Chronicle
High school friends and superpowers stuck with me from the description, and for some time I didn’t even want to see the trailer. But I soon did, and this has the potential to be one memorable movie, or at least reach some sort of cult status. It both helps the movie and has me worried that most of the people involved are rather inexperienced, but I look forward to what looks like a fresh take on an old idea. The parts that sold me? Seeing teenage boys act irresponsibly and the creepy kid going all Darth Vader on a car in the scrap yard. Or maybe it was the Jessie J in the trailer…
Coriolanus
I’ll admit that, while I do enjoy Shakespeare’s work, I’ve always been more of a fan of his comedies than the tragedies (Titus Andronicus though could give any modern torture porn horror flick a run for its money). I will also admit that Ralph Fiennes is a god among actors. Add to that some Gerry Butler, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave and the soon to be ubiquitous Jessica Chastain, and you have potential. Though I don’t trust Fiennes as much in the director’s seat, the modern take on an old classic looked good in the trailer, and, as a plus, they kept to the text, not dumbing the dialog down for the modern audiences.
Safe House
OK, this might be a safe bet on my part, but I am a fan of Ryan Reynolds, and, though he did well by himself in a box, I’d rather see him going toe to toe with Denzel Washington. I don’t expect the accomplished cast (Gleeson, Shepard, Farmiga) to bring their A game to an action thriller, but I do expect some fireworks. Denzel has never been uncomfortable doing action, even though mostly under Tony Scott, and Ryan Reynolds needs an action movie that works under his belt, since Green Lantern wasn’t the hit he probably thought it would be, so I expect him to pull no punches. If the script is half as clever as the cast, this will be worth watching.
This Means War
I have a feeling that this will most likely end up as a guilty pleasure. Sure, it’s kind of a romantic comedy, and it has Reese Witherspoon, but it also has Chris Pine and Bane Tom Hardy in fisticuffs. From the trailer it looks that it’s going to require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but I think if there’s any one director that can pull off silly over the top action, that’s McG (it also helps that it does not have a small budget). It’s Spy vs Spy with an unwanted romantic angle thrown in, but this looks like THE perfect movie to take your girlfriend, a movie from which both of you can walk away happy.
John Carter
I’m side-stepping the really big blockbusters (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Hobbit) but I need to mention this. The trailers look good, and this is Taylor Kitsch’s year (Battleship however sounds dismal, despite being helmed by Peter Berg). The budget is huge (250 million according to IMDb page) and the studios hope to start a franchise. The biggest draw? Andrew “Wall-E” Stanton. After Brad Bird is time for another Pixar vet to move to (kind of) live action. If there is one person that can pull this off, that’s Stanton.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
I like both Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor. I also like most of Lasse Hallström’s movies. So, even if a movie about fly-fishing in the desert sounds…ahem…fishy, I’m willing to give this one a chance. I was charmed by Chocolat, why shouldn’t this work? By the trailer it looks very much like the feel good movie of the year (Lionsgate should have a hit on their hands as long as they promote it accordingly). Oh, it’s also written by Simon Beaufoy, the guy behind another feel-good movie – Slumdog Millionaire.
Snow White and the Huntsman
This one was a tough call. I was willing to go with Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror, but something stopped me. It was probably Charlize Theron bathing in milk… Having Twilight’s Bella and Thor on screen might help, but I’m betting this will be Charlize’s movie from start to finish. Finally, an actress that’s both gorgeous (way more than this film’s Snow White) and has the acting chops to pull off an amazing Evil Queen. As a bonus, the dwarves are played by awesome British actors such as Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones. If this one doesn’t rake in the big bucks, all the fault rests with the directors and scriptwriters.
The Cabin in the Woods
A twist on the usual horror movies involving the titular “character”, this one sounds too smart to live up to expectations. Though written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (not as famous, but to his credit he did write for Lost among others), there is a big chance it won’t side step some cliches. Even so, I’ll happily watch Whedon regulars such as Fran Kranz and Amy Acker join Thor (Chris Hemsworth strikes again!) on the big screen.
Prometheus
If there’s one prequel I believe in, this is it. Ridley Scott returns to Sci-Fi with a movie that, as teased by the trailer, revisits some of the more mysterious aspects of the first Alien movie. The special effects in the trailer looked really good, and it helps a lot that the movie has an A list cast: Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace, Patrick Wilson. With Damon Lindelof of Lost fame behind the script, the only thing to worry about is retconning, but let’s hope that’s not the case.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Based on a rather recent book (2010) and with a cast of familiar, but not really famous, faces, the movie seems like mediocre fare, cashing in on the vampire fad a tad late. What has me really excited though, is that Timur Bekmambetov (director of the awesomely Russian Night Watch and Day Watch) is directing. With Wanted he proved that he can transition to Hollywood without too much effort, and handle an A list cast. Seeing as though he produced plenty of movies that sounded more interesting than this one on paper, I’m truly interested to see why he chose this one as his next project.
Total Recall
The original is a classic Sci-Fi action movie from when Schwarzenegger was in his prime, that will forever remain in the minds of every man that has seen it (mostly due to the three boobed lady). The new movie is directed by Len Wiseman, so I expected a much more stylized action movie than Verhoeven’s, but maybe slightly less intelligent. Colin Farrell is no Arnold, but he’s a decent actor and, after seeing him in Fright Night, I believe he can pull through. Also, eye candy in the form of Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale, as well as welcome performances by Bryan Cranston and Bill Nighy.
Hotel Transylvania
This animation might be very overshadowed by Pixar’s Brave, but I’ll still look forward to it. And it won’t be because of the premise – Dracula operating a high end resort, or the cast – Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher, a lot of other funny guys, but because of one person only: Genndy Tartakovsky . The man behind Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars (no, not the new one). If he was able to give me fond memories of those shows during my childhood, I will surely watch his movie.
Looper
There’s a title for you. “A killer who works for the mob of the future recognizes one of his targets as his future self.”. That’s the IMDb description. It may sound high concept, and it probably will be, since this is Rian Johnson of Brick fame. Teaming up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt once again, with a touch of Bruce Willis Emily Blunt and Paul Dano, this might turn out to be quite interesting. Also, surprisingly enough, it’s not an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story.
Les Miserables
So there was a stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel, and it was successful. Since the movie industry is no longer afraid of musicals since roughly 10 years ago, it decided to make a film out of it. The best part was that they selected The King’s Speech Oscar winning director to helm it. The second best part is that it stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen (oh, look! a Sweeney Todd reunion) and Anne Hathaway. And they still haven’t cast Cosette…
Posted on January 7th, 2012 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: Movies | 1 Comment »
Tonight is the night of the 83rd Academy Awards. Over the past month people have been crunching numbers, taking wild guesses and trying to predict the always shifting Oscar favorites. Hours prior to the event, I decide to lay out my predictions, as well as some short thoughts on the most important categories of the evening.
James Franco was incredible in his literal one man show (if we’re to ignore some pretty girls – Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn – in the opening act) in 127 Hours. Here is an extremely practical man, left alone with his inner demons to ponder a mistake he’s made. He talks to his parents through the camera he still has, he talks to himself, and, in spectacularly simplistic final moment, to God, but it’s always a one sided conversation. 
Ryan Reynolds, in Buried, is confined not by his own mistake, but by a mishap. In many ways, he is the opposite of Franco’s character – not practical in nature, but forced to act in such a manner. Of course, unlike Franco, he has one advantage – a cell phone. In many ways, though he’s in a much tighter spot than the mountain climber, he’s less confined by his trap. Where 127 Hours is a about a man whose only salvation is himself, and the hard decision he needs to make, Buried is about someone whose only salvation lies with others, someone who is just a witness to other people’s decisions.
In Black Swan, Darren Arronofsky occasionally flirts with the kind of body horror that made David Cronenberg an icon. Unlike the psychological thriller starring a ballerina, Splice is much more literal in its imagery. While one has a young woman turn into a swan, the other has a creature turn into a young woman (and something else later on). 
To say this is the two movies’ only connection would be to overlook their similar sexual themes. Natalie Portman plays a young repressed young woman, that is just starting to discover and explore her sexuality, much in the way the child like Dren (played by Delphine Chanéac) goes through what seems to be puberty and all the confusion it entails.
Unlike the rest of this list, these two movies, don’t really feature a similar theme, unless you’re willing to do a parallel between The Fighter’s two brothers and The Other Guys’ cop partners. Both movies share a Mark Wahlberg in need of affirmation, dealing with the drawback that is his closest friend, and in the end, both movies realize that might not be the case. 
But, the real reason these two go well together is to showcase Wahlberg’s (maybe he’ll win an Oscar in the future, but he’ll still be Marky Mark) range: from a nice guy(that also gets in the ring and throws a few punches) trying to cope with his nutty family, to a lunatic(that also likes to make fun of people by learning the exact thing he’s mocking) who’s trying to cope with his nutty partner. 
One deals with multiple dream levels and how ideas form in the human mind. The other dabbles in the human psyche and how reality forms in the human mind. 
Both feature a man unwilling to accept what others are trying to impose on him, and both deal with pseudo realities fashioned from someone’s psyche. Both have, at their center, a tormented man haunted by a past tragedy involving his wife. and, in both cases, that tormented leading man is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, surrounded by a great supporting cast under the helm of a great director.
Unlike the Oscar nominee’s title would like you to think, both movies are more about family than kids. The Annette Bening – Julianne Moore vehicle shows an unconventional(I wonder if that is still the case) lesbian marriage has the same problems a normal marriage has, and the kids are always the ones that get caught in the middle. 
The Neil Labute directed remake of a brilliant British comedy from 2007 actually focuses on an almost as unconventional family, one that has to deal with the consequences of the family’s patriarch’s secret life after his death. Both are bittersweet stories about, most of all, unity, and the importance of having a family, regardless of its faults.
One is an uplifting period piece about royalty and the other a slow thriller about an assassin. Despite this, both films focus on the main character’s reluctance to follow the role that’s been set for them. Colin Firth’s character does not want to be king, and hides behind his stammer. 
George Clooney has grown tired of his life as a killer and hides from his employers in Italy. Both encounter someone to guide them and give them the confidence to do what is right. For the future king George VI that man is a speech therapist, while for the “American”, it is a priest.
I have heard a lot of comments about “The Facebook Movie” being representative for a generation. Other than the fact it is a semi-fictional biography of Facebook’s creator, I find no reason to regard it as such. Facebook itself, yes, it is very much The Thing of this generation, its history, less so. 
On the other hand, Edgar Wright’s comic book inspired, video game themed comedy/teen romance filled with a slew of star cameos, is exactly a product of this day and age though I’ll admit David Fincher’s film is a superior product. One uses its sharp dialog to shape characters, the other one delivers amazing visuals to detract from its one dimensional characters.
There is no doubt Toy Story 3 was the best animated movie of the year, and, more so, deserves its spot on the Academy Awards’ Best Picture list of nominees. It delivered an emotional punch in a very neat package. 
On the other hand, Despicable Me managed to do what a lot of studios producing animated movies have been trying to do for a long time: emulate Pixar’s knack for tugging at the heart strings while delivering an entertaining movie. It may not have been the heartwarming story of Andy leaving behind(but not forgetting) his childhood, but the tale of the eccentric villain whose ways are changed by a trio of orphans was a step in the right direction.
This final one is a bit of a cheat, but as much as I tried, I could not find a better fit for these other than each other. Both focus on a young girl’s hunt for a man, be him her father’s murderer or the deadbeat father himself. 
Both girls are more mature than their age, mostly due to a bleak world in which the films take place, one where they were forced to grow up faster than they should have. The trek takes them through a sometimes desolate countries and has them meeting a palette of interesting characters that are an inch away from caricatures but somehow avoid it.
If you’re wondering, 1896 is the year a short movie by Georges Méliès came out. It had ghosts, witches, skeletons and Mephistopheles and was called Le Manoir du diable. It’s location: a medieval castle. However you look at it, most horror movies just serve to teach you one thing: never leave home, or rather, never get stuck in an unfamiliar place. Of course, the rest of them claim your own house is probably just as dangerous.
Friday the 13th. I don’t think there’s more to be said, there have been 12 (yes, just one short of 13, which means we’re sure to see another one – Friday the 13th the 13th) of these. Not all of them may have been set on a camp but everything started with a camp, some drugged up camp counselors and a vengeful mother. Oh, and this faceless gorilla that likes to slash people showed up a little later. Safe to say, you do not want to go near any camp after seeing Mr. Voorhees do his own brand of teen counseling. If that does not convince you to stay away from camps, Sleepaway Camp might do the trick, severed heads, beehives, drownings, confused girls(hint: it’s a boy) with big knives and all.
The beach, that awesome place for parties, surfing and bikini clad ladies (or, if you’re a woman: lads with gleaming six packs). What danger could there be in the soothing blue water under the smiling sun? Where do I begin? You’ve got Great Whites (not everybody can be Roy Scheider, some must be Quint), genetically engineered sharks that don’t like Samuel L. Jackson speeches, deep-sea worms (Deep rising), giant octopi(Tentacles) like bone marrow, piranhas that will eat you within minutes and so, so much more. So, unless you like going to the beach and not getting wet, this one is not that inviting.
Nothing like a camping trip in the middle of a forest with family or friends. Except that you’re likely to encounter hillbillies or mutant hillbillies, or some creature that hates you as much as it hates those hillbillies. If you like getting molested by rednecks in front of your friends or family(Deliverance, Wrong Turn), stick men and cracking sounds (The Blair Witch Project), creatures with really disfigured, but still probably delicious pumpkin heads or headless horsemen, then you should definitely check out the woods.
So you’re one of those people who like big adventures and tiny crawl spaces? You enthusiastic spelunker you, don’t you know that caves are a place of terror, full of weird creatures that adapted to life underwater (The Cave) who especially like biologists or humanoid creatures that react to sound and women(The Descent)? You could argue the whole claustrophobic scenario is terrifying enough, but you’re the adventuring type, aren’t you?
Finding a good place for a romantic getaway, a quick rest on the road or some time off can be pretty challenging. After all, some places haunt John Cusack (1408) with Samuel L. Jackson hallucinations, some hotels are just all play and no work (The Shining) and drive you axe wielding mad, some are run by a Psycho that likes to dress up like mother(also, knives), some by people who love to film themselves some torture(Vacancy). Also, that vacation home you own? Not safe. Psychopaths are drawn to these like moths to a flame (The Last House on the Left, The Strangers).
Now, if you have the money for a trip beyond the borders, there are special treats for you. London (and later Paris apparently) is the home of werewolves. East European countries like to kidnap foreigners and offer them for torture to high paying sadists(Hostel), South Americans go for a more classical human trafficking ring (And Soon the Darkness) or organ extraction for the black market (Turistas). Going to some islands, be careful who you team up with, lest ye be killed and your identity stolen (A Perfect Getaway). The jungle is never a good idea, seeing as though there’s plenty of evil places(The Ruins).
