January and February are behind us now… this weekend marks the start of the 2012 Spring Movie Season!
While it doesn’t quite have the huge blockbusters of the Summer or Holiday seasons, March has turned into quite a nice month on the Hollywood release calendar. There’s plenty of big budget flicks and star vehicles to look forward to, and it all kicks off this weekend with “The Lorax”!
Click through and see what’s in store between now and the 2012 Summer Movie Season!
The Lorax
March 2nd
Directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda
Starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Betty White
Anticipation is off of the charts for me on this one. The visual design work looks incredible, and totally gets across the feel of a Dr. Suess book. Danny Devito is the perfect choice to voice the Lorax, he slays me in the trailers. I can’t wait for this weekend to see it, it’s the perfect kick off to the big blockbusters of 2012!
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Project X
March 2nd
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh
Starring Miles Teller, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Thomas Mann, Alexis Knapp
The tagline to this poster reads “The Party You’ve Only Dreamed About”, to which I reply: “%#&$ you, you snot ass little punks! You dont know me.” Regardless of this current generation’s lack of respect for their elders (little bitches), I’m fine with watching a movie that is nothing but a couple of hours of wanton decadence and destruction. It’ll bring back fond memories for me.
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John Carter
March 9th
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Willem Dafoe, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Haden Church, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston
Well… I dont know. LOL. This is one of those cases where… the trailers havent looked that great. I’ll just be honest, if this film isn’t actively bad, then I think the marketing for it has been terrible, because it’s not looking good right now. The CGI creatures look cheesy (and kind of poorly designed), and the dialogue sounds like ham city. We’ll see, but Cap ran a great piece over at AM the other day about how Disney might have a massive bust on their hands.
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A Thousand Words
March 9th
Directed by Brian Robbins
Starring Eddie Murphy, Clark Duke, Kerry Washington, Justina Machado
Speaking of massive busts, “A Thousand Words” has actually been “in the can” since 2008. Legal difficulties at the studio level kept it from being released until this year, when it was originally scheduled to be relased in late January to piggyback on the anticipation for Murphy’s then scheduled gig as Oscar host. That didnt work out, so it got shifted to March, then April, then back to March.
I just can’t shake the image of someone who cant kick a piece of stuck toilet paper off of the bottom of their shoe.
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21 Jump Street
March 16th
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Dave Franco, Jake Johnson, Johnny Simmons, Johnny Pemberton, Dakota Johnson, Ellie Kemper, Johnny Depp
Not so slim Shady?
Name recognition brings us this reboot of a long dormant franchise from the 1980s. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as a couple of cops who go undercover in high school to bust up a drug ring. Looking at the cast listing, it doesnt look like they’re giving Richard Grieco a cameo.
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Casa de mi Padre
March 16th
Directed by Matt Piedmont
Starring Will Ferrell, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Nick Offerman, Génesis Rodríguez, Efren Ramirez, Adrian Martinez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr.
The biggest international motion picture of all time…
Do you need to know more than that?
Will Ferrell speaks Spanish (Doesnt look that fluent, can any spanish speakers confirm? LOL). After Ricky Bobby and Ron Burgundy, I’m totally hoping Will Ferrell has another legendary character for us in the form of Armando Alvarez.
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The Hunger Games
March 23rd
Directed by Gary Ross
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Amandla Stenberg, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Toby Jones, Donald Sutherland, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman
A, the dystopian future where we sentence kids to fight to the death. Why does that happen so often? Whatever, I’d probably be a season ticket holder. Let’s do this thing! Jennifer Lawrence stars as the older teen who sacrifices herself in order to save her younger sister from having to go. Let the games begin!
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Mirror Mirror
March 30th
Directed by Tarsem Singh
Starring Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, Robert Emms, Mare Winningham, Michael Lerner, Mark Povinelli, Jordan Prentice, Danny Woodburn, Sebastian Saraceno, Ronald Lee Clark, Martin Klebba, Joey Gnoffo, Sean Bean
From Tarsem Singh, director of “Immortals”, comes this retelling of the Snow White story as a dark comedy. Julia Roberts stars as the wicked Queen, and Lilly Collins is Snow White. What? You’re not excited for this?
Snow Way!
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Wrath of the Titans
March 30th
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Edgar Ramirez, Rosamund Pike, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Toby Kebbell
I have to say, the marketing for this has done its job, for me. I am not a fan of the first remake in any regard, so by all rights, a sequel should leave me completely flat. But there looks to be some incredible visual effects work going on here, if nothing else. Lots of crazy mythical creatures involved…
I’m in!
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American Reunion
April 6th
Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Starring Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Tara Reid, Jason Biggs, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Lyonne, Eddie Kaye Thomas
Hail hail, the gang’s all here. A little over ten years after the original, the cast of the film is getting together to do another movie, based around the premise of a 10 year reunion. Makes sense to me, and has potential to be funny if done properly. We’ll see. The cast didn’t exactly all go on to fame and glory after the series wound down. Certain exceptions, I suppose.
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The Three Stooges
April 13th
Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly
Starring Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso, Sean Hayes, Jane Lynch, Larry David, Stephen Collins, Sofía Vergara, Jennifer Hudson
It’s still an anathema to me that this film is being made in the first place. Putting together a team of impersonators to capitalize on the legendary work of Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine… shameful. The Stooges were an American treasure and should be revered and respected. When the trailer first hit, I was surprised at the backlash.
Did people not know it was going to be bad?
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The Cabin in the Woods
April 13th
Directed by Drew Goddard (Joss Whedon screenplay)
Starring Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Jesse Williams, Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz
How cool is that poster?
Apparently a group of vacationers stumble upon a sci-fi horror mystery kind of deal here. Written by Joss Whedon of Firefly / Buffy / Avengers fame, I’m intrigued on that basis more than anything else.
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The Lucky One
April 20th
Directed by Scott Hicks
Starring Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner
I’ll be excited when this movie finally comes out.
Because that will mean the trailers will stop and I can stop being force fed The Fray.
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Lockout
April 20th
Directed by James Mather and Stephen St.Leger
Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare, Lennie James, Vincent Regan, Tim Plester, Anne-Solenne Hatte, Yan Dron, Patrick Cauderlier, Milorad Kapor, Bojan Peric, Mark Tankersley
Ok, not that this trailer looks good otherwise or anything, but the producers were actually advertising this film via pre-preview movie commercials in my area. And when you see tv level spots prior to the actual trailers, the thought that lodges with you is “cheap”.
Seems low rent to me on many levels.
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The Five-Year Engagement
April 27th
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Starring Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt star in this comedy about a couple who are forced to stretch the timeframe of their engagement out five years. Hope this movie doesnt last that long.
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The Pirates! Band of Misfits
April 27th
Directed by Peter Lord
Starring the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven
Yeah! Claymation Pirates! From the studios which brought you Wallace and Gromit and “Chicken Run” comes an animated tale of high adventure, Pirates style! I’m all aboard, it looks funny, it has a great voice cast, and this studio has an excellent pedigree. Can’t wait for April 27th!
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The Raven
April 27th
Directed by James McTeigue
Starring John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
As contractually obligated by my attendence, I must mention that I saw this panel at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Cusack was eager to show off how much he had studied Edgar Allen Poe, and came across as quite a Poe expert. I think the high concept sounds great… serial killer contemporary of Egar Allen Poe acts out the murders in Poe’s stories, and Poe is called in to assist the investigation. As a high concept you dont get much cooler than that, hopefully they can execute!
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Safe
April 27th
Directed by Boaz Yakin
Starring Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Chris Sarandon, Anson Mount, Robert John Burke
Statham’s latest excuse for kicking a bunch of ass and killing lots of dudes is to protect a young girl with a photographic memory who has been shown a secret code. The bad guys didnt count on Jason Statham getting in the way though!
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Well, there you have it folks. All the big movies on the docket between now and the summer. If I had continued this post out one more week, the next movie up would have been “The Avengers”!
So which ones capture your interest? Any of them you’re really looking forward to seeing? Psyched to see “The Lorax”? Or is “Mirror, Mirror” more your thing? Did that “Wrath of the Titans” trailer make you forget all about “Clash of the Titans” like it did for me?
Let me hear it, what movies are YOU excited for this spring?
Fogs' Movie Reviews 
Ahh so many films! And so many mediocre films, that I’m ashamed to say, I’m kinda looking forward to. Lockout, Project X, The Hunger Games, Wrath of the Titans.
I’m really looking forward to Cabin in the Woods – great it’s finally getting released. Though, with all the wait, I’m hoping it lives up to some of the hype. I will not be seeing it in 3D though. Nope, nope. And hey FOGS! You forgot to mention Angel as one of Joss’ credits. One of his best pieces of works, IMO.
The Raven looks interesting. I get a bit of a Sherlock Holmes-esque vibe off of it. Minus the Ritchie effect.
I cringe every time I hear the radio ad for John Carter. It just sounds like a horrible, old, 80s schlocky sci-fi that’s not even so bad it’s good. But I’ll be heading to the cinema to see it. I’m curious.
Hehe. I never watched Angel. In fact, I havent even seen all of “Buffy”, although of course, I’ve seen the movie.
“The Raven looks interesting. I get a bit of a Sherlock Holmes-esque vibe off of it. Minus the Ritchie effect.”
Wow, that’s insightful right there 😀 It does knid of feel that way.
The teaser trailer for John Carter wasn’t that bad, they didnt show that much and I figured the CGI effects were still raw. But then when they released the full trailer, with the stadium and Kashmir… I was like, oh man, that looks silly.
We’ll see.
I know Disney are looking for their next big franchise, with POTC all basically gone now. John Carter just fills me with fear. We’ll find out soon enough!
I don’t know why, but the only one of these that really interests me is Casa de mi Padre.
I’m hoping it delivers. That trailer does look funny, and Will Ferrell cracks me up. Could be good….
There’s one “gottasee” on this list for me (HUNGER GAMES), a handful of maybes, and a whole slew of hell no’s. One day studios will figure out that audiences want to see movies in the spring too.
I actually got to thinking of that yesterday when I noticed that THE GODFATHER dropped in March of 1972. can you imagine that today? A studio taking a hot property with Oscar potential and releasing it at this time of year?
Things were so different then. Movies could stay in theatres all year round if they were a hit. I remember going to see Star Wars and ESB in theatres like all year round. That’ll never happen again either.
Between every movie ever needing to be PG13 and then the Hollywood seasonal scheduling, no, youre right, I cant ever see that happening again…
Not to mention the desire to tap into the home video market reasonably quickly. It used to be that wasn’t a factor, and then when it was, you could gauge a movie’s quality by how soon it went to video — they’d hold the release until it finished its run in the theatre, giving it as much time there as they could milk it for.
Nowadays, they make as much or more from DVD sales as they do from theater tickets, so everything gets its DVD release scheduled well in advance, and thus there’s an automatic expiration date on its theatrical run.
That’s true, too…
Let me start by saying….love the spring picture. It’s my screen saver on my computer! haha
I am excited about Lorax. Just looks like good quality fun! During each commercial break on The Voice last night was a mini Lorax bit…….Very Cute! I really am enjoying all the ads, so I hope the the actual movie is just as entertaining.
Hunger Games, what a gross concept….but I want to see it (pending a favorable review from our favorite authority)
As a Lit major in college…The Raven has me totally intrigued. I always loved the darkness of Poe, I am with you….I hope they can pull it off,
Obviously The Lucky One is on my list. How about I watch this one, give you the 10 second run-down so you can avoid it all together. LOL PS I love The Fray! 😉
Thanks, I made a good choice then, huh? (On the “spring” pic)
“Lorax” looks great, I’m genuinely excited to watch it this weekend… kicking off March right!
On the “Lucky One” I may actually see it myself depending on the weekend schedule. It’s only that and the Lockout that wekeend, so I’ll probably hit it. I wound up not seeing “The Vow”, and then its become the highest grossing movie of the year so far… (head shake)
Hunger Games should wind up pretty good, we’ll see. The books are super popular I guess. And theyre hoping it’ll launch a franchise, you know?
Where’s Avenger? When does that one come out? That’s the only one that i’m looking forward to seeing but will probably pick up one or two off this list.
Avengers kicks off the summer movie season. Its the first week of May. These are all the movies in between now and then…
Except in the good ol’ United Kingdom… where we get it in April! 😀 WOO!
Yeah, I saw that, but it’s only out earlier there by a week, so I dont have to hate you TOO much. I believe it opens there last week of April, here first week of May.
True. But give me this one. We hardly ever get things before you guys!
You wait… some major catastrophe will happen and I won’t actually be able to see it until May….
You got Tintin like a MONTH before us! LOL
Although, I’ll give you it, it’s not fair… and we do get things much earlier. Could be worse, Italy doesnt get things for years! Ask Jersey!
I’m most interested in American Pie. I didn’t realize Hunger Games was out so soon. I’d kind of like to read the book first.
I also think John Carter will bust. Disney must have that thought somewhere in the back of their mind too, if they’re releasing it in March, not summer.
Yeah, or at least they didnt think it would be AS big, right? It could still be good. There’s a chance that the marketing has just been horrible…. that’s happened before.
I do have to say I’m strangely looking forward to American pie myself.
Why does Sam Worthington have such a massive afro in Wrath of the Titans?
Why is everyone so pumped about The Hunger Games, which is a remake of the Japanese version Battle Royale which is a remake of The Running Man which is a remake of …….
Guy Pearce is a good actor, so why can’t he land better roles?
Mirror, MIrror? Really? Julia Roberts? Ugh. Can someone put her out to pasture already? She probably would have looked more like the witch she’s playing if Hollywood’s makeup artists weren’t so damn good.
Jason Segal and Chris Pratt in the same movie? I’m totally there.
LOL @ Sam Worthington and his afro! 😀
I dont know, the hunger games looks good, man. High production values at least, right?
“Guy Pearce is a good actor, so why can’t he land better roles?” I asked myself that exact same question. Although he did have small roles in the last two Oscar winners “The King’s Speech” and “The Hurt Locker”… still Memento and LA Confidential seem like eons ago…
As to Julia Roberts, Brik? Remember, they’re not wrinkles, they’re crinkles. 😀
I’m earmarking The Raven since story sound intriguing and like the cast.
Pirates looks great (WAGrommet, CRun were too); others that will probably be very good: Lorax & Casa de mi Padre.
note on Whedon: I was fan of “Buffy” tv, “Angel” (like Jada), & Serenity. Good news Joss is producing Cabin in Woods unlike “Buffy” movie which he did not.
Yup, those are amongst the handful that I’m looking forward to too.
Although, Cabin in the Woods looks… like its aiming pretty high. Its got sci fi elements and horror stuff… it could be great if it sticks the landing, but it might be biting off more than it can chew. We’ll see!
Wow, there’s a lot of movies coming up that I’m really interested in seeing.
Most importantly: THE HUNGER GAMES, 21 Jump Street, 5-Year Engagement
Then: Casa de mi Padre, American Wedding, Cabin in the Woods, The Lorax
Not on your list: Friends with Kids, Silent House
I saw Project X last night and thought it was hilarious, although Lindsay wasn’t impressed. “A couple of hours of wanton decadence and destruction” is actually an on point description!
Pretty decent spring selection though!
Really? Cool! Glad to hear there’s a chance for “Project X” at least Jess…
I’m all for movies that support wanton decadent chaos. The proud party movie tradition needs to live on! 😀
Ohhh right. Silent House, the “One take” horror flick. It AND Friends with Kids both release 3/9 with John Carter. I just got even less excietd for that weekend if that’s even possible. LOL.
You going to review Project X? I’ll have to stop by FTS and see… 😀
Yup it should be out Friday. I just realized I said American Wedding instead of Reunion–oops! Hey! I am interested in this one take horror flick. Especially because Elizabeth Olsen is in it!
I never got to see Marth Marcy Mary Mindy, so it’ll be interesting to see if she lives up to all the hype 😀
And its ok, we know the movie you meant!
Jonah Hill jokes that he won’t be at the Oscars next year for “21 Jump St”! The poster and tagline for that movie is truly vulgar, a new low for taste.
Not to bag on Jonah Hill, cause I like him, but he should consider himself lucky he got there THIS year. LOL
Hmm… can’t say I am terribly excited for any of these. My girlfriend loves the Hunger Games books so we will be seeing it on opening night, but I don’t know too much about the series other than the concept. Everyone seems genuinely excited, though. Casa de mi Padre and American Reunion could be entertaining, but I will probably wait for them to show up at the Brew & View to watch them.
The Brew & View! That sounds like a great place, LOL
Hunger Games is probably the premiere flick of the bunch here with a lot of “Could bes” as you point out, E…
Ha! Dang it Fogs!
I was working on a post like this and then saw yours (which is better than my initial work)! So, scratch it for now. LOL. I just shared yours with the followers I have on fb and twitter. At least you saved me the work. haha
I am really looking forward to The Lorax, The Hunger Games, American Reunion, and The Five Year Engagement.
I am least looking forward to Safe, The Three Stooges, the Thousand Words movie, and 21 Jump Street.
the rest are just “eh” to me! haha. GREAT POST! Thanks for the comprehensive look at what’s to come.
And here I was thinking, well half the people who see this thread are gonna be like Pffft. I already KNOW all this from Trailer Time Thursday!! 😀
It all comes around. Thanks for the shares, you know I apreciate that stuff!
And what? You’re looking forward to the Lorax? Really? I didnt know that… THIS WEEKEND DUDE!!
John Carter (only because of WALL•E’s Andrew Stanton), The Hunger Games (since my daughter can’t hardly wait for it), The Raven and Lockout (because John Cusack and Guy Pierce rarely do wrong by me), The Pirates! Band of Misfits (long-time Wallace & Gromit devotee), and The Cabin in the Woods (Joss Whedon) are what I’m in for. Whew!
Yeah, a lot of promising stuff coming up. Glad to hear so many people are excited for the Hunger Games, it raises my hopes for it.
You may have the honor of being the only person yeat who’s said “John Carter”, Mike. LOL
Yeah, but that’s been only recently. Perhaps, it is for the grief, or impending failure as some surmise, this one has caught. It’s been my history to watch, first-run, movies that others have ignored or disdained. Sometimes, it’s worth it. We’ll see with JC if that’s worth it.
I was a huge ERB fan growing up, especially John Carter of Mars, so to say I’ve been looking forward to this one is an understatement on the order of ‘the oceans are moist’ or ‘Gelf doesn’t care for the Patriots’. Unfortunately that means I have very high expectations for this movie. Expectations that were raised by the movie ‘300’, which looked so much like the mental image in my mind of what Jon Carter of Mars SHOULD look like. I really dont see any way I’m not going to e let down, but I’ll be there, opening day for that one.
It might pay off. I read all these books as a kid, too, and I’m sure that I dont need to tell you that the story is there. The budget is as well, and if you watched Friday Night Lights at all you know Taylor Kitsch has some serious potential. I’m still hoping this is just a case of studios having forgotten how to introduce a new property, and that when the whole thing rolls, its gonna be much better than we’ve been led to expect.
I would really like to see this come through, too.
Always appreciate these… saw a lot of these on T’s site, of course, but not all of them, and it’s always good to have more discussion on them.
The Hunger Games is still looking really intriguing. That’s my “front-runner” for Best Spring Picture right now. The Raven is also looking interesting, and seems to have come out of nowhere to me. Good premise, though, and a lot less silly than a lot of “historical revision” movies coming out.
No interest in Project X or American Reunion. The marketing has been supremely annoying on the former, and as for the latter, I just never bought into that franchise. I didn’t care what these guys did 13 years ago, I don’t care now. They’re pretty clearly floundering for ideas on follow-ups, too, after the failure to turn “American Pie Presents” into a bankable franchise, a la “National Lampoon” (hint: if your target is not, in fact, a bankable franchise, imitating them is not the best of ideas. NL only ever had Animal House and Vacation.)
A Thousand Words… this may be the best high concept Eddie Murphy has had in decades. Pity it doesn’t look like a great film.
Casa de Mi Padre continues the trend of Will Ferrell movies looking completely unappealing to me. I’ll grant I did laugh out loud once at the trailer, but it was at “And introducing… Will Ferréll!” When the funniest part of the trailer is about the trailer itself….
The Pirates: Band of Misfits and The Lorax both look like they could be fun. Very likely to see both in the theatre; wasn’t sold on The Lorax as a “don’t wait” until recently, though. Got an “e movie cash” coupon for $5 off, so hey, definitely going. That puts it at the price range for the second-run theater for me.
The Lucky One and The Five Year Engagement look like the standard rom-com schmaltz to me. Why, exactly, does her getting a job delay their wedding? He’s clearly still with her up there. Insultingly stupid premise. The “dead grandmother” gag in the trailer also irritated me. Very difficult to use that as humor, it really did not work there.
Safe looks like a standard actioner. Not really familiar with Statham’s work. Is he actually any good, or is he just a Steven Seagal type?
Lockout looks OK. Looks like Escape From Space L.A., but it might be OK. Also in the “Hokey OK” category is Mirror Mirror; I want to like it, but it’s looking like it’s got issues.
Didn’t see Clash, so Wrath will wait pending that. Visuals look good, I’ll give it that.
The Three Stooges and 21 Jump Street are on my “no chance in hell” list. They both look absolutely dire, and both seem very disrespectful of their source material (which you know is a thing with me). On the Stooges, just a bad idea from the get go. Those were roles created by and for very specific people, they can’t just be picked up by someone else. If you’re not Maurice Horowitz, you can’t be Moe Howard. And the guys they did get clearly don’t have the comedic timing that the actual Stooges did. The stuff shown in the trailer is nowhere near as well orchestrated as the same gags pulled by the real guys. Those guys played idiots, but they were anything but. Not so sure about these actors. Not to mention they don’t even look all that much like the guys they’re playing… take off the semi-bald wig, and you’d never think for a second that that was Larry Fine. Terrible idea, I don’t know how the Farrellys sold the studio on it.
As for 21 Jump Street, I’ll admit I haven’t seen the show since I was a kid. Though it’s up on Hulu, I guess I can refresh my memory. But wasn’t that as much a drama as anything else? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a slapstick comedy. [Checks IMDb] Nope, “comedy” not listed as a genre there. So why the hell does the movie look like an Adam Sandler production? Not on board for this, not happening, no way.
And finally, John Carter of Mars. I want to like this, I want it to be great. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original A Princess of Mars established so much of modern science fiction that it really deserves a great movie. Just not sure it’s getting it here, and considerably less sure that it’ll get a good audience reception even if it is great. Most people don’t know ERB, those that do mostly know Tarzan. So I can easily see ignorant people calling this an Avatar rip-off (irony isn’t always funny). Read Cap’s post, and he doesn’t sound wrong to me. Also not surprised about the reasoning behind the name changes… though frankly, I think that once the trailer started showing aliens, “John Carter of Mars” would probably sound better to most people than just plain “John Carter, this guy who’s really cool and you should have heard of him, no really.” I’ll be seeing this. My hopes are higher than my expectations.
Completely agree with “John Carter of Mars” being a much better title than “John Carter”. I’ll never understand why Disney changed it.
I dont get it either
It would go a long way to adding some “sell” to the equation…
Whenever someone mentions John Carter my brain immediately goes to John Carter as played by Noah Wyle in ER. I’d like to see him on Mars.
Lost this reply somewhere man, I swore I sent it this morning.
Great points on the Stooges. I hope this flick fails like mad.
It’s too bad you dont like Will Ferrell. When he’s on man, he can be so funny. Stupid… always… but so funny.
I’m hoping for John Carter, too I am. But you put it well, My hopes are higher than my expectations.
Sorry to say that nothing here interests me LOL. I’ll wait for the reviews to start pouring in before I get excited for anything.
NOTHING? Oh man! After getting through these last couple of months, these movies seem like a lunch buffet! LOL 😀
That said, if you’re waiting on reviews… I know where you’ll be able to get some!
Can’t say I’m particularly enamored with any of those. 21 Jump Street looks pretty funny from the trailer so I will be checking that out. The Cabin in the Woods looks promising as well and Casa de mi Padre looks like an hilarious Will Ferrell movie. That’s pretty much it for me.
The Hunger Games is still a big enigma for me. There seems to be a lot of anticipation for it but it seems too teeny-boppish for me.
Teeny boppish. LOL 😀 If you had a Rotten Tomatoes score, I’d love to see that as your blurb along the spatted tomato. “To teeny-boppish”.
I’m with the tenny boppers, Cap, I’m starting to look forward to that one. If for no other reason that to see what all the fuss is about!
What’s driving me toward Hunger Games— is that it’s a YA title that shows off just how good YA lit can really be. In other words, it’s the anti-Twilight, a property that suggests that YA fiction has become a roiling cesspool of psychoses and Stockholm syndrome and smoldering and pouty eyes and bad writing.
The difference is that Collins can write, and Meyers probably has difficulty writing out her grocery lists. That speaks well enough for the film before you even consider that the cast is headlined by two really talented young performers and a solid if largely unmemorable director. (Though the director means nothing; Twilight has had some great directors attached to it across the series’ lifespan and look how that’s turned out.)
That entire comment was great. LOL
See? I love talking movies… LOL. Myers has trouble writing grocery lists… Thats hysterical.
Speaking of young adult titles, I just hope they dont mess up Enders Game. One of my favorite books ever.
Just took a look at the current credits for Ender’s Game (knowing a few names already attached are good, such as Ford and Butterfield). Ben Kingsley’s attached to it now; doesn’t mean it’s a good film, he’s been in a ton of terrible ones, but at least we can expect he’ll be good in it. Weak point might be the director; Gavin Hood’s only recognizable credit is X-Men: Origins: Wolverine.
Though I still think the biggest risk to the movie is if they decide to film any of the sequels.
Yeah, those books fall into my “What the hell were they thinking” file…
I think the Bean sequels would be accessible and filmable.
I’ve got these divided into categories of “must see it”, “kinda wanna see it”, and “this title can fuck right off”:
Must See It: Hunger Games, Cabin in the Woods, Casa de Mi Padre, 5-Year Engagement
Kinda Wanna See It: Lockout, The Lorax, John Carter
Vulgar Words: Everything else
All of these exclude 21 Jump Street; I’ve seen it, and it’s hysterical. Way better than it has any right to be. And I can’t really say more than that because thanks embargo. In other good news, it sounds like early word of mouth has Hunger Games pegged as pretty damn good, and I’m finally interested in seeing John Carter in the wake of the giant white apes sequence being released online and also thanks to– again– positive early word.
I’m a sucker for Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, so I’m in for Engagement. (Plus: Jackie Weaver and Chris Pratt!) Blunt is a unique actress to me; she doesn’t need to do things like take arrows to the kneecap and get hit by car doors, and yet there she is in the trailer doing both of those things. Because she’s wonderful. She could probably just do period dramas and be the damsel in distress for guys like Matt Damon and still have a great career. It’s nice to see someone with that sort of clout get her hands dirty and act ridiculous. Thumbs up to her. And Segel is my main dude, so there’s that.
I didnt watch the John Carter white apes scene yet, it’s good, huh?
I think they have to do something to get the tracking up. Like that Anomalous Materials article says, its not doing well right now in the public perception.
21 Jump Street is good huh? Thats good to hear. The trailer has a moment or two. The scene where the teacher grills them about being on drugs is pretty funny.
I want to support Segel, and I do like Emily Blunt (she was the high point of the Adjustment Bureau for me) but the 5 yr Engagement is doing absolutely nothing for me right now… hope Im wrong.
The John Carter footage with the white apes is indeed good. Maybe it’s better in my mind because I watched it with zero expectations; like Cas and the folks at AM, John Carter has been swinging and missing with me in the perception and advertising departments. If Stanton has something half-good for us, I’ll probably be satisfied.
Definitely check out Jump Street. It’s…well, it’s great. It’s self-referential and self-aware without winking obnoxiously at its audience and Jonah Hill clicks really well with Channing Tatum, which was a nice surprise. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Segel and Blunt alone are enough for me to see Engagement. I hope that it has the balls to go even further than it does in the trailer; even if it’s just light and airy and slap-sticky it might be worth it just for the stars.
On Jump Street, you know I will.
When will you be allowed to have your review up, are they at least giving you a scoopage window?
It’ll be up on the day of release. I’m working on it now just so I can buy myself some time next week to write other reviews.
Hey Fogs, I might see that 21 Jump Street and Casa de mi Padre but probably the only film on that list that I am truely interested in would be the Hunger Games.
O and I imagine I will end up taking Jr. to see the Lorax.
I bet you wind up liking it too. LOL
I’m hoping Casa de mi Padre winds up good. Ferrell is due for something hysterical
“Cabin in the Woods” and “Hunger Games” are the only ones I’ll definitely see, and it’s only 50/50 if I’ll see them in the theater.
“John Carter” is actually getting some good buzz from some folks I trust. My hopes are… well, not high, but I’m no longer assuming it’ll be a bomb.
I have exactly the opposite reaction to the trailers for “The Lorax”. Yes, artistically they seem to have gotten it right, but it seems to be missing the whole point of the book. Screen adaptations of Seuss have been, as far as I can tell, 95% crap and I don’t see this changing that.
“Lockout” actually used the dialogue “He’s the best we’ve got, but he’s a loose cannon” apparently non-ironically. Ugh.
Im wicked glad you mentioned the lockout. As I was doing this post, I’d grab the trailer links, embed them, work… some time the trailer would still be playing and all I’d be getting would be the audio, because Id be on another tab.
Let me tell you, the “Lockout” trailer is so cliched it’ll crack you up. I caught that too, I laughed!
Good to hear on John Carter, but I’m still pretty jacked up for The Lorax. We’ll see, I’m not out there re-reading Suess titles in preparation or anything. 😀