March and April Movie 2K9

I was still catching up with the 2008 Oscar race at this time. Slumdog Millionaire one weekend Milk the next The Wrestler following. With the exception of Watchmen, these were months that I regret not figuring out a way to live in Wrigleyville to avoid all the holiday fodder. This blog maybe fun to write just to know what I was skipping, because lets face it, nothing that is suppose to be in Top 10 list is released prior to May and for the most part November.

March 6, 2009

The only wide release was Watchmen. As a hater of The Dark Knight (it is hard to not want to not want to defile Ledger's memory for costing Mickey Rourke his Oscar), I'd like to note that Christopher Nolan's film had to at least withstand the competition of Mamma Mia!, when no one challenged Zack Snyder's film. Watchmen has more haters than DK, but it also had more supporters than detractors. If it was not released so early in the year, it could have put Snyder up as a dark horse for best director.

March 13, 2009

• Miss March - Some say this ruined The Whitest Kids You Know. I am just disappointed that they could not have come up with a better concept to be juvenile about.
• The Last House on the Left - Has there ever been a good remake of a Wes Craven picture? I would like to also mention despite the support for the original, Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring was the basis and one of Bergman's film that does not seem to have many claiming it to be pretentious.
• Race To Witch Mountain - The Rock (who wants to be known as Dwayne?) has only had one film not to open at #1, but he has never done any films that were not popcorn features (except for Southland Tales, but that didn't make it to wide release).

March 20, 2009

• Duplicity - Clive Owens cannot open a film in the states, so why would anyone pay attention to what seemed to be a clever picture.
• I Love You Man - Gross out comedies never get a fair shake. This was the director, John Hamburg, first film after five years of only doing television, and it probably shows.
• Knowing - Flaws that cannot be overcome discussed in my review for Bangkok Dangerous.

March 27, 2009

• 12 Rounds - WWE is holding back the possible acting career of John Cena by putting him in a sharkless Renny Harlin film.
• The Haunting In Connecticut - Virginia Madsen should have never attempted to return to the mainstream.
• Monsters vs. Aliens - It sounded like a dumb concept and the title will keep it out of contention for best animated feature, but the more I see of it, the better it gets.

April 3, 2009

• Adventureland - Ryan Reynolds should never be associated with the word Oscar.
• Fast & Furious - How can anyone take a picture that has the same title as one of its prequels seriously?
• Sunshine Cleaning - I really wished it would have been longer and taken more risks. It may have allowed the actresses to shine more.

April 10, 2009

• Dragonball: Evolution - No one stopped this film when they determined that they would cast a white kid to play Goku?
• Observe and Report - If one mall cop movie will not get any love, why should the other?

April 17, 2009

• 17 Again - An attempt to capitalize on High School Musical and nothing more.
• Crank: High Voltage - When will Jason Statham want to be taken seriously?
• State of Play - I think Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck have worn out their welcome.

April 24, 2009

• Fighting - Will anyone take the time to make a good MMA movie? When will the sport stop letting people associate it with street fighting?
• Obsessed - PG-13 stalker movies never work.
• The Soloist - It almost seems that winning an Oscar is a bad thing because I've yet to take interest in Jamie Fox, Crowe, and Affleck's careers after their wins. Also, you cannot release a drama this early in the year and hope it will be remembered. Usually, an early release is a nice way of saying, "Sorry we didn't push you for 2008's awards."