While I love to talk movies, I’ve been allowing the real world to interfere with my writing about them. (Sorry, Dave!) So I’m going to play catch up today. I also have a few books waiting in the wings for future reviews. Stay tuned!
The last time we talked about movies, it was February and the Academy Awards. Hope you’ve all seen The King’s Speech. Well worth the rental, believe me!
So it’s been kind of quiet for me and the cineplex. Heavens, I just noticed I haven’t told you what I’ve seen since December! Yikes!
January: True Grit (good); Black Swan (good but disturbing and difficult to watch); The Mechanic (not that great, even for a Jason Statham action flick).
February: Unknown (not bad, worth a rental); and rentals, Toy Story 3 (good), Winter’s Bone (depressing and difficult to watch), The Social Network (not worth it), The Town (decent action, Jeremy Renner and Ben Affleck are good), Saving Grace (fun but not great), The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (the third in the Swedish trilogy is well done, again difficult to watch, as are the first two).
March: The Company Men (depressing but well done), The Adjustment Bureau (very good!), and rentals Miss Pettigrew Lived for a Day (worth the rental) and The Children of Huang Shi (well done , based on a true story, but I didn’t like the ending).
April: Source Code (good with a neat twist), Hanna (definitely not worth it), and rentals How Do You Know (better than I expected) and Kinky Boots (fun).
May: Fast Five (I’ve seen the others in the series so had to see this one too), Thor (good action and special effects, light on plot, of course), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (fun, not much to it, though); and rental Just Wright (fun, lightweight).
For Memorial Day weekend, we have opening The Hangover Part II (no, thank you), Kung Fu Panda 2 (eventually), and The Tree of Life (in limited release, and I’ll probably see it eventually).
So what’s coming up in June? Not much, I’m afraid.
The first weekend of the month brings X-Men: First Class to the big screen. I enjoyed the others in the franchise, so this is one of the ones I’ll probably see in the theater. We also have the limited release of The Beginners with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. This one looks very good, and I hope it plays somewhere near me.
On June 10, Super 8 opens. With Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler, and directed by J.J. Abrams, Super 8 looks pretty good. I like science fiction and aliens, so this might be one to see in the theater. We also have in limited release a Norwegian release, The Troll Hunter, which might be worth seeing.
For the June 17 weekend, Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard, opens. I think I’ll go see this one in the theater, as the special effects look pretty awesome. Although, if it’s playing only in 3D, I’ll skip it. Also opening this weekend is Jim Carrey’s latest, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. I just saw the trailer for this one, and it looks like fun. A limited release is a documentary titled Buck, about a horse whisperer.
The last weekend of the month brings Cars 2 to your local theater. Lots of great voices, and even a couple of well-known race car drivers are on the list. Darrell Waltrip voices the character of Darrell Cartrip, and Jeff Gordon voices Jeff Gorvette. Looks like fun. An indie selection, A Better Life, looks pretty good, though I doubt if it makes it into many theaters.
You might keep an eye on July:Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens July 1, and the Harry Potter series concludes with The Deathly Hallows Part 2 on July 15. We also have another comic book coming to the screen with Captain America:The First Avenger opening July 22. And a big one for me will be Cowboys and Aliens, which opens July 29.
What’s on your to-see list? See ya at the movies!