Archive for June 2010
The Tillman Story (Trailer)
I’m not a big fan of documentaries, so I didn’t want to watch this trailer when it came out. The first few scenes showed football footage, and I’m not one for sports films either so I almost stopped the trailer. I’m glad I kept watching, ‘cause this looks like a good movie. The Tillman Story is about Pat Tillman, a former football player who decided to join the U.S. Army. I won’t go into detail, but Wikipedia has got a great article on the man. It was the matter of Tillman’s death that got everyone talking. Basically, he was killed by friendly fire, but the military lied and told his family he was killed by opposing forces. The Tillman Story examines the controversy that followed, and the Tillman family quest to uncover what really happened to their beloved family member.
Red (Trailer)
I think I’ll start this by saying that Red looks…totally awesome. It’s about ex-CIA agents (including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren) who are retired, but are forced to come together for one last job. When they’re wrongfully accused of assassination, the team goes to break into CIA headquarters and uncover a shocking secret. This movie looks pretty good, it’s a welcome relief after The Green Hornet, (and it’s not in 3D!), and “Back in the Saddle Again” by Aerosmith? Like I said: Awesome!
Red opens October 15th.
New Movies for Friday, June 25th, 2010
- Knight and Day. Cameron Diaz’s life is turned upside down when she boards the same plane as Tom Cruise, an international super-spy. Yeah, yeah, I know, sounds like Killers, but at least there’s no Katherine Heigl or Ashton Kutcher. PG-13 for sequences of action violence throughout, and brief strong language.
- Grown Ups. A group of friends, including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and David Spade, reunite after their basketball coach dies, and, as you might expect, “hilarity” (I used that term lightly) and accidental abuse ensues. Sigh. PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity.
Here are the official websites for these movies.
The Green Hornet (Trailer)
Seth Rogen plays the title character in The Green Hornet. When his father dies and Rogen is left in control of his media empire, he wonders why he hasn’t been able to step up to the plate like his old man. From the comments about this trailer I learn that it was a TV series, and that it was a comic book too, probably before then. Anyway, Rogen and his friend Kato (Jay Chou) team up to fight crime, and they only way they know how to fight it is to commit it. Then there’s something about a car and a gas weapon and I can’t really tell if the car is the GH or if Rogen is the GH. This trailer is all a little confusing, and the movie just looks okay. And if Seth Rogen walked up to me and said he was going to fight crime, I probably wouldn’t believe him.
The movie is directed by Michel Gondry, and you might be thinking, “The Michel Gondry? Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry? Be Kind Rewind Michel Gondry? Huh.” Well, at least that’s what I thought.
Oh, and do I have to tell you it’s in 3D? ‘Cause it’s in 3D.
Coupons.com
Want to save some money? Coupons.com can help with that. The website features tons of coupons for things like food to books and magazines. It’s almost like a Target… but for coupons. (Yeah, I got nothing better.) There are coupons from some of your favorite brands. You just find the coupons you want, and then print them. (Well, not before installing their special printing software.) If you enter your zip code, you can find coupons for things in your area. You can also share coupons with your Facebook and Twitter friends, who probably like saving money too.
Movie on DVD: The Terminal
Looking for a fish-out-of-water film but don’t want to go anywhere near The Smurfs? I found a great one. The Terminal is about a man named Viktor Narvoski (Tom Hanks, sounding, along with Gru from Despicable Me, a little Borat-ish). During his flight, a revolution erupted in his home country of Krakozhia (I had to copy and paste that from Wikipedia, which tells me the country is fictional), and so he is stranded in Kennedy Airport. Sounds boring, but it is a very good film. It’s rated PG-13, however, so no kiddie stuff here, although maybe that’s a good thing. It’s a perfect movie. Please see it.
Trailer:
“The Smurfs” Teaser Trailer: Nothing is More Painful Than This
Are you feeling all happy and giddy from the Despicable Me trailer I posted yesterday? Are you confident that this trailer is going to be just like that one, a break from the usual kiddie crap?
Well, quit being so confident. It’s cliche time.
This movie recycles that old tradition where if you don’t have a story for your characters, plop ‘em in America. New York City, to be exact. And that’s just one cliche. This trailer recycles every single one.
Let me be clear: Every single one. There’s the serious-sounding opening, complete with foreboding music. Shots of famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower and Mount Rushmore. (And Times Square. We can’t have a cliche’d trailer without Times Square.) There’s a satellite view of the East Coast, which zooms us down to New York City. The Earth-zooming thing is, you guessed it, another cliche. The “Surprise” moment later on, where a large chunk of text crushes the city, another cliche. Had enough yet? Well, too bad…
There’s the large, obnoxious, in-your-face blue text on the title cards that zooms towards us, always a kids film cliche. The trailer is set to “Wild Thing”, the tag music for every horrible kids movie ever made. There’s the only-pretending-to-be-rude cuss phrase, in this case, “Smurf Happens”. I can see you getting faint. There’s the all-star cast, like George Lopez, Katy Perry (?!), Neil Patrick Harris, Sofia Vergara. (Yes. From Modern Family. Why, Sofia, WHY?) And, of course, IT’S IN 3D! This one sweeps!
Yep. The Smurfs, the movie. Ruining your childhood, summer 2011. Get ready.
Despicable Me (Trailer)
At first I dismissed the trailer for Despicable Me, thinking it was going to be just another children’s comedy. When I saw it in front of The Karate Kid, however, I was pleasantly surprised. It tells the story of Gru (Steve Carell), an evil genius who plots to steal the moon. His plans are put on hold when he inherits three little girls and is forced to care for them. Yeah, it’s in 3D. So what? At least it looks better than some of the other 3-dimensional family films coming out. (cough cough Alpha and Omega. cough Tangled. cough cough Step Up 3D.)
Although am I the only one who noticed that Gru’s voice sounds a little Borat-ish?
New Movies for June 18th, 2010
- Toy Story 3. In the third installment of Pixar’s animated series, the toys are shipped off to a daycare center where they are poked, prodded and played with by little kids who are thiis close to Uncanny Valley. G.
- Jonah Hex. Josh Brolin plays a bounty hunter who must track down and defeat his enemy, a man who can unleash hell upon the world. PG-13.
And that’s it for this week. Here are the official websites for these films.
Tangled (Trailer)
Let me start off by saying that Tangled, a new Disney movie, looks just okay. From the trailer, I’m guessing that “the kingdom’s greatest thief” has to learn to live with Rapunzel. You see, he’s accidentally hidden in the tower she’s locked up in. That’s basically what I can decipher. Oh, and there’s a lot of falling and the thief getting whipped and crushed by Rapunzel’s hair, all set to the tune of a Pink song. I heard Disney changed the movie’s name to Tangled in order to appeal to males, but I’m not that appealed by it. Here’s the trailer.
Popcorn Bytes 