2012 has been an above average year at the theaters thus far. The first 4 months of the year don't usually yield so many films I enjoy, but January through April have been a relative embarrassment of riches.
Woman In Black was a welcome, chilly slice of Gothic malevolence, while
Cabin in the Woods is a marvelously visceral piece of genre deconstruction. Two excellent pure horror films before May is unheard of in this day and age.
Underworld:Awakening completely took me by surprise and inspired me to give
the series another chance. I'm glad I did as it has now become one I have an immense fondness toward.
Act of Valor sneaked in out of nowhere and thoroughly entertained me with its earnest, simplistic jingoism.
The Grey was a gorgeous, challenging, philosophical thriller that while not entirely successful in my opinion, is definitely worth a look.
Wrath of the Titans absolutely blew me away, moping fanboys and joyless critical protestations aside.
John Carter was an impressive, spectacular failure that I'm glad I shelled out IMAX money for, even if the story and characters proved confounding and predictable respectively. It looked unreal and had a lot of passion behind it, so, points for trying. I even liked the found footage film I saw!
Chronicle both brilliantly utilized and excelled beyond the confines of its inherently limiting sub-genre. A deeply affecting film from an up and coming film maker to keep our eyes on. Which brings us to this coming Friday and the official kick off of Summer.
MAYI haven't been that into any of the Marvel films to be totally honest. The first 45 minutes of Iron Man were a lot of fun, but the rest of it and its shrill, unwieldy sequel were hard for me to stomach. Of all the Avenger's build up films, I liked Thor best, but have yet to revisit it. My point being, these films have been decent, disposable fun of the most shallow and glossy variety. Avenger's however looks to really be something of substance and heart, thanks to the vision of Whedon. The footage I've seen in ads gives me hope that The Hulk has finally been properly realized on screen. I do like the majority of the actors involved quite a bit, especially Hemsworth, so that combined with Whedon's ensemble writing should go a long way toward selling the fun team aspect. A perfect film to jump start the blockbuster season and catapult us out of the late April doldrums.
Dark Shadows looks like a return to form for the Burton and Depp collaborative brain trust. Their kiddie movies have been abysmal, but this 70's set Vampyric fish out of water tale is giving me a strong trashy-Beetlejuice vibe, which is a great thing in my book. People forget that Burton and Depp are both geniuses and fated to produce their best work together. Look at Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd. These men can make sublime art together. Let's hope they have recaptured that alchemy for this outing.
Battleship is something I'll see, but only for the scope and scale of its production. I have detested Bay's Transformer films, but dutifully trot out to see the breathtaking technological innovations they necessitate, and Battleship will be attended on my part for similar reasons. Hopefully "Irish" Terry Conklin can facilitate a less offensive narrative to bookend the spectacle, or at least one less slavishly devoted to puerile humor. I'm looking forward to The Dictator personally, it reminds me of the broad sort of comedies I enjoyed in my youth. Sort of like Naked Gun meets Cohen's caustic uncomfortable button pushing politics.
Chernobyl Diaries and MIBIII round out the month. I have no interest in Chernobyl Diaries if it's another lazy Session 9 knock off aimed at the Paranormal Activity audience. If however, it turns out to be about irradiated mutants stalking a group of vacationers in an abandoned Nuclear power plant, I will certainly be there. I'll have to do some more research before I commit on that one. I'm definitely there for MIBIII though. Yeah, the last one stunk, but Smith can be fun and Brolin looks to be a treat riffing on Tommy Lee. Plus, expensive, inventive CGI coupled with the practical make-up effects mastery of Rick Baker adds up to my ticket already being bought.
JUNE Snow White and the Huntsman looks appealingly stylish and has king charisma himself, Chris Hemsworth, so that coupled with a villain turn by the always superb Charlize Theron has my interest piqued. Prometheus is the most troubling film of the summer for me. It LOOKS amazing from the previews and has that unassailable cast, but I do so dislike Ridley Scott's films. I feel pretty certain I know exactly how it will play out thanks to said trailers, so it's entirely the actors and visuals giving me hope on this one.
Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter strikes me as empty visuals based off a shoddy, but fun novelty book. I'm tentatively excited for it, but Bekmambetov has yet to present me with a film I find even remotely enjoyable, so, fingers crossed. G.I. Joe: Retaliation looks fucking awesome. There, I said it. That's my inner 9 year old talking again, but goddamn does that look fun. Like Fast Five, they seem to have learned, if you put the Rock in your ailing franchise, he will revitalize interest and be the best part of it. I didn't mind the first film that much, but Retaliation looks to be a vast improvement thanks to the additions of the aforementioned Rock, Jonathan Pryce and the always dependable Ray Stevenson.
JULYApart from exhausted, I don't really know how to feel about returning to the Spider man origin story so soon after Raimi's films (which I generally loved). I dig Garfield plenty, but don't care that much for Stone or Leary. Ifans is an interesting choice for the big bad, but if I wasn't so impressed by the 3-D in the theatrical trailers I've seen, I'd probably be outright dreading this. My son grew up on the Raimi films, so even he at age 11 is questioning why we need a reboot. I'm more hopeful for Savages, which appears to be Oliver Stone's return to energetic greatness, or at least the sleazy fun of U-Turn. DelToro and Travolta seem to be having a blast and big ups to Vincent Vega himself for having the balls to go sans wig! My greatest fear is the rest of the cast, rounded out by a veritable who's who of the wooden and the wretched. Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively and the reliably execrable Salma Hayek threaten to torpedo this thing despite its positives, so we'll just have to see.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. What else really needs to be said? This film, my most anticipated, not only of the summer, but the whole year, is being released midnight on my 35th birthday. I love Batman films, even the terrible Schumaker ones. They represent the magic of summer to me. Going back to the game changing Burton film from 1989. My parents had my 12th birthday cake special made to show the Joker (from the cover of Alan Moore's The killing Joke) saying "Never rub another man's rhubarb!". How cool are my parents? Suffice to say, it feels like my whole life as a certified cinema obsessive has been inextricably building to this. Nolan is one of my favorite film makers and Batman one of my favorite cinematic entities. This is fate. Every piece of footage I've seen has looked incredible, especially the Bane prologue in IMAX I saw twice before MI: Ghost Protocol. I'm almost as excited to hear Zimmer's score as I am to see the film. My anticipation for this film could conservatively be referred to as frothing and I plan on seeing it at least thrice on a true IMAX screen. Movie Valhalla approacheth.
I'll see the new Bourne flick I guess, but I'm not particularly jazzed about it. The series never did it for me, but I like Renner and Ghost Protocol reinvigorated my interest in hard hitting spy action. From the trailer I witnessed, Total Recall looks like an unnecessary abomination and unholy affront to the Verhoeven original. Story beats all the same and a bland, Minority Report visual scheme only increasing the repetitious malaise surrounding the project. I like Farrell and Beckinsale some, so I shouldn't write it off completely, but it will have an uphill battle getting me into the theater.
I am not a fan of The Expendables. It didn't feel like the films whose DNA it claimed to have coursing through its steroidal veins. Hopefully, Simon West will bring some of that Con-Air fun to it (his The Mechanic with Statham was quite good as well). More for Arnold and Willis to do can't hurt, but it's VanDamme as the baddie I'm most excited about. I'll give this series another shot, hopefully it will convert me. Other than that, I might be compelled to see Joseph Gordon Leavitt: Bike Messenger purely for the Michael Shannon. Also, Lawless looks great with a script by Nick Cave and his Proposition cohort Hillcoat directing. Hell of a cast on that one as well with Guy Pearce looking exceptionally strange and awesome all at once.
I will keep updating the blog with my thoughts on these films as I see them and hope to do a post along this ones lines closer to the Fall/Winter Season. This is a great year at the movies already and looks to be only ratcheting up in quality and intensity as we hurtle towards its climax. The summer slate is stupendous, leading up to a packed Fall line up and new Tarantino and Peter Jackson to put the cherry on top come Christmas time. Thanks so much for reading and I look forward with great enthusiasm to sharing this outstanding year at the theater with my readership!
Wyclef Jean 
Wyclef Jean
Trey Songz
Now that Cabin in the Woods has been released and I've seen it a second time, I'd like to delve a little further into what exactly makes the film so special. I'm assuming you've seen it at this point, so consider yourself warned (and admonished if you have yet to support it). It's interesting how much the movie opened up for me with this sophomore screening. My initial viewing, I found it to be an intellectually engaging, moderately amusing first half of horror trope deconstruction that evolved into a rip roaring tribute to obsessive genre fandom in the back end. This second go round, freed from keeping up with the twists and turns and unburdened by the need to furtively dart my eyes about the screen trying to catalog each of the rampaging horrors, the films emotional core came into focus and its central philosophy was given room to breathe.
The first film I distinctly remember seeing in the theater was Clash of the Titans. The year was 1981 and 4 year old me was transfixed, instantaneously hooked on high adventure and silly monsters. The clunky Kraken dropped my jaw and ignited my imagination. Set free on Pegasus wings to soar untethered by cynicism or irony, soaking in the broadly acted spectacle. It would stand to reason that I would have been arm in arm with the throngs of movie nerds outraged at the 2010 remake. Frothing and foaming over the devil CGI replacing Harryhausen's handcrafted stop motion work. You know what though? I really enjoyed it. It was fun, fast paced, had some nice action and benefited greatly from highbrow actors camping it up and clearly having a blast with the hoky material. I had read about the atrocious 3D conversion, so avoided the murky extra dimension and upcharge, hence, no complaints with the presentation. Good, big, loud, dumb fun of the highest order.
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Pharaoh 
