should be labelled a “faith-based” movie. Faith in God and spirituality is a part of humanity, and lumping this movie in with other recent releases like War Room and 90 Minutes in Heaven seems unfair. We’ll definitely check this out and get back to you on what we thought of it.

Everest

Here is another wide release worth checking out this weekend! Boasting a pretty great cast including Josh Brolin, Emily Watson, Kiera Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Hawkes, and Jason Clarke; the movie seems to be a survival movie on a “routine” expedition up Mount Everest. Of course, there is nothing routine about climbing Mount Everest; it can be incredibly treacherous and potetnially deadly. But, when a large storm rips through it threatens to kill the entire team climbing up the mountain. It is getting a pretty good reception and comparisons to Gravity in terms of it’s stakes and the mix of beauty and terror. Definitely count this among the movie to watch out for this weekend.

Opening In Limited Release

Sicario

One of the earliest Cannes Film Festival debut movies to secure a US release date, this is also one that people have been talking about and generating buzz for. Starring Emily Blunt, Jon Bernthal, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro; Sicario takes place in the area around the U.S.-Mexican border. The plot centers around Blunt’s character as an FBI agent brought in to deal with cartels and teamed with Benicio Del Toro’s character. It looks super intense and is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Enemy, Prisoners). As intrigue and fear around the Mexican cartels continue to grow, this movie is relevant and necessary and also looks totally crazy. It comes out in limited release this weekend and will distribute wider on October 2nd. Who knows, maybe it will do so well it will expand a week early, and I don’t think that would be a bad thing.

Pawn Sacrifice

Bobby Fischer was an interesting character. Back when the Cold War was fought with brilliant minds and chess boards, Fischer was the focus of the world. However, Fischer was also a tortured soul with a terrible background of anti-Semitism and resentment for America. He is an incredibly enigmatic figure and difficult to tackle with tact in a movie. I’m interested to see how Maguire portrays him and how director Edward Zwick tells a compelling narrative about a man who was borderline mythological within the world of chess and in the Cold War narrative. This is a movie to keep an eye on because of it’s “indie” tag and also some of the mixed, but mostly positive reviews it has been getting.