Lions revolves around a crisis in some typically desolate place in the Middle East (later research indicates it was Afghanistan, but I don't think the trailer indicated that), and the military, political and social (in the guise of a college professor) responses to it. Tom Cruise plays a Senator who appears to support the military response, talking to reporter Meryl Streep. Robert Redford, who also directed the film, plays what appears to be a passivist college professor trying to talk one of his students into sticking with his studies, using the military action as an example of "this is what could happen to you if you quit."
While that premise could easily get into the anti-war preachy mode, the trailer didn't seem to indicate that Redford took that approach. Cruise looked believable as a Senator and didn't appear to fall into the "evil politician" stereotype which is not uncommon in this type of film. So despite the actual personalities involved in this movie, the trailer made me want to go see it. But I'll have to wait until November for it to be released.
Kingdom appears to be a very action-oriented film, starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. In a nutshell, the FBI sends a team to investigate a bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed a bunch of Americans, and then the terrorists that planted the bomb start going after the investigation team. The trailer really impressed me. Oh, and did I mention that Jennifer Garner is hot?!
I only have to wait until the end of September for Kingdom, but I expect this movie to be in my plans when the time comes.
