Last week, we here at ITMOD were bemoaning the mediocre Summer (well, the whole year really) and I don't see a lot of bright spots on the horizon. Sure, sure, sure. The Master is just a week away!!!! I know, Internet--it's the cinematic event of the new millennium! Yes, I'm looking forward to the latest Paul Thomas Anderson...but I'm not ready to drink his Kool Aid yet - I was one of those folks that chose No Country For Old Men over There Will Be Blood (a film I enjoyed for the first two hours but never really connected with the last third). And then you've got Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. Ok. I want to see that. But can it possibly top the Lord of the Rings? I've read the books. Don't think so. And three films? Yeah, the wind has left my sails.
But you gotta remember, this is In The Mouth of Dorkness. We're freaks. We'll take Liam Neeson PG13ing his way through Eastern Europe over PTA's Scientology smackdown any day. And frankly, I'm still feeling like I didn't get the quality Blockbusters this Summer and I'm craving the more Hollywoody stuff coming around the corner.
5. Taken 2: The first film wasn't that good. It was all right. But it did seem to kickoff the Liam Neeson Asskicker subgenre I've come to love sooooo damn much (well...Seraphim Falls might be the real start, but this is where Neeson Asskickery became popular). These films should definitely be R Rated but I was surprised with the level of electroshock brutality fed into the first flick's PG13 label. Part II offers more neck breaking and more cell phone threatening, and I'm digging the Boris the Blade Wrath of Khan plot. I'm hoping Famke Janssen & Maggie Grace come to an awful end. And could we be getting more Leland Orser private military terror? That would be nice. I still think Taken Too is a better title.
4. Killing Them Softly: One of the most beautiful movies in recent memory was Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. And it also contains one of Brad Pitt's finest performances. So I'm down for a little American Crime especially when it's accompanied by Richard Jenkins and Johnny Cash.
3. Looper: Rian Johnson's Brick is a personal favorite. Like Miller's Crossing, it's a film pornographically in love with hardboiled language and it instantly fetched my heart. His follow up Brothers Bloom was fun but failed to elicit those clever-clever goosebumps. Personally I'm aching for some kick ass science fiction. Looper looks more gangster than sci-fi but the Blade Runner blending has me excited and I think the Bruce Willis/Joseph Gordon-Levitt twinning is adorable. Creepy & gross. But adorable.
2. Skyfall: I love Daniel Craig's James Bond. He's a monster. A beast of a 00. So much so that he's at the top of my fave Bond actors. Sorry, Sean Connory. Your films are still tops (it still has never gotten better than From Russia With Love & Goldfinger), but Craig is my James Bond. Looking back at those pre-Casiono Royale days with all its fanboy fear whining is rather amusing. I'm crossing my fingers that Sam Mendes is going to knock it outta the park with Skyfall. Absolutely love the trailer and having recently watched No Country For Old Men I'm extremely excited to see Javier Bardem's grimacing blonde baddie. And I've also been obsessing over his super scary scene in Michael Mann's Collateral. He's mastered the creepy face villainy.
1. Django Unchained: Nothing's changed since last year's Dorkies, Django Unchained is still my most anticipated film of the year. I'm just all kinds of excited to see QT take on my favorite genre, The Western even if it's being filtered through his "Southern" plot. Jaime Foxx & Christophe Waltz six gunning their way through Leonardo DiCaprio's bevy of racist ruffians all the while QT beats the drum of Ennio Moriconne--Can. Not. Wait.
--Brad
No comments:
Post a Comment