Looking Ahead: Fall 2010

Well, it would appear that summer is over for good, my preemptive FITS Awards notwithstanding! So, not that the time for stupid people going to the theatre has passed, we can get to the real meat. Oscar Season is just around the corner, but, before we get into the full swing of things, Fall is put on the stand to wow us. What's coming up in the next three months, and should you care? Take a seat, children! Uncle Seb is gonna take good care of you!

THAT TREE IS ON FIRE!!! THAT TREE... oh wait!

The Ones to See

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: Harry Potter movies got back on track with Half-Blood Prince last year, and Deathly Hallows: Part 1 looks to be even better. Since it's two movies, every part of JK Rowling's masterpiece will be put on screen for your viewing pleasure. We wouldn't have it any other way. Part 1 is more of a thriller, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione evading Death Eaters as they search for the Horcruxes. The action that featured heavily in the last trailer will come in Part 2, but that's not until next year, so, we'll have to make due with this. That's alright with me!

The Social Network: David Fincher takes a break from weirding us the fuck out to deliver the "true" story behind the creation of Facebook! This movie looks great! Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake all look poised to graduate into a new class of acting with this. With a script by Aaron Sorkin and direction by one of the modern greats, The Social Network looks ready to dominate the awards season!

Due Date: It's by the guy who made The Hangover! It has Zach Galifinakis! It has Robert Downey Jr.! What the hell else do you need to know?

127 Hours: Danny Boyle follows up Slumdog Millionaire with the true story of Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who was forced to amputate his own arm when it became trapped by a boulder. James Franco stars! Franco is a good actor, and anything Boyle touches turns to gold! 

Nowhere Boy: This one lit up the festival circuit earlier this year! It tells the story of John Lennon as a teenager, delving into how he met Paul McCartney and how the two of them formed some band no one's ever heard of. Aaron Johnson, aka, Kick-Ass, is Lennon! There hasn't been a biopic of Lennon, to my knowledge, least of all one dealing with his younger years. I'm there!

Hereafter: Clint Eastwood takes a break from gritty, real world dramas and dips his toe into the supernatural thriller pool! Think Crash, mixed with Final Destination, minus all the bloody disgusting deaths, and you have an idea! 

Buried: I don't really know much about this movie, but the concept has me sold! Ryan Reynolds plays a guy who suddenly finds himself buried alive! From what I've heard, it's a very tight knit, incredibly claustrophobic thriller, well made and very well acted! I've been a defender of Reynolds, and I'm thrilled that he is finally in something where he can show off his great talents. 

I'm psyched!

The Ones to See (With Reservations)

Red: It's based on comic that I've never heard of. The plot seems cliched and old school. The action looks a little ho-hum! But, it has Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich, all wielding various sizes of highly destructive weaponry! That could be good!

Megamind: Ok, it's by Dreamworks Animation, aka, poor man's Pixar! Though they have been coming into their own as of late, their films still leave much to be desired! Now, Megamind, which stars Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, and Tina Fey looks a lot better than their usual fare, so, you never know!

Skyline: Ok, the trailer looks positively sick! Really neat looking visuals make this out to be this year's Moon or District 9. However, it's just another alien invasion movie, and it's being helmed by the guys who gave us Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. I'm going in apprehensively!

Let Me In: It's an American remake of a really excellent foreign thriller. Now, American remakes can be really good (see The Departed), but, for the most part, remakes that hark from our land of purple mountains majesty tend to be more interested in selling tickets with cooler visuals and more violence! Let Me In looks good, but, it's part of a sub-genre that has a pretty ugly history!

My Soul To Take: Ok, it's a teen slasher movie, but, it's not a remake, and it's brought to you from the mind of Wes Craven! It could be good!

Jackass 3D: The last two entries into this series were unmitigated pieces of shit, sure! But, boy, were they fun to sit through! Come on. How can you not get a kick out of seeing these guys do the stupidest things ever! This one is in 3D, but, it's good 3D, so, the extra money might be worth it!

Paranormal Activity 2: I haven't seen the first one; I'm too chicken! But, I am aware of the genre it's in, and how sequels in that genre usually fare. Does anyone remember the second Blair Witch Project? I didn't think so!

Monsters: Think The Road meets District 9, and you have a good idea of Monsters. The trailers make it look cool, and the idea of having a quarantined section of the planet where aliens run wild is a fresh one! It just looks too much like Cloverfield for me to get fully on board!

Faster: The Rock, it seems, has finally woken up and is returning to action movies! That's good! What's bad about this? It's a full on serious action movie! The Rock has made a few action movies in his time, only one of which was any good! That movie was The Rundown, which was an action/comedy hybrid. His other, serious pictures were all pretty terrible! Be wary on this one!

Devil: It has a really cool premise, and the trailer looks terrifying! But, it bears the name of M. Night Shaymalan. I'm already less interested!

The Town: Ben Affleck's second directing job after the excellent Gone Baby Gone looks good, to be sure. But, it looks like it's playing it safe! How many times have we seen a bad guy become a good guy for the woman he loves? It has a damn good cast, but, the cliched story and significant increase in the violence leave me a little distressed!

Easy A: I've heard a lot of people that are excited for this one! Emma Stone is damn good comedic actress, and her supporting players are all very good as well! But, the trailer did absolutely nothing for me. This looks like just another boring teen, high school comedy! 

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: The reviews from Cannes were promising, but, I'm still wary! The chances that this sequel, twenty plus years after the fact, might still suffer from Crystal Skull syndrome are still good!

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hool: Ok, visually, this looks pretty sweet! But, it's directed by Zach Snyder, and doesn't feature astounding feats of violence. It seems to be a lot of sentimental, tacky crap, which, let's be honest, Snyder sucks at! Who knows though! It looks interesting, and is sure to please the little ones!

Looks sweet, but it might suck!

The Ones to Skip

Saw 3D: Well, ok then! If you're into plots that are too complex for their own good, and relentless amounts of torture porn, then this might be for you! If you're a normal human being, then you'd be wise to stay far away!

Tangled: No! Just no!

Unstoppable: Tony Scott has passed his prime, as has Denzel Washington! Chris Pine looks ready to impress, but I doubt he'll be able to save this surefire stinker!

Resident Evil: Afterlife: The last three Resident Evil movies all sucked, the third most of all! This looks like just more of the same, and, in this case, that is far from a good thing!

Be afraid! Be very afraid!

Disclaimer: So, unlike the summer, where I saw most of the movies I previewed, the chances of me seeing even five of these is slim, at best! It's the college thing! Just letting you know, just in case you were hoping for my teenage opinion on Faster, or something! See you next time!