For sure:
Sex and the City 2
Toy Story 3
anything else I don’t know yet.
I remember when I was younger, and I took my first college film class, and the professor knew everything there was to know about film, but he had never seen Star Wars or Dumb and Dumber. Oh, to be that cool! To be that snobby and sophisticated! I couldn’t wait until my knowledge and taste reached a point where I truly didn’t want to see what Hollywood had to offer. But alas, it was tradition, and those movies were fun, damnit. I still paid up and watched time after time.
Now it’s happened, and I never even got around to putting conscious effort into it. I just naturally became jaded towards studio pictures. I didn’t see any summer movies last year, I won’t see any listed in the OP, and I won’t see any next year. I gave up on the Harry Potter series. I haven’t seen either Transformers movie, and I won’t. I don’t laugh at Judd Apatow movies, or anything Will Farrell does. I won’t see Iron Man 2. I haven’t seen a new action movie in over a decade.
When you’re a teenager, all you want is to be older. And then it just happens one day, and you realize how awesome being a teenager was, but you can’t go back.
I wish I could enjoy these movies again.
But I want you guys to enjoy them for me. Please. Think of me.
Poor, art-damaged me.
I’ll probably end up seeing most of them in the theater (I’ve seen 67 movies in the theater so far this year), but there are some I’m especially interested in seeing for one reason or another. The ones I’m MOST interested in are** Inception**, Micmacs, Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, Get Low and The American.
There are several that aren’t listed in your OP, and I cheated and back-dated a week. I’m sure there are several, mostly arthouse, that I don’t know about, yet.
Last Week
El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret In Their Eyes, won Best Foreign-Language Oscar. I just saw it last night, good film)
Please Give (with Catherine Keener, saw this last night, and I enjoyed it)
City Island (with Andy Garcia, saw it, want to see it again. Such a lovely, wonderful film!)
The Square (modern-day noir from Australia, saw it, and will keep an eye on the filmmakers. They could be destined for great things)
The Back-Up Plan (saw it, the naysayers can fuck off, it’s a sweet movie, and Jennifer was freaking ADORABLE!)
Harry Brown (with Michael Caine, had to choose between this and Exit, and Exit won so I have to go back and see it before it leaves)
The Human Centipede (I do want to see it, it looks hilariously sick, but I might have to wait until it hits the Brew&View.)
Movies I Want To See But They’re Playing In A Theater I Despise (it’s obscenely expensive with very uncomfortable seats):
Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
The Good Heart (re-teaming Brian Cox and Paul Dano)
Who Do You Love (biopic about Leonard Chess, who founded Chess Records)
I won’t see them unless they play elsewhere, or Landmark starts a “$5 Wednesday” program.
May 7
Exit Through The Gift Shop (a documentary about a filmmaker who documents street art, saw this last night, loved it!)
Iron Man 2 (I’ll see this on Tuesday after work. A nearby theater has “$6 Tuesdays”)
Babies (hate the trailer, so low priority, but I’m still seeing this Monday at an arthouse’s “$5 Monday” special)
The Good, The Bad and The Weird (“Off-kilter Korean neo-western.” Seeing this Monday too)
I don’t know when these open wide(er), but I’ll see them when they do:
Mother And Child (adoption drama with Naomi Watts, Samuel Jackson, Annette Bening)
Casino Jack and the United States of Money (I was completely oblivious to the whole Jack Abramoff scandal, whatever that scandal was. Now I can watch a documentary so I can know what the hell happened)
May 14
Robin Hood (Russell, Cate, von Sydow and Ridley? I wouldn’t miss it for the world)
Probably:
Letters to Juliet (the entire freakin’ movie is shown in the trailer, and it looks like Seyfried leaves Gael García Bernal(!!) for some snooty idiot, but I like Seyfried and Redgrave, so I’ll probably hold my nose, go to the cheap theater and see if it’s better than the trailer)
May 21
Holy Rollers (Jesse Eisenberg an an Orthodox Jew who becomes an Ecstasy dealer? I’m there)
Probably:
MacGruber (I haven’t watched SNL for 20 years, so I’ve never seen the SNL skit, but I laughed while watching the trailer, and anyway, I’m pretty much committed to see any movie that Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are in)
May 28
MICMACS!!! (from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of City of Lost Children, Delicatessen and Amélie. The trailer played in front of two movies I saw last night. The first time I watched in utter delight and amazement. The 2nd time I closed my eyes because I don’t want to get used to the fantastic visuals.)
Probably:
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (this looks so bad, but I’m hoping for the best because I love Jake)
June 4
Ondine (Irish mermaid fairy tale fantasy. A Neil Jordan film with a very cute-looking Colin Farrell, Stephen Rea and fabulous scenery. I can’t wait to see it)
Splice (SF thriller. I like Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, and it’s by the director of Cube)
Probably:
Killers (seems fun)
Get Him to the Greek (I loved Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and, except for the barf part, it looks funny)
June 11
Probably:
The A-Team (I never watched the TV show, but it’s got a great cast. It pisses me off that District 9’s Sharlto Copley is minimized in the trailer. I want to see him most of all!)
The Karate Kid (I’m hoping for the best with this, and not pre-judging it)
June 18
Toy Story 3 (Well duh!! How can it be anything but fantastic?)
I Am Love (Tilda Swinton. That’s all I need to know)
Cyrus (John C. Reilly, Catherine Keener, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill, and the directors made the funny Baghead. That’s all I need to know)
Jonah Hex (I haven’t seen the trailer, and won’t watch one. I won’t read any reviews or threads about it either. The cast alone is enough to get me to the theater. The script at least had to be worthwhile to get Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Aidan Quinn, Michael Shannon and David Patrick Kelly involved. May it live up to the cast.)
June 25
Probably:
Knight and Day (I do like Cruise as an actor, Diaz too, so I’ll probably see this at the cheap theater)
June 30
Probably:
Twilight Saga: Eclipse (mainly to see Dakota Fanning’s character. She’s cool)
July 2
The Last Airbender (love the genre and Shyamalan most of the time, so I’m very much looking forward to this)
Twelve (Joel Schumacher drug drama. I happen to like Ellen Barkin, Rory Culkin, and Emma Roberts, and I hope this is good).
July 9
The Kids Are All Right (family drama with Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo and Mia Wasikowska from Alice in Wonderland. From the director of High Art and Laurel Canyon)
Probably:
Despicable Me (just, well, because)
Predators (I wasn’t interested in this until I heard that Nimród Antal directed it. He hasn’t yet used up the bonus points he got for making the fantastic Kontroll. Please let him have a hit so he can go back to making movies in his own vision!)
July 16
INCEPTION!! (I haven’t seen a trailer, haven’t read anything about it except for a spoiler I didn’t want to know from ArchiveGuy’s misleadingly-titled “spoiler-free” thread, which I closed immediately, hoping I’ll forget what I read. I don’t want to know ANYTHING, or hear ANYTHING, more than the picture on the poster. If a preview comes on while I’m in the theater, I’ll plug my ears, close my eyes, and bend over, “lalala’ing” to myself. Can’t wait can’t wait CAN’T WAIT!)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (sue me, this looks like great fun!)
July 23
Salt (well, first, it’s by Phillip “Rabbit-Proof Fence,” “The Quiet American” Noyce. Second, I like Angelina Jolie. Plus, it’s got Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Third, just because.
Probably:
Dinner for Schmucks (I like Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Ron Livingston and Zach Galifianakis. I’ll have to see reviews.)
July 30
GET LOW (This looks fun and thoughtful. I love Sissy Spacek, Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, the 1930’s time period, the music from the time period, the idea of having a funeral party while you’re still there to enjoy it. Plus it’s been getting good buzz from festival screenings. This is one of those movies that people complain “they never make anymore” and so of course it will die at the box office because the people who complain will not going to the theater to see it, so fewer of them get made)
Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron is making good choices with his movies, alternating bigger budget teen stuff with interesting indies like Me and Orson Welles. This one looks interesting, though I’ve already heard one big spoiler that I wish I hadn’t heard)
I Love You Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann and Jim Carrey in a gay comedy/drama love story? Sounds interesting enough to me. It got good buzz at Sundance)
August 6
The Other Guys (well, I like Mark Wahlberg, and Will Ferrell can be funny. It’s also got Steve Coogan, Eva Mendes and Samuel Jackson. The director did both Anchorman and Talledega Nights and I liked both of those. My mind is open)
August 13
Eat Pray Love (the cast alone is enough to get me to see it. Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup, James Franco, Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis. Plus, hey, lots of great scenery)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (looks like fun, and I like Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick and Jason Schwartzman. Plus the director made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz)
The Expendables (oh hell, I’d see it for Jason Statham alone but the rest of the cast looks fun too. It’s Brittany Murphy’s last role too)
Probably:
Tales from Earthsea (animated film based on an Ursula Le Guin novel, made by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki son. They’re very big shoes to fill, but he learned from a master so it’ll be interesting to see. I’ll only see the subtitled version though)
August 20
Probably:
Takers (I like Matt Dillon, Zoe Saldana, Hayden Christensen, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, but man oh man are these types of movies starting to blend together)
Nanny McPhee Returns (oh sue me, I liked the first one, and this one has Ralph Fiennes, Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith backing up Emma Thompson.
August 27
Happythankyoumoreplease (the synopsis makes it sound insufferable, but I’ve heard it’s witty, charming, endearing and thoughtful. The crowd went wild for it at Sundance. It could be this year’s breakout film)
Probably:
Going the Distance (I’ll admit that I want to see the adorable Drew Barrymore and the adorable Justin Long in a film together before they break up completely. Plus it’s the feature film debut of Nanette Burstein, who directed On The Ropes, The Kid Stays in the Picture and American Teen)
Centurion (I kinda have a thing for sword & sandal movies. I’ll have to check reviews)
September 3
THE AMERICAN!! (how could you leave this off the list?! Starring George Clooney as a master assassin in Europe, directed by Anton Corbijn, who directed the fantastic Control about the Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, with Sam Riley and Samantha Morton. I think I’ll love this, but from skimming posts from people who’ve seen it, it’s going to be loathed by people with short attention spans who can’t follow slow, complex movies, so having to put up with whiners will be excruciating)
Machete (I wouldn’t miss this for anything)
Born to Be a Star(Christina Ricci as the lead character’s porn star mother? I have a straight-girl crush on Christina Ricci, so I will definitely be there)
I love your enthusiasm. I have to admit, I thought I would be the only one with Twelve on my list.
Both of Antal’s American films (Vacancy and Armored) have been hits (at least, they made a lot of money versus how much they cost). So I think he’s doing OK.
Plus, they were way better than they had any right to be, so I’d say his vision is just fine.
After her spirited support for Avatar, I have come to realise Equipoise is unusually passionate about film.
There’s someone else here who sees several movies a week. I can’t remember who, but it mystifies me how they find the time.
I hadn’t heard much about this movie but in my casual jumping around skimming, trying not to let my eyes land on any spoilers, my general impression was that those who were snarking about it fell into 3 categories:
-
trying to “cleverly” equate it in a derogatory way with Batman & Robin, lest people forget that Joel Schumacher directed Batman & Robin, and therefore anything else he does has got to be as bad (let’s just sweep Tigerland, The Lost Boys, Falling Down, The Client, Flawless, Phone Booth and Veronica Guerin under the rug),
-
trying to “cleverly” equate it in a derogatory way with the TV show Gossip Girl, because the lead actor, Chace Crawford, is from that show, and lord knows anyone who becomes known for a popular TV show should not even try to do something different, especially in feature films (does anyone even remember that George Clooney first became known and popular on ER?), and
-
people who read the book and whine about changes.
Lucky for me, I’ve never seen Batman & Robin, I’ve never seen one single episode of Gossip Girl and so haven’t the slightest clue who Chace Crawford is, and I haven’t read the book, so I can go into the movie with an open mind and judge it on its own.
Ha, depends on the film. Some of my very favorite films I never or hardly ever talk about, because I’m TOO passionate about them. As much as I liked it, Avatar was far from my favorite film from last year. My two favorites were Away We Go and Moon, and I’ve barely mentioned them. Then again, there wasn’t a multi-page thread about Away We Go that I could sink my teeth into.
Dio and ArchiveGuy both see a lot of films. As far as finding the time, for me it’s easy. My husband loves movies as much as I do so we go together. When he’s off on a business trip I go alone. I have no kids at home or even in the same city, and I don’t have a dog that needs walking. I work, but I don’t bring my work home. My hobbies are movies and specific music. You could say I have no life and so can see a lot of movies, but I say, at this point in time in my life, movies and music are my life.
That’s good to know. I missed both of those so I’m glad they did well. Not having seen them, I’m in no position to talk, but neither seems anywhere near the level of Kontroll, artistically. I suppose I should see them, and Predator, before I spout off though.
It takes something like Titanic to pull me into a movie theater. Looking over that list, I think there’s about a half dozen I might want to actually rent, sometime. I’d go see Harry Potter in the fall.
May 7
Iron Man 2 - Today
May 14
Robin Hood - Yes, probably this weekend.
May 21
MacGruber - not if you paid me.
June 4
Killers - maybe
June 11
The A-Team - yes
The Karate Kid - maybe
June 18
Jonah Hex - yes
July 2
The Last Airbender - yes
July 16
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice - yes
August 13
The Expendables - yes
September 3
Machete - maybe