14 and 21 May
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Robin Hood
Ridley Scott
Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew Macfadyen, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Kevin Durand
14 May
Robin Hood
At first, this was going to be an off-kilter story in which the famed people’s bandit was actually, somehow, the Sheriff of Nottingham as well. Director Ridley Scott was never truly sold on the idea, so when star Russell Crowe signed on, it’s was time for a massive rewrite. Now we are dealing with a prequel to a legend of sorts, the story of how Robin of Locksley became the guy who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. For the most part, this looks like Gladiator ported over to Medieval Times, and while some may see that as a positive things, it’s hard to imagine Scott and Crowe finding the same success this time around.
Letters to Juliet
Gary Winick
Amanda Seyfried, Chris Egan, Vanessa Redgrave Gael García Bernal, Franco Nero
14 May
Letters to Juliet
Seems like we’ve been seeing ads for this film long before the first thaw. The premise—a young woman travels to Verona, secretly snatches one the city’s infamous tourist notes to its famed fictional Shakespearean Miss, and decides to reunited the lost lovers mentioned inside. Talk about your ultra-high concepts. And what, exactly, are Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero doing here? While they are a couple in real life, placing them together in the reel world seems more like a stunt, especially when you consider the otherwise superficial RomDram elements involved here. Well, at least Italy is beautiful. That’s a plus. Unfortunately, director Gary Winick’s last film was the awful Bride Wars. Seems like a wash overall.
14 May
Just Wright
Queen Latifah is a physical therapist who’s supposed to help an ailing NBA All-Star make it back into the bigs. He—rapper turned thespian Common—happily accepts her attentions… that is, until she gets more than professional. Suddenly, he sees her childhood friend Morgan and decides to pursue her instead. Of course, he doesn’t know that she’s only after the fame (and fortune) of being a basketball player’s wife. Proving that sappy RomCom silliness can overcome differences in race, culture, and talent, this take on the urban angle of humor with heart seems as saccharine and stale as any other recent installment of the genre. We hope we’re wrong. We’re probably right.
Shrek Forever After
Mike Mitchell
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Walt Dohrn, Julie Andrews, Justin Timberlake
21 May
Shrek Forever After
Enough with Mike Myers, his strained Scottish brogue, and the whole continuing fairytale fallacy of Far Far Away—and this long past due franchise. Promising that this is the final installment in the CG series, we get Rumpelstiltskin offering our stinky hero a change to reclaim some of his ogre mojo. When the deal backfires, we get a bizarro-world take on the material in which Puss N’ Boots is a fat pampered pussycat and Fiona never met her big green love machine. With Pixar scoring hit after hit with its clever, creative cartoon magic, something like Shrek feels as dated as those dinosaurs from the Ice Age films. Unless they can bring something new aside from set-up to the table, this will definitely be a certain swamp-dweller’s swansong.
21 May
MacGruber
Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there were two cinematic givens—successful Saturday Night Live sketches would eventually be made into movies… and for the most part, these adaptations sucked. Wisely, the long-running comedy showcase put the kibosh on developing every potential property, holding back for concepts that really deserved dressing up. This is a perfect example of a potential hit or a possible misfire. The satiric take on a certain Richard Dean Anderson icon looks like a hoot, especially with a seemingly well-fed Val Kilmer as his potential nemesis. Certainly, the hard “R” rating suggests more raunchiness than wit, but who knows? Instead of being all scatology, this could be very smart.
