Coming Soon: to a horizon near you...!

It's Spring, when a young man's thoughts turn to...what are the coolest sounding movies coming out for the rest of the year?!? Not really, but with summer movie season about to crest the horizon, it seemed like a fun time to look ahead at what's still coming for 2010 and try and suss out what I'm looking forward to the most. Omissions abound, these are just some of the stories that have got me the most excited... I love Ridley Scott, but there's no Robin Hood here...yet. What's the criteria? Is it a wild enough story to justify my wife and I finding a babysitter for the rarefied 3-4 times a year we see a movie in the theater? Here are the current contenders...

Kick-Ass

Opening very soon – the buzz is huge and likely to draw all kinds of controversy for Hit Girl’s ultra-violence and prodigious use of the C-word. Audiences evidently go nuts for it and should draw the Sin City and Wanted audience. The comic sure was a heck of a lot of fun. Great news for Nicolas Cage!

Harry Brown

Michael Caine in a dose of old school Brit vengeance. A crime picture for adults with a brain and supposedly some of Caine's best work ever.

Solomon Kane

See earlier blog entry. Still no sign of a release date!

Iron Man 2

Say no more. Looks great and should deliver the goods to get summer box office up and running.

Splice

Wild looking sci-fi about genetic experimentation run amok. Great cast (Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody) in a timely and disturbing thriller.

Toy Story 3

How will Pixar count all this money? Children of all ages, rejoice!

Predators

Looks off-the-charts awesome! Best trailer out there right now, awesome cast -- Laurence Fishburne, Adrien Brody (again!) Danny Trejo and Walton Goggins promises to deliver summer’s most satisfying sci-fi mayhem. Looks fantastic. A group of Earth's most extreme killers are dropped onto the Predator homeworld's alien "game preserve." I am so there.

Inception

Christopher Nolan & DiCaprio’s sci-fi mind-bender. Majorly anticipated. Massive buzz. A cerebral, mind-bending action thriller and Nolan's first picture since The Dark Knight. It ought to be amazing.

The Expendables

An eighties T-Rex of a movie with amazing stunt casting. Hope this old dino has some teeth – it could be awesome. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo (Danny Trejo always = awesome), the great David Zayas from Dexter and the sadly departed Brittany Murphy. This is the craziest bowl of Texas chili this summer. How can you not be curious to see this?!?

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I’ll see anything Edgar Wright directs, he’s amazing. Hope this movie is, too.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

The beginning of the end. The recent word on Clash of the Titans has me leery of anything in production that suddenly "goes 3-D," but I have enormous faith in this filmmaking team and this cast. Tom Felton was amazing in Half-Blood Prince. Absolutely required viewing as soon as possible. Bill Nighy joins the cast.

Tron Legacy

While it's easy to be skeptical about this (1982 was a long time ago, Commodore 64 users), it has a great design vibe and it's worth noting that 8 months before it releases, Disney is already prepping the sequel, with a script from two former Lost writers. Reminiscent of both Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes, two other films that the studios were so high on they green-lit sequels before the films were even released, both going on to connect with audiences in a major way. Does Tron have that same mojo?

The Green Hornet

I'm very leery about this one. This is a real favorite of my youth and I ran holes in the carpet playing with my diecast Black Beauty as a lad. But Seth Rogen...that choice still baffles me. I could see Clive Owen as Britt Reid...but Seth Rogen?!? But then we have Christoph "Hans Landa" Waltz as the heavy, Edward James Olmos and Tom Wilkinson plus the director who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...but who also made Be Kind Rewind...so anything could happen. But their Black Beauty looks awesome...

...so who the heck knows?! I just hope it unleashes a flood of cool Hornet merchandise!

UPDATED: Bumped to MLK weekend (January 14th) 2011 to allow time to convert the film into 3-D. Lately, word on this one has been pretty sketchy...

True Grit

The Coen brothers redux John Wayne, with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn?!? Sounding like a whacked-out hybrid of The Big Lebowski and Deadwood -- and if that doesn't get you excited, check your pulse. Matt Damon's in the Glen Campbell role with Josh Brolin also in the mix. A real Western for Christmas? Thank you, Santa!

Big doings on Baker Street...

I was a more than a little nervous about Sherlock Holmes. So I’m thrilled to report that the movie is a ripping piece of entertainment. Guy Ritchie has managed to be reverential of the Holmes mythos and of 19th Century London while keeping things vigorous and moving rapidly enough to satisfy a modern audience. An early sequence showing how Holmes’ deductive reasoning sizes up a bare-knuckled opponent in slow motion while his brain zips along strategizing how to inflict maximum damage is just a sample of the inventiveness on display. The streets of London are wonderfully rendered thanks to some beautifully designed CGI.

I was afraid Robert Downey Jr. would play it too broad, too arch and too pleased with himself. Sigh of relief, as he does a fantastic job of inhabiting Holmes, conveying both his strengths and his weaknesses. One can’t help but worry when an American is cast as Britain’s greatest detective, but Downey nails a vocal performance that is spot-on. His chemistry with Jude Law is tremendous and believable.

As villainous Lord Blackwood, Mark Strong is a terrific presence, seeming like he’s crashed into the movie from a Hellboy sequel. What use is the logic of Sherlock Holmes against the chaos and supernatural power of such a seemingly unstoppable foe? Sherlock Holmes paints with an Indiana Jones brush, but always manages to stay respectful to the idea of who Sherlock Holmes is. Like J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, the movie never forgets that there’s an audience out there and that they want to have a good time. To gasp, identify and have fun. More than any other film I’ve seen recently, Sherlock Holmes makes you hungry for the next chapter…

NOTE: Due to an agreement with Warner Home Video, this movie is unavailable at Red Box or NetFlix until April 27th...while it was released for purchase on March 25th... So finding it to rent may be difficult. Expect to see more of this kind of thing, as DVD sales continue to sag, and studios try to "gently steer" the marketplace away from renting and towards purchasing. Portland readers, Hollywood Video (NE Fremont location) does carry this title. It's well worth the extra effort to track down!

The most brilliant thing you haven't seen...

My friends, let me just say that last night saw one of the most brilliant, compelling, heartbreakingly astonishing hours of televised science fiction...ever.

Last night, Fringe came back...

This was television like we never see. The writing here made you feel like it was Ray Bradbury or a vintage Twilight Zone, with the weight and resonance of truly classic science fiction. No spoilers here, save to say that if you haven't got hooked on this show yet, you should spoil yourself and start getting caught up now, because from what we saw last night, Fringe is going to be taking our breath away between now and the season finale in May. Thank Heavens this show has been renewed for a third season.

I'm still thinking about the silver dollar and the lake and the vial...about The Window -- such a gloriously simple, timeless conceit. About Walternate and Nina Sharp and The Observer. About the immeasurable power of the love for one's child. If you think that pop culture ground zero right now is the final season of Lost...think again. So many of the questions we've had dangled in front of us previously were answered with mastery and emotion last night. John Noble was unbelievable. This episode, simply titled Peter, was something rare and fine to be truly savored.

And those credits! Eric Stoltz would be truly proud!

Buzz, buzz, buzz...Solomon Kane!

While a U.S. release date is still uncertain, the overseas buzz on Solomon Kane is really ramping up. Created by Conan pulp author Robert E. Howard in the 1920's, Solomon Kane is a 16th Century Puritan who wanders the Earth in somber vengeance, intent on vanquishing demonic evil.

The Kane stories are currently enjoying a resurgence in new adaptations from Portland's Dark Horse Comics and early word on this film is that it's very faithful in tone to the feel of the Howard stories, sounding like a mix of Brotherhood of the Wolf and the first Blade.

Solomon Kane stars James Purefoy, Alice Krige, Max von Sydow and Pete Postlethwaite.

Get cracking and release this bad boy now! Can't wait for this one!