BEST MOVIES to watch out for ..

 

Opening wide next Friday, February 26th, are the Kevin Smith-directed buddy-cop comedy Cop Out and the horror remake The Crazies. Here are the trailers:

26 March Friday
Hot Tub Time Machine	Well that's self-explanatory... A bunch of dudes get whisked back to the '80s in a hot tub.
How To Train Your Dragon	More like how to train your human... A Viking teen discovers dragons aren't as bad as they're cracked up to be.
Bluebeard A wife-killing aristocrat marries again in an update of the French fairytale.		Limited
Chloe A wife hires the wrong woman to test her husband's fidelity.		Limited
Dancing Across Borders A documentary follows a young man's journey from a village in Cambodia to center stage in America.		Limited
THe Eclipse A widower falls for a woman with a psychotic ex-boyfriend.		Limited
Lbs. An overweight man heads into the wilderness to drop excess weight.		Limited
Leaves of Grass An academic (Edward Norton) returns to investigate his brother's murder..		Limited
Waking Sleeping Beauty A documentary unleashes the secret behind Disney's most creative years..		Limited
31 March Wednesday
The Last Song	Hannah Montana falls in love... MMiley Cyrus falls in love on the beach in a romance from Nicholas Sparks.
2 April Friday
Clash of the Titans	The Gods must be crazy... Perseus must save Zeus from Hades in an update of the 1980s cheesefest.
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?	No answer yet... Four couples struggle with marital issues in the tropics.
Breaking Upwards A couple orchestrates a strategic breakup in an autobiographical romantic comedy.		Limited
Don McKay Don McKay (Thomas Haden Church) proves you can't go home again.		Limited
The Greatest Grief-stricken parents receive an interesting gift from their deceased son.		Limited
Leaves of Grass Edward Norton is a twin looking for his brother's murder.		Limited
The Thorn in the Heart Michel Gondry makes a documentary about his aunt that uncovers a new facet of his family life.		Limited
The Warlords Jet Li becomes part of a vigilante trio that saves peasants during the Taiping Rebellion.		Limited
9 April Friday
Date Night	A night to remember... Tina Fey and Steve Carell are a married couple having a heck of a time surviving a night away from the kids.
After.Life A young girl wakes up on a mortician's table questioning whether or not she's really dead.		Limited
The Black Waters of Echo's Pond Four friends play an old board game that makes the Ouija board look like child's play.		Limited
Everyone Else A vacation tests a new couple's staying power.		Limited
La Mission The love of a father (Benjamin Bratt) is tested when his machismo way of life is threatened by his son's secret.		Limited
Letters to God A dying boy's letters help a mailman find his way.		Limited
The Square An Aussie noir follows a bored bloke who gets mixed up with a sexy but dangerous beauty.		Limited
When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors Mr. Mojo Risin' raises questions in a rockumentary about the influential '60s band.		Limited
Who Do You Love Leonard Chess takes center stage among the legends he helped create in a drama about an ulikely mover and shaker.		Limited
On The Horizon
Kick-Ass Kids dress up like superheroes and kick some, well, you know.		April 16, 2010
A Nightmare on Elm Street One, two...Freddy's coming for you.		April 30, 2010
I Love you Phillip Morris Love is in the air for Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.		April 30, 2010
Iron Man 2 Stark back for some more solid action.		May 7, 2010
Robin Hood Russell Crowe stars as the folk hero.		May 14, 2010
MacGruber Another movie based on an SNL sketch heads to the big screen.		May 21, 2010
Shrek Forever After Donkey is back.		May 21, 2010
Sex and the City 2 The girls are back in town.		May 27, 2010
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Jake Gyllenhaal slips into the role of the video game hero.		May 28, 2010
Get Him to the Greek Russell Brand reprises his role as lothario pop star Aldous Snow.		June 4, 2010
Marmaduke The Great Dane wreaks havoc in theaters.		June 4, 2010
The A-Team The boys graduate to the big screen.		June 11, 2010
Kung Fu Kid Jackie Chan mentors Jaden Smith in an update of The Karate Kid.		June 11, 2010
Toy Story 3 Woody and Buzz take the gang on a whole new adventure.		June 18, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Jacob and Edward clash over who will protect Bella from Victoria.		June 30, 2010
The Last Airbender M. Night unites the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.		July 2, 2010
The Expendables Slyvester Stallone recruits the top 80's action badasses.		August 13, 2010
Paranormal Activity 2 Demons got a lot of possessin' to do.		October 22, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 It's the beginning of the end.		November 19, 2010
Tron Legacy The game gets a reboot.		December 17, 2010
Thor Another Marvel character makes it to the big screen.		May 6, 2011
Green Lantern Ryan Reynolds's tries on the superhero's green tights.		June 17, 2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 It's the end of the end.		July 15, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America The Avenger Initiative is almost complete.		July 22, 2011

 

Shutter Island 61

Martin Scorsese’s Last 5 Films

The Departed (2006)	86
The Aviator (2004)	77
Gangs of New York (2002)	72
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)	70
Kundun (1997)	72

Not usually known for scares, Martin Scorsese helms this suspenseful horror-thriller based on the Dennis Lehane novel and set in a creepy mental hospital during the 1950s. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo star as a pair of U.S. marshals summoned to the fortress-like hospital to investigate the disappearance of one of its inmates. The film was originally scheduled for an October 2009 release, but was delayed for financial reasons.
While Shutter Island may not be among Scorsese’s best films — in fact, it’s his lowest-scoring film from at least the past 22 years (Metacritic’s database contains only a few of his films prior to 1988) — most reviewers generally enjoyed the new thriller, with some reservations. Several critics felt that the film escaped the confines of its genre to become something bigger and more profound. The Onion A.V. Club’s Scott Tobias concluded, "Shutter Island may initially seem like a nerve-jangling genre piece in the Cape Fear mold, but it’s more like Scorsese’s The Shining, a horror show where it’s sometimes hard to tell the haunted from those doing the haunting." Similarly, Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer described the film as an exploration of "psychological or physical cruelty," much like earlier Scorsese films like Kundun, The Age of Innocence or Raging Bull. Reviewers also had praise for Scorsese’s craftsmanship — especially as manifested in the film’s atmosphere and tension — and almost universally lauded the cast and the music (though the San Francisco Chronicle panned the "ludicrously ominous" soundtrack).
Some critics, however, partially dismissed Shutter Island as a relatively minor work in Scorsese’s career, either because of the genre or because of the result. The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips, in fact, opined that Scorsese overcompensated for the film’s pulpy subject matter by "overcooking the stew," with the result being nothing more than "mazelike fun and games, without the fun." Many reviewers also faulted the film’s intentional misdirection (there are red herrings aplenty, according to reviewers) as frustrating and found the story confusing, "overplotted" and "incomprehensible" (New York Observer’s Rex Reed), or even "weird" (the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday).
And almost everyone noted the film’s inconsistent pacing and unwieldy length (it clocks in at nearly two and a half hours): New York’s David Edelstein was not the only critic to deem Shutter Island a "long slog." However, the film’s strong payoff in the form of its final twist — which works "shiveringly well," according to Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, redeemed the journey in the eyes of some reviewers. As Rick Groen wrote in The Globe and Mail, "Not often in movies is the destination so much better than the journey."
 

The Ghost Writer 76

Roman Polanski’s Last 5 Films

Oliver Twist (2005)	65
The Pianist (2002)	85
The Ninth Gate (1999)	44
Death and the Maiden (1994)	72
Bitter Moon (1992)	xx

Director Roman Polanski put the finishing touches on The Ghost Writer (debuting this weekend in Los Angeles and New York and opening nationwide March 19th) while under house arrest in Switzerland. Based on Robert Harris’ best-selling novel "The Ghost," the political thriller stars Ewan McGregor as a ghostwriter who uncovers dangerous secrets when he is hired to pen the autobiography of a Tony Blair-like British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan).
Polanski’s 55-year career is filled with critically-acclaimed thrillers, and The Ghost Writer looks like it will join that list, even it it doesn’t rank among his very best. When critics weren’t busy discussing the director’s ongoing legal problems, they found a lot to like, starting with the performances of McGregor and Brosnan, whose "verbal duels make for a dazzling game of cat-and-mouse," according to Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who added that "even the smallest roles are expertly played." Many critics, like Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum, found the paranoia-laced film "well-made," and reviewers enjoyed the "verve and vitality" (Time Out New York) and glimpses of "that old Polanski magic" (Village Voice) that the director brought to what otherwise would be standard genre material. Several critics also called the film a "mature" or "adult" thriller, suggesting not sexual situations but a more cerebral, less action-driven example of the genre.
However, don’t go into The Ghost Writer expecting "profundity" (Time Out New York) or even a coherent ending (Village Voice). The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt similarly found the movie both "superficial" and shallow, "hypnotic" to sit through but unable to "bear close scrutiny" once its final images fade. And Variety’s Derek Elley didn’t share his colleagues’ overall approval of the film; he found Polanski’s adaptation of the novel too literal, McGregor’s performance "weak," and the film itself lacking tension.

 

BEST MOVIES FEB-MARCH09

This Week’s Major Releases, Head to Head

Movie	Release	Rating	Genre	Metascore	Critic Grades	Users
Shutter Island	WIDE	R	Thriller	61		7.3
The Ghost Writer	LIMITED	PG-13	Thriller	76		n/a
Compare to the "best" from recent weeks:
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief	2/12	PG	Teen Fantasy	47		6.5
Dear John	2/5	PG-13	Romance	43		6.2
Edge of Darkness	1/29	R	Thriller	55		7.1

BEST MOVIES

1.. Up 


Directors: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

Writer: Bob Peterson

Cast: (voices of) Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger



Why It Will Rule: Seems odd to tell you that one of the best movies of 2009 will be starring Ed Asner in the lead role, but this is Pixar we're talking about. They could make an Oscar-worthy movie about freakin' Chuckles the Clown if they wanted to. The greatest animation studio since the golden age of Walt Disney brings their tenth film to the big screen in 2009 and, thanks to their unprecedented track record of critical and popular hits, they've (so far) only been selling Up on a single beautiful image of a small house flying through the sky tethered to thousands of balloons. The story revolves around 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen who avoids being sent to a nursing home and keeps a promise to his late wife to see the world with the help of a tenacious Wilderness Ranger and lots and lots of helium. Might be too sentimental in less skilled hands, but, at this point, it's safe to say that Pixar deserves the benefit of the doubt. (Plus it's the first Pixar movie to be filmed in Disney Digital 3D, so you know it's going to be gorgeous.)



Why It Might Suck: The storyline might be a hard sell to kids - Come watch your grandpa have an adventure! - and critics everywhere (not us) are hungry for Pixar to finally produce a dud.





2. Nine


Director: Rob Marshall

Writer: Michael Tolkin

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Stacy Ferguson, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren



Why It Will Rule: The last time that director Rob Marshall was paired with a musical - 2002's Chicago - it resulted in 13 Oscar nominations. There's no reason to think that the same thing can't happen again with Nine, a lavish movie adaptation of the 1982 Tony-winning musical based on Federico Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Even if you don't consider Marshall's Chicago experience, you can't ignore the appeal of a script by The Player's Michael Tolkin and a cast that makes your eyes water. ANYTHING starring Daniel Day-Lewis is probably going to be great - he really is probably the best actor of his generation - and the pedigree of his female supporting cast is impeccable. We're most excited to see La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard again, and the idea of watching Judi Dench and Sophia Loren belt out showtunes makes Nine almost impossible to ignore or resist.



Why It Might Suck: Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson have developed a reputation as box-office poison lately and Fergie? They cast Fergie opposite Daniel Day-Lewis? Really?  
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5. The Informant



Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Scott Z. Burns

Cast: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey



Why It Will Rule: You probably knew that Steven Soderbergh had a movie coming out in 2009, but you probably thought it was Che, his Cuban revolutionary biopic starring Benicio Del Toro. And while that movie is getting all the attention at the moment, Soderbergh actually has ANOTHER movie coming out later in 2009 and it's not one of his hand-held, no-stars, Bubble-esque experiments either. It's a big dark comic thriller starring Matt Damon that's based on Kurt Eichenwald's 2000 nonfiction book about price-fixing in the agri-business industry. Damon stars as Mark Whitacre, an executive who works with the FBI to blow the whistle on his corrupt employers and falls prey to his own fraudulent dealings and a wicked bi-polar disorder. (You may have seen pictures of him in People with a mustache and gut for the role.) In this economy, a wicked, corporate-skewing black comedy could do HUGE business, and Soderbergh's last industry expose, Erin Brockovich, was one of his best.



Why It Might Suck: Can even Soderbergh make price-fixing of food additives that interesting?



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6. Shutter Island



Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer: Laeta Kalogridis

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley



Why It Will Rule: It's safe to say that the partnership between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese has been a productive one for the famed director - Gangs of New York got 10 Oscar nominations, The Aviator got 11 nods (and 5 wins), and The Departed got 5 nominations and won 4, including Best Picture and Marty's long-coveted Best Director Oscar. So ANY news that Scorsese and DiCaprio are re-teaming should raise the blood pressure of any true film fan. And when they re-team to adapt a crime novel by the great Dennis Lehane (author of Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone), you should start betting on it in your local Oscar pool as soon as possible. Shutter Island (or Ashecliffe, as it's rumored to be re-titled) follows two U.S. Marshalls (DiCaprio and Ruffalo) trapped by a hurricane on a Massachusetts island as they hunt for a mental patient with a violent past who escaped from a nearby asylum with an equally violent past. It sounds like perfect thriller material, straight out of the third act of Scorsese's Cape Fear remake, and an ideal fit for the legendary filmmaker.



Why It Might Suck: The last movies written by Shutter Island's screenwriter, Laeta Kalogridis, were the lame Viking action movie Pathfinder and Oliver Stone's flop Alexander. Let's hope Lehane's genius shines through regardless.



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7. The Lovely Bones



Director: Peter Jackson

Writers: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon



Why It Will Rule: It's impossible not to take notice when the team behind the Lord of the Rings movies - writer/director Peter Jackson and screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens - reunites for a new film project, particularly when it's a project as interesting and atypical as this one. Alice Sebold's 2002 novel, The Lovely Bones, was an unlikely candidate to be a blockbuster publishing success story, but Sebold's sad, sweet story of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by a neighbor, who watches her family (and her killer) from Heaven as they try to move on following her death, was one of the best-selling novels of the past decade. It's no surprise that Hollywood was quick to adapt the novel, but it was surprising that a director best known for Hobbits and Orcs got the job. However, anyone familiar with Jackson's 1994 drama Heavenly Creatures (a true story of teen obsession and murder starring Kate Winslet) would immediately recognize Jackson as an eerily perfect choice to direct The Lovely Bones. Heavenly Creatures proved that Jackson and Fran Walsh know how to write teenage girls, and the more fantastic elements of the novel couldn't be in better hands.



Why It Might Suck: More than any movie on this list, Lovely Bones has the most potential to be the surprise trainwreck of 2009. The material is difficult (to say the least), and it doesn't help that the original male lead, Ryan Gosling, was replaced by Jackson at the last minute (rumors say that Jackson thought Gosling was, irony of ironies, too fat for the role); that Susan Sarandon has publically complained about Jackson's directorial style; or that the release date has been pushed back multiple times. Pray for Susie Salmon, kids.



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8. The Road



Director: John Hillcoat

Writer: Joe Penhall

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce



Why It Will Rule: Throughout his decades-long career, author Cormac McCarthy has developed a reputation as a virtuoso writer, famed for his tough, brutal imagery and absolute mastery of the English language, so many were shocked that his 2006 post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, became such a mainstream success. Even while America was trying to cope with the image of McCarthy palling around with Oprah, Hollywood was trying to figure out how to turn the best-selling book into a best-selling movie. Thankfully, they found the ideal director for the material - Australian director John Hillcoat, whose 2005 movie, The Proposition, was one of the best, most underrated Westerns in years. The Proposition did an amazing job at finding beauty and grace in the bleakest of environments - both physical and emotional - and that's EXACTLY the aesthetic that any movie version of The Road needs. McCarthy's sublimely simple story of a father and son letting their mutual love sustain each other at the end of the world touched a nerve in millions of readers, and, hopefully, Hillcoat (and the perfectly cast Viggo Mortensen) will be able to translate that effect to the big screen.



Why It Might Suck: The release date has been pushed back a few times and, if Hillcoat botches the balance of bleakness and hope, it could fall flat with audiences.



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9. Watchmen



Director: Zack Snyder

Writer: David Hayter and Alex Tse

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matthew Goode, Stephen McHattie, Carla Gugino



Why It Will Rule: Because if we say otherwise, millions of frenzied, drooling fanboys will smother us in our sleep. Kidding aside, it's no exaggeration to say that Watchmen is, perhaps, THE most anticipated film of 2009. It's a movie version of the most critically beloved graphic novel of all time in an era where superhero movies rule the box office. It's riding a wave of strong pre-release buzz, it's Zack Snyder's first movie since his popular smash 300, and the first two trailers have been AMAZING. Thanks to Iron Man and Dark Knight, audiences are finally taking comic book movies seriously, and Watchmen seems like the next evolutionary step in the genre, acting as both a meta-commentary on superheroes in general and an adult, world-spanning murder mystery. If people dug the bleak, gritty vibe of Dark Knight, then they're going to LOVE Watchmen.



Why It Might Suck: Aside from Lovely Bones, Watchmen is the riskiest bet on this list. 300 wasn't exactly the greatest movie ever (unless you're really into slow-motion homo-erotica), Alan Moore comic book movie adaptations have a bad history (still trying to forget League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), expectations are insanely high, and rumors have it that Snyder - who's spent two years selling the movie to fans as a religiously faithful adaptation - changed the ending. Could either be epic or an epic fail.

10. Avatar



Director: James Cameron

Writer: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang



Why It Will Rule: Watchmen might be the 2009 movie that everyone's talking about now, but make no mistake - Avatar is the BIGGEST movie of 2009. There is literally NO other movie that in any way, shape, or form that could conceivably be bigger. Why? First, it's the first theatrical movie written and directed by James Cameron since Titanic, i.e. the highest grossing movie EVER. Second, by all reports, Cameron has spent the better part of a decade prepping for Avatar and has alleged completely reinvented 3D technology to make a blow-you-through-the-back-of-your-seat experience that will remind you why watching DVDs will NEVER replace the glory of seeing a movie up on the big screen. Third, it's a massive scope sci-fi epic, a genre that Cameron does extremely well (i.e., Terminator 2 and Aliens). Though the project has been shrouded in secrecy, we know that the film follows a paralyzed war veteran far in the future who is brought to the planet Pandora and finds himself trapped in the middle of a conflict for the fate of the planet between his fellow Earthlings and the planet's native Na'vi population. It's a fun concept, but it's the reverence with which Hollywood FX technicians have been speaking about Avatar that has us really, really excited to plop down ten bucks at our local multiplex and take a ride.