If this wasn't an Ang Lee joint I would keep a pretty healthy distance away from this thing. Lee has proven himself to be one of the great directors of our time, and it never ceases to amaze me how he never lets himself get stuck into one single directing style. This is the same guy who gave us the breath taking Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon then followed it up with the highly underrated Hulk. Yes, that's right. I liked Hulk, and the supposedly more action packed sequel isn't as much of an improvement as people like to make it out to be. But can even he make me care about this legendary musical event that I have no real connection to? I'm not really a fan of the music, and the trailers lead me to believe that this movie is only going to touch lightly upon the real meaning behind the event in favor of a few laughs and quirky performances like Liev "Sabretooth" Schreiber as a transvestite. Surprisngly, you can pretty much find Taking Woodstock at almost any theatre.
I feel like I've got short term memory when it comes to these horror remakes. I vaguely recall watching Rob Zombie's previous Halloween film. When I look at my IMDB voter history it's sitting right there, so I must've seen it. But I'll be damned if I can remember a single scene from it. This means either I've come down with horror specific selective memory(I can't remember The Hills Have Eyes either but that is intentional) or it didn't make much of an impression. It's rare that studios release two horror films on the same weekend, since they tend to cannablize each other's box office. That tells me they have confidence in Rob Zombie's "vision" to keep the horror freaks coming for a few weeks atleast. The next film on the other hand...
...will be popular for a week because it's in 3-D, then it will die a rapid death just like the story's helpless victims. I saw The Final Destination last night, but I'm obligated to see it with a friend in the near future which is why it makes the list. The 4th film in the "let's cheat Death's design" series is campier and much less polished than the previous 3 films, but sticks relatively close to the tropes of it's predecessors. So in short: The Final Destination is less polished than the others. If that sounds great to you, have at it. Oh, it's also in competition with Walking Tall as the shortest movie I ever paid money to see. I blinked and bammas were steppin' over water bottles and nacho containers to hit the exits.
That's It? What Else is Out There?
Since Patton Oswalt's Big Fan has yet to hit the DC Metro area, I'm left with Andy Griffith to shoulder the comedy burden. That's right. Andy Griffith. To this day the funniest thing ever involving him was the episode of Married With Children where they went to a little hic town where the local celebrity was "The Man Who Met Andy Griffith". Griffith seems to be working more now than he has in years, following up his supporting role in Waittress with this romantic comedy for geriatrics, Play the Game. I think it's about a young ladies' man who tries to win over Marla Sokoloff, while at the same time teaching Andy Griffith how to score with Doris Roberts. There are few things in this world I want to see less than a Griffith/Roberts bangfest. I think she's a little young for him, too. Gross.
