Tuesday, September 1, 2009

@ RANDOM

The fact that Jerry Bruckheimer is paying some guy named Peter Craig to write Bad Boys 3 for director Michael Bay and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

I've got the baseball movie Sugar coming tomorrow from Netflix. Very pumped to see it. Have heard nothing but amazing things about it.

It now appears as if Terrence Malick's fifth feature film, The Tree of Life, will actually open this December. It's being released by a new specialty unit called Apparition Films so I'll be curious to see how wide the release is. The film stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and apparently, some dinosaurs. I will have to bring a change of pants to the theater. Thanks for the heads up on the release date tidbit, Joel. And here's a link to Joel's new spiffy blog:

http://theteencriticsblog.wordpress.com/

Disney buying Marvel means nothing to me. More rich people get richer. Corporate strategy. It'll be interesting to see if Disney puts Pixar and Marvel together for any of the upcoming projects...

The whole 10 nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars is both a great idea and a bad idea. I like it because now there's a chance that a few smaller movies with lower profiles could actually get some Oscar traction, thus making them more widely seen. But upping the count from 5 to 10 sort of dings the significance of being "nominated for the Best Picture Oscar."

Another Rambo movie (the fifth installment was just announced yesterday) is something I never thought possible after the most recent one, which was basically gonzo-violence-porn and one of the goriest things I've ever seen. What will Stallone come up with next?

I really can't wait to see this movie: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/themenwhostareatgoats/

This one too:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/aseriousman/

Good Bye Solo has been sticking to the ribs over the last few days. Same with World's Greatest Dad.

Gladiator and Braveheart both get released on Blu Ray today.

JimmyO over at Joblo loved Extract: http://www.joblo.com/review-extract

The excellent journalism/political thriller State of Play from this past April hits DVD today.

The viciously brilliant and extremely aggressive black comedy Observe and Report hits DVD on 9/22.

Army of Darkness hits Blu Ray on 9/15. Who doesn't love a little medieval slapstick humor?

The childhood classic Labyrinth hits Blu Ray on 9/29. Same with Dark Crystal. It's Jim Henson Day.

The fact that AMC's Mad Men has continued on with its brilliance makes me extremely happy. It's the fastest hour of the week.

It's pretty incredible that Inglorious Basterds is headed to well over $100 million in domestic ticket sales. Not that it's a bad film, far from it. It's just that I never thought that what is essentially a 2.5 hour partially French New Wave-styled art film would connect with audiences in the way it has. Sure, it's got some wild violence which is the stuff of water-cooler chat, but the film is mostly about people talking and characters being developed in a slow-burn fashion. I'm glad it's a hit. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

The very best movies I've seen so far this year (District 9, Public Enemies, The Hurt Locker, Up, and Gomorrah) have essentially been perfect. At least as far as I'm concerned.

Even though it's been met with mostly critical indifference, I'm still interested in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock.

6 comments:

Joel said...

Thanks for the shout-out, Nick! "I will have to bring a change of pants to the theater." HAHAHAHAHA! Same here. You might be mad to find out that I've only seen one Terence Malick film. "The New World," which was true cinematic beauty. Entrancing. I plan to see "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line" before "The Tree of Life," though, so that won't be true for long. I know. I can't believe me, either.

Oh, and I'm not one of those "up in arms" people who hate Marvel and Disney now, yada yada. I don't exactly like it, but I'm not crazy fuckin' mad or anything. Though I don't like the prospect of "Walt Disney Presents...Iron Man 2!!!!"

I dunno, I like the ten nominees thing. I think it's the Academy trying to be more diverse. Like you said, smaller films could gain some speed on the higher-profile movies. Also, films that deserve the title of Best Picture, like, I don't know, "District 9," for instance, could have a bigger shot at getting something.

And I need to start watching "Mad Men" soon. I've heard way too many good things about it (nearly all of them from you, actually) to dismiss it much longer.

This year has definitely turned out as one of the more interesting years for movies...ever. Pretty much.

Actionman said...

Good plan re: Malick's films. Don't forget about Badlands.

Joel said...

Ah, yes. Forgot that was his. Consider that one added.

giggles said...

WIll you discuss "Goodbye Solo??"

I'm pretty sure it's a must see and missed it's showing in the theaters....

Actionman said...

Giggles -- just scroll down a bit and you'll find my review for Good Bye Solo.

Chase Kahn said...

"Sugar" is fantastic -- look forward to your impressions.