The Pop Pirate

Movies to Look Forward To

Here's a little about the movies that I'm most looking forward to through the 2005 Holiday Season:

• Jarhead (11/4): Sam Mendes, the director of American Beauty and Road to Perdition takes on Operation Desert Storm with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role. Hopefully, Mendes can bring the same insight into the American mind that he showed in Beauty. With Jamie Foxx supporting, and the haunting "Jesus Walks" trailer, I'm hoping this one will rival Three Kings as the best Persian Gulf War movie to date.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (11/18): Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco) takes the helm for the forth installment of the Hogwarts Chronicles. The kids are older and the stakes are higher than the previous films. Look for an intense ending to a movie that should play more as a tense thriller than a fantasy children's movie.
• Walk the Line (11/18): After last year's hit and Oscar winner Ray, biopics of the architects of modern music seem to be the hot subgenre. This one takes on Johnny Cash's early carreer, leading up to his emergence as "The Man in Black," and focusing on his relationship with his future wife, June Carter. Joaquin Phoenix is getting rave advance notices as Cash, and Reese Witherspoon should bring some down-home charm to her role as Carter. Walk one-ups Ray in at least one respect: Phoenix and Witherspoon actually sing on the soundtrack.
• Rent (11/23): This is one I'm cautiously anticipating. The play is an electrifying look at "La Vie Boheme" and AIDS in 90's New York, but in the hands of Chris Columbus (Home Alone, the first two Harry Potters) and with a PG-13 rating, it may lack the edge of the show on which it's based. Here's hoping that the emotion of the "Seasons of Love" video carries over into the film.
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (12/9): C.S. Lewis's classic allegory comes to the big screen courtesy of Andrew Adamson (Shrek). If you think you're likely to be put off by the Christian elements of the story, don't fret- the story (not to mention the visuals) works brilliantly as a children's fantasy. Besides, this may be the first in a seven-part franchise, so now's the time to get in on the ground floor.
• King Kong (12/14): Pete Jackson leaves behind Hobbits (for now) for the great ape. I've never really understood the grand appeal that this story has for so many people, but hopefully Jackson can bring the same master storytelling and emotional truth to Kong that he did to LOTR. Helping out are Oscar winner Adrian Brody, Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Andy Serkis as the title character. Who knows, they may even make a few bucks along the way.
  

Also on the radar: 50 cent gets the 8 Mile treatment in Get Rich or Die Tryin', George Clooney goes spying for the CIA in Syriana, Charlize Theron gets animated in Aeon Flux, Rob Marshall goes far East of Chicago with Memoirs of a Geisha, Speilburg follows up on the '72 Olympics with Munich, and Lane & Broderick bring thier lauded performances in Broadway's The Producers to the cinema.

Happy Viewing!

posted by Jeff @ 3:06 PM