Super Hero Movies of the Future

2011 is going to be huge for super hero movies. So is the future that's coming after that. Next summer alone will have both a Captain America movie and a Thor movie for Marvel. And then there's the X-Men new movie, X-Men: First Class, directed by Mathew Vaughn (the guy who was supposed to do X-Men 3). From DC, next summer will have Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern. And somewhere next year is Seth Rogen as The Green Hornet. We are also just days away (hopefully) from hearing who Chris Nolan casts in his new Batman movie to play the Riddler (speculation says it will either be Joseph Gordon Levitt or Tom Hardy, both were in Nolan's Inception). And of course the summer after next will bring us The Avengers from Marvel, featuring heroes from all of the recent marvel movies. But in sequel / reboots news, they just hired Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) to direct a new Superman movie, Darren Aronofsky is in contention to make the Wolverine sequel, Andrew Garfield from the Social Network is starring in the Spider Man reboot, and Nicholas Cage seems like he's on board to be in a Ghost Rider sequel. It's getting out of control. And that's probably a good thing. I think they should bring back The Punisher and Blade and have them both star in a movie together, The Punisher vs Blade. Have the Punisher fall for a Vampire chick that Blade is out to kill. It could cash in on all the vampire-romance popularity brought on by Twilight and True Blood. And what about the Fantastic Four? No news of that series as of late, but its only a matter of time before Fox has to remake it to hold onto the rights. And I still want to see a Silver Surfer movie and know which director would be interested. Quentin Tarantino. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but he is the biggest Surfer fan as evidenced from Reservoir Dogs, the dialogue he wrote for Crimson Tide, and his love of the Richard Gere film Breathless. At least approach Tarantino. And get JJ Abrahms to make a superhero movie dammit. He would be pretty awesome, just look at what he did for Star Trek. Not all of these films will be quality, but here's hoping with some of these great directors tapped (Vaughn, Snyder, Aronofsky), the future of superhero movies will be bright.

Summer 2010: looking ahead

This summer doesn't look to be all that great. The same can be said of this year really. So far, I have only seen one really good film, the Martin Scorcese mystery / thriller Shutter Island. And there have been plenty of average movies, from Date Night to Hot Tub Time Machine. As far as the summer, there are only two kinds of worthwhile summer movies, action movies and comedies. For action, the movies that look good are Salt, Knight and Day, and Inception. For comedy, there's the August Will Ferrell movie The Other Guys and of course Toy Story 3. That's about it. The summer kicked off to a lousy start in the first few weeks of May with Iron Man 2 and then Robin Hood, two superhero movies (let's be honest, Robin Hood is a superhero, no different than Hawkeye from the Avengers, but since his story has been told over and over again, and he's not in comic books, they call him a legend). Both Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood were okay, but far from great. Skipping over Shrek 4 and Sex and the City 2, examples of them just cranking out more sequels on the conveyer belt, we now have our first real comedy which is the Jonah Hill movie Get him to the Greek from Sarah Marshall's director. Supposedly its vulgar and funny like the Hangover, but I have my doubts. Hill was great as the crazy high-schooler in Superbad, but it looks like he's playing the straight man in this movie,which is the exact opposite of what he should be playing. And Russell Brand is freakin annoying. So I don't know about that one.

There's Toy Story 3 coming out in a few weeks, which I'm sure will be funny, and enjoyable. And then we're with Tom Cruise in Knight and Day, doing the spy thing only in a comedic way. He actually considered starring in the other spy movie, Salt, only figured it was too close to Mission Impossible. Good call. Tom Cruise in a comedy should be fun. Last thing we want to see is him make another dull spy-drama like that Bryan Singer Nazi movie he made about a year ago, Valkyrie.

So we have two spy movies, one in June and one in July. One a comedy, the other a thriller / mystery. They both have good directors behind them too. Knight and Day is by James Mangold the man who brought us Copland and Identity and then turned a little more serious when he made Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma. Clearly this guy likes trying different genres. He's even the guy who made Girl Interrupted, Angelina Jolie's breakout oscar-winning performance movie. And now he's going for spy movie-comedy with an all-star cast. I believe Tom Cruise can do comedy. From his black comedy Magnolia (oscar nominated) to his hilariously brilliant role in Tropic Thunder, comedy is actually the best thing he's doing these days, so I am totally on board.

As far as Salt, you couldn't have found a better director. Phillip Noyce is the go-to American-international spy movie director, much like how Ridley Scott is the go to historical epic-battle movie director. Noyce made Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. He also made more quiet films like The Quiet American and Catch a Fire. He's the exact opposite of James Mangold who skips around from genre to genre. Noyce is good at what he does and he also found the perfect cast. Angelina Jolie has been looking for a female Bond movie for some time now. When Cruise declined the movie, she had it rewritten for a female lead, and I completely support the idea. Aside from that, you've got Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, two guys who pick their projects well. Ojiofor is coming off of Redbelt and American Gangster. Schreiber is coming off of Wolverine (fun, dumb) and the Daniel Craig World War 2 movie about the Bielski brothers, Defiance.

And there's the movie that has more potential than any of them... Inception. Chris Nolan is at the top of his game right now. His Dark Knight did so well, and was so mysteriously wound, he's becoming the new M Night Shamalan and just in time, because that guy's only getting worse and worse. But Nolan has been poised to replace him since the beginning of his career. From the Following to Memento to Batman Begins, he seemed to be able to do this genre right every time. In between his two Batman movies, he made the Prestige, as mysterious as the rest of them. And now in between the second and third Batman movie (the third hasn't started being made yet), he's got Inception with buildings being folded up like puzzle pieces in the trailer and the tagline "Your mind is the scene of the crime." It might end up being too sci-fi and out there and lousy, but for now at the very least it looks intriguing. And if you look at this guy's track record, you couldn't ask for a better director to be tackling this kind of movie.

I won't get into the Will Ferrell movie right now, because it's so far off. It won't be here until August, and right now we really aren't being told very much about any of the August movies. There's something with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long and then something else with Luke Wilson. But for now, we have spy movies and action movies and mysteries and even some comedy courtesy of Tom Cruise and a bunch of toys. We have three outstanding directors working in the genres they do best. And then there's Toy Story 3 for the kids and the kids in all of us. I like that they took their time with this trilogy, which began in 1995, unlike Shrek which came out in 2001 and is already up to their fourth movie. I lost interest after the second. But as far as keeping it fresh and looking ahead, there is plenty of potential out there and I can't wait to see which of these four movies can deliver.

Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes, nothing terrible, nothing great

As the year winds down and we get our final entries into theaters, the last films that seemed to have potential are amounting to very little after all. About a month ago, there were four oe five films that looked pretty good. The John Woo movie Red Heart or whatever, that nobody saw, and Ninja Assassin which is supposedly terrible were two of them. Then there was Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes, both of which, were nothing special. And finally there is Avatar which I have yet to see. For the recent two films that I did see, Up in the Air is the better of the two, an enjoyable movie that just doesn't branch out with creativity the way Clooney's Michael Clayton did two years ago. Instead, it keeps things very low key, with Clooney basically playing Clooney in all mannerisms and temperament. The plot covers all the bases, but it is so precise that it feels formulaic. Like they made sure to cross all the is and dot all the ts. Instead of going down a checklist (circular ending, character change), creative movies reinvent their own structure and formula. Take the movies from 2007, not just Michael Clayton, but also No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Gone Baby Gone, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Sherlock Holmes is also not a bad movie, but it has little going on aside from some occasional smiles at humorous moments. The plot is adequate and somewhat of a mystery, but this is Guy Ritchie which means action and style above all else. He does a find job with those two things, and that's what gives the movie it's momentum, but in the end, it is an entriely forgetable film.

Let's hope Avatar is great, because right now the best of 2009 list is looking pretty shabby.

Winter movies with potential

There aren't a whole lot of movies that I'm pumped for this winter season. After all, we have already encountered the new movies from two of the best filmmakers we have working today, Tarantino and the Coen Brothers. But still, there is some potential in the air. Some newer directors who have only been established in the last five to ten years have their latest projects on the way. Take Jason Reitman who really made a name for himself in 2007 with Juno. His latest movie, the George Clooney vehicle, Up in the Air, looks even better. And James McTeague, who really only got started as a director the year before, with 2006s V For Vendetta, also has a new project coming out. That film is Ninja Assassin and looks like it is holding nothing back. On the topic of action and a movie that looks like the director was born to make it, there's John Woo's new film Red Cliff. It looks like a movie by Zhang Yimou, the only other action director who could have possibly made a film like this. Getting back to America for a moment, there are two other films worth noting. One is actually more British than American, despite starring Robert Downey Jr, and that movie is Sherlock Holmes, directed by Brit director Guy Ritchie. The other movie is James Cameron's Avatar. He hasn't made a movie since 1997s Titanic and this one looks like the thing he's been waiting to make for the past decade. So there you have it. Five movies.

Ninja Assassin

Red Cliff

Up in the Air

Sherlock Holmes

and

Avatar.

They can't all be great. I know that. And my guess would be that Up in the Air is the most sure thing of the pack. But they all look like they'll be fantastic and seem to have a lot of potential going for them.

A Serious Man, not an easy movie to figure out

I saw the most recent Coen Brothers movie, A Serious Man, the other night, and once again these guys found a way to surprise me. Honestly, nothing they do should really surprise me anymore, but this one was pretty unique. It was very Jewish and very into 60s rock. The music was Jefferson Airplane and Jimmy Hendrix and the plot was a black comedy about a man whose life was falling apart. In that way it reminded me of their film noir The Man Who Wasn't There, only there were no crimes and murders here. But there was certainly a femme fatale. Or two. The movie told of this man and his son and his wife leaving him for another man, and his job at school (a blackmail incident, so yeah, some crime I suppose), and his possible tenure. During the course of the film, the man goes to see three rabbis and each one is a pretty humorours experience. The tooth story is truly wonderful. The movie as a whole is just okay, but like most of their movies, I'm sure its smarter than it appears on the surface and will take some serious thinking about and maybe even multiple viewings to truly understand.

Wild Things, aint really wild, but is still okay

The Wild Things isn't quite as good as it should have been. It's a fine movie, but it's not really light or care-free. Spike Jonze has always been an interesting director, but also fairly dark. He's delved into depravity with his past two movies, and even though Wild Things might seem like a chance for him to break away from that (a movie about a fantasy island full of beasts), he doesn't. The movie treats the beasts like people, giving them real personalities and psychological depths. That's not really a bad thing, but it's probably darker and more thought-oriented than most expect. This is not a feel good movie. But it is interesting. The voices and costumes and animation and look of the film are all wonderful. James Gandolfini as Carol is terrific. And the story is alright. They say that this movie is closer to the real experience of being a kid than any other movie and that's actually true. But by the real experience of a kid, it includes all the bad things. Loneliness, not fitting in, unexplainable rage, things like that. It is a smart, good movie, but it is also sad. And if you want to enjoy it, you will need to do some thinking.

Law Abiding Citizen - a fairly good time

Jamie Fox and Gerard Butler star in a new thriller from director F.Gary Gray, and it's one of the best things any of the three of them has ever done. For Butler, he's got a few films that are better (300, Rock N Rolla), for Fox, this is probably his best, and for F Gary Gray, well, he's done a bad job with movies more often than a good job (Be Cool).

But this movie is a step up for all of them. It's about one man taking on the system and by the system I mean the city of Philadelphia. That one man is Gerard Butler, and the first quarter of the movie, the setup if you will, is fairly conventional. Man loses family to killers. Man becomes killer and goes after those responsible after court fails him. It's all very familiar from movies like Death Sentence. But then Butler goes after the cops and things get interesting.

He's got one trick up his sleeve after another, and they're all a lot of fun. There's even a nice little surprise where the magic trick is revealed and we learn how he did it all. The movie is both a thriller and a mystery and I like that it is not a one on one showdown, and instead has Butler target everyone in the cities government, including both the mayor and city hall. In that way it reminds me of The Dark Knight. Butler is very good in the role and F Gary Gray keeps things pretty edgy. It's a fun time at the movies and something a little different.