2014 Summer Movie Reviews - July

The following are reviews of the movies released in July 2014. Enjoy!
*Previews of these movies and all the ones I haven't had a chance to see yet can be found here.

July 2nd

Deliver Us From Evil: NY police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.

Opening Weekend: $9.7 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%

Review: With a terrifying trailer and a writer/director with bona-fide horror credentials (Scott Derrickson [Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose]), there was a lot of hype for Deliver Us From Evil preceding its release. While it was a decent horror movie that added an element of investigative mystery to the tropes of typical thrillers, it was a film that at the end of the day fell into expected clichés. Eric Bana (Munich) and Édgar Ramírez make a good co-starring pair and the story is engaging enough, but by the end Deliver Us From Evil looks like any other possession movie. Too bad; it looked so unique.
The Final Word: 2/4 - Wait to rent it.

2014 Summer Movie Previews - July

I'm finally done with the biggest chunk of my summer grad school work! It didn't allow me time to write reviews, but I did still manage to see most of the movies so far this summer. So in the next few posts I'll write up some quick reviews of the movies I've seen so far, as well as previews of the movies I haven't yet watched.

July 2nd

Deliver Us From Evil: NY police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.

Trailer here.

Earth to Echo: After receiving a bizarre series of encrypted messages, a group of kids embark on an adventure with an alien who needs their help.
Trailer here.

Premature: A high school senior has to re-live losing his virginity over and over again until he gets it right.
Trailer here.

School Dance: If he can win a spot on the school's hottest dance crew, Jason might have a shot with Anastacia. But before he does, he'll have to overcome his battle-ax of a mother, survive Anastacia's gangsta brother, and pass the crew's initiation.
Trailer here.