Okay, so there was a big week last week for the movie industry. Iron Man heralded the start of the summer blockbuster season with a hundred million dollar debut. A big moneymaker that is also getting good reviews means a sequel is already in the works.
But to follow that up this week, we get what could be a lackluster weekend.
Speed Racer is going to be the clear winner as far as American dollars are concerned. It looks a little too flashy and colorful for my taste. It is a live-action cartoon though, so it is no surprise that it looks like a cartoon. The style of the movie looks nothing like the old cartoon though. That might be a draw for some people, but it seems like they took out every aspect of the classic show except the names.
On the romantic comedy side there is What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Asthon Kutcher. This looks like another the-funniest-part-are-in-the-trailer movie. With a promising supporting cast (Rob Corddry and Zack Galifianakis for starters) it should probably be better, but it looks like it'll be another formulaic typically cheesy boy-meets-girl crap fest with a formulaic twist.
No more major releases leave us with Frontier(s) from French filmmaker Xavier Gens. A horror movie meets a criminal/action movie set at a rural inn in the French countryside. Sounds like From Dusk Til Dawn in France to me. Might be worth watching for horror movie fans like me, but it might be yet another disappointment in a long line of disappointing European horror flicks.
The one movie this week that has me really interested is an international movie called The Fall. In limited release, we might not even get to see it here, but it should be visually thrilling and a wild fantasy film in the vein of Pan's Labyrinth.
Next week should be back to the blockbusters with the next Narnia installment.
--John Berry,
Online Editor