24 September

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You Again

Director: Andy Fickman

Cast: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Jimmy Wolk, Betty White, Kristin Chenoweth

Andy Fickman is the kind of jaundiced journeyman director that is slowly killing Hollywood. Over the course of five feature films—Who’s Your Daddy, Reefer Madness: the Musical, She’s the Man, The Game Plan, and Race to Witch Mountain, he’s been nothing but polished, professional, and passive. His artistic temperament is so anemic that many of his movies are DOA before hitting the local Cineplex. This girl power RomCom looks just as lame, even with the shocking participation of Sigourney Weaver, Kristin Chenoweth and Jamie Lee Curtis. Even the whole romantic rivals angle seems left over from a failed script conference.

Enter the Void

Director: Gaspar Noé

Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Ed Spear, Jesse Kohn

The poster sure is electrifying! In fact, the entire production reeks of the proto-psychedelic noodlings of a teen-oriented ‘60s sell out. Naturally, one expects more from the French, especially Gaspar Noe who made the controversial Irreversible. Focusing on the ghost of a dead drug dealer that floats over Tokyo trying to protect his sister, we get intriguing POV work, lots of F/X trickery, and enough cinematic style to put the average filmgoer in a creative coma. Of course, something like Scott Pilgrim offered much of the same and was more or less ignored by the general public. Destined to have a hard time connecting outside the arthouse crowd.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Director: Zack Snyder

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Barclay, Jay Laga’aia, David Wenham, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving

How does Zack Snyder follow up the one-two-three punch of unleashing Dawn of the Dead, 300, and Watchmen on an unsuspecting world? Why, go the 3D CG family film route. Of course, anyone whose seen the trailer for this gorgeous, almost photorealistic rendering of birds out to save their simple society can attest to its viable “visionary” qualities. Still, it’s one thing to turn horror and pumped up peplum into box office gold. It’s another to invest a struggling cinematic category with a new sense of purpose. If anyone can do it, Snyder can. Just ignore the “from the producers of Happy Feet” tag line and everything will be all right.

Buried

Director: Rodrigo Cortes

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Ivana Miño, Anne Lockhart, Robert Pattinson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samantha Mathis, Erik Palladino, Heath Centazzo

There has been a lot of hype around this movie since its premiere at Sundance, and many swear this is a suspense masterpiece waiting to be unveiled. Of course, many of those early reviews are from genre-specific websites that act more like shills than gaugers of future cinematic success. Still, the premise does sound intriguing—Reynolds is a truck driver in Iraq who suddenly finds himself buried alive with nothing but a Zippo, a flask of alcohol, a Blackberry, and a pen. Told in 90 minutes of real time, this could be a case where gimmickry trumps actual moviemaking acumen. Here’s hoping the buzz is prophetic and not just some calculated carnival barking.