Summer 2008 is going to be undoubtedly something to remember for a long time, so before we get there, I want to compose a list of reason and why I am looking forward to some, but not others.

First, Wall-E. Ratatouille was good, so were the rest of the Pixar features and shorts for that matter, but none are recognized as 10/10 by critics or fans… maybe a few here and there, but not significantly. So why am I so anxious to see this animated film? The world of cinema needs more animation. The Academy Awards need to be able to nominate an animated feature for best picture. There is no dialogue in the film.
I am a big fan of silent cinema, so when I found out that Wall-E didn’t have much of a vocabulary, I immediately decided this was in my “top 10 films of all times” list… and then reality came back and I still had not seen the film. Maybe it’s all hype at this point, but I cannot wait much longer to see Wall-E.

Second, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Pan’s Labyrinth was visually stunning, with all it’s Guillermo Del Toro influence, I am amazed it is not held to higher praise. Hellboy 1 had it’s weak spots, but was still an excellent comic book adaptation. Hellboy II looks more like a continuation, or maybe a cross over of the two Guillermo worlds. Meaning this could very well be an amazing film, featuring some of the most unique and terrifying monsters ever shown on screen. I must be quite the Guillermo Del Toro fan, I cannot find many others who share my excitement for this Hellboy installment.

Third, The Dark Knight. Everyone seems to be looking forward to this huge name film, which is well deserved though. Batman Begins was magnificent, one of the darkest and most appropriate superhero films made to date. The viral game ads to it the anticipation also, however, I am not a follower of it. I regret not getting in to the game from the beginning, but that was beginning while the Cloverfield ARG was underway, and I felt as though there was much more mystery behind that (since it wasn’t intentionally a game from the beginning). Heath Ledger makes an awesome Joker, an since his recent passing away, having him get an Oscar nomination for this role would be great. The film’s posters, fan made included, look awesome and are giving myself, and everyone else, unreal anticipation for this film.

Forth, Ironman. At a sort of unfair advantage, Ironman has been given several early reviews of nothing but praise. Hopefully the critics in this case are not full of hot air, I find myself holding quite high expectations for this. I have also been following the progress of the film since early pre-production, so my exposure to the idea has had time to grow and I’ve become very fascinated by the idea. Also, Avengers movies.

Fifth, The Son of Rambow. I’ve only seen one good preview for the film, but now I cannot find that same preview again. That preview has given me such great hope for this film that I now talk about it constantly. The idea is original, the story seems touching and the critics that were at it’s premiere all seemed to love it. This may be a surprise blockbuster.

Sixth, Hancock. Will Smith.

Seventh, Mongol. I had the opportunity to see this at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival but I blew it. Now I’m kicking myself with regret. Oh well, I am glad this is getting a large release and actually being advertised in front of popular feature films. Mongol looks amazing and I’ve heard great things from high places.

Eighth, Speed Racer. The trailers are making this appeal to mostly 6 year olds, but one trailer that has not made it’s way around very well is actually very dark and appealing. I do not know why these films are marketed like this. I love being jaded by visual effects in stupid movies as much as the next 300 fan (however, I’m not a 300 fan), but this seems like it may actually have a deeper message and some seriously ground breaking green screening.

Ninth, The Fall. I have only recently seem the trailer for this, and I am I huge Spike Lee fan. This film not only looks beautiful, it looks like it may be one of the best released this year. I actually only learned of it while writing the list below, or I would have placed this much higher.

—— I’m looking forward to the above nine films more than the rest, but there are still a handful of films months away from being released that I cannot wait to get my eyes on. Among them are: The Wackness, American Teen, The Mummy III, Pineapple Express (I will only see it opening weekend during the late showing with a packed theatre), Choke, Tropic Thunder, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Religulous, The Go-Getter, Baghead, Towelhead, Transsiberian and a few others that I may have forgotten to name.

-Keith

Protest against the church of Scientology on April 12th.

Young@Heart opened to limited screens on Wednesday, has anyone else seen it? I loved it.

Smart People (R) - Stars Ellen Page and that kid from A History of Violence. If any local theaters get this, I’ll sneak in.

Street Kings (R) - I’ll be sneaking in to this for sure. Forest Whitaker is an amazing man.

We’re finally almost out of the movie rut! hoo-rah!

- Keith

While we are stuck in a rut, waiting for the Summer movie season to begin… it’s worth noting that there are a few good titles being released in the coming days.

Coming on Friday, April 4th 2008:

Leatherheads - George Clooney is in this.  Who can resist George Clooney, especially when he is playing football for some reason?

Shine a Light - Scorsese and The Rolling Stones make a documentary, it looks really good. See it in IMAX.

Meet Bill (Limited Release) - Sound track sounds terrible, but Jessica Alba can ruin any good film.  I still have hope that this might be kind of good.

Also, on Wednesday, April 9th is a limited release of Young@Heart.   I was able to see this last weekend at a special screening and was part of an audience that gave a standing ovation.  I highly suggest you check this one out.

- Keith

It looks like Michael Cera and Edgar Wright are joining up on the fantasy/adventure/romance, Scott Pilgrim’s Little Life for Universal. This comes from the Hollywood Reporter:

‘”Life” tells the story of a young slacker (Cera) who meets the woman of his dreams but finds that he can only win her heart by battling and defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends.

The project is based on the Oni Press graphic novel “Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life,” written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Michael Bacall and Wright wrote the screenplay.”

I’m not sure what to make of this storyline quite yet, but I am still interested. Michael Cera is a favorite of mine, and it is an extreme rarity for his style of comedy to fail at making me laugh. It sounds like a fun project for him, and I hope they can pull together a great cast now that Cera is involved. The fact that Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is directing is very reassuring as well. It seems like an awesome combo, and it leaves me longing for some onscreen Simon Pegg-Michael Cera interaction, holy cow.

Wright and Cera have worked together before on a viral promo for Superbad, where Wright posed as an offensive reporter that pissed off Jonah Hill to no end.

Universal is looking to start production in the fall this year, and that makes for a fairly busy year for Cera. He is currently filming Year One, which also stars Jack Black and is being produced by Judd Apatow. After that he moves on to shoot Youth In Revolt directed by Miguel Arteta, and then finally, production can start on Scott Pilgrim’s Little Life.

Vice is a long standing, well recognized magazine that now has a web channel that continues to put out some of the best alternative journalism articles and videos around. They have recently given us a chance to take a peak in to the mysterious (and dangerous) North Korea to get a first hand look on what is happening there. The series created is hosted at VBS.tv now. You can follow the link below for it, too.

Very interesting and truly unique to watch, I highly recommend you watch it or pass around to anyone you might know.

- Keith

This weekend, March 14th, there are only four big releases hitting theatres. There is Doomsday (R), Horton Hears a Who (G), Never Back Down (PG-13) and Funny Games (R, Limited release)

Funny Games will more than likely be the only thing really worth seeing, but it is a remake and there has been little promotion for it. This one could go either way, but it does seem pretty promising so far.

Doomsday looks pretty bad, I won’t be seeing it unless it gets good reviews elsewhere.

Horton Hears a Who… Dr. Seuss books cannot be recreated with CGI.

Never Back Down, what?

- Keith

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/walle/hd/

The new Pixar film, Wall-E, had it’s final trailer released today, you can watch it on the Apple website.
I had originally been hoping that there would be as minimal dialog by Wall-E as possible. Sort of like an older silent film, only with more robots. I now am under the impression that we are being set up for a surprisingly verbose robot with too much to say, in a situation where less is more. I would have loved to have seen the animators and directors work to tell the story through actions and subtle details, but if this were the case and I was the one who made the new trailer, I certainly would not have added in any voices. That is just not how something like that should be marketed, but what do I know?
The reason I say the vernacular of a robot beyond a name, bleeps, bloops and curious clinking sounds would be a bad thing is that this probably means either a big let down for audiences everywhere or it will be aimed more towards just families, while the critics leave bad reviews and no award shows even nominate it past best animation. I guess this could also mean that I am dead wrong and Pixar has something amazing in store for us beyond a talking robot film, in which case I will delete all of this out of shame.

I am, despite the worries of a possible major let down, still very excited to see this film. Wall-E may be the film I look forward to the most this year actually. If there is no dialog I will hope this to be the first year an animated feature is nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
I will bring a review to this site for Wall-E before June 27th 2008, I assure you.

- Keith

This movie looks entertaining. It took the funniest part of an on and off funny movie called Hot Rod, Danny McBride, and gave him his own movie. He recently did a spot on The Conan O’Brien Show and I thought his interaction with Will Farrell and Conan were priceless. I’m not saying the movie looks amazing, but it looks like if you take it for what it is, it can make anyone laugh.

The Trailer:

Conan spot:

The Foot Fist Way is in theatres on April 11th.

I am very excited for Burn After Reading. It may even be my most anticipated film of the year, and I’m glad it is solidifying well. This comes from Yahoo News:

“Moviegoers won’t to have wait long to see the next film from Joel and Ethan Coen, the Oscar-winning brothers behind “No Country For Old Men.”

Their next project, the dark espionage comedy “Burn After Reading,” will be released September 12 via Focus Features, the studio said Monday. The cast includes George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand, Joel Coen’s wife.”

This cast is stacked with so much talent it is ridiculous. I can’t see any way for this film to go south. The Coen brothers are some of the best creative minds in the business (personal favorites of mine), and with their Oscars for No Country For Old Men it isn’t any surprise that they’ve attracted all this talent. They are masters of dark comedy and they’ve brought in people like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and John Malkovich, who are equally suited for the genre. September is still a ways away, but It’s comforting to have something to look forward to.

Due to scheduling conflicts Ellen Page has dropped out of Sam Raimi’s return to horror, Drag Me To Hell. Production for the film has been bumped back because of a longer than expected pre-production process. Pushing the production date back caused a scheduling conflict with two other films Page is set to star in. Drew Barrymore’s roller derby comedy, Whip It and the thriller Peacock also starring Cillian Murphy. Part of the time crunch is caused by the physical training preparations Page is undergoing for Whip It.

A statement from Ghost House and Mandate:

“We were racing to start production so that we could accommodate Ellen’s schedule, but like so many other productions trying to start before the potential SAG strike date, this one needed more time and we had to push back the start of production.”

You read correctly, we are facing yet another monumental strike in Hollywood.

Now the rush is on to find another actress for the role, while at the same time trying to keep investors that bought into the movie mostly based on Page’s participation in the film.