Sorry for the complete lack of updates, guys—I had the double-whammy of a flu and a new(ish) job (how dare they make me work more, and blog less?!). I’ll do my best to get next week back to regular updates, including some cool new trailers that came out (like Nicolas Cage as a...medieval knight??) and a TV column that I’ve been brainstorming for a while.In the meanwhile, let’s check out what’s new in theaters this weekend…
1. “Astroboy” - I talked to my manga/comic-guru friend a while back, and, from his ridiculously expansive expertise, he told me that Astroboy is a huge deal in other parts of the world, especially in Japan, where the comic book and cartoon series first originated. I don’t know much about the story; from the trailer, it looks like Astroboy, created by scientists to be an ultimate weapon, must learn to be both a boy and the hero he was destined to be. So, yeah, it’s A.I., just more fun and adventur-y, which could actually pave way for a pretty good film—a Pinocchio story with pizzazz and a cool, futuristic angle. I know the property has a lot of fans, so this might be right up their alley; plus, the voice cast (featuring Kristen bell, Nicolas Cage, and Finding Neverland’s and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Freddie Highmore as Astroboy) is excellent all around. Could be fun—the reviews are generally fair, and, while I don’t feel the need to catch it in theaters, it could be an amusing family film, hopefully satisfying both the die-hard fans and the total newbies.
2. “Saw VI” - This series has its fans; I’m just not one of them. That said, I thought the first one was actually a pretty good horror film, and I liked that it tried to emphasize the psychological elements over the gore. Part II, on the other hand, I thought was god-awful—it traded everything I liked about the original for more disgusting torture scenes. I don’t think these qualify as scary movies (they’re nowhere near the ranks of something genuinely frightening and well-crafted like The Exorcist, The Sixth Sense, or the little-seen Stephen King’s The Mist), but I could understand peopled digging this particular brand of horror. For series-lovers, this is back to home territory—from what I understand of the plot, Jigsaw’s (that crafty, dying (?) serial-killer who teaches people to live their lives) new successor runs another torture/group-therapy session, and there’ll probably be some twists along the way. It’s become pretty much tradition to have one of these films every Halloween, and as long as they keep making money, I think its studio, Lionsgate, will continue pumping them out. Expect this one to do well at the box-office…although if you’re looking for some good Halloween scares, I think the buzzy Paranormal Activity sounds much more tempting…
3. “Amelia” - Shouldn’t this look better? The story of Amelia Earhart, one of America’s most enduring icons and the historic pilot, this stars Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, and Richard Gere, and directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake). It should have Oscar written all over it…but something about it is not working for me. I can’t put my finger on it (maybe it looks too much like a generic biopic? Where’s that passion and enthusiasm and zeitgeist fascination that Earhart represented?), though I hope that this is a good movie that’s just badly advertised. That cast is amazing, and this is a story that should be told on the big screen, especially if it covers Earhart’s tragic disappearance somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The potential is here—let’s hope that, despite the mediocre reviews, Swank could work some more of here award-winning magic…and make us forget that Amy Adams already made a terrific Amelia in Night at the Museum 2.
4. "The Vampire’s Assistant: Cirque du Freak" - From what I hear, the Cirque du Freak books (that inspired this movie) are actually smart and very entertaining—supposedly excellent reads for teens in Harry Potter-withdrawal (ah, how I sympathize…). Sadly, I didn’t get any of that vibe in the trailer, which over-emphasized the vampires (probably trying to capitalize on our recent vampire obsession with Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries) and barely gave us a sense of the plot. Basic premise: to save his friend’s life (which the trailer ignored, making it look like the story's young hero was just bored), a boy makes a deal with a vampire and his band of travelling circus freaks, joining them in immortality and a centuries-long feud with rival vampires. The cast is a colorful group of great performers, including John C. Reilly, Salma Hayek (as a bearded lady!), Ken Watanabe, 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski, and Willem Defoe in reliable villain/evil-vampire mode (a treat to see after his Oscar-nominated turn in Shadow of the Vampire). It’s also from Paul Weitz, the director who gave us American Pie, About a Boy, In Good Company, and the unfortunate American Dreamz (which still deserved props for being so out-there and impeccably cast). He’s an interesting filmmaker, and I have a feeling the final product will be a very flawed film that’s still somewhat worth seeing, especially for the quirky imagination on display (L.A. Confidential and A Knight's Tale scribe Brian Helgeland also pitched into the script, so there's some more incentive for me). Universal’s hoping for a franchise with this one; on the interview circuit, Defoe even mentioned that his character is barely in here, but will take center stage if we ever see a sequel. Not sure if that will happen (and I don’t quite feel like catching this in theaters)…but it looks like a good rental for sometime in the future.
5. “The Canyon” - The Canyon’s opening in a tiny, limited release…but I’m going to selfishly spotlight it solely for one of my biggest crushes—Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski. As far as I know, this is her first movie released here (at least since Chuck came on the air), and it’s not a bad horror premise: basically, two newlyweds find themselves stranded and alone in the Grand Canyon (complete with paranoia…and wild wolves!); it might be terrible, but it could also surprise us, and turn out to be a tense, well-acted, micro-budget creeper. It reminds me a bit of The Ruins, a horror movie from about two years ago that lots of people hated (and one I certainly don’t want to see it again), but it was such a tense, emotionally involving experience that I kind of admired it. This one seems to be in a similar vein, and Yvonne Strahovski, besides being unbearably beautiful (and giving hope to geeks everywhere for loving Zachary Levi’s Chuck, just the coolest nerd of all time!) is actually a fantastic actress, so I’m curious to see what she’ll do with her first big-screen starring role. Not a must-see, but it could be something small and interesting worth seeking out.And that’s all the major releases for this week. Are you guys planning to catch one of these this weekend? Any of these sound interesting?
I think I’m out for any new movies this weekend, but I’m seeing Law Abiding Citizen next week, which I’ll review right after (along with my long-delayed reviews of the good-but-flawed Invention of Lying and Bruce Willis’ interesting-but-crappy Surrogates). See you guys next time!
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