Cineast Movie Previews: 'Neighbors,' 'Mom's Night Out,' 'Chef,' 'Oz'

Don’t head to the cinema without checking Cineast first! Here are the latest film previews.

Neighbors
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne star in Neighbors as Mac and Kelly Radner, a couple with a newborn baby who unwittingly move in next to a fraternity house. At first, they try to get along with the loud, boisterous crew next-door, more worried about seeming young and cool enough to be accepted. Eventually, however, the outrages perpetrated by the frat—among other things, leaving an unwrapped condom within reach of the newborn, who predictably sticks it in his mouth—lead to all-out warfare between the Radners and the fraternity. Of course, fraternity brothers have a lot of practice in the practical joke department, and it’s an open question whether the Radners can keep up. The film also features Zac Efron.



Mom’s Night Out
Mom’s Night Out is a very suggestive title to give your film if you want groups of moms to come and see it together, which is pretty clearly the case for the makers of Mom’s Night Out. In fact, it may be hard to imagine another audience for the picture. Almost completely predicated on the idea that fathers, while sometimes well-meaning, are incapable of looking after children for any length of time, the story follows a group of middle-aged moms who try to go out for an elegant meal together while leaving their cute but uncontrollable children in the care of their cute but helpless husbands. Hare-brained schemes abound, and a state of chaos is soon achieved both among the moms and among the fathers and children. The film features Sarah Drew, Patricia Heaton, Sean Astin and Trace Adkins.



Chef 
Writer, director, and lead actor Jon Favreau assembles an all-star cast for Chef, his film celebrating life, food, and a life in food. While there’s long been room in the marketplace for films that romanticize food and cooking, it seems like ever since Disney’s Ratatouille the genre has picked up steam to where there’s at least one high-budget “foodie film” released every year. Chef could very well be a live-action reimagining of Ratatouille, as Favreau plays Carl Casper, a gifted chef whose manager doesn’t trust him and whose restaurant fails as a consequence. To regain his reputation, he needs to go back to the roots of his talent. Featuring Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johanssen and Dustin Hoffman.



Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s never been a film sequel to The Wizard of Oz that even comes close to the power and creative energy of the original, and the animated feature Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return does not look like it will alter this reality. With the voices of Martin Short, James Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.