Jeff Goldblum Returns for 'Independence Day 2'; Berenice Bejo Joins 'After the Storm'; Rainn Wilson Leads 'The Boy'

* Jeff Goldblum is seeing a couple of his most cherished franchises coming back at the same time with Jurassic World and Independence Day 2. And while fans may hope he'll appear in both, that sadly won't be the case. While talking to Huffington Post about The Grand Budapest Hotel, Goldblum revealed that he won't be returning as Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World, which isn't a surprise considering it's basically a soft reboot. But he did confirm Roland Emmerich's previous statements that he would be back as David Lewinson in the Independence Day sequel, opening July 1st 2016. One out of two ain't bad.

* Berenice Bejo (The Past) will star in After the Storm, a psychological thriller from French actor/director, Safy Nebbou. Based on Arthur Dreyfus' novel Belle Famille, the story centers on "a mother who can’t accept the accidental death of her five-year old son and instinctively hides his body. After the child is declared missing, the police launches a massive investigation that sparks a media frenzy, comforting the mother in her denial."

* Rainn Wilson and Elijah Wood last paired up on the horror-comedy, Cooties, which I caught at Sundance and thought was pretty funny. Now they're back together again for another horror, titled The Boy. Wilson will star, along with Mike Vogel, David Morse,  Zuleikha Robinson and Bill Sage. The rather ambitious project put together by co-writer/director Craig MacNeill is viewed as a trilogy "tracking the childhood of a future serial killer, with installments depicting the character at ages 9, 14 and 18, respectively, and ending with his full transformation to an iconic mass murderer." Wood is on board as a producer, and this one sounds potentially awesome if done right. [TheWrap]

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Trailer Time: Hesher, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman

Hesher debuted at Sundance last year to mostly mixed reviews, but has gained some notoriety of late thanks to it's two biggest stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman. You might've heard of them. The film features an oddball premise that is sure to alienate some folks: Gordon-Levitt stars as Hesher, a troubled young man with a penchant for committing arson, who becomes a fixture in the lives of a pill popping single dad(Rainn Wilson) and his impressionable young son(David Brochu). Natalie Portman is a grocery clerk who tries to sway some of Hesher's influence.  The film marks the directorial debut for Spencer Susser.

With Natalie Portman's Your Highness coming out this week and Hesher due out next month, that makes two slightly off-kilter flicks in a row for Portman. Check out the trailer for Hesher below!

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Review: The Rocker

Plot: Drummer Robert “Fish” Fishman is fired from the hair metal band ‘Vesuvius on the eve of their success. He spends the next twenty years working a dead end job until a new opportunity presents itself in the form of his nephew’s garage band.

The Ups: This is a fun little movie with quite a few decent laughs and a little bit of heart without cheesing it up too much. Rainn Wilson is great, really a talent with wonderful comedic timing and has just enough of that neighbor look to make him even funnier. Joshua Gad who plays Fish’s nephew was a nice surprise. The trailers had me believe that he was a Jonah Hill knock off but thankfully this is not the case. While there is a similarity their humor is a bit different and this kid is actually likeable as opposed to Jonah Hill’s “funny but an asshole” characters. Teddy Geiger who until now was known only as a pop music one hit wonder actually turns in a decent performance and while I don’t see Oscars in his future he wasn’t bad. Watch for a great cameo/bit part by Will Arnett as Vesuvius lead singer also the bands agent plays the pitch perfect douchbag manager type.

The Downs: Formulaic to a fault. The film was completely predictable and followed the same template as every other movie of its kind. Also, little attention was paid to the movie’s subplots, a big deal was paid to an absentee father but the only payoff was that it served as inspiration for the songs. The love story arc was brought up and dropped about three times with no real resolution. For a comedy A LOT of the jokes fell flat and they seemed to reuse all standard sight gags Guy stands up and hits his head, Guy gets hit in the Crotch, Guy is naked and it is not pleasant.

The Final Word: Not a theater movie, maybe a rental if you don’t mind seeing the same thing played out with different characters. It’s unfortunate because the entire cast did a great job, it just didn’t seem like they had all that much to work with. Then again, maybe it’s partially the effect of having so many amazing movies out this summer before it.

6/10

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