Posts Tagged ‘Movies’

I went to go see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 at the Regal Meridian in downtown Seattle tonight with my buddy Tom. Tom, a college roommate and one of my best friends, is one who you should go to the movies with not at all, depending on your movie watching preferences. There’s nothing wrong with Tom, you see, but Tom has the strange ability to attract the crazies to the movie theater – so if you need peace and quite while watching a movie, he is not the guy to go see a movie with.

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On Friday, Adventureland arrives in theaters, uniting Bella and Edward for another adventure in vampire love. Oops, wrong movie! Adventureland does star Kristin Stewart, but in place of Robert Pattison, we have the slightly less heartthrob-esque Jesse Eisenberg, and in place of vampire love, there’s… corn dog love.

Yes, even though the title is completely misleading (I was expecting a countryside sci-fi comedy), Adventureland takes place in an amusement park, where cotton candy, corn dogs, elephant ears and garlic fries run rampant, where crickety rides run by unsavory folk cost $10 a pop, and… OK, I don’t know if any of that is in the movie. But I do know that Adventureland is about a new college grad who, struggling to find a “real” job, ends up working at an amusement park with a lot of strange fellers and a helplessly attractive vixen.

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OK, so it’s not as drastic as the title sounds, but what is the deal with Warner Brothers all of a sudden? There is some major mismanagement going on with this company.

The Dark Knight is a major success, basically heralding in a new era of darker, more compelling comic book movie adaptations. Not too long ago, the Brothers Of the Name Warner declared that all of their DC comic book adaptations moving forward would have a darker slant to them, including the next Superman. It sounded like they were going down the right path… But in the words of the Joker, “What happened?”

First, Harry Potter 6 was pushed back into 2009. Given that late November and early December were rather weak in 2008, the movie, which I realize is not a comic book adaptation (but it is a major tentpole release), would have thrived.

Then, a couple days ago, it was announced that Shazam! would not be making it to theaters at all. This is fine, as the Captain Marvel character is a bit too similar to Superman but also leans toward a goofier approach, which is not the direction DC wants to go.

Of course, there’s the whole Watchmen fiasco, which is pretty much unparalleled in terms of magnitude. I’m still confident the film will be released on its March release date, as it is in both Fox and Warner Brothers’ best interests to have that happen. Nevertheless, what a cluster. How did Warner Brothers not see this coming?

And now, The Dark Knight writer David Goyer mentioned that Warner Brothers has suspended all DC comic book adaptations for whatever reason. Obviously, Warner Brothers wants to get it right, but as soon as a certain Batman movie opened to $150 million half a year ago, shouldn’t they have sat down for a month, hired some quality directors and mapped out a two-film-per-year plan for its superheroes.

There seems to be some major mismanagement going on. The head of Warner Brothers may be making the right choices on the quality level, but one still needs to be decisive when in a leadership position. He should have made a decision over the summer as to which films were going to be released in which years for the next several films, just as Marvel has done. Wonder Woman? Green Lantern? Flash? Aquaman? Green Arrow? Justice League? Superman???

The properties are there. It takes leadership to turn those properties into cash cows.

“Worst movies of XXXX” are always hard to do because, naturally, one tends to avoid the really crappy movies. But for someone like me, who does tend to watch more movies than anyone should in their right mind, a few bad movies slip through… sometimes by surprise (Son of Rambow), and sometimes out of utter curiosity (The Love Guru). So, as best as I can gather from personal experience, here are the worst comedies of 2008:

1. The Love Guru
   There’s no real question as to which movie would top this list. Mike Myer’s attempt at humor was just as unfunny as the previews suggested. The movie is offensive on many levels and the screenplay is as bad as it gets. Mike Myers himself is downright terrible, using silly accents to no effect other than to show that he should never fake an accent ever again. Don’t make my mistake and watch this out of curiosity – it really is that bad.
2. College Road Trip
   I’ve never liked Martin Lawrence, but put him in a G-rated Disney film called College Road Trip and you’re asking for trouble. This road trip film features equally bad performances by Lawrence and co-star Raven-Symoné, but the screenplay and story is embarassing.

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People love twist endings. Anyone who says otherwise is full of crap. But there are good twist endings and there are bad twist endings, and sometimes it’s a fine line between the two. Having looked at other “Best Twist Ending” lists and pulling from my own memory, I have compiled this list of the best twist endings in movie history – and the worst. Of course, there are some movies I haven’t seen and others I just plain forgot about, but these are the ones you have to see – or avoid.

NOTE: Major spoiler alerts.

The Best Twist Endings

1. The Sixth Sense
   These top several twists are hard to rank in any clean order, but I still remember the day I sat in theaters watching M. Night Shyalaman’s masterpiece. The movie was pretty decent but didn’t have much of a plot, and I was wondering where the movie was going to go. And then – bam! Bruce Willis has been dead the whole time. Not only is it an amazingly good twist ending, but it also saves the movie from being just a decent ghost story – and, on a second viewing, Shyalaman throws the truth in your face repeatedly.
2. Primal Fear
   Ed Norton jumped into his career in a big way with this courtroom thriller, where Richard Gere comes to the defense of a seemingly innocent and kind altar boy accused of brutally murdering a priest. Not only is the movie extremely good and offers a first glimpse at the exceptional acting talent stored within Norton, but as it turns out, Norton’s character was faking split personality the entire time.
3. The Usual Suspects
   Considered the best twist ending by many people, it was hard to put this so far down at #3. I’ve seen a couple people put this crime thriller starring Kevin Spacey on “Worst Twist Endings” lists, but those people are just idiots wanting to sound smarter and more sophisticated than everyone else.
4. Oldboy
   Probably the best f-ed up twist ending on the list, this film starts out with a guy waking up in a suitcase on a rooftop after years of mysterious captivity. As he seeks out the truth, he teams up and falls in love with a younger woman. He has sex with her. Then, as we learn, he’s been hypnotized to fall in love with his own daughter – and thus he has unwillingly had sex with her. A second twist comes when the guy decides to erase his memories so he can continue to love and have sex with his daughter.
5. Seven
   This exciting and intriguing thriller has a great cast and a creepy villain, who remains elusive through most of the movie until he conveniently decides to show up for one of the most disturbing twist endings ever. Spacey, the killer, leads the detectives (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) out into the middle of nowhere to find the final victim, only to reveal that he is the one who will be killed by Pitt. Why? Because Spacey killed Pitt’s wife, played by Gwenyth Paltrow, to drive him over the deep end. Nice!
6. Angel Heart
   OK, Oldboy is pretty screwed up, but this one isn’t exactly innocent, either. In this movie, a much younger Mickey Rourke starts investigating murders in New Orleans, only to discover that he himself made a deal with the Devil himself and is responsible for much of what has happened. Wow. [this entry has been edited since the original post]
7. The Prestige
   The inspiration for writing this post, the Christopher Nolan drama about magicians has several small twist endings that aren’t fully appreciated until repeated viewings. For one, Christian Bale’s character tricks Hugh Jackman into thinking that he got a hold of his journal full of secrets – until Jackman reads that it was all planned. Jackman pulls a similar trick on Bale, revealing to his adversary that he intended to frame him. Then, it is revealed that Jackman’s character is still alive, a result of cloning himself and murdering himself every night. If that’s not f-ed up enough, Bale actually has a twin brother and the two having been living a single life, sharing both a wife and a mistress.
8. Les Diaboliques [this film was added after the original post]
   In this 1955 French thriller, a wife conspires with her husband’s mistress to murder the husband. They devise an intelligent plan to make the murder look like an accident, but then the body disappears. The wife begins to freak out as more and more clues seem to suggest that either the husband is alive or that someone else knows and is toying with them, to the point where she starts having panic attacks. Ultimately, she ends up dying of a heart attack when the truth is revealed… but since the director actually asks us before the credits to not reveal the ending, I won’t say what the cause is.
9. The Others
   An elegantly simple and creepy ghost story turns out to be a lot more when it is revealed that Nicole Kidman and her two children, who are allergic to sunlight, have in fact been dead the entire movie, and the ghosts they’ve been seeing are living people attempting to drive them out of the house.
10. Unbreakable
    This is a love-it-or-hate-it film, but M. Night Shyalaman’s follow-up to The Sixth Sense, which also stars Bruce Willis, is one of my favorite movies. There’s not a lot of plot to the film, but once again Shyalaman throws a zinger at us by revealing that Samuel L. Jackson, who has befriended Willis and helped him realize his potential, is in fact a psychopathic killer who has been committing mass murder just to find someone who is “unbreakable.”
11. Arlington Road
    This fast-paced suburban thriller has Jeffrey Bridges suspecting that his neighbor (Tim Robbins) is a domestic terrorist. As it turns out, he’s right, but he unfortunately drives the bomb into the federal building himself, and is ultimately blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people.
12. The Devil’s Advocate
    The title isn’t as metaphorical as one would suspect: Al Pacino really is the Devil, and he wants Keanu Reeves to have sex with what turns out to be his sister to have a Devil grandbaby. When Reeves refuses, the Devil just starts trying all over again.
13. The Game
    This movie is full of coincidences and conveniences, but there are so many little twists in the film that it’s hard not to be entertained. Is everything a game, or is it reality? Sure, it’s pretty unbelievable that Michael Douglas would choose to commit suicide through the exact window (and avoid all of the rafters) where a big balloon is waiting to catch him for his birthday party, but you didn’t see it coming, did you?
14. Scream
    A lot of slasher films have “twists” in regards to who the villains are, but few have pulled it off as well as Wes Craven’s classic. I remember sitting in the theater (sadly, with my mom) when Skeet Ulrich – who had been sliced up quite heavily a few minutes before, hence proving his innocence – licks his fingers and declares that his blood is in fact corn syrup. And there’s not one killer, but two.
15. Psycho (1960)
    I knew the ending before I ever saw the film, so the impact of the big twist was rather lessened, but you still have to respect the fact that Norman Bates dresses up like his mother to kill unsuspecting innocents. That’s just disturbing. Oh, and the “star” of the movie, Janet Leigh, gets killed off early on in the infamous shower scene. [this entry has been edited since the original post]
16. Planet of the Apes (1968)
    Another movie where I had seen shots of the ending before I actually saw the movie, the realization that Charlton Heston was never going to make it back home because… he’s already on Earth!
17. American Psycho
    I still don’t fully understand the ending, but I believe Christian Bale’s psychopathic tendencies are all, actually, in his mind. The great thing about this movie is that even if the entire film may “be a lie,” the actual events are up for debate. Did he or didn’t he? Everyone has their own opinion. [this entry has been edited since the original post]
18. Donnie Darko
    With more of a strange ending than a twist one, it turns out that Donnie’s sleepwalking – which saved him from being crushed by a jet engine at the beginning of the film – has put his mother and sister in peril, as a month later, they are on the plane that will eventually crash into their home a month earlier. Donnie decides to sacrifice himself and die so that his family wouldn’t a month later. Or something like that.
19. Stephen’s King The Mist
    I just watched this movie the other night, and wow, what an ending. This movie shouldn’t have been that good, with mediocre special effects and overblown acting (not to mention it’s a film about random monsters from another dimension), but it is. And the capper: an utterly depressing ending. Thomas Jane’s truck runs out of gas, leaving the five survivors, including his son, stranded in the middle of the mist, which has apparently taken over the entire world. With no chance of survivor, he turns to his gun, which only has four bullets left. He kills the other four people, including his own son, and then steps outside. A minute later, the army shows up and the mist begins to clear. Had he waited a minute longer, he wouldn’t have had to murder his only child! Ouch!
20. Soylent Green
    They’re people! They’re people! The movie is a bit dated now, but if I hadn’t known the ending ahead of time, this would have been a pretty damn good twist ending.
21. Chinatown
    Pretty common nowadays (just watch an episode of Law and Order: SVU), this Jack Nicholson film featured a twist that revealed that 1) Faye Dunaway was not who she first appeared to be and 2) that she had an incestuous relationship with her own father.
22. Night of the Living Dead
    It’s a bit of a stretch to call this a twist ending, but it’s still a shocking one. Zombies are everywhere, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Militias have moved in to clean out the walking dead, and it looks like our hero (an African American) is safe. But, then, one shooter takes him to be one of the bad guys and shoots him in the head. Not a cheerful ending, but a memorable one.
23. The Ring
    The Naomi Watts horror-thriller that took cinema by storm has a couple twist endings, even if you don’t recognize them as such. In most horror movies, once the protagonist discovers the dead body of the mean ghost, the spirit is usually set free and the movie ends. In The Ring, after Watts saves herself and her son by pulling Tamara’s body from the well, she things all are good. Wrong! Tamara is evil, and she’s just released her spirit to kill at will. And, to ultimately save themselves, Watts decides that she and her son will pass the video onto someone else (I believe a relative).
24. Memento
    Guy Pearce, suffering from severe short term memory, goes through life searching for his wife’s killer and not trusting people. Since the film works in backwards order, we slowly discover that his wife killed herself by tricking Pearce into giving her multiple insulin shots; furthermore, Pearce tricks himself by writing notes about people that aren’t true, so that in the future he won’t listen to their “lies,” which are actually truths.
25. The Descent
    If you’ve seen the original, European version, you’ll know what I mean; if you’ve only seen the American version, where the main character escapes from the monster-filled caves, you won’t. While we get to see the woman escape from the cave, drive away and so on and so forth, that escape is actually in her head – she’s still miles underground, surrounded by the creatures that are going to kill her.
26. Minority Report
    Not really a twist ending, but another one that makes you think. After Tom Cruise is accused of murder, he sets out to clear his name. Since the whole criminal system is based on a predictive, psychic machine that is never wrong, his only way to do that is to prove that the system, which he has believed in for years, is wrong. How does he do it? He sets out to kill the creator of the program, thus triggering the system to alert the authorities. But, since he knows the truth about the creator, the creator wants to kill him, too. If Cruise succeeds, the system fails. If the creator succeeds, the system fails. Bam!
27. Mulholland Drive
    No one really knows what David Lynch’s movie is about, but that doesn’t stop me from being intrigued by the completely weird ending to Mulholland Dr., the movie that put Naomi Watts on the map. There’s something about Pandora’s box, about two leading women being the same person, Watts masturbating and making out with herself, etc.
28. 12 Monkeys
    I didn’t love this Bruce Willis/Brad Pitt movie, but it does have a disturbing ending. After Bruce Willis is sent back in time to stop a virus from wiping out most of mankind, you expect him to find the solution and save humanity. Instead, he fails, and his child-self gets to watch him get killed by security guards in an airport. Cheerful.

So-So or Overrated Twist Endings

The following list contains several movies with endings that I have liked, but haven’t loved. #1 on the list should evoke some emotion, but I stand by it. The twist endings in this list neither made the movies better or worse.

1. Fight Club
   This is the one movie that will cause people to complain about this list. Many would rank this ending as one of the best endings in cinema history, as it is revealed that Ed Norton and Brad Pitt are, in fact, the same person. While I’m sure it worked in the book, I think this is a bit of a cop-out. Fight Club is still a pretty good and imaginative movie, but the fact that everything we saw was a lie – and that it really never makes complete sense – doesn’t have me drooling over the ending like it causes some people to do.
2. Swimming Pool
   This great thriller starring Charlotte Rampling has an aging author staying at a French villa only to discover that a sexy younger woman has shown up to share space. Intrigued by her sexuality, a subtle erotic thriller and ultimately murder mystery ensue… but then we discover that everything is all in her head and that we simply saw her imagination at work as she developed her story. Normally I don’t like endings where it turns out everything is a dream, but Swimming Pool pulled it off. Still, some would see it as a cop-out.
3. Vanilla Sky/Open Your Eyes [this film was added after the original post]
   In these movies (remake and the original, both of which star Penelope Cruz – in different roles), the leading man (we’ll call him Tom Cruise) starts to go out of his mind as an ex-flame comes back from the dead, his ravaged face turns out to be not-so-ravaged and other weird things happen. As it turns out, most of the movie is a corporate-controlled dream due to the fact that he has been cryogenically frozen. The movie is weird and not for everyone, but the ending works.
4. Signs
   I have mixed emotions about the “twist” ending here. When I first saw Signs, I liked it a lot. It was creepy, suspenseful, and had an ending that at least wrapped things up. Still, it seems like M. Night Shylaman threw a twist ending into the film for the sake of not letting his fans down, and a lot of people didn’t buy into the “Swing away” line. I don’t hate the ending, but it’s rather unnecessary.
5. No Way Out
   In this spy thriller, it turns out that Kevin Costner, who has been searching for a Russian mole, is, in fact, the Russian mole. It’s sort of a silly ending that seems thrown in there at the last moment, but I certainly didn’t see it coming.
6. Citizen Kane
   Does this movie have a twist ending? No, not really. But it has shown up on other “twist” listings so I just included it here to say so. [this entry has been edited since the original post]
7. Eastern Promises
   In this decent thriller from David Cronenber, it is revealed that the ruthless Russian mobster played by Viggo Mortensen, who took it upon himself to protect Naomi Watts from his own people, is actually an undercover detective. The surprise really doesn’t make the movie any better, and in many ways it takes the emotional impact of the movie out of the story. After all, Mortensen never really had to make a choice between his people and Watts; he was against them from the start.
8. The Village
   Another M. Night Shyalaman film, The Village is a pretty decent drama. I wasn’t crazy about the film because it was marketed as a horror movie, even though it isn’t, and maybe that distracted me from a pretty good twist ending. It’s not the direction I wanted the film to take, but the ramifications are huge: as it turns out, there are no monsters in the woods. The monsters were devised by the elders of the village to keep the younger people from venturing away, which would lead them to the wall: on the other side, a paved road and modern civilization.
9. Identity
   John Cusack and others find themselves being picked off one by one by an unknown killer. What starts out as a reasonable thriller develops into a supernatural one, and from that somethinge entirely different: all of the characters, including Cusack, are all in the mind of a psychotic killer who is sitting in prison. No one saw this ending coming, though I can’t say it’s an amazing one: once the ending is revealed, the thriller loses any suspense it had going for it.
10. Fallen
    In this supernatural thriller, Denzel Washington hunts a killer that moves from body to body, possessing people to carry out its evil will. Denzel figures out a way to trap and kill the demon – by luring it into the woods away from bodies to transfer to. As he becomes possessed, he inhales poison to kill the demon; but doesn’t take into account that the demon can also possess animals such as cats. So, at the end of the movie, evil wins and Denzel is possessed by a demon. Not a horrible ending – and many people love it – but it just didn’t click for me. [this entry has been edited since the original post]
11. High Tension
    An ending that is so good it’s bad, High Tension, which could have been one of the most memorable and disturbing slasher films in recent memory, ends with a whimper when it is revealed that the sexually charged killer, played by a man, is actually the female protagonist, who, driven by jealousy, has gone insane. The twist, while shocking, really never makes sense, especially considering the fact that in the first scene the killer is shown jerking himself off with a decapitated head. I go back and forth on this one…
12. Lucky Number Slevin
    Josh Hartnett gets confused for someone else and winds up getting involved in a deadly plot between an assassin named The Cat and a couple mobster-type guys. He plays it innocent until it is revealed that he and The Cat are partners and that Hartnett is himself a master assassin. There’s more to it than that, but I don’t have enough space to explain everything. The twist is a shocker, and yet it takes away something from the film. Handled a bit differently, it could have really worked, but I found it a bit underwhelming.

The Worst Twist Endings

Below is a list of the worst twist endings known to man:

1. The Forgotten
   What could have been a really good movie turns out to be a film about aliens experimenting on people. Aliens? Come on. This movie has the worst twist ending ever, and due to some scenes shown in the previews, you actually could see it coming.
2. The Number 23
   This thriller was supposed to put Jim Carrey on the map as a truly serious actor, but it failed miserably. Not only was his acting terrible, but the movie features one of the most disappointing endings ever. Having been seduced and driven to obsessed madness by a book that seems to parallel his life, giving us hints at Satan and other disturbing ramifications, it is revealed that Carrey himself wrote the book while he was in a psychiatric hospital that he no longer remembers. So the twist is: he actually is crazy and he wrote the book himself. Wow. Stupid.
3. Secret Window
   This Johnny Depp film had potential, but it has a strangely predictable ending, and one that was not particularly good. After it is revealed that he himself is off his rocker and has killed every victim, Depp never gets punished but does decide to get braces. Huh?
4. Hide and Seek
   Hide and Seek features another predictable ending. In fact, it is so bad that when I realized it in the first 30 minutes of the movie, I prayed for the next hour that I was wrong. As it turns out, Dakota Fanning doesn’t have an imaginary friend who kills people, but instead it’s her father – the main character, played by Robert DeNiro – who has a split personality. The split personality twist ending is almost always a deal killer, and Hide and Seek proves it.
5. Saw
   I only put this on the list because I’ve seen Saw mentioned on other Best Twist Ending lists. It’s not much of a twist ending, but after the protagonists do themselves in, it is revealed that the corpse in the middle of the room is in fact the killer – and that he’s just been lying still for the last two hours. It just doesn’t make much sense, nor is it very exciting.
6. Perfect Stranger
   This Halle Berry thriller is about as bad as it looks. I lost interest halfway through and thus was only paying attention at half staff when the twist ending is revealed, but the fact that the main character – Berry – is in fact the unknown killer she’s been hunting is just downright stupid.
7. Never Talk to Strangers
   Like Hide and Seek and Perfect Stranger, here’s another movie that ends with the revelation and the main protagonist is actually the bad guy.
8. The Life of David Gale
   Kevin Spacey is on death row for a crime he didn’t commit… or did he? As it turns out, he faked murder to get convicted and sentenced to death, so he could prove that the death sentence is inhumane. Uh… OK.
9. Planet of the Apes (2001)
   In this pointless remake directed by Tim Burton, Mark Wahlberg finally escapes from Ape World to land back on Earth… only to find that the Lincoln Memorial has the face of an ape. Unlike in the original, where there’s a lot less tacky and much more iconic view of the Statue of Liberty – implying that Heston is on Earth and is simply far in the future – this ending implies that there’s an alternate dimension or something like that. It’s just cheesy, and a stupid way to lead the audience into the ending credits.
10. No Country for Old Men
    The Oscar-winning drama-thriller really doesn’t have a twist ending, unless you allow the fact that the Coen brothers kill the protagonist off screen, never explain how he died and that the movie has switched gears to a pointless and rambling speech by Tommy Lee Jones. It’s one of the most disappointing endings to an otherwise excellent film. Should the ending be different? No. That’s how the film ends in the book by Cormac McCarthy (and no one should mess with McCarthy’s works), but the film is so suspenseful and exciting for the first 80% that it’s just a major letdown when the movie takes a pure dramatic turn. [this entry has been edited since the original post]

May 2008 is here, and that can only mean one thing: I grow another year older, and the summer movie season has started. Okay, that’s two things, but read on anyway! There are a lot of great movies coming out this year, or, at least, movies that appear to be great. From a new Batman movie to one of the most anticipated films of all time – the fourth Indiana Jones movie – buzz is at an all-time high.

But where there is buzz, there is unrealistic expectations… will the 2008 summer movie season offer some major disappointments? If either of those aforementioned films disappoint, I will go on a rampage, and, unfortunately, I feel like I’ve set the bar way too high. Still, beyond those two films, there are 20 other movies that might be worth seeing this summer – and this only counts the mainstream films that have released their trailers. Of course, all the real heavy hitters have showed their true colors by now… or have they?

Also, take my 2008 summer movie survey – you could win an Eastern Promises DVD.

1. The Dark Knight
   I have been waiting with eager anticipation for over a year for the follow-up to the excellent Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan’s original was a classic, and perhaps the best comic book movie of all time, and there’s no reason to expect any less here. The all-star, Oscar-glistening cast is returning, only with an upgrade of talent that includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart and, of course, Heath Ledger as Batman’s arch villain. Many people think Ledger’s performance drove him to death, and from everything the previews indicate, he turns in a remarkable performance. Is July really two months away?
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
   Harrison Ford really hasn’t done anything noteworthy in years, so it’s only fitting he returns to one of his most adored roles. The fact that Ford, Lucas and Spielberg have all returned for this fourth film is a good sign, as it’s not just some lame sequel with some crappy director and a youthful actor. Unlike The Dark Knight, I can see expectations surpassing reality here; George Lucas has even commented on that in recent interviews. As long as I keep my excitement toned down, I think I’ll be OK.
3. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
   Who knows if this one will be any good. The X-Files passed its prime many years ago, and fans have pretty much moved on. Then again, maybe this is the perfect time to return to the adored franchise for what is presumably going to be the last movie. I don’t expect this one to make an amazing amount of money in theaters, but it should be an entertaining blast. It’ll definitely be cool to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back together again, and early previews have been promising.
4. Hancock
   A movie that has only begun its marketing blitz, Hancock appears to be the latest Will Smith blockbuster. No one is betting against Smith, as he has a tendency to choose quality (or at least decent) projects that result in a ton of money. This movie, about a drunk-and-bitter “superhero,” looks great, as the trailers perfectly blend humor, action and visual effects together. In a season full of comic book adaptations, Hancock should still emerge as a summer blockbuster – and maybe it will even appeal to a crowd that doesn’t normally swarm to the “standard” comic book flicks.
5. Iron Man
   Speaking of “standard,” Iron Man opens tonight (Thursday) and from the reviews I’ve seen, it’s going to have no problem making tons of money. Reviews have been strong, and it’s really no surprise: the visuals look great, the action intense, the humor plentiful and Robert Downey Jr. in a surprisingly perfect role (playing a cocky, drunken bastard who must redeem himself). The previews have been entertaining and I hope I get a chance to go see this flick tonight.
6. Get Smart
   Rarely do I get that excited for comedies, but Get Smart, starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, The Rock, Terence Stamp and Alan Arkin, looks pretty hilarious. These TV adaptations can be hit-or-miss, but the goofy spy show seems prime for just such a conversion. The previews have been note-on, offering lots of humorous bits and a promise for some silly excitement. Carell and Hathaway both seem like good choices to lead the film, and it’s always entertaining to see The Rock in a comedy such as this.
7. WALL• E
   I have no rule: do not question Pixar, unless they’re making a Cars sequel. Pixar continues to set the benchmark for quality writing, storytelling and visual effects among animated films, if not among films in general. Wall-E looks to continue their trend of exceptional, as the film once again avoids the route of pop culture references, modern songs and marketing big voice talent to present us with a unique story about a robot who lives on Earth long after the last of humanity has disappeared. Not only is the story intriguing, but the visual effects look simply stunning.
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
   A couple years ago, only a few fanboys knew who Guillermo Del Toro was. Not anymore. The man took a little known comic book character (a red devil, no less) and made a truly entertaining and high quality action film on a relatively low budget. From there, we got Pan’s Labyrinth, one of the best films I’ve seen in years. And with Del Toro signed on to direct the new Hobbit sequels, demand is at an all-time high. Thankfully, he managed to squeak out a new Hellboy movie while waiting, and hopefully it will be just as good as the original. The previews have not been incredible, though it appears as though the elements were just poorly presented by the marketing department. At least I hope that’s the case.
9. Pineapple Express
   Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen are back, this time in an indie-looking, pot-smoking, crime thriller, about an ordinary guy who witnesses a murder and goes on the run with his drug dealing friend (James Franco). The movie looks substantially different from the recent Apatow films (Knocked Up, Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall), but it still looks good. I like the low-budget look the film has, but the screenplay, once again, should sell this one.
10. The Happening
    M. Night Shyamalan is at it again. Once a sure-thing, Shyamalan has directed two disappointing films in a row. The Village was okay, until the end, but Lady in the Water was just a disaster. Still, I – and several other people – are holding out hope for The Happening, a movie that looks to be more along the lines of Signs than any of his more recent stuff. Can this movie save his career? It’s impossible to tell. All of his films are marketed very well and give very little away, so there’s no way of telling this one will be any better or worse than Lady. Still, it appears as though he has gone a little more conventional this time around, which should be a good thing. “Conventional,” by the way, is used relatively here.
11. Sex and the City: The Movie
    The HBO comedy series really shouldn’t get a movie. It’s just not the kind of show that should get a movie. In fact, the only HBO shows that deserve such treatment are Carnivale and Deadwood, though even those are pushing acceptability (I didn’t say The Sopranos because, like all HBO shows, they succeed because the stories span episodes and seasons, and are not and should not be contained within a single, two-hour time frame). All that being said, Sex and the City was a well-written and entertaining television show, and as such I’m looking forward to the movie. And yes, that’s coming from a 25-year old straight guy.
12. Tropic Thunder
    I’m sort of sick of Ben Stiller, and not only does he star in this movie but he also directs it, but Tropic Thunder just looks like a blast. About a group of actors who unknowingly find themselves involved in real warfare when they are meant to just be filming an action movie, Tropic Thunder has a great comedic cast that includes Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. Downey, in particular, is a selling point, not only because he is the best actor of the group but because he plays the best actor – ever – in the movie, a man so dedicated to his work that he actually undergoes a controversial surgical procedure to make himself African-American. That alone is worth the price of admission.
13. Son of Rambow
    One of the few films on this list that isn’t receiving a wide release – at least not at first – is the Son of Rambow. What’s better than one Rambo movie in the year? How about two? Son of Rambow is a comedy about a young boy who decides to make his own action movie; the previews are full of stunts-gone-bad and other childhood mishaps. The movie looks touching, but more importantly funny.
14. The Strangers
    OK, so The Strangers will probably suck. It seems to have been pushed back time and time again, which is never a good sign, and has been dropped in the middle of a hornet’s nest – the end of May. Still, with few other horror movies out and about, if any, The Strangers looks pretty creepy. The movie, which stars Liv Tyler, is about a couple who find their house invaded by a bunch of masked intruders. I’m a sucker for movies that could, in theory, happen to me, and it’s not inconceivable that some psychopaths could put on Halloween masks and break into someone’s house. The trailers are effectively scary, and that’s enough for me.
15. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
    Way down in the #15 spot is The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The movie looks good. Hell, the movie looks really good. The film is well presented, the story looks darker and more exciting than the first one, so on and so forth. Still, I’m hesitant. The first movie was decent, but a little bland and no Lord of the Rings. The fact that the movie is made for children specifically hurts, especially since the movie is marketed like it’s some kind of gritty war movie. Prince Caspian is rated PG, which means we’re going to get more of the same. I hope that going in with lowered expectations will do the film justice, but I doubt I’m going to come out of the theater raving.
16. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
    Under other circumstances, a Star Wars movie would automatically be in the Top 5 of my list. But, considering that The Clone Wars is an animated movie originally meant for the small screen, I am not that thrilled. The visuals look questionable at best – while I’m sure the action while be find, the characters themselves look quite cartoonish. This alone has me worried. I don’t know why, but I would have been excited for this had it simply premiered on television like it was meant to; there’s something about Star Wars being on another medium that allows me to separate it from the theatrical films. As such, I am worried that this movie is somehow going to ruin the Star Wars experience for me, regardless of the fact that the three prequels were less than stellar to begin with.
17. Wanted
    A clear Matrix wannabe, Wanted shows off just enough visuals, action and Angelina Jolie skin to have me curious. This is one of those movies that is going to end up being ridiculously entertaining or pathetically bad; I don’t see much in between here. James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman also bring some promise to the film, but Wanted still looks like more of a paycheck film than a legitimate, quality picture. Still, I’m curious.
18. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
    Adam Sandler is back in another goofy comedy, and this one is sure to raise some controversy. The movie is about a Palestinian guy who heads to America to become a hair stylist – but ends up getting involved with some Islamic terrorists. The movie definitely treads on shaky ground, but there are enough laughs in the trailer to have me wanting more. I don’t expect this movie to be among his best, but it shows promise. Then again, so did Chuck and Larry, and that one was terrible.
19. The Incredible Hulk
    Ah, The Incredible Hulk. What can I say? The movie just doesn’t look that good. I’ve never been a big fan of the green “hero,” and the fact that the original movie was forgettable doesn’t help. Still, Ed Norton, one of the best actors working today, has taken on the lead role. Unfortunately, having now seen two different movie trailers, I have yet to be impressed. The visuals look questionable, the direction more so. Those slow motion shots of the Hulk flying through the air? Uh-oh. I am still holding onto an ounce of hope, but compared to the other summer movies, this one is going to sink fast if it isn’t up to par. Hell, it will probably sink fast anyway.
20. The Babysitters
    A movie few will see, The Babysitters is on this list because it’s about a teenage babysitter who starts an escort service. And no, it’s not a porn. The movie promises sex, scandal, crime and possibly more, and that’s enough to get me to add this to my Netflix list.
21. War, Inc.
    John Cusack stars in this movie that is being compared to Grosse Point Blank. I didn’t particularly like that movie, but this is the kind of movie where he thrives, so War, Inc. should not be disregarded. In fact, having just watched the trailer, this movie looks really funny and politically edgy. Why is this #21? Because I’m too lazy to move it higher.
22. The Midnight Meat Train
    Last but not least, there’s this movie. A horror movie that probably won’t be any good, Midnight Meat Train offers a pretty slick and gruesome trailer – and an awesome title. In reality, the title suggests something ridiculously cheesy and the previews show no such things, but other than that, how can I not be excited for a movie called such a thing?

Wow. I’ve been writing for an hour, and as you can tell from the last couple entries, I’ve had enough.

Based on Friday box office estimates, Baby Mama, the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler comedy, declared victory over the stoner sequel Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Baby Mama earned $6.28 million on Friday compared to Harold and Kumar‘s $5.7; while I’m no box office expert, given the kind of comedies each of those films are, that is probably enough of a gap to keep Baby Mama the winner through the weekend.

I’m not too surprised, as Baby Mama plays to a more general audience, whereas Harold and Kumar targets a younger crowd. Baby Mama didn’t look all too good to me, but, then again, Tina Fey pulled off Mean Girls so anything can happen. As for me, I went to a sold-out showing of Harold and Kumar last night – you can read my movie review here.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall came in third with $3.4 million, while newcomer Deception, which most people haven’t heard of despite starring Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, earned a paltry $760,000.

These numbers come from BoxOfficeMojo.com.

It’s Friday, March 28, 2008, and as any good moviegoer should be thinking, you’re wondering what movie you should invest in this weekend. For new wide releases come to theaters today, all aiming for that top spot at the weekend’s box office. Thankfully, three of the four movie are potentially worthwhile films, at least on paper.

21, starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and that guy from Across the Universe, is about a group of students (lead by their teacher, Spacey) who decide to rip off some Las Vegas casinos by counting cards. Of course, their greed gets the better of them and things spiral out of control. I’m not always a huge fan of gambling movies, but when done right, they can be very good (Rounders, anyone?). Mainly, I want to see this movie for the fact that Bosworth looks hot in it, but one should not discount the talented cast involved.

Run, Fatboy, Run is the long delayed Simon Pegg comedy. The release date delay is worrisome, and after seeing the trailer over and over again when it was originally slated for the fall, I haven’t seen much promotion, if any, in recent months (though, admittedly, I haven’t been going to see much of the garbage in theaters – and I fast forward through TV commercials). Regardless, Pegg is on a roll (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Run, Fatboy, Run looks pretty funny.

Stop-Loss is an Iraq war drama about a young man (Ryan Phillippe) who returns home from war only to find that the military has decided to send him right back. Not happy about the fact that he has to leave his girlfriend (wife?), he considers going AWOL to Canada. Some people aren’t big fans of Phillippe, but I think he’s actually a pretty good actor given the right material, and Stop-Loss could be right up his alley. The marketing team has also done a great job with an excellent trailer that strikes upon the themes of the film. Considering that other, bigger Iraq-themed films have flopped over the last year, I wouldn’t expect this one to stick around for too long – but it has the potential to be good.

The last of the movies is Superhero Movie, but, considering this spoof is from the same group of people that have created some of the worst movies in recent memory (Epic Movie and Date Movie), I would not go see this film if my life depended on it. In fact, if you go and see this film, you are supporting the creation of more terrible spoofs in the years to come.

View other recent movie releases.

I like Johnny Depp. He’s a fun, dynamic actor. But ever since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl put him back on the map, critics and audiences alike have kissed his butt like he is the ruler of the world. Has everyone failed to notice that he has only done two good movies since Blow in 2001?

That’s right, you heard me! Sure, some of his bad movies weren’t THAT bad, but they sure as hell weren’t that good, and some have been downright awful. Here are the good ones:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
  The idea sounded dreadful from the start, but somehow Disney and Johnny Depp managed to make an entertaining, funny and dark “family” film. A surprisingly good film, especially considering it’s based on a theme park ride.
• Finding Neverland
  This award-winning drama wasn’t particularly memorable, but was still entrancing while you were watching it.

And that’s it! Two good movies in the last seven years, yet Depp is still as popular as ever. That’s all fine and good, but acknowledge his failures, people!

The bad ones:

• Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
  This follow-up to one of my favorite action films of all time – Desperado – was supposed to kick ass, but instead it was one of the worst movies ever to grace the silver screen. Depp was dreadful in it, too.
• Secret Window (2004)
  This movie was good for a while, until the final act killed any chance of it being any good. The final minutes are particularly bad, especially when Depp dons braces.
• The Libertine (2004)
  Not as dreadful as it was boring, most people probably don’t even know Depp starred in this film – if they even heard of it in the first place.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
  Another Tim Burton collaboration, this one had the makings of being awesome, except Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka came off more like a creepy Michael Jackson than anything else. Again, not horrible, but not very goo, either.
• Corpse Bride (2005)
  Probably his best of the bad, the only thing wrong with Corpse Bride is that it is no Nightmare Before Christmas. It was mildly entertaining but never very engaging.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
  They should have left it as a sequel. This movie sucked balls.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
  Not quite as bad as #2, this one still also sucked balls.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
  Quite possibly the worst musical I have seen in a long while. Depp isn’t bad as the title character, and Tim Burton tries, but the story is surprisingly dull and the musical, presumably derived from the play, is terrible and often cringe-inducing.

As the New Year fast approaches and the first week of January 2008 beckons, there are a slew of new pictures out at theaters, some of them good and some of them not-so-good. I’ve seen a lot of movies over the last couple of weeks, and while I haven’t posted reviews for all of these films, I wanted to share what I’ve seen and make recommendations. Keep in mind that this time of year I am most interested in seeing dark and depressing pictures (Atonement) rather than mindless entertainment (National Treasure), and that I will generally avoid chick flicks (P.S. I Love You).

Here are the movies you should see:

• Atonement
  The best movie of 2007 so far, though I’m still holding out hope for There Will Be Blood…
• Juno
  Funny and oddly powerful, this will have females going “awwwww…” (seriously, there were several) and guys cracking up. Also has a potential Oscar winner starlet in the form of Ellen Page.
• No Country for Old Men
  Still one of the front runners for Best Picture of the Year. An awesome thriller, even if the ending stumbles a bit…
• I Am Legend
  If you want mindless entertainment, go see this one. Some people haven’t liked it, but it’s a tense thriller, at least until the final act. Will Smith is also great in it.
• American Gangster
  This one is still playing in many theaters, and while it doesn’t blow one away, it’s still quite good.
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
  Impress people by seeing movie slightly off the beaten path. Luckily, it’s still a pretty slick crime drama.
• The Golden Compass
  It is a bit rushed and could have benefited from a better director, but if you don’t mind anti-Christian themes, The Golden Compass is a lot better than what critics give it credit for.
• National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
  I can’t believe I’m putting this one on my list, but despite the fact that it sometimes doesn’t make much sense or isn’t even slightly plausible, going in with low expectations meant that I actually found this one pleasingly entertaining.

Movies I haven’t seen but plan to shortly (because I hear they’re good)

• Charlie Wilson’s War
• The Great Debaters
• The Kite Runner
• The Savages
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Movies to avoid at all cost

• Sweeney Todd
  Yeah, this one just sucked. I like musicals, but no one told me that Sweeney Todd was going to be a boring movie with some of the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life.
• Fred Claus
  I didn’t see this movie, but it just looked bad.