Well, it seems to be the done thing to look ahead to the New Year for fashion, films, food fads, and the like, so here’s my pick of movies I will probably go see on the big screen rather than wait for them to come out on DVD, and my suggestions of ones to avoid like the plague.
Trends seem to be pretty much the same as last year, to be honest. Remakes and sequels abound, with some rather odd choices:
Miss: ‘Nine’ - a sequel to Fellini’s ‘8 ½’ – redone as a musical..? Oh, dear. A poor attempt to capitalise on the success of ‘Mamma Mia’..?
Miss: ‘Fast and Furious’ – reuniting Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Just what the film world was crying out for. Should have stopped at the first one, guys...
Hit: ‘The Wolf Man’ – stars Benicio Del Toro (which won’t please the Devil) but promises to be more than just an upgraded special effects fest.
Then there’s the ‘prequels’:
Hit: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ – I’m really no fan of Hugh Jackman in the title role, but Liev Shreiber as Victor Creed? Oooh, imaginative casting and he always promises to be watchable.
Hit: ‘Angels and Demons’ – reuniting Tom Hanks with a Dan Brown novel, should prove interesting at least, though might not have the recognition factor of ‘Da Vinci Code’.
Miss: ’Star Trek’ – I know J J Abrams is the ‘man of the moment’, and the casting looks intriguing, but the trailer doesn’t seem to capture the characters very well...
There are some intriguing new films out that don’t seem to be direct retreads though:
Hit: ‘Knowing’ – supernatural thriller about predictions, starring Nic Cage. The trailers are pretty good and it’s an intriguing story. Nic Cage is another one who is always watchable, even in stinkers like ‘Ghost Rider’.
Hit: ‘2012’ - a Roland Emmerich ‘end of the world’ blockbuster which starts with the end of the world from an as-yet-unspecified ‘global cataclysm’ and goes on from there? Say no more. It better not turn out to be the 2009 version of ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ though.
Anyone got any other recommendations?
Anything based on a Dan Brown "novel" deserves to be not filmed in the first place. Da Vinci Code was a load fatuous cock waffle and the book was the dullest thing I've ever read. It was, ultimately, a fancy crossword puzzle and had as much plot, character development and excitement as this week's issue of The Puzzler.
ReplyDeleteUtter drivel.
I am forced to agree with 'Obnoxio' in that I only managed the first 50 pages of the 'Da Vinci Code' before giving it the big heave, and I can't imagine the film was any improvement.
ReplyDeleteI can't recommend this film because it isn't released here yet but it might be worth a look despite the lead being played by Tom Cruise: "Valkerie" - based on the Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler. Steve Sailer gives it a review , here:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/12/valkyrie.html
"It was, ultimately, a fancy crossword puzzle.."
ReplyDeleteOh, agreed, it was tosh. And not very well written. But for some reason, I found it hard to put down...
"...it might be worth a look despite the lead being played by Tom Cruise.."
Ah, 'Valkerie', yes, I'd forgotten about that one. I had initial misgivings about the casting, but the trailer looks pretty good.
"Hit: ‘Knowing’ – supernatural thriller about predictions, starring Nic Cage."
ReplyDeleteHe'll get type cast at this rate. He's just been in "Next", a film about predictions.
You like Vin Diesel, Julia?
ReplyDeleteHappy New year.
Wolverine - miss.
ReplyDeleteFox are pulling a dick move trying to block the release of forthcoming WB movie 'Watchmen' claiming that they still retain distribution rights for the property from when they were trying (and failing) to develop the feature...the dick move is that they've been aware that WB was working on the movie since 2005 and could have raised a complaint as early as then, but instead chose to wait until the last minute to bring a suit which hopefully (because of the long and unnecessary wait) they'll lose.
Anyway, Wolverine looks like 2009's Elektra.
Watchmen.
ReplyDeleteHit, hit, hit, hit, hit!
"You like Vin Diesel, Julia?"
ReplyDeleteHe's been watchable - 'Pitch Black', for example. Nothing he's been in lately, though, sad to say.
"He's just been in "Next", a film about predictions."
Lol, true. That one wasn't half bad...
"Wolverine looks like 2009's Elektra."
Yeah, but Liev Schrieber as Sabretooth? Got to be worth £7 for a cinema seat. Else I'd just wait for the video...
"Watchmen.
Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit!"
Oh, definitely. Shame to hear of Fox's dirty tricks, though. God know what it'd turn out like if they had gone ahead with the rights...
Good or not l can not watch a film after l have read the book. I have yet to enjoy any as the watched film is never as good as the imagination, big chunks are left out and everything changed to fit the film time scale.
ReplyDeleteI think l was one of the few that disliked lord of the rings trilogy. As it was so different and at the end left out about 1/3rd of the book. I would have preferred it as just a trilogy not as a book based one.
The word verification code sums up the whole situation it is...
foollus :-D
Have a have new year and many thanks for the dig at life l enjoy reading and spend most of my time going yup, yup oh yup,
Surely the money is being pulled from the studios? Accountants on the sets sending people home etc.
ReplyDeleteMuch thinner crop of movies being made in 2009 for 2010 i would imagine.
might try the star Trek even though it looks like another social misfits /driven characters movie.
Happy new year