Star Trek

The new Star Trek movie rocked!! Amanda and I really enjoyed it and, even though some the promos made it seem like it was kind of straying from the original, I thought it stayed pretty true to form and had excellent casting...

Public Enemies

In theaters July 1, 2009!! The preview for this movie finally came out and it looks great. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are brought together by director Michael Mann (director and writer of such films as The Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, Heat, & Ali) to tell the story of John Dillinger. Definitely a movie to see this year...
Watch the Trailer here!

2009 Preview Revised

It seems that there are even more new movies coming out than I put out the first time. So here are some new additions to the list, followed by the original list...Also, HERE is a slideshow of 2009's most anticipated movies

4/24/2009 - The Soloist (info)
7/1/2009 - Public Enemies (info) Johnny Depp as gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale as the gov't agent pursuing him
7/24/2009 - Funny People, has Adam Sandler...that's about all I know
8/21/2009 - Inglorious Bastards (info) A Quentin Tarantino film with Brad Pitt and Mike Myers about Nazi occupied France
10/2/2009 - Shutter Island/Ashecliff (info) Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio for the fourth time in a thriller about U.S. Marshalls pursuing a female escaped convict.
10/16/2009 - Where the Wild Things Are (info)
10/16/2009 - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (info) directed by Terry Gilliam, and starring Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell
11/6/2009 - A Christmas Carol (info) Jim Carrey plays Scrooge and all of the ghosts in a digital 3D motion-capture movie from director Robert Zemeckis (creator of Polar Express)
11/6/2009 - The Wolfman (info) I don't know about this, but basically a remake of the classic (I guess) with Benicio Del Toro as the Wolfman
11/20/2009 - Sherlock Holmes (info) Robert Downey, Jr as Holmes, Jude Law as Watson and Rachel McAdams
11/28/2009 - The Lovely Bones (info) Peter Jackson's newest film starring Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz
12/18/2009 - Avatar (info) James Cameron directs this 3D sci-fi action epic that features ground-breaking, eye-popping special effects
12/25/2009 - The Princess and the Frog (info) a new hand-drawn Disney film, this is here cause Amanda will drag me to see it...

and Nottingham doesn't have a release date, but I talked about it in my last post...

Most Notable of the following is the movie 9, check it out here

1/9/2009 - Bride Wars (link)
1/23/2009 - Inkheart (link)
1/28/2009 - Blessed is the Match (link)
2/6/2009 - Coraline (link)
2/20/2009 - Fired Up (link)

2/27/2009 - Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
first I've heard of it was making this list but Kristin Kreuk is playing Chun-Li, here are two pages where you can check out the movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter:_The_Legend_of_Chun-Li
http://streetfightermovie.net/

3/6/2009 - Watchmen (link)
3/13/2009 - Race to Witch Mountain (link)
3/20/2009 - Knowing (link)
3/27/2009 - Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks) (link)
4/3/2009 - The Ugly Truth (link)
4/17/2009 - State of Play (link)
5/1/2009 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (link)
5/8/2009 - Star Trek (link)
5/15/2009 - Angels & Demons (link)
5/22/2009 - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (link)
5/22/2009 - Terminator: Salvation (link)
5/29/2009 - Up (link) (Pixar/Disney)
6/5/2009 - Land of the Lost (link) (starring Will Ferrell, who knows?)
6/12/2009 - The Proposal (link)
6/26/2009 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
7/10/2009 - 2012 (link)
7/17/2009 - Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince (link)
8/7/2009 - GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra
9/9/2009 - 9 (Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov,
dir. of Wanted; this looks way interesting) (link)
9/18/2009 - The Informant

Putting the "Science" Back in Science Fiction

So last night Amanda and I finally saw The Day the Earth Stood Still and we thoroughly enjoyed it (though I might have a little more, I definitely must give her dad credit for weening her on Star Trek and 50's sci-fi classics). I heard mixed reviews on it, and yes I know it didn't stick to the 1951 story exactly, but what did surprise me was that it stuck to the way 50's Sci-Fi was made, and then beefed it up a bit.

Let me explain myself. 1950's Science Fiction used to be exactly what it says it the title and would show through in the movies. Their would always be the scientist-hero in the story, and some form of government/military always did stupid stuff with Science winning out in the end. Also, their would be some portion of the film where said scientist would get to explain real scientific principles. The Day the Earth Stood Still stuck to this winning formula.

John Cleese and Jennifer Connelly play said hero-scientists who end up saving the world while politicians and military over-react and worry about protecting themselves. The movie opens with a micro-biological discussion led by Jennifer Connelly on organisms that are able to live on one of the moons of Jupiter (?) Then there is a medical surgery scene that seemed pretty real to the actual practice, the "As scientists we cannot do what you are asking us to" bit, and the Klaatu (alien played by Keanu Reeves, perfect casting) helps a scientist (Dr. Barnhardt by Cleese) solve an equation scene...and I loved it all!!

On top of having these types of scenes that don't happen in Sci-fi a lot these days, the creators of this new edition added in some cool explosions, a better protector-robot version of GORT, a way cooler spaceship for Klaatu, and all the great special effects to go along with those that new-age Sci-Fi can provide.

The Day the Earth Stood Still blends the old and new of Sci-Fi beautifully and provides a good message about protecting the planet without getting too preachy or self-righteous (there is no "ooh, our spaceship is 'green'" crap, just "take care of your planet or die"). Just an all-around fun movie and a fun remake of the original.

New Movie Previews

OK, so there are some amazing movies coming out this year, everyone loved Iron Man, it was great. And everyone knows about Batman and has seen the preview so there is no need to post those, but here are some interesting movies you may not have seen the previews for:
James Bond in Quantum of Solace, Nov 7, 2008



Do I really need to explain the meaning of James Bond? One of the best franchises of all time!! Oh, as a side note the movie take place one hour after where the last Bond flick (Casino Royale) ended and Daniel Craig is returning as James Bond.

Next, The Day the Earth Stood Still:


This movie may need a little more explaining. It is a remake of a 1950s sci-fi classic. I won't give too much plot away because it looks like it diverges a little from the original plot (but not too much). Anyways, without knowing anything about the plot, one can see from the preview that it looks really, really good.

As for other good news:
-- X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes out May 1, 2009 with Hugh Jackman returning as the Wolverine and directed by Gavin Hood (who won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 2005 for "Totsi"). The screenplay will be done by David Benioff (who wrote the screenplays for "Troy" and "25th Hour"). Joining the cast are Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch from TVs "Friday Night Lights"), Deadpool (by Ryan Reynolds), John Wraith (by Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am), Col. William Stryker (by DannyHuston), Kayla Silver Fox (by Lynn Collins), and of course Sabretooth (by Liev Schreiber).

--Thor for this film only the director has been announced, and it is Matthew Vaughn, the director of "Stardust," and "Layer Cake."

Anywho, that's it for me. Hope you're as excited about these films as I am. Other tidbits, in the works after Thor are movies about Captain America, and then an Avengers film that will link up Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America. Woo Hoo!!