With Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' coming soon -- a rumored return to the universe of his 1979 'Alien,' a more definite return to science-fiction for Scott most certainly and a showcase for actors like Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Idris Elba … Well, it's to be looked forward to.
And we've got a suggestion for an older film to watch to help get you excited (and no, it's not 'Alien').
Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom,' opening this week in limited release, is what we've come to expect from Anderson, the mind behind 'Rushmore,' 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' and 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' -- somehow completely artificial and entirely heartfelt, loaded with dry punchlines that, somehow, bring tears to your eyes. The story of two 12-year-olds who embark on a runaway adventure of love, the entire film takes place on an Island called Penzance; that's not a name picked at random.
"Oh," people say to me as we make small-talk on airplanes, "that must be awesome, to get paid to see movies." That this comes up the week I saw 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' was, of course, no coincidence.
It's rather like suggesting a gynecologist gets paid to see naked chicks; accurate, but perhaps a bit simplistic. I get paid to see movies you would walk out of on an airplane, I tell those nice people; then I have to actually think about them, and have something to say about them, when you'd just shake your head and say, "That was crap," and move on. Here's where 'What to Expect' comes in.
A friend of mine mailed me this morning, sharing a link to the supercut of every opening lyric performed by the late Adam Yauch, who died last week at 47, better known as MCA of The Beastie Boys. This friend of mine -- known him for years -- is, like me, a big music nerd, and noted "I can't believe I'm still thinking about this; like I knew the guy or something."
Promoted, advertised and teased within an inch of its four-colored, high-flying life, 'The Avengers' opens this weekend, and Disney gets to finally bust open the multi-billion-dollar toy chest it bought when it purchased Marvel Comics and play with all the action figures -- Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. Putting aside the fact the film feels like a hallucination you would have while locked in a sauna during a house party at Sundance in '96 -- "It was hot, it was loud, very few things made sense, and on occasion I saw Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo …" -- it's also a big step up for writer-director Joss Whedon, who's given a big budget and big canvas and big characters to play with.
At the same time, though, Whedon has to return all the toys to the box pretty much as he found them so some other kids can play, which kinda limits what he can do; that sense of weird, corporate predetermination is why I found myself re-watching Whedon's prior feature film, 2005's 'Serenity' and, even in the absence of power armor and divine hammers and emerald forces of pure rage, think it's a better film than 'The Avengers,' even as it's very similar.
Now that many of you -- or a lucky few, anyhow -- have seen 'The Cabin in the Woods,' the goofy/gruesome horror-comedy, let's assume that anyone who's going to read this has seen the film so we can talk honestly and openly.
