Friday, April 28, 2006
Upcoming Blockbusters
Yes, summertime is upon us again (It's always here anyway) so the great machinery known as Hollywood can again fill our movie screens with silly big-budget fluff that is good for nothing but entertainment. Truth be told, it can be great entertainment though...now let's just see what's in store for us ardent Singaporean moviegoers (We are, after all, the population who watched the most movies per person a year in the world, if I am not mistaken).
This month alone sees the release of three much hyped movies: "Mission Impossible 3", "The Da Vinci Code" and "X-Men 3:The Last Stand" (I am excluding "Poseidon" from the list because, come on, while I like Wolfgang Petersen, "Posiedon" just looks like one of those ship-sinking movies and it doesn't even have any real stars in it).
Of the three, I am only really looking forward to "X-Men 3", due to the fact that I am an Office X-Men™, I guess. They've seemingly expanded the cast of characters now so that, finally, familiar characters like Beast, Juggernaut (played by the rather scrawny Vinnie Jones) and Angel (that's me!) finally appear on the big screen for the first time. Actually, I am also rather sad that it's possibly(?) the last installment of the X-Men movies (if I am not wrong, X-Men was supposed to be a trilogy) but hey, money talks, so if it sells, there will still probably be an X-Men 4 in the works.
X-Men 3: Last time we see these familiar mutants on screen?
I have to confess I do NOT particularly like Tom Cruise (it's only recently though) and hence, do not particularly anticipate "MI3". Maybe it's to do with his Scientology affiliations and all the weird stuff that Tom Cruise got up to with Katie Holmes. Maybe I am just pissed with the way Tom Cruise shut South Park up with his influence. Whatever. However, the truth is, "MI3" does look pretty good and I really want to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of the arch-villain. How does he morph from Truman Capote to a bigtime baddie? That's acting for you!
MI3: Looks good but I don't like the guy in the pic...
And finally, of course, "The Da Vinci Code". Will I watch it? I am not too sure. I have not read the book and don't think I ever would as I may be offended by it. But then again, it's more probable that I will simply dismiss it as pure fictional piffle masquerading as a potboiling thriller wrapped around historical fact. The controversy surrounding it has certainly piqued my interest in catching it. Whether I will actually do it is another matter altogether though.
The Da Vinci Code: Controversial but will it translate to great box office?
The subsequent months of June and July actually sees a rather weak lineup this year, which is why I felt this year's schedule of summer movies is one of the worst I have seen in recent years.
There is actually no movies I look forward to watching in June. Pixar is coming up with "Cars" and they can always be relied on to spin a good yarn. But nothing about the movie screams out to me. Adam Sandler also has a new movie called "Click" but I've never watched an Adam Sandler flick on the big screen and I don't think "Click" is likely to break that trend.
The one movie that may prove interesting to me is "Superman Returns" because it might be interesting to see if Brandon Routh can step into Christopher Reeves' shoes. But the truth is, I've always found Superman to be the least engaging of all superheroes (He's basically an indestructible alien in tights, isn't he?) and so, do I really want to spend money watching the movie instead of just waiting for the DVD? Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor is an interesting choice though.
Superman Returns: Nice package, Brandon but not my cup of tea, I prefer breasts. Thanks anyway!
July, too, sees a lineup that's more suited to be lamented than lauded. If you had liked the original "Pirates of the Caribbean", you might also enjoy its sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". For me, I'd let it stay dead for me even though I rather liked the original.
M Night Shyamalan is also coming up with his usual spookfest, this time something called "Lady in the Water". But after the debacle that's "The Village", I advise moviegoers to skip this one. M Night is really running out of twists, I think. Good cast though, in Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard.
There is an interesting movie out in July called "A Scanner Darkly" by Richard Linklater and starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jnr. It's an adaptation of science fiction great Philip K Dick's novel (refer Minority Report, Total Recall, Paycheck, etc) and that's bound to be interesting by itself. What's even more interesting, however, is the filming technique of this movie. Linklater shot a live-action version of the film and then had it animated. I've never heard of anything like this before...it'd be interesting to see how the end-product turns out.
And finally, to complete the July lineup, I think "Miami Vice" might be a good movie to catch. Not that I am a fan of the original TV series, nor am I a fan of the movie version's stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. No, those are not the reasons I want to watch the movie. I'd like to catch it simply because I am a big fan of the film's director, the quite brilliant Michael Mann. If you don't know who he is, he's the director behind "Collateral", "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Insider" and "Heat". The guy is quite splendid shooting crime stories like this and I think he'd do "Miami Vice" pretty well...it helps, of course, that he did direct some of the original "Miami Vice" TV episodes.
And hey, it might also be fun to watch Gong Li sprout broken English in the movie.
Miami Vice: The real star attractions are NOT in the pic, namely Michael Mann and Gong Li.
