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Thursday, June 24, 2010

A Few Flix I Am Excited For...NOT TWILIGHT!

"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet."
- Orson Welles (Director of Citizen Kane)

Ladies and Gentlemen...the summer movies have officially kicked off (girlish scream!)

We've had a pretty slow start this summer--with the exception of Iron Man 2, which rocked my socks--with a paltry June lineup of duds (which saddens me because I expected more out of Shrek 4 and The A-Team), but with Toy Story 3's release, and its positive box office draw and stellar reviews, Summer, (at least for me), has officially started.

But with the summer movies well on their way, here are a few that I am really excited for...

Neil Hiatt's List Of Movies He Is Jacked About

1. Inception (July 16th)





Inception is the highly anticipated new film from writer/director Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento, The Prestige, Insomnia, and Following). Christopher Nolan has become a rock star of the cinema in recent years with his deeply visual and character-driven films. With his knack for incredible storytelling, he has rarely in his career given a movie that he hasn't poured his whole heart into, and it definitely shows on screen.

As for Inception, Warner Brothers has kept a pretty tight lid on the overall plot of this mind-bending thriller. As much as I can piece together, Inception is about a team of thieves, but not your typical kind. These criminals steal ideas from the subconscious of people in a dream state. It looks like the kind of movie for which you will have to put your thinking caps on and NOT TALK IN THE THEATER. Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and Michael Caine.






Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is about Scott Pilgrim, played by Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno), who must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends to win her heart. I know that doesn't sound very awesome...but here is the kicker. First, it's based off a very successful and entertaining comic book that fuses video game style fight sequences, pop culture, music, and interesting characters into a fun story. Second, the movie has been directed and co-written by Edgar Wright of Shawn of The Dead and Hot Fuzz fame. Not to mention that Edgar Wright held a private screening of the film for the holy trinity of writer/directors Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill 1 & 2), Jason Reitman (Up In The Air, Juno, Thank You For Smoking), and Kevin Smith (Clerks), all of whom gave the film glowing reviews.

3. Predators (July 9th)





Predators is about a group of trained warriors and killers who wake up on a strange planet only to find out they are being hunted by something dangerous.
Predators, a sequel in the Predator franchise, is produced by Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon A Time In Mexico & Sin City) and directed by Nimrod Antal (Kontroll).

4. The Expendables (August 13th)


This one is a guilty pleasure for me. The Expendables is a balls-to-the-wall action movie written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone (Rocky). Oh yeah, did I mention it also stars Jet Li (Unleashed), Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV), and Jason Statham (Snatch), with appearances by Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (EVERY ACTION MOVIE EVER!)? Is there a plot to this movie? Probably...but who cares; it's a freaking action movie!

5. Tron Legacy (December 17th...I know December is not Summer but I AM excited for this movie).





Tron: Legacy is the sequel to the movie Tron. It's funny to see how far special effects have come from the first film, considering how groundbreaking they were originally. But with original cast members returning, Oscars in tow, might I add, this one looks like it just might blow some minds.

6. The Green Hornet (January 14th - Shut up about these months not being in Summer already)





The Green Hornet is based off of the 1966 television series that launched Bruce Lee's career. It is about a young, wealthy newspaper owner Brit Reid and his assistant, Kato, who masquerade as crime fighters by night.
The most interesting thing about this reboot is that it is written by and starring Seth Rogen...the originally overweight, dick and fart joke telling, king of blue humor movies such as Knocked Up, Zac and Miri Make A Porno, and The 40 Year Old Virgin. But, he has lost a ton of weight to play this role and odd casting should never sway you from seeing a movie (e.g. Heath Ledger as the Joker.) So, odd casting aside, what does this movie have going for it? Well, three things: 1. The main villain is played by none other than Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) who played the downright evil Col. Hans Landa last year. 2. The director of the film is Michel Gondry, the visually stunning director of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. 3. Just look at that trailer. It might just be awesome.

7. Red (October 15th - I was using Summer as a framing device for hell's sake!)



RED stands for Retired & Extremely Dangerous. It's based off of the DC comic book series of the same name. In Red a group of former black-ops badasses reassemble to take on a high-tech assassin. For a comic book flick, it sure does boast an A-list cast, including Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), John Malkovich (Burn After Reading), and recent Oscar winner Helen Mirren (The Last Station). That's right, Ms. High Society herself, Helen Mirren, is going to play a badass...if that doesn't put your butt into the theatre, then I don't know what will, and may God have mercy on you.

Well, in the upcoming months ahead I hope that none of these films will disappoint...But, only time, and my movie snobbery, will tell.

4 comments:

General Mills said...

Dude, totally stoaked for all these as well, especially Inseption. This summer has been a bit of a disappointment. Give me something original for a change instead of a sequel or a rip-off!

Neil Hiatt said...

I agree with you in spades! Every movie so far has been either a sequel a reboot but nothing original. Hopefully the ones on the list will pull it off.

Neil Hiatt said...

I agree with you in spades! Every movie so far has been either a sequel a reboot but nothing original. Hopefully the ones on the list will pull it off.

meg said...

I just saw Inception last night! My favorite movie this year. Totally mind-boggling.