Screenplay by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man, Righteous Kill)
What is it?
A sequel to the 2006 hit, Inside Man. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin next year.
Who’s back?
Screenwriter Russell Gewirtz, Director Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jodie Foster.
Who’s not?
Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer’s characters from the original film are absent.
What’s it about?
Movies that I will see, in order of preference:
Encounters at the End of the World (trailer)
Director: Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn)
Werner Herzog’s Antarctica documentary finally arrives, to high acclaim. Obviously, excitement ensues. All hail Werner Herzog! As an added bonus (if you’re into this sort of thing), this may be the last best chance to save troubled ThinkFilm.
MC/RT: 82/95
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (trailer)
Director: Guillermo del Toro (Mimic, The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth)
As much as I loved Pan’s Labyrinth, I feel I should be more excited than I am for the next film by del Toro. I thought the first Hellboy was OK; I liked the characters a lot but thought the story was weak. But it’s hard to get around the problem of pitting immortal beings against each other – they’re immortal! All the Hellboy punches in the world don’t really matter. Maybe this installment gets around this problem, and broadens the depth and scope of the series the way X2 did.
MC/RT: 79/87
Tell No One(trailer)
Director: Guillaume Canet
French thriller that looks like a David Mamet film, but with a little more action emphasis than one would expect from Mamet. Terrific reviews, good trailer, and playing at a place I can see it free … what’s not to like?
MC/RT: 81/92
Movie that I may see, or may not:
The Wackness (trailer)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Sony Classics has been trying really hard to sell this one, with about a million different trailers (all of them various degrees of off-putting, I’m afraid) and what seems like a huge presence in indie-land to me. But I dunno. It looks like the very example of Mountain Air Syndrome to me – plays at Sundance, gets some buzz, no one ever cares about it again. Incidentally, Levine’s other directorial effort, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, has been sitting on the shelf for two years, even getting sold off by the Weinstein Company in the process.
MC/RT: 61/65
Movies I don’t care about, alphabetically:
Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot (trailer)
Director: Adam Yauch (Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!)
Basketball documentary by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.
MC/RT: 59/88
Journey to the Center of the Earth (trailer)
Director: Eric Brevig
I guess there are critics out there who are trying to convince me that this is actually good … but I’m not stupid.
MC/RT: 57/62
Meet Dave
Director: Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues, Hard Ball, The Shaggy Dog, Norbit)
Well, whatever else is accomplished here, at least this doesn’t look as out-and-out awful as Norbit did. Although I wish I had never seen Varsity Blues just so I could say I’ve never seen a Brian Robbins film. By the way, I’ve not included a trailer link, because it’s not on Apple trailers. I’ll chase trailers for the indies (although I get tired of doing that too), but not for a semi-major Fox release.
MC/RT: 45/22
The first trailer for something called Outlander has popped up online. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Ron Perlman and John Hurt.
I’m officially intrigued to see how their attempt to merge Predator, Reign of Fire, 300 and The 13th Warrior into a single film will turn out. It seems impressive visually, particularly considering the C-level cast.
Stay! Don’t run away. We want to argue with people.
We’ve got some other script reviews, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
Gladiator 2 – by Nick Cave (yeah, seriously)
Wolverine – an early draft by David Benioff
Valkyrie – by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander
The Happening – by M. Night Shyamalan (old news by now, but still a fun read)
Otherwise, feel free to comment. We’re not a terribly serious bunch, as you’ll probably notice.
