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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
July’s Summer Movies: Johnny Depp as Dillinger!
Our summer movie preview reaches the halfway point, with July being much more interesting at the cinema than the rather tepid June was. Here are the May and June lists.
JULY 1 (Wednesday)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
The pitch: Our prehistoric buddies encounter some rather nasty reptilian types.
The buzz: I always thought this series was overrated, and the sequel flat-out stunk, but I must admit the trailers for this one made me laugh. I still think a movie with just Scrat would be a good idea.
The prospect: B
The pitch: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale is in it too? I want to see this yesterday.
The buzz: Outside of Up, this looks like the one summer movie that has a shot at major Oscar nominations, and it’s the live action film I’m hottest to see.
The prospect: A
JULY 10
The pitch: Sacha Baron Cohen (AKA Borat) rubs many a person a wrong way with another one of his alter egos.
The buzz: I wasn’t as high on Borat as a lot of people were, but I understood why people loved it. I hope this time I can join the chorus.
The prospect: B
Trailer can be seen here. (NSFW)
The pitch: A geek declares his love for hottie cheerleader Hayden Panettiere in his graduation speech.
The buzz: Seemed pretty nondescript, until I saw the director was one Chris Columbus. The trailer isn’t that funny, but Columbus did cut his directorial teeth on a teen comedy called Adventures in Babysitting.
The prospect: B
JULY 15 (Wednesday)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The pitch: Some wizard kid learns more about the past of his arch-enemy Volde-something-or-other. I think this will make some money, don’t you?
The buzz: Now let me remove my tongue from my cheek and say the most recent trailer highly impressed me - enough to make me forget about the curious PG-rating, when the last two were PG-13.
The prospect: A
JULY 24
The pitch: Jeffrey Dean Morgan begins to unravel a missing-persons case that might mean trouble for the heir to a real estate dynasty (Ryan Gosling), who fell for a young woman from the wrong side of the tracks (Kirsten Dunst).
The buzz: Strong cast and a good director in Andrew Jarecki, who made an outstanding documentary called Capturing the Friedmans. Let’s hope his fiction skills are as good.
The prospect: B
The pitch: A specially trained squad of guinea pigs … oh come on!
The buzz: Guinea pigs? CGI GUINEA PIGS?? Oy. And I thought the dancing Chihuahuas from last year were scary.
The prospect: F
Orphan
The pitch: Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard adopt a child, but the kid turns out to be creepy.
The buzz: From the director of the “House of Wax” remake. Oh. Joy. Isn’t this basically The Omen in a dress?
The prospect: D
The Ugly Truth
The pitch: Gerard Butler plays a boorish TV host who matches wits with his tough producer, Katherine Heigl.
The buzz: I like the leads, but the trailer looks utterly formulaic. Still, this did get moved from spring to summer, so the studio thinks it has something. We’ll see if they’re right.
The prospect: C
JULY 31
The pitch: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann star in the latest film from Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), who goes in a serious vein by daring to have cancer as a subject matter.
The buzz: It’s a calculated risk, but early word says this is Apatow’s best effort yet, and some are even suggesting it’s Oscar-worthy. In any case, I’m in, even though I’m not an Adam Sandler fan.
The prospect: A
The pitch: Teenagers must protect their vacation home from the aliens who have taken over the top floor of the dwelling. Ashley Tisdale stars.
The buzz: Ooooookaaaayyyy … Sounds wild, but other than that, I just can’t say.
The prospect: C
How does the July roster look to you?
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