I don't mind saying, 2012 has seemed to me, on balance, a fairly underwhelming year for cinema. So here's to a new calendar year and the hope that we get a couple more true masterpieces. Though, glancing over the year's first month - traditional dumping ground that it is - I very much doubt that any of those are on the immediate horizon. Unless you are an insatiable lover of years-later horror sequels that announce their gimmick right in the title.
4.1.2013
Oh my god, Texas Chainsaw 3D, we were just talking about you!
11.1.2013
Having been punted from an awards-season berth owing to its unfortunately-timed "shootout in a movie theater" climax, Gangster Squad finally pokes its head up under the kind of circumstances that make it clear the studio was anxious to get rid of it. Which seems an unfair fate for a movie with Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, and Sean Penn, even if it does look a bit on the daft side for a period action film.
Meanwhile, a more appropriate sort of January release comes along in the form of Marlon Wayans's newest horror parody, A Haunted House. Because the Paranormal Activity movies haven't turned into enough of a spoof of themselves, yet.
18.1.2013
Won't lie: trashy genre films or not, I am on board with two of this week's wide releases: Mama, in which Jessica Chastain and a distracting-as-hell black wig square off against a dead woman's ghost, and The Last Stand, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger shoots things with guns. In both cases, the material looks rather unexceptional, and it is largely the spectacle of seeing the actor involved that seems interesting: Chastain, who can do anything, making a horror movie, and Schwarzenegger returning after so long in the wilderness with what looks to be a particularly down-to-earth, old-style action movie.
I am not on board with Broken City, in which Mark Wahlberg fights a corrupt civic government, because one half of the Hughes Brothers directing is not exactly my idea of a slam dunk for a tired old concept like this.
25.1.2013
Man, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is going to be so bad without being any fun at all, and yet I can't stop myself from being completely excited, because there's something about these dumb, dark & edgy fairy tales that delights the corroded, cynical part of me that wants the worst-case possible of Hollywood to come true all the time. Jeremy Renner's agent has some 'splaining to do.
A whole mess of talented actors team up with a mess of really not at all talented directors for the comedy anthology Movie 43, which seems like a really weird sort of movie for a wide release, but there you have it. Also, there's a new Jason Statham movie called Parker, in which my lingering affection for the man, despite how long it's been since he was in a good movie must compete with my intense dislike for Taylor Hackford's directing. I do not hold out much optimism
30 December 2012
7 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
Also, sorry about the whole "must be a registered user" thing, but I do deeply hate to get spam, and I refuse to take on the totalitarian mantle of moderating comments, and I am much too lazy to try to migrate over to a better comments system than the one that comes pre-loaded with Blogger.
Oooh, the Parker novels are so good (the basis of POINT BLANK and THE OUTFIT, for example), and except for the fact he has a British accent, Statham would make a pretty good Parker, since Parker's just an efficient brute, unencumbered by any emotion.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, Taylor Hackford. Crap.
My most anticipated for the month is easily Last Stand, both because of Schwarzenegger's return and Kim Jee-woon's English-language debut, and his films over the last decade have testified that he knows from genre films.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, Hansel and Gretel is being handled by a writer-director whose last film was a pretty terrific bit of stupid high-concept fun. Although the fact that it's been dropped to PG-13 after doing test screenings in hard-R and harder-R variants means I might just wait for the inevitable unrated DVD.
I gotta say, the trailer for Gangster Squad made it look fairly entertaining. Or maybe Emma Stone just makes everything look good.
ReplyDeleteLast Stand... Well, I think I am all but obligated by my 13 year old self to go watch Arnold blow shit up.
That Gangster Squad preview hits me RIGHT where I want it to, and makes me feel like an overenthusiastic twelve-year-old. If it's an accurate representation of the movie itself, I will be prepared to declare it TOTALLY AWESOME in a wholly non-critical way.
ReplyDeleteMr. K- I haven't read the books, but it's good to know that Statham might have a good Statham character coming up. I'm still hoping that it turns out to be director-proof material.
ReplyDeleteChris- Until just now, I somehow hadn't put 1 and 1 together on Kim Jee-woon directing the movie. Now I'm officially more excited for that than anything else coming out.
Brian, GeoX- my biggest concern with Gangster Squad is and has always been the casting of Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen. It could be that it speaks the film's desire not to be taken seriously, in a way that will be enjoyable, but I'll need the movie to make that argument when I see it.
Yup, Kim Jee-woon + Ahnold = all of my money.
ReplyDeleteI just watched "A Bittersweet Life" last night, and it was one of the best Asian gangster flicks I've ever seen. "A Tale of Two Sisters" and "I Saw the Devil" weren't too shabby either. So yeah, Kim Jee-woon gets my money too. Also, Arnold.
ReplyDeleteTo go off on a tangent, I recently found out there's a Bollywod remake of "A Bittersweet Life." For some reason, that just makes me so, so happy.