Director Roland Emmerich is synonymous with big budget special effects extravaganzas. His credits include movies like Stargate, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 and even though he has been successful at the box office, he has been less successful with the critics.
Emmerich’s highest rated was The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, but even that was less than universally praised.
His lowest rated was 10,000 B.C., which was almost universally disliked.
He even tried a drama set in the time of Shakespeare called Anonymous, but most critics did not like it and audiences stayed away.
Emmerich’s biggest successes have been when he is blowing things up and he is also no stranger to making a mess of the White House, after completely destroying it in Independence Day.
In White House Down, he has a paramilitary group taking over the President’s residence and its best hope is a police officer who is a rejected applicant to the US Secret Service.
Channing Tatum plays the police officer who must rescue the President (Jamie Foxx) while trying to keep his daughter out of danger.
Don’t expect White House Down to be at the top of critics lists and even though there was the similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen earlier this year, expect some fun summer thrills from this one.
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Although director Paul Feig does not have many movies under his belt, he got off to a great start as a driving force behind the acclaimed but short-lived television show Freaks and Geeks and then gave the male-dominated bachelor party comedy a female twist with Bridesmaids.
Now he re-invents the buddy-cop movie with The Heat, re-teaming with Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy.
Sandra Bullock stars as uptight FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn and foul-mouthed Boston cop Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) couldn’t be more incompatible. But when they join forces to bring down a ruthless drug lord, they become the last thing anyone expected: buddies.
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Next Wednesday sees the release of another two big summer movies. The team behind the Pirates of the Caribbean are back with a new take on The Lone Ranger. Johnny Depp stars as Tonto for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski and the man behind the mask is played by Armie Hammer (best known for playing the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network).
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Also next Wednesday is the highly anticipated sequel Despicable Me 2. Steve Carell is back as the voice of Gru, the villain who is called upon when the world needs a hero.
The original was hugely successful with both critics and box office, so expectations are high for this sequel. If early reviews are any indication, it meets those expectations.
