I'm really looking forward to Looper, it looks like smart, understated sci-fi that focuses on the cool stuff, rather than focusing
solely on character drama, which is a mistake as far as sci-fi goes. Also, like the rest of movie going audiences I'm really quite interested to see how Joseph Gordon-Levitt's career evolves.
Not looking forward to Frankenweenie, I feel like when a filmmaker reaches the point at which they start homaging
their own work, they've probably gotten too far up their own ass. Plus I don't feel like this is a movie for me, much the same feeling I got about ParaNorman. This is a movie for Tim Burton fans and I don't think anyone else is being targeted here.
I'm glad to see that someone else is as excited for The Man With the Iron Fists as I am, I positively love these kinds of homages. Plus, since it's only produced by Tarantino and is actually directed by RZA, we'll probably get the fun homage stuff without any of the smugness that I feel has become Tarantino's new signature.
In spite of myself I'm liking the look of Skyfall, the trailer actually looks like fun. I really hope this movie signals a return to classic James Bond action as opposed to the boring Bourne rip-off that Quantum of Solace, and Casion Royale to a lesser extent, were. And sidenote, doesn't anyone else get a Heath Ledger's Joker vibe from that one shot of the new villain walking into of the flames?
Lincoln seems interesting, not my cup of tea, but Spielberg's been trying to make it for a while and Daniel Day Lewis is a good actor, so this will probably be predictably good.
Taken 2 made me groan when I read the synopsis, apparently Liam Neeson's character teams up with his daughter to rescue the ex-wife, which just sounds absolutely awful. I mean, first of all I think Taken was a fine movie, one that managed to be pure, unpretentious action without devolving into Michael Bay-syle awfulness, but it was very clearly a stand alone film, no sequel necessary. Second, why on Earth would I want to see Liam Neeson's character have to drag the dead weight that his daughter probably will be? I hate when action movie sequels decide to saddle the hero with a useless sidekick.
Django Unchained has me very apprehensive. On the one hand I really like the premise, I really like Westerns, and I really like a lot of Quentin Tarantino's movies, but on the other, I found his most recent movies lacking. Deathproof was just awful to me, it homaged grindhouse cinema without remembering to do the most vital part of any homage, that is, trim the fat, the elements that suck, and leave only the cool stuff that people actually like. Inglourious Basterds was just okay, but I didn't particularly care for it and Hans Landa was really the only stand out part for me. I hope that with this movie we see more of the Tarantino who made Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, and less of the one who made Deathproof and has gotten progressively more up his own ass as the years have gone by.
One movie that went unmentioned here was Hotel Transylvania, which I was actually looking forward to just from the posters, but then completely lost interest in when I saw the trailers. I saw the posters and thought "awesome, a fun adventure comedy about classic movie monsters, this sounds great" then trailer revealed that it was a slapstick goofball comedy about Dracula learning that his vampire-daughter is growing up, which sounds absolutely awful.
The Rise of the Guardians, which is indeed an incredibly boring title now that I think about it, looks interesting, and it might manage to be one of those distressingly rare non-Pixar animated movies that are actually good.
Also, man, I can't believe Michael Clarke Duncan is dead, I remember for the longest time though that I was convinced his name was Michael Duncan Clarke, which I feel flows better. He was only in his fifties, and a really cool on screen presence, it's just unfair.
Verrenxnon said:
Oh man, I can't believe I forgot about this. I can't wait for this movie.
