JULY 2013 MOVIE PREVIEW

Summer has hit that magical point where I no longer have any expectations. The confluence of Man of Steel (which I honestly, really expected to be good) and Monsters University (which I expected to be just as bland as it was, though I hoped it would be better) wiped me out, and whatever happens, happens going forward. It doesn't help anything that July's slate of wide releases, broadly speaking, looks on paper to be less interesting than June's, and all told, it's exactly the right time to start being pleasantly surprised. This is what I choose to believe, anyway, because despite all the evidence, I do want to like big dumb fun blockbusters.


3.7.2013

All the logic in the world insists that The Lone Ranger is a can't-win proposition - massively over-budgeted remake of a property noted for its matinee cheesiness, Johnny Depp doing another goddamn stylised cartoon take on a wacky character - but the evidence of Rango tells me that director Gore Verbinski and Depp teaming up on a Western is worth keeping an open mind about, anyway, and the evidence of Pirates of the Caribbean: Whatever the Last One Was Called tells me, even more to the point, that even at their worst, the three Pirates movies that Verbinski helmed still had a real personality and creative spark that the Verbinski-free fourth movie threw into intense relief. There are too many good reasons to expect a bloated, witless monster of indulgence and noise to actually be "excited" for it, but there's always the chance of a fun action-adventure hiding in there.

The big film is plainly shaping up to be Despicable Me 2, though, which makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Is there really some kind of reservoir of adoration for the first Despicable Me? For what possible reason? And is there even the smallest chance that this story doesn't end up feeling like a strained, desperation move to expand a scenario that didn't have room for it?

Lastly, I don't know why a comedy concert doc is getting a wide release, but Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain is not bothered by my confusion.


12.7.2013

Guillermo del Toro is making a huge-budget movie, they tell me. And that is exciting, for he is an intelligent director about making memorable visuals, and if he gets a proper budget to play with... Morever, del Toro's movie is a love letter to the "giant things destroying cities" genre of Japanese cinema, and as a fan of the form, I am entirely, theoretically on board.

But Christ, could Pacific Rim look any more generic? I get that the ad campaign is deliberately limiting the number of distinct moments it's showcasing (the vibe I get is that the trailer is cut from just one setpiece), but what we've seen thus far has absolutely no flavor.

Also, Grown Ups 2 has been made, in an attempt to restore Adam Sandler's deflating career with a family-safe wacky comedy that I will not hereafter make any reference to, unless it somehow manages to hit #1, and that would be funnier than anything likely to happen in the movie.

Limited releases being something I try not to look forward to, because who knows with release dates, I'm so eager for Fruitvale Station, the belle of this past Sundance, that I can almost smell it.


17.7.2013

DreamWorks Animation's summer offering is the "fast radioactive snail" comedy Turbo. Your guess as to why is as good as mine.


19.7.2013

Nothing I've seen in a movie theater since the first Paranormal Activity has freaked me out as badly as the teaser trailer for The Conjuring, a movie that has been rated for R solely for being too scary. Which is awesome. And James Wan, whose earlier work veered from bad to soul-raping, got on my good side with Insidious, which appears to be working in the same general area as the new film. So when I said that I've been sapped of all enthusiasm for anything, I was only being mostly honest, though the fact that the junk food horror movie is where I'm pinning all my hopes for the month probably doesn't speak well of me, or cinema, or anything.

Signs that the summer is about ready to start winding down: the concurrent release of Red 2, a sequel to a minor hit that surely nobody could have been clamoring for, and R.I.P.D., a supernatural buddy cop comedy that wants so bad to present itself as a Men in Black knock-off with ghosts instead of aliens, with a budget that it likely won't be able to even halfway recoup. And it's directed by the guy who made Red! Oh, circle of life, you do move us all.


26.7.2013

The third and last superhero movie of the summer, The Wolverine, has one clear point in its favor, which is that Hugh Jackman's performance of the title character has managed to remain fresh and enjoyable through some very dodgy movies. The whole thing was a lot more interesting when Darren Aronofsky was attached to direct, and the superhero genre at this point needs something more special than an obvious franchise-polishing cash-in to rejuvenate it, but I imagine it will be enjoyable for what it is. The other wide release, randomly, is The To Do List, which looks needlessly redolent of Easy A, with a less-appealing lead.

In limited release, the new Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine, starts its roll out. Always exciting to find out whether the Good Woody or the Bad Woody is going to show up for each year's new movie, but it has his most interesting cast (from Cate Blanchett to Sally Hawkins to Louis C.K.) in many years.


31.7.2013

The Smurfs 2 is coming out, because all that's necessary for evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing.