Some of the best movies going are graphic novels (comic books if you prefer) turned into film, and another great one is coming down the pike. Red was a 66 page graphic novel written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner that will be hitting the big screen around October 15th. It has an amazing cast playing the retired CIA bored people out looking for a little excitement. Check out the trailer and mark your calendars.
Luc Besson strikes again! I still haven’t gotten to see his Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec, although the fact that clicking on the British flag on its home page gives you English subtitles on the trailer and web site encourages me that it might get released here soon. But in the meantime he will be releasing the third film in his Arthur series, Arthur 3: La Guerre des Deux Mondes, in October. These are a mix of 3D animation and live action children’s stories that started with Arthur and the Invisibles. Nothing groundbreaking here, but an interesting offering that demonstrates just how versatile Besson really is.
There isn’t a new genre release this week, but Knight and Day looks like it could be silly fun. As near as I can tell from the trailers it is the same film as Killers with different actors; maybe I should see the first half of one, then switch to the other theater screening room to see the second half of the other. That way I will see a unique move, mentally adding the Face Off surgery scene to push it into the science fiction realm. It is always possible there may be something suspect with my logic, but I don’t really care.
Another new trailer was released for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which yet again looks even better than the last one. And there are still almost two months to go to the August 13th release date, so they have time to do it again (if they can). Between now and then we have Toy Story 3 and Jonah Hex, on the screens this weekend; The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (yawn) on June 30th; the live action version of The Last Airbender on July 2nd; Despicable Me and Predators on July 9th; the fun-looking The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on July 14th; and the twisted thriller Inception on July 16th. Then there is a gap (unless you count Salt on July 23rd) for several weeks, after which The Expendables comes out the same day as Scott Pilgrim. I’m ready for Scott to be out now, but for the time being the new trailer is all we get.
The comic book film choice this week is Jonah Hex, with John Malkovich as the villein and Megan Fox as the eye candy to Josh Brolin’s Jonah. Based on what I have seen and read I am expecting adventure fun rather than anything profound, but I expect it to be visually interesting enough to require the big screen. For animation fans Toy Story 3 continues the franchise that kicked it off for Pixar, starring everyone you ever heard of. As usual I will be endorsing the 3D version.
Sadly, it is another one-movie weekend, and this weekend the film is the remake of The Karate Kid, so it is not even an original story. But it could be OK; Jackie Chan is doing the grizzled old master bit, and Jaden Smith (son of MIB Will Smith, the child who we last saw doing a great job in the 2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still) is doing the clueless kid. The original movie bored me to tears, but this one has a touch of promise to it because of the actors and the potential to increased edginess. And since Jackie is still making more Asian than American movies (see yesterday’s post) the style should be a lot more authentic this time.