Hey everyone, I'm still working on how to structure this column, so this round'll be a little different. This time I'm talking about several upcoming movies (whose trailers are available HERE.)
The Green Zone stars Matt Damon and is directed by Paul Greengrass, the team behind The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum. My impression of this trailer is that they've gone overboard on the politics and Damon plays the Only Man in the US Armed Forces Who Questions His Sources and somehow goes on a one-man mission. Greg Kinnear plays the stuffed suit who's after him. Brendan Gleeson does a good US accent. Other than that, it feels like Bourne has become a genre outside of itself (including the new Bonds and Batmen) and this is the latest movie in that genre. It looks like the Bourne movie that finally cuts loose. Still suffers from that Middle-East vaguely current, vaguely political backdrop that bogs down a lot of would-be ball-busting action movies lately.
Date Night features two NBC headliners, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, as a married couple who've stalled out and go on weekly date nights as part of their routine. A case of mistaken identity one night leads to a series of misadventures that get more and more action movie-esque as the trailer progresses. I thought it was going to be something akin to Couples Retreat, when I saw on IMDb the cast included Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Leighton Meester and James Franco.I totally expected something different from what I knew before the trailer, which is basically the first sentence of this review. However, based on the talent these two have on TV, and a hope that it'll go slam-bang nuts in the last acts and turn into total craziness like Adventures in Babysitting and If Looks Could Kill, I'll definitely be giving this one a chance.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time looks laughably bad. I am anti-snark and pro-positivity but I'm also common sense and this movie looks like crap. Jake Gyllenhaal, a very talented actor, and also formerly-dreamy in the young urban sneaker wearing way, stars in this Disney/Bruckheimer production, which basically means he poses and gets digitized into one CGI sequence after another. This trailer kinda reminds me of when actors "star" in video games. I wish I could have been present during the meeting where Jake's people talked him into this project. What kind of penis-envy was he feeling when he signed up for a series of his own? Clearly, Disney's feeling the pain of no longer having Pirates to keep their summers afloat and their aching for a new tentpole series. Yesterday's theme park ride movie is tomorrow's video game adaptation. This looks less believable than the Scorcher trailers in Tropic Thunder.
That'll do it for this session. Watch the trailers! Let me know what you think; agree, disagree, think I'm nuts, think I'm right on? Let's have a discussion.
