Well, a bunch of films coming out again this weekend... but oddly, not a whole lot to choose from. I think I'd lean towards The Hoax as my first choice, but I'm not even a fan of Lasse Hallstrom's films.
Still, it might be the lesser of a bunch of evils here (I don't watch Aqua Teen so I can't judge, but otherwise, it's looking bleak).
Perfect Stranger - simply from its trailer - appears to be a throwaway film, but co-starring Bruce Willis it might eek out my second choice over the teenage remake of Rear Window starring Shia.
Thoughts? Or is everyone just seeing Grindhouse again before they split it in two (and if you haven't seen it yet, obviously go out this weekend and get your money's worth).
16 comments:
I'm a fan of Shia LaBoeuf and really want to see him do well and I'm pretty excited about Disturbia. It's a remake but, there have been good remakes. I like when teenagers let themselves get fucked up for parts, they're not afraid to mess up their hair. Something that most adult actors have trouble with. However it has Background Guy #1 in it, I think some of you refer to him as "David Morse", and he is the most uninteresting and single dimensional actor I've ever seen. Yeah, I saw Down In the Valley.
Regal 15 doesn't get The Hoax so I won't be seeing that till the DVD, but we do get RED LINE. I believe a friend called it "The poor man's Fast and the Furious."
You forgot to mention "Slow Burn" which reminds me of The Crying Game, or better yet, one of those early nineties grittty Miramax films where someone uncrosses their legs or has alot of sex with someone. Ray Liotta is awesome but I have ABSOLUTELY no clue what that movie is about. Some chick kinda looks white and black at the same time...but she's not a woman or something? Well she's not something that's for damn sure. I just hope it's her loyalty at question. Not gender.
I just read the Pathfinder graphic novel, pretty cool, nothing special. The trailers keep getting better and better and I'm hoping there's a reasonable reason they pushed this back five months. My expectations are that there'll be a lot of yelling, a lot of swords, some vikings, some longboats, maybe an animal or something, a guy getting revenge, someone getting a head chopped off (maybe two!) and perhaps a sex scene on a bear skin rug.
Or while getting a head cut off on a longboat. Mix it up.
My decision to see Aqua Teen is based on two things: The poster and mc chris has a cameo. Done.
And I would rather take a digger on concrete running from a pitbull than see Perfect Stranger. Why? Halle Berry (who I like to call Sandra Bullock 2) is the lead. If she was perhaps a character who got another character coffee or a TV new reporter on some fake news station playing in the background...then sure, I might've seen Perfect Stranger. But seeing how I'm in no quick hurry to cry and beat myself with a cluster of rose stems, I'll pass this up.
Aqua Teen is going to be great =) I was so upset when AS lied to me. They had this whole promo going about playing the movie before it hit theaters. I was excited, but then the day rolls around. The movie starts, I laugh, and then....they minimize it to about the size of a postage stamp, stick it in the corner and play the rest of the AS line up *tear* it broke my heart.
Disturbia looks like it could be entertaining as far as "horror" films go. I like Shia LeBeouf from his Even Stevens days so I may go see it just for him. It is kind of crazy how he has jumped into movie scene a lot lately. He did his Disney show and then a few kid movies and then he fell into the back. Now he is doing Disturbia and Transformers (which I am really upset that I am going to miss) releases in a couple months.I think it's a good time to be Shia LeBeouf.
Red Line is something I will probably never watch. I mean I like the Fast and the Furious, but I can only do so many of those movies. Car goes fast....explosion....more fast cars...BIG RACE SCENE....the end...eh I'll save my money and watch the Fast and the Furious in my bedroom.
Alright....6 damn movies. Again. And meanwhile...Grindhouse...I say skip all these and head towards that, but America's too busy watching Dancing with People that Claim to be Stars to go see something worthwhile.
And to that I say...Fuck you America! Stupid asses.
Anywho. Yeah...The Hoax was really the only thing I'd even be close to be excited to see...and it's a damn Richard Gere movie.
Disturbia...awful title. But it has Shia, who has an adorable name. And David Morse. That guy that played the "alien" in Contact. And is directed by the dude whose last two films were the awful "Two for the Money" and "Taking Lives", so... And it's a remake of a Hitchcock flick. And we all know how those have turned out (I need not bring up Psycho). I'll see it...but don't have much hope.
Red Line...hahaha...nice try guys. That's not a movie.
Slow Burn. I like a lot of the actors in this...but the writer/director...some cat by the name of Wayne Beach (stupid name) has only written two other films ("Murder at 1600" and "Art of War"). Not a big fan of either. I'll give this a chance though.
Pathfinder...sigh...why does everyone think this trailer looks so damn good? If the Vikings were dwarves from Middle Earth and Karl Urban was still playing Eomer and it was a totally different movie not at all connected to Marcus (I fucked up Texas Chainsaw) Nispel....then I'd give it a chance.
Aqua Teen is supposed to be absolutely dreadful...and that's one of the better reviews...coming from fans of the show. Still that poster is nothing short of a good penis massage wrapped in bacon...and I love Meatwad.
Perfect Stranger...that's what I'll be to this film...because I'm not putting my eyeballs through the pain of watching.
Also being limitedly released this week is Mike White's directorial debut "Year of the Dog". Getting decent reviews. I love Mike White and the cast is great...John C. Reilly (aka Sasquatch) and the Sarsgaard.
Hopefully Grindhouse will be able to stay at least a bit solid with what I think will be a weak week...but probably not.
I have to echo pretty much what pengin has to say.
I love me some aqua teen, but the brillance of the show is its absurdity and its meaningless plot. I don't think you can stretch that for an hour let alone a movie. Reviews, even from big fans of the show, are saying it is truly a spectacle of a disaster. So believe it or not, that alone makes me what to see it. But obviously I don't have high hopes it will be any good. Of the Adult Swim cartoons, only Venture Bros could probably be made into a movie. I think EW mentioned it should too.
Perfect Stranger-it looks totally original, like nothing Ive seen before....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....Hopefully Halle Berry gets naked. Thats all I want.
Slow Burn-might be the one Im looking forward to the most, but Im with Myth, what the hell is it about. But its trailer is fairly intriguing. Jolene Blalock is hot. Hopefully she gets naked too. I wouldn't mind if Liotta gets naked either.
Pathfinder-thank god for pengin and his occasional sanity. Why the hell do so many people want to see this. The film has two colors. Blue and and thick blue. It has been shelved for over a year. Sure people will get stabbed and what not, but Im completely uninterested by it. Give me Krull any day over this.
Hoax-do want to see it mostly because Gere looks like he is having fun, and the last film he appeared to have fun in was Chicago (Which is better than Moulin Rouge, there I said it, bring it). I also like Alfred Molina a lot too. Still it doesn't open near me and Im not seeking it out right now.
Red Line-is that what happens when a dog in heat makes when she scoots. If that is what it is about, I might watch that.
Disturbia-I like Shia. I love Rear Window. I hate the Title. Ill give it a shot.
Don't know when I will see any of these though. Grindhouse count now at 5 viewings and I want to keep it going. I know i will get more from viewing that over and over than any of the bleak meals we got this week.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is fantastic….for Aqua Teen Hunger Force that is. I thought it was going to be about 15 minutes of funny and an hour 15 minutes of not so funny. I was wrong all and all I thought it was pretty great. Granted some of it had my scratching my head and wondering what the hell was going on, but then I realized it was the stupid robot talking and stopped caring lol. The opening with the dancing theater food was absolute genius and should be shown at every film from now on. The writers had every character ever on ATHF in the movie in some way. I am glad MC Pee Pants wasn’t a huge part. The last two minutes are kind of gay though. It’s like the writers got to the end looked at each other and “Well I got nothing…” Then again I have no idea how they could have ended that movie…so we will go with a job well done boys =) If you do not watch ATHF ever you probably should not see the movie first. Not to say you need to watch the show to understand the movie, but you will enjoy they movie 10x more. And hey if you don’t like the 15 minute shows well you just saved yourself an hour and half of something you wouldn’t have liked. I can’t wait for the dvd…after the warning at the start I’ll be damned if I will download it =)
P.S. Shake is my hero =)
As expected, the weekend has come and gone with very little fanfare. I don't even think I thought about the theater once, instead focusing on watching a couple of older gems that I've missed out on like Duel and especially The Last Detail.
Next weekend looks a little - and I mean very little - bit better, but we'll get into that later in the week. Anyone else see anything this weekend? I'm actually the most interested in responses to Disturbia.
Although, I gotta agree with Myth on one thing even before seeing it - David Morse is so horribly overrated as an actor it's ridiculous. The guy plays the same character in every role, sometimes to good effect (The Negotiator) and sometimes he's just laughably awful (Dreamer). I've never been impressed with him.
Didn't see anything this weekend new. Ive now seen Grindhouse five times. I wanted to get in as many viewings before it leaves here soon since it is doing so poorly. Disturbia made quite a bit of change over the weekend enough to make its budget back already. Maybe this is all America wants.
As for David Morse. I always liked the guy. His choice in movies isn't always great, but the guy has to put food on the table right. Im more interested in Disturbia because of him and Shia than any other reason.
Five times already?!? My God chachi, you're out of control.
And as for Morse, yes, fine, I'm probably marginally more interested in Disturbia because he's in it... but I'm much more interested because of Shia and Carrie-Anne Moss. Morse just seems like he never has to exert any effort on a film, he basically plays himself. Sometimes slightly creepier, as in Disturbia, but I've never seen him stretch... and I don't respect actors that don't take any type of risks. When he gets an interesting role - a role that's a departure for him - then maybe I'll re-evaluate.
I just caught Slow Burn....and now I've forgotten what it was about.
Dude, come on chachi... there's gotta be something more worth your time than Slow Burn was. I mean I'll watch a movie that I know has little chance of being good, but Slow Burn?
Pass.
Slow Burn had the second steepest drop in film history. It dropped about 84%. Second only to that Ashlee Simpson flick "Undiscovered" which held strong at 86%. Wow, thats pathetic. I could probably regain more of an audience if I released a Beta recording of me crapping myself in my highchair.
PS The Beta tape is from an occurrence that happened just last week. Dont ever eat three week old beef stroganoff that sat unrefrigerated.
Alright. 2 reviews for this list. Just quickies.
Start with the 2-week box office winner- Disturbia. My review= meh. This is a better teen-oriented thriller than basically every other one they've pumped out over the last few years, but it's definitely not great. Shia is very good. Charismatic and likeable. He's definitely the high point. The direction is good as well. Very pretty film. And the first half is a decent modern update of Rear Window.
Bad stuff: David Morse. I like David Morse. Unfortunately, he is normally only cast as a killer/creepy guy, or the father figure. This is him in creepy mode. Kinda. He's given absolutely nothing to do but look back at Shia creepily. He does his best with it, but there's just nothing for him to grab a hold of. The "thriller" that it turns into is not at all thrilling. It's ludicrous and lame. There's one too many car crashes, one too many secret doors, one too many catacombs, and way too many corpses.
Overall, it enjoyable enough to rent. Particularly for Shia. Other than that...there's not much to remember her.
Number 2: The Hoax. Not sure what to say here. It's a good film. A very nice surprise, considering I had basically given up on Richard Gere. He's very clever and quick-witted here, and I really hope to chooses to do more of these types of film. The story is cool to start with. The script is well written. And Alfred Molina is more or less a god. A god who doesn't act nearly enough. My only problems were with Richard Gere's character's breakdown. It seemed forced. It may have happened to the real dude, not sure, but the way its presented feels forced. Other than that though, this is definitely one to watch out for. No real need to rush to theaters to watch it, but its well worth the rental fee...and maybe a matinee fee if you've got the time.
My god pengin will you give up on the number of car crashes in Disturbia. Their was two in quick succession. That was it. Get over it. There was a lot more wrong with it than simply the fact two cars hit the same overturned vehicle.
I really liked the first half of the film. I thought it was a really well made up modern Rear Window. Shia is really enjoyable and has quite the career ahead I believe. The character of Kale felt real and honest and somewhat justified in his actions. The real problem with the film lies with its chief plot of the murder next door. The villain does too many dumb things for me to by he is a serial killer. Plus the thrills go on too long. They should have kept the climax simpler and not so over the top. I will defend Morse though. I think initailly he does a rather good job with what he has been given. It definately is a poorly written part, but I think he makes the most of it. And since when is he known for playing a creepy guy. I always thought of him as the by the rules cop who gets in the way of the rebel cop. I dont really recall him doing a lot of this kind of work. Anyways I liked him enough in his small scenes before the finale arrives.
PS Sarah Roemer is gorgeous...and my age too. So I dont have to say any Hail Marys tonight.
Since when am I not allowed to express my dislike of a particular scene in a film...on a damn film blog. It totally took me out of the film at that moment in time. There are far bigger problems with the film certainly, but any pyschology major or even a damn motivational speaker will tell you that the two things we remember most about any sort of presentation (whether it is a speech or song or film) is the beginning and the end. Therefore, the fact that this was the first time that I was taken completely out of the film experience, is reason enough for it to be the scene that I complained about first. It's a legitimate complaint, and just because it didn't bother you, doesn't mean that I don't have full reign to mention it in my post. So just leave it at that, so we can move to films that actually have some purpose in this world beyond serving as a setting for a couple of 13-year olds to make-out on a Friday night.
As for David Morse....one of the first roles I remember him playing is in Twelve Monkeys....where he plays a creepy guy that ends up killing most of humanity. And recently he's been playing the bad guy roles more often...16 Blocks and Hounddog both coming to mind. He plays the caring father and/or cop more often I guess. As for him in this film, I think he's trying to play "subtly creepy" as you put it, but it only really works in the scene where he gets in the young chicks car....the rest of the time, he's either acting charming, tryong to be creepy but failing....or staring at Shia (which they totally overused).
Overall though, I think we can both agree that this is absolutely nothing more than an above-average teenage thriller (a genre where above-average equals maybe a rental fee)...and, aside from a good performance by Shia, is totally forgettable.
Okay lets approach this car crash debate from a different angle. I think it was a great metephor for the conflict in the middle east. Clearly the car that was broken down was an obvious allusion to how the progress is halted over in the sandy wastelands of Iraq. Their car that hit the "sandy wateland" was the writers way of commenting on how we rushed into this war. Once we overturned ourselves in this war, another car came winding from out of nowhere unbeknowst to we, the passengers of America. If you noticed the car that came from nowhere had Norwegian license plates. Clearly Norway will eventually attack us, us being America, when we are at our weakest, which is a direct result from this war on TERROR in Iraq.
There, now do you see the reason for the second car crash. Suck it!
PS Yes, the Norway thing is similar to Red Dawn, but instead of parachuting in, the will arrive on Dolphins harboring giant fricking lasers ala Austin Powers.
Just saw Hoax. Thought it was a great premise. It was unraveled very creatively as was the unraveling of the lead. My only real problem was the fact that the character of Clifford Irving is a bastard. He did some terrible things all in the name of ego and money. He didnt care for what he did to others so much I think. So it was hard for me to root for this guy throughout the movie, but Gere was pretty good, especially towards the end when he gets to breath a bit more. Molina is always great, and I felt for him the most. The Marcia Gay Harden wife was kinda annoying, mostly do to that awful accent. Julie Delpy is wasted, as is the Tooch ie Stanley Tucci. Also very interesting to see just how relevant this book was to history itself and how it played a bigger role in the grand scheme of things, that is if it is true. Recommend seeing it, but not necessarily in theatres. A rental will suffice.
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