Part 1 of Winter-Spring 2012-2013 Movie Preview

Somehow I've managed again to sync the lack of watched movies with the end of the Fall = just perfect for the usual entry in this time of year. So, let's get straight to the point with some December releases.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is the prequel to "The Lord of the Rings". Directed also by Peter Jackson, having the same production team, the same screenwriters .. should sound promising, right ? Well, not for me, simply because "The Hobbit" is a children's book, relatively short, infinitely less complex than "Lord of the Rings" ... but this alone still wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that this was supposed to be the first part of two. I think this was already exaggerated as length, but now it looks even worse, they want another trilogy ! For a book which if I remember well is shorter than any of the three in LotR. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is for me somewhere up high in the top of all movies ever watched (partially subjective) and one of the best adaptations for the screen from a book (yes, even better than "Return of the King" which is excessively lengthened in the end). Unfortunately I can't see how "The Hobbit" in three parts could get at least up the level of "The Two Towers" which is a book a bit harder to adapt considering the action threads, and still the result was decent. Conclusion: I'm afraid that everything is about $ .. and since more movies mean more $ .....

Since we're close to the adapting topic, another title with a box-office potential for the end of the year is "Jack Reacher". Here I can't say much because I have no idea what is in the book which seems to be actually a series of crime novels having the above mentioned as main character. The part that might deserve some attention is the director and screenwriter of the movie: Cristopher McQuarrie who after the success with "The Usual Suspects" from long ago was also involved in "Valkyrie" or "The Tourist" more recently. Well .. none shined, but anyway both were above the usual mindless Hollywoodish action.

For the end of December we have the final production made by Tarantino. Maybe I'm a bit too skeptic today but for some reason Jamie Foxx doesn't look very convincing as lead character in the trailer of "Django Unchained". We'll see ...

Since it's been a while from my last reference to a real horror, I'll stop to "Mama" for the beginning of January 2013. I think the trailer says enough. And for who tastes the genre, it seems that somewhere online there's also a short movie on which this one is based upon ;)

I didn't see yet the second part of "Expendables", but from what I've heard it shows that Schwarzenegger took a long break from acting (not that we're speaking of Oscar material anyway). Despite all these "The Last Stand" for me looks more fun than Tarantino's production from above (maybe I'm subjective, and I still have my childhood marked by "Terminator 2", "Total Recall", "Predator" and others :) ). To top this the direction belongs to a Korean - Jee-woon Kim - from whose movies I didn't see any, but I have four or five on my "to watch list" (all having a rating bigger than 7 on IMDb).

Sometime long long ago we had a Lee Marvin pissed off by being betrayed and left in a pool of blood by his partners in crime. More recently, but still more than 10 years ago, Mel Gibson was getting the same treatment in the remake. Both of their names were Porter (as a side note somewhere meanwhile Chow-Yun Fat was getting into the same troubles in a Hong Kong made production). Well, it seems that the character's name is actually "Parker" and I found out that he's also the lead in a book, or again more exactly a series of crime novels - more or less good. Even if the story somehow is able to catch your attention (like a sort of condensed and energized Monte Cristo) I still think I'll prefer the Gibson's Porter version to a "yet another Jason Statham movie" coming out at the end of January.

In February we have a sort of mix between a light horror, comedy and romance - "Warm Bodies". As a reference, the movie has the same director as "50/50". And even given that I'm not really into the last two of the above, I don't know why but from all the premieres in this entry it seems this one is the most promising :)

After Schwarzenegger, we have an entry with Stallone (and the third "action hero" comes immediately below). Actually the reason why I'm bringing into discussion "Bullet to the Head" is that it's the first movie directed by Walter Hill since 2002 (in case it sounds a bit cryptic make a name check on IMDb). Unfortunately, what's below doesn't seem that promising ...

To complete the list, I'm closing February with the fifth episode of Bruce Willis' life as John McClane in "A Good Day to Die Hard". Somehow the impression given by the trailer is the opposite to the previous title. On the other hand the directing is also on the other side of the balance ... ("Max Payne" should be enough as reference)

Next week : March - May ;)

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed

This is written on the poster :) In case it wasn't visible enough. And it represents a classified ad from '97 published in a bi-monthly US magazine targeting mainly .. life on a farm, around the farm, etc. For real. Meaning that's what really happened + an P.O. Box address that I didn't reproduce. What's not that real is the part with "This is not a joke". Actually it is a joke, and you can find the complete story here: The time-travel ad . To put it short, the editor needed something to fill up the page. Of course, the conspiracy theory says that's just a late cover-up excuse :) especially given the context in which that ad cause a lot of online activity at the time and after with responses, investigations, theories, other following ads, and so on. I remember that I stumbled into this a while ago (before the author's explanation) and I lost I think something like 30 minutes surfing from link to link and getting more and more amazed up to what something like this can go (+ I caught some other publicly made "time travel" tracks, with a trust degree ranging from "hmmm..." up to "this is laaame"). I never thought though that the ad will generate also a movie script. And I have to say it now that this wasn't bad at all to happen ...

The movie is an indie with not too many actors, and surprisingly for the budget also featuring some nice effects on the ending. It starts with the idea of investigating the above ad. The inquiry is lead by a journalist, who is more interested in finding his high school girlfriend, who by chance lives in the same city with the ad author. Consequently, the job is actually done mostly by two interns, freshly college graduates - an Indian with a classic geek/nerd profile and a girl a bit too fed up with the everyday life. Actually the job is done mostly by the last of them, who seems the only one able to successfully interact with the ad author. Author, who in the movie is a measly supermarket employee, apparently having some mental issues, but possessing a big hangar, lots of spare parts and a time machine made of these + an even bigger ambition to travel into the past. Well, there is more to say from the subject but I don't want to spoil something that can be a very pleasant hour and a half in front of a screen.

Essentially the movie is a comedy, that gets also a bit into romance from a point onwards (reaching up to some scenes which were a bit too corny at least for me). And obviously we can't ignore the "SF" = the time machine. Without getting into spoilers about this, something deserves a note: if you're carefully watching the action flow you'll have a way to explain yourself the "I have only done this once before" part ;) in case you'll feel the need to. And you might feel the need to if after the ending you'll read again the ad :)

Rating: 4 out of 5