TANTALIZING BIG SCREEN TEASERS
DARK SKIES
Director Scott Stewart delivers a movie about a menacing force that pursues a young suburban family. When Daniel and Lacey Barret (Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton) realize the disturbing events they have experienced are not meaningless coincidences, they take on the unimaginably terrifying deadly force that has targeted them and go to war to solve the mystery and save their souls. From the producer of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, INSIDIOUS, and SINISTER. February 22.
WRONG
Writer Director Quentin Dupieux created a stir with his exceedingly strange, beautifully photographed and existentially nebulous RUBBER (2010) about a discarded tire with a life of its own that was mostly filmed in Joshua Tree. French surrealist Dupieux’s film remains open to any or no interpretation. My guess is that it was the subject of nearly no cocktail party chatter. But it was noticed. His new film is more ambitious. The story is about Dolph Springer (Jack Plotnick) who wakes up and discovers his beloved dog is missing. The rest of the film is the strange journey that unfolds as a desperate Paul tries to find his best friend. His quest radically alters the lives of several bizarre characters as his search spirals into the realm of the truly absurd. Dare to enter Dupieux’s hilarious, hallucinatory cosmos on March 29.
JACK THE GIANT KILLER
Story writing guru James Bonnet makes reference to the Grimm Brother’s German folk tale of “Jack and the Beanstalk” as a metaphor for the risk of following your creative instincts to be rewarded beyond your dreams. Whether or not JACK THE GIANT KILLER is embedded with deeper meaning than an opportunity to show off cutting edge, viscerally laced 3D computer generated action on the giant screen remains to be seen. Assuming there is sly wit and unforced contemporary relevance, there is much promise here in director Bryan Singer’s reboot of the ubiquitous fable. Any movie that boasts a cast that includes Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy and Ewan McGregor must not be disregarded. The story’s premise is about a war of giants unleashed on earth and young Jack’s daring to save a kingdom, rescue a princess and stop the unstoppable and become a legend himself. IMAX 3D. June 15.
WORLD WAR Z
The epic, apocalyptic trailer attracted a lot of eyes when it was initially posted online by Paramount Pictures. Inspired by Max Brooks’ best-selling zombie novel of the same name, the troubled production has become controversial because its release date has been pushed back, major reshoots have been scheduled, its rating is locked as PG-13 and rumors persist that star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster are not on speaking terms. Not only that, the original $125 million project is now said to be inching beyond $200 million. And fans of Brooks’ book are upset that the movie storyline abandons the book’s narrative structure and has been altered to one in which reluctant hero Pitt saves the world. And worst of all, now the movie is only part one of a proposed trilogy! All that being said, I predict this film will be huge and tap into a cross-cultural need to experience a global, geo-political catastrophe that unites us living humans as one family against an identifiable enemy. In my opinion, the trailer suggests an extraordinary film that defines the genre. June 21.
LONE RANGER
The first THE LONE RANGER trailer posted on the internet got a lot of attention. There’s no question that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski know how to make movies that are a license to print money. Consider the billions of bucks siphoned off the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise. The first movie was hugely entertaining but the sequels were massive, mostly incomprehensible, amusement park rides. Sure, they made money, but they were widely ridiculed. And now with the second posted trailer for THE LONE RANGER, another kind of picture emerges. One Disney fan and blogger said: “It looks like an overproduced bomb — an abysmal mess of CGI and digital doubles.” That’s pretty harsh and he may be correct. I choose to think it’s a sly, witty parody of movie excess itself. All one has to do is take a look at Tonto/Depp’s stuffed crow head ornament. Is it merely a “fascinator” as the British royals like to say? Or is it comic genius? In Native American mythology, the crow is a trickster. I am always hopeful that movies succeed and deliver on the promise of the poster’s premise. Director Verbinski struck comic gold with the brilliantly designed and executed RANGO. Team Disney’s fingers are crossed that he can do it again with Kemosabi and his comic sidekick as the latter recounts how John Reid (Armie Hammer) becomes an unlikely legend of justice. July 3.
CARRIE
October 18
This could be intense, moving and vicious. There are big expectations and strong early buzz. Kimberly Peirce, who directed BOYS DON’T CRY, is at the helm of this reboot of Stephen King’s horror masterpiece. It appears to be as much about high school angst and alienation as it is about adolescent bullying and revenge. Brian De Palma’s 1976 take on King’s best-selling first novel served it’s purpose with many jolts and a ride on a scary emotional rollercoaster that ended with a much copied final sting. The target audience related big time. This time Chloe Grace Moretz plays the shy girl with telekinetic powers who is still under the thralls of her religious fanatic mother (Julianne Moore).
I can’t imagine a better choice for Carrie than Moretz. She has already proven herself with surprisingly adept and edgy performances in KICK ASS and the terrific horror thriller LET ME IN, the superior English remake of the 2008 Swedish LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Låt Den Rätte Komma In). The release date has been pushed back from the “Spring 2013” promise on the poster. Look for it October 18.
RobinESimmons@aol.com
