Analysts are already predicting that Nic Cage's sci-fi flick, Knowing, will be the top dawg at the box office, and I frankly don't understand why. First of all, we've seen this territory mined recently in the Jim Carrey bomb, The Number 23. Plus, Nic Cage hasn't exactly been reaping huge financial rewards in any of his flicks lately. Ghost Rider? Next? Bangkok Dangerous? The Wicker Man? Box Office poison is more like it, and considering that neither he nor the director have done much in the way of press for this film, my prediction is that it bombs. Majorly. Mark me down for a 5th place finish on this one. But I will be seeing it anyway because, well, I'm a whore for movies. That and Nic Cage makes some of the most unintentionally comical flicks ever.
I got a chance to see Duplicity on Monday, and it's definitely worth checking out(my review is right here). Starring two of the biggest stars in the business, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen at the top of their games, this is by far the most fun spy movie I've seen in at least a few years. In fact, I'll be checking this film out again tomorrow with the Alexandria Movie Meetup group, so if you're interested in that hit me up!
I Love You, Man is another one of those Apatow-lite comedies that are always rather hit 'n miss with me. It stars Jason Segal who was great in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and one of my favorites, Paul Rudd. Despite that, I have some serious misgivings about this one. The "quotable" posters I've seen are extremely lame, and it looks like a gimmick to distract from the distinct lack of actual laughs that the trailer produced. And let's not forget that for as good as Paul Rudd is, this is still the same guy who just last year did Over Her Dead Body and in 2007 gave us I Could Never Be Your Woman, two turd in the punchbowl films if I ever saw them.
The Great Buck Howard is the indie flick on mine and a lot of other people's radars this week. I missed my chance to hit the screening due to my own innate laziness. Starring John Malkovich and Tom Hank's son Colin, it's the story of a law school student who becomes the assistant to an aging entertainer who doesn't realize that the times have passed him by. Looks like a perfect film for the spring season, and a nice change of pace from the usual dreck that comes out around this time of year. A lot of people are expecting Sunshine Cleaning to be the indie darling of this year, but I'm putting my money on this one. Fortunately for us, it's playing at two spots in the area: Landmark E Street Cinema and the Cinema Arts Theater are both showing this, so there's no excuse not to see it.
I also want to throw out there that I saw a screening of Alien Trespass on Wednesday. A small budget, 1950's style sci-fi flick starring Eric McCormack(Will & Grace, or the classic Free Enterprise), it's the story of a cop from another planet who crash lands on Earth in order to catch an escaped creature that could kill us all. It's cheesy, campy fun if you're into that sort of thing. There's another screening for it on Monday, so if you have a chance and are in the DC area, give it a shot! You can find out more at their website, http://www.alientrespass.com/!
