1. Hit and Run (Opened Wednesday,Open Road Films, 2,870 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated R): This film is a vanity project. And not a vanity project in the sense that Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks has an important work only their star power can bring to the screen vanity project, but rather a D-list celebrity wants to make a movie with his girlfriend vanity project.
Upset that I called Dax Shepard, who wrote and co-directed this film, a D-list celebrity? Okay, name me one A-list film he’s been in? The closest he’s come has been either Zathura or When in Rome (where he worked with and possibly first met girlfriend Kristen Bell) and neither of those films made any cultural or box office impact.
This film has a basic plot. Shepard’s character is in the witness protection agency, but goes on a road trip with his girlfriend (Bell). This brings him to the attention of the Feds and his old gang, both who want to catch up with him for different reasons.
When the “funniest” scenes you put in the trailer, which should be the best scenes film so as to entice the audiences in, include a discussion about a character being raped in prison and a grown man dropping the F-bomb in front of small children, eh, I’m not really sold.
2. Premium Rush (Sony/Columbia, 2,255 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG-13): 2012 is turning out to be the the year of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, or at least the last half of it is. Between this film, last month’s The Dark Knight Rises, and the forthcoming Looper, he has the makings of a Michael Caine/Gene Hackman/Jude Law type of omnipresence at the cineplexes.
In this film he plays as bike messenger who gets a envelop he has to deliver across town in less that 90 minutes. Unfortunately, in addition to having to deal with crosstown traffic, he has to deal with a dirty cop who wants to steal the package from him. High-speed chasing ensues.
Judging by the running time of the film, the action might unfold in “real-time.” That’s fairly interesting.
