a new year is upon us in movie land and that brings a host of bad, good, and all the rest as far as movies go. Whetehr it is a movie that is given a award before it has hit the theater (The Aviator), or another Marvel spinoff fight fest (Elecktra), there is something for everyone this year.
Elecktra: Let's start here, shall we? A spinoff from the worst grossing Marvel comic adaption to date, Elecktra is the tale of a woman that has mystical powers and fights some bad guys. When script approval came around, Ben Affleck chose to excude himself for a DareDevil cameo, and you know that has to be bad, since Ben Affleck would start in a home movie for attention. Based on the commercials and trailers, looks like more of the same that Daredevil was. I'm gonna prejudge with a 1 out of 5. It really is jsut a vehical to see Jennifer Garner in a leather outfit.
Constantine: John Constantine (Reeves) is a world-travelling, mage-like misfit who investigates supernatural mysteries and the like, walking a thin line between evil and good. Constantine teams up with a female police detective, Angela (Weisz), who seeks Constantine's help while investigating the suicide-like death of her twin sister. Does it have something to do with a mysterious group called "The First of the Fallen"? And what is it about Constantine that puts him in a position where he is making deals with representatives from both Heaven and Hell? I will admit that this sounds interesting, if one can stand the deadpan way Keanu Reeves can act most of the time. At least it wasn't based on the world conquerer.
Son of the Mask: Come on. Anyone who saw the trailer for this would for sure walk out in disgust. This movies was promised years ago when Jim Carey made the first one successful. But, no wonder he opted out of the sequel. Much like many sequels, this one shouldn't haven't have escaped the shredder in the office.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Now, he is something to look forward to. Johnny Dep is a great actor, and for some reason seems a perfect fit for the main role in this remake of a disturbing original. While the original movie Willy Wonka (played by Gene Wilder) was great, this one will be better. Anything that comes from the mind of Tim Burton is amazing, and I'm sure whatever spin he puts into it will make it a worthwhile watch.
Fantastic Four: A superhero that has been in limbo for a long time. Again, with the success of Spiderman and the X-men, another movie license has been purchased from a comic book. This is the tale of how the Fantastic Four were created. From the stills and shots that have been shown, it looks like another badly produced comic movie trying to capture the glory of the comic movie trend, which, sadly, has already died out.
War of the Worlds: Another remake of a classic movie, which has not only had another movie in the past, a radio incident, and a horrible television series. Updated CGI and special effects, and hoping for a good deal of interesting side plot. Crossing my fingers, since I really enjoyed War of the Worlds when I saw the original movie on the late show. With Tom Cruise and Speilberg, it has to be at least decent, right?
The Chronicles of Narnia : this is one of my all time favorite children's books and I'm glad to see that it is being made into a movie. The question being is that will they make all seven? We have to thank Harry Potter for making children's book a popular culture thing. Viewing the trailer made me wet my pants, seriously. Unfortunately, it comes out next christmas. Words cannot discribe, view the trailer.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: What do I need to say? The much jeopardized movie franchise in the new century has a release date for the fourth installment of the popular children's book series. Debate raged on whether HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban was good, and that will probably continue with this one. IT is the second largest book in the series, and early worries were that the movie would not do it justice. This is one I'll be watching closely, since it is a serious favorite series in my books.
Transformers: While production on this one is unclear, I decided to add this since it was a movie that I coveted for a long time. I have wanted to see a new movie based on generation 1 Transformers for a long time. Get back to what made Transformers great, not the Beast War stuff. Ironically enough, if the movie does get released this year, it wil lbe funny since the orginal tv series set the time as 2005 for the storyline. Creepy!
Ocean's Twelve: The sequel to the successful hit based on a Brat pack movie, we find our heros of sorts back and being hunted by the casino owner that they robbed in the first movie. While not truely original, the all star cast is more than enough to make this a hit.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: It's taken 20 years for Douglas Adams' sci-fi classic to reach the big screen, and with so many radio series, TV shows, novels and stage plays based on the great man's work it has a lot to live up to. The Office's Martin Freeman takes on the iconic role of Arthur Dent, the humble Earth dweller who wakes up one morning to find his planet has been scheduled for destruction. Bill Nighy, rapper Mos Def and John Malkovich round out an eclectic cast. I personally loved the BBC version of it, and being such a quirky set of books, if they stay true, it should be hilarious.
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: And so the second trilogy draws to a close with the final part of the iconic space saga, which should form the bridge between the original films and the new ones. If all goes well, we should learn how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, what happened to the Jedi Knights and how Luke and Leia came to be born. Expect another helping of state-of-the-art FX from George Lucas and his galaxy of aliens, androids and wookies. If you read my article on this one, you know my fears and doubts.
Batman Begins: Another movei I am wary of. Chris Nolan (Memento) wants us to forget Micheal Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George CLooney, and the associated movies, and concentrate on his darker, beginning tale of the Caped Crusader. While that is great, I have to wonder if it will be any good. Fans of the Batman world in general have given me I don't knows about the movie, and it will look like a have to see. Two opinions: " I'm frightened" and "It looked cool".
King Kong: Peter Jackson tries to repeat his success with Lord of the Rings with a remake of the classic movie franchise King Kong. Personally, I expect it to flop unless hobbits appear in it.
Bewitched: When the comic book franchises are all gone, we will always have tons of tv shows to fall back on for movie ideas. This one, staring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrel is about a man living with a wife that is a witch. Discuss. Badness.
The Pink Pather: TO quote another source: " Either Steve Martin is broke again or Beyonce is still trying to prove she can act."
XXX: State of the Union: Vin Diesel is really good about not appearing in sequels, besides the mediocre boxoffice Chronicles of Riddick. This time another agent will take on the job of saving the world. I don't even need to give you more, since that is about all she wote.
Mr and Mrs Smith: Brad Pitt teams up with Angelina Jolie to play two married people that are actually world famous assasins. Then, they go for each other.
Sin City: A collection of interweaving stories all based in the corrupt, crime infested hell-hole that is Basin City. Heavily influenced by film-noir, the main storylines concern a hulking brute called Marv (Mickey Rourke), who is seeking the murderer of a beautiful woman who was killed while asleep in bed with him; an ex-photographer called Dwight (Clive Owen) who accidentally kills a hero cop and has to cover it up; and a soon-to-be-retiring policeman called Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who is incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit. All based on the brilliant graphic novels "Sin City", "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard", written and illustrated by Frank Miller. For me, this will be a awesome movie, at leasst from what I've seen.
Underworld: Evolution: Not much is known about this sequel to the movie that was involved in a lawsuit by White Wolf publishing. While teasers have been put out that it is the second of three movies, a triology of vampire goodness, the only thing I can see is that we continue to see Seline (Kate Beckinsale) reprise her role as the confused vampire looking for answers.
Ring 2: Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) have relocated to the quaint mountain town of Asheville, where Rachel has found a new job at the local Asheville Gazette, working alongside reporter David Rourke (Simon Baker). The discovery of a local teenage homicide whilst scanning the electronic Asheville Police archives prompts Rachel to uncover the truth behind it. Before long, Rachel has linked the homicide to the mysterious video tape. Just when Rachel is within reach of uncovering the secret, she discovers that Aidan has been hospitalized - unconcious, perilously cold, and bruised. Rachel suspects this is the act of Samara Morgan, but Dr Emma Temple (Sissy Spacek) suspects otherwise.Having being blamed for child abuse and looking guilty as sin, Rachel returns to Seattle, to dig deeper into the past of the ghostly Samara. Will the secrets she uncovers solve problems, or will they end more lives? Evil never dies, a concept that we all know and love. According to friends, there are actually 5 Ringu movies in Japan, so I suspect we'll see more in he future if this does well on the American side.
Dukes of Hazzard: Must I?
Okay folks, that wraps up the first installment. These are those kind of movies that catch your eyes, and unfortunately it would take a hella lot of space to go on. But, later in the month we'll look at some more, since there will always be more. Enjoy.