Maybe it's just my tendency to over analyze, but I don't understand this movie. So Gerard Butler plays a death row inmate who competes in these deathmatches and supposedly he's the champion, right? But he and everybody else in these wars are being controlled by a "player" using some form of mind-control. So wouldn't that just make the controller great and not necessarily Butler? When I play Mario Bros. the credit isn't given to Mario if I beat the game, is it? Whatever. I would have faith that all this will be explained in the movie, except that it's being written by the notorious Neveldine/Taylor duo, who's past credits include Crank and Crank: High Voltage. Not a lot of exposition to be found there. Still, you can't go wrong with Butler and Michael C. Hall. Hopefully someone will control Ludacris right into a pit of alligators or somethin'.
It's about time Mike Judge made another movie. Well, atleast another movie that studios actually want people to be able to see. Extract takes the Office Space formula(work sucks, life sucks, but atleast it's funny) and smooshes it into an industrial setting. Jason Bateman plays the owner of a vanilla extracting factory who's life seems to be crumbling apart around him, that is until the hawwwwttt Mila Kunis shows up to work. I'm looking forward to this for the cast alone, which features Bateman, Kunis, Kristen Wiig, Cliffton Collins, and Ben Affleck doing his best impersonation of The Dude. Has potential, but I'm getting the whiff of disappointment off this thing. I hope I'm wrong.
If there's one thing Robin Williams does well, it's dark comedy. Come to think of it, that's not even an apt description for World's Greatest Dad. It's a pitch black comedy. Ignore the trailers, which give you the impression that this is more laugh than shock, because from what I've seen and read this thing is about as bleak as it gets. Williams plays a poetry teacher who longs to be a writer. His son is a douche with no friends, treats his father like crap, and is about to be sent to a special needs school due to his poor grades. I don't want to spoil what happens next, but it's pretty foul. It's something I could only imagine coming from the brain of Bobcat Goldthwait, who both wrote and directed. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this will be better than Extract, just based off the premise alone.
I thought about it, and decided that there's no way I can allow myself to see All About Steve. It looks like somebody dregged that crap up from the bottom of a swamp. Bradley Cooper? Thomas Haden Church? Sandra Bullock as a crazy broad who doesn't realize how old she looks? No thanks. You ladies have fun, though. I'll be in the next theatre over watchin' machine gun fire rip into dudes.
I am not a rock 'n roll fan. Never have been. I don't give two craps about the electric guitar. But the trailer for It Might Get Loud almost...ALMOST...makes me wanna learn. The film is basically the history of the electric guitar, presented through a gathering by three of rock 'n roll's greatest guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. Whatever else this film might actually be about, they really get across the idea that playing that instrument includes you in some sort of rare club. A family of artists, in a way. And that is what I find intriguing. Currently playing at Landmark E Street, AMC Shirlington, and Cinema Arts Theatre in the DC/Metro area. I might go check this out if time permits.
I've made a promise to myself to see The Time Traveler's Wife some time this week. I'll be the guy in the very back with the cap pulled down tight over his face so nobody can see me. Might have a wig. Still up in the air on that one.
