There are a few great, underhyped films coming our way in the next few months, and we're getting a little advance taste of what the future will bring with some new trailers and one-sheets for four of them. In that quartet we have 13, which stars Jason Statham, Alexander Skarsgard, and Mickey Rourke; Man on a Ledge starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, and Ed Harris; The Son of No One featuring Channing Tatum, Tracy Morgan, Katie Holmes, and Al Pacino; and The Lie, the one I've already had the pleasure of seeing, has a barebones but great cast including Joshua Leonard, Jess Wexler, and Mark Webber.
Here's the official synopsis for 13:
Vince Ferro is a man in desperate circumstances. While on a quick fix-it job, he steals an envelope containing instructions for a mysterious job that promises a potential fortune. He assumes a false identity and follows the instructions, only to find himself a numbered participant in an underworld Russian roulette competition, where gamblers place bets on who'll survive when the trigger is pulled. The stakes are high, but the payout is more than he can resist. Many are competing for the first time, and a precious few have even returned to play again, but are his odds any better than other players in this most deadly game? What will it take to be the last man standing?
Sadly, 13 will have a single week in the theater (the week of October 28th) before it shoots over to DVD and Blu-ray.
The official synopsis for Man on a Ledge is as follows:
An ex-cop and now wanted fugitive (Sam Worthington) stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York Police Department negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down. The longer they are on the ledge, the more she realizes that he might have an ulterior objective.
The film doesn't hit theaters until January 13th of next year, and that doesn't bode well for the studio's expectations. Maybe it's because it's coming on the tail of The Ledge, a film with a similar setup, or maybe it hasn't tested well - but it's an odd place to dump what could be a very serviceable thriller.
Here's the (sparse) synopsis for The Son of No One:
A young cop is assigned to a precinct in the working class neighborhood where he grew up, and an old secret threatens to destroy his life and his family.
Let's be honest: Man on a Ledge and The Son of No One could be just about the same film, but with one lacking a ledge on a skyscraper. If you're keeping score, of the three mentioned thus far, 13 has the most unique premise, but Man on a Ledge the most promise. The Son of No One will be in theaters starting November 4th.
Finally, the synopsis for The Lie:
When they first met, Lonnie and Clover were young idealists, but an unplanned baby forced them to flip the script. Lonnie put his music on hold and got a shitty job. And now Clover is abandoning her activism for an "opportunity" in the corporate world. Drowning in disappointments, Lonnie decides he needs some time off work to reexamine his life. He calls in sick, but his abusive boss demands he show up or get fired. Lonnie panics and tells a shocking lie to justify his absence - and once the lie if out, there's no going back. Now it's only a matter of time before the grenade he's thrown on his life explodes and Lonnie is suddenly pushed to figure out who he is, what he wants, and just maybe, what it means to be a father.
It sounds like a very sobering drama, but with the right mindset this is actually a pretty superb dark comedy, and I'm convinced that's how it's intended. It's reminiscent of Miranda July's The Future in its focus on early thirty-somethings having a crisis in what their lives have become - but it takes a much more humorous approach and the difference is the same as night and day. You can walk away from The Lie smiling, something that probably won't happen with The Future. The Lie will be in theaters starting November 18th.
