November Movie Preview
So I was late with October (really late), my bad. Since November is another monster, I got it done early. The Myans warned us! Humbug! Sparkly vampires! Right, let's move on.
1. 2012 - Nov 13. Let me be clear: I am a HUGE fan of disaster porn, and this looks like the be-all, end-all for the genre. Sure, it's Roland Emmerich, who made The Day After Tomorrow, which had Jake Gyllenhaal running from COLD, but this looks like a monster. All the technological advancements of visual effects have brought us to the point where you can make a photorealistic depiction of the end of the world. Plot? Character development? Just give us enough to keep the mayhem going. And hey, it's John Cusack! And Woody Harrelson! Hopefully there will be some level of humor amongst the graphic depiction of the deaths of millions. Wow, that sounds wrong. I expect the same chills I got from watching Independence Day all those years ago, but with much better visuals. No IMAX release, but hopefully it'll be in ETX at the AMC for maximum impact.
2. THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX - Nov 20 (wider). Wes Anderson's films have always had an animated style to them, especially The Life Aquatic, and now he's committed himself fully. It's all stop motion animation, with no digital effects at all, an impressive feat in today's CG happy environment. The classic tale is brought to life with the voices of George Clooney, Bill Murray, and even Meryl Streep. No question it'll look fantastic, and should make for some great entertainment.
3. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS - Nov 6. Hey look, George Clooney! This screened to rave reviews at TIFF this year. Based on the true story of a military study to harness the power of the mind as a killing machine. Should be pretty goofy fun. Hey look, Ewan McGregor!
4. THE ROAD - Nov 25. A depressing book is made into a depressing movie, but dammit, it's Viggo Mortenson in a super-realistic post apocalyptic journey. Not exactly uplifting entertainment, but it should be compelling stuff.
5. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL: NEW ORLEANS - Nov 20. Man, that's a title. It's a remake of the infamous Harvey Keitel film with Nic Cage, which immediately terrified everyone who loved the original, but it's directed by the legendary Wernor Herzog. This should be completely insane. I don't think it'll be getting a wide release (they’ve already announced the video release for February), but it should be worth seeking out.
6. NINJA ASSASSIN - Nov 25. A live action version of an older anime directed by James McTeague (V For Vendetta). I figure it'll have some cool fight scenes and strong atmosphere, but not much plot. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised, and it's been a while since I've seen throwing stars in a movie. Ah, the 80s.
7. PLANET 51 - Nov 20. Finally, a movie where the human is the alien. An astronaut (Dwayne Johnson) is marooned on a hostile planet. Did I mention it's a cute animated film? Ohh, now you're disappointed. Or more interested, I'm not sure. It does look pretty funny, and it's also got Gary Oldman and John Cleese. It is odd seeing (hearing?) the Rock play a white dude though.
8. PIRATE RADIO - Nov 13. Released internationally as The Boat That Rocked, it's a british film about a ship that broadcasted rock music off the coast of england in the sixties, and the goverment's attempts to shut it down. Interesting piece of history with the always great Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead, and nearly every british actor on earth in many, many roles, including Roy from The IT Crowd and Nick Frost from Shaun Of The Dead!
9. A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Nov 6, IMAX 3D & RealD 3D. I love Jim Carrey, but I'm just not sold on telling the simple tale of Ebenezer Scrooge in mocap 3D a la The Polar Express. On one level, it allows Carrey to play all four main roles in the film (Gary Oldman plays Cratchit, Marley, and Tiny Tim!), but he probably could have pulled it off just as well with makeup. I'm sure the 3D will be impressive, but again, it just seems like overkill.
10. THE BOX - Nov 6. Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko, takes another kick at the can, retelling the classic Twilight Zone tale and stretching it out to feature length. You remember the episode, where a couple is given a button and told if they press it, they'll get $25,000, but someone they don't know will die. What was a simple moral dilemma told in a dingy apartment is now a big thriller with Cameron Diaz. If you never saw the original version, you'll probably get a lot more mileage from this.
11. PRECIOUS - Nov 6 (limited), Nov 23 (wider). This is low on my list, but it won the audience award at TIFF. It's an urban drama about a poor pregnant teen trying to make something of her life. For the record, the full title is PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE. I think they changed it when the action film PUSH came out earlier this year, and they didn’t want people to confuse Chris Evans with a large pregnant woman. Yeah, that would have been tough. Regardless, I’m sure it’s a good film, I’m just not big on urban dramas.
12. TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON - Nov 20. So, yeah. No, it’s not at the bottom, because it might actually be decent, or decently bad, or... whatever, there’s some cute girls here at least. I’m sure not going to sway anyone one way or the other on the matter. I think this one will open big, but the audience will shrink for the third and subsequent films.
13. THE FOURTH KIND - Nov 6. Milla Jovovich is investigating alien abductees in Alaska, only to become part of the terrible secret of space! They’re trying to convince people that it’s based on a true story, but it’s all poppycock. It’s also not getting good advance reviews, so it’s low on the list.
14. THE BLIND SIDE - Nov 20. I doubt that a high school football tale will play well north of the Mason/Dixon line, even with Sandra Bullock in the lead. She’s a pampered mom who takes pity on a large homeless teen with a troubled past and makes him play football, and he eventually ends up in the NFL. True story. More feel-good crowd pleasing white guilt. Some early reviews are actually positive, so I might be off base on this, but I’m sticking to my guns for now. Still looks better than ALL ABOUT STEVE. *shudder*
15. OLD DOGS - Nov 25. Robin Williams and John Travolta. One’s a womanizer, the other is a pathetic shell of a man. They somehow end up taking care of seven year old twins. Wackiness ensues! People get hit in the balls! Good actors work for a paycheck! Dumb audiences laugh! Disney makes money! Everyone dies a little inside!
So there’s some epics, and some probable epic fails. Here’s hoping for pleasant surprises. December’s got a nice mix of big guns and Oscar bids, should be a good one.
1. 2012 - Nov 13. Let me be clear: I am a HUGE fan of disaster porn, and this looks like the be-all, end-all for the genre. Sure, it's Roland Emmerich, who made The Day After Tomorrow, which had Jake Gyllenhaal running from COLD, but this looks like a monster. All the technological advancements of visual effects have brought us to the point where you can make a photorealistic depiction of the end of the world. Plot? Character development? Just give us enough to keep the mayhem going. And hey, it's John Cusack! And Woody Harrelson! Hopefully there will be some level of humor amongst the graphic depiction of the deaths of millions. Wow, that sounds wrong. I expect the same chills I got from watching Independence Day all those years ago, but with much better visuals. No IMAX release, but hopefully it'll be in ETX at the AMC for maximum impact.
2. THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX - Nov 20 (wider). Wes Anderson's films have always had an animated style to them, especially The Life Aquatic, and now he's committed himself fully. It's all stop motion animation, with no digital effects at all, an impressive feat in today's CG happy environment. The classic tale is brought to life with the voices of George Clooney, Bill Murray, and even Meryl Streep. No question it'll look fantastic, and should make for some great entertainment.
3. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS - Nov 6. Hey look, George Clooney! This screened to rave reviews at TIFF this year. Based on the true story of a military study to harness the power of the mind as a killing machine. Should be pretty goofy fun. Hey look, Ewan McGregor!
4. THE ROAD - Nov 25. A depressing book is made into a depressing movie, but dammit, it's Viggo Mortenson in a super-realistic post apocalyptic journey. Not exactly uplifting entertainment, but it should be compelling stuff.
5. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL: NEW ORLEANS - Nov 20. Man, that's a title. It's a remake of the infamous Harvey Keitel film with Nic Cage, which immediately terrified everyone who loved the original, but it's directed by the legendary Wernor Herzog. This should be completely insane. I don't think it'll be getting a wide release (they’ve already announced the video release for February), but it should be worth seeking out.
6. NINJA ASSASSIN - Nov 25. A live action version of an older anime directed by James McTeague (V For Vendetta). I figure it'll have some cool fight scenes and strong atmosphere, but not much plot. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised, and it's been a while since I've seen throwing stars in a movie. Ah, the 80s.
7. PLANET 51 - Nov 20. Finally, a movie where the human is the alien. An astronaut (Dwayne Johnson) is marooned on a hostile planet. Did I mention it's a cute animated film? Ohh, now you're disappointed. Or more interested, I'm not sure. It does look pretty funny, and it's also got Gary Oldman and John Cleese. It is odd seeing (hearing?) the Rock play a white dude though.
8. PIRATE RADIO - Nov 13. Released internationally as The Boat That Rocked, it's a british film about a ship that broadcasted rock music off the coast of england in the sixties, and the goverment's attempts to shut it down. Interesting piece of history with the always great Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead, and nearly every british actor on earth in many, many roles, including Roy from The IT Crowd and Nick Frost from Shaun Of The Dead!
9. A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Nov 6, IMAX 3D & RealD 3D. I love Jim Carrey, but I'm just not sold on telling the simple tale of Ebenezer Scrooge in mocap 3D a la The Polar Express. On one level, it allows Carrey to play all four main roles in the film (Gary Oldman plays Cratchit, Marley, and Tiny Tim!), but he probably could have pulled it off just as well with makeup. I'm sure the 3D will be impressive, but again, it just seems like overkill.
10. THE BOX - Nov 6. Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko, takes another kick at the can, retelling the classic Twilight Zone tale and stretching it out to feature length. You remember the episode, where a couple is given a button and told if they press it, they'll get $25,000, but someone they don't know will die. What was a simple moral dilemma told in a dingy apartment is now a big thriller with Cameron Diaz. If you never saw the original version, you'll probably get a lot more mileage from this.
11. PRECIOUS - Nov 6 (limited), Nov 23 (wider). This is low on my list, but it won the audience award at TIFF. It's an urban drama about a poor pregnant teen trying to make something of her life. For the record, the full title is PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE. I think they changed it when the action film PUSH came out earlier this year, and they didn’t want people to confuse Chris Evans with a large pregnant woman. Yeah, that would have been tough. Regardless, I’m sure it’s a good film, I’m just not big on urban dramas.
12. TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON - Nov 20. So, yeah. No, it’s not at the bottom, because it might actually be decent, or decently bad, or... whatever, there’s some cute girls here at least. I’m sure not going to sway anyone one way or the other on the matter. I think this one will open big, but the audience will shrink for the third and subsequent films.
13. THE FOURTH KIND - Nov 6. Milla Jovovich is investigating alien abductees in Alaska, only to become part of the terrible secret of space! They’re trying to convince people that it’s based on a true story, but it’s all poppycock. It’s also not getting good advance reviews, so it’s low on the list.
14. THE BLIND SIDE - Nov 20. I doubt that a high school football tale will play well north of the Mason/Dixon line, even with Sandra Bullock in the lead. She’s a pampered mom who takes pity on a large homeless teen with a troubled past and makes him play football, and he eventually ends up in the NFL. True story. More feel-good crowd pleasing white guilt. Some early reviews are actually positive, so I might be off base on this, but I’m sticking to my guns for now. Still looks better than ALL ABOUT STEVE. *shudder*
15. OLD DOGS - Nov 25. Robin Williams and John Travolta. One’s a womanizer, the other is a pathetic shell of a man. They somehow end up taking care of seven year old twins. Wackiness ensues! People get hit in the balls! Good actors work for a paycheck! Dumb audiences laugh! Disney makes money! Everyone dies a little inside!
So there’s some epics, and some probable epic fails. Here’s hoping for pleasant surprises. December’s got a nice mix of big guns and Oscar bids, should be a good one.