Get There Early: August 21, 2009

Aliens, monsters, and robots – but it’s not what you think!

Avatar

I promise, this is not the same thing as the cartoon, not the same story at all.  Really.  It’s a totally different universe, despite the cool floating islands.  You’re thinking of “the Last Airbender” which isn’t due out until next July.  (Hey, it’s our job to keep up with these things.)  Despite that brief moment of disappointment, I have to side with our illustrious editor Devin on this one:  holy wow, matban!  That looks awesome!  It has all the things I love in a trailer: enough of the visuals to get the look-and-feel of the movie, enough of the good shots to write a great promise of excellent return, and just enough of a whisp of a plot to leave something to be discovered at the feature itself.  “Avatar” is slated to come out December 18, 2009.

The Wolfman

I think this is a case of “Sleeping Hollow” meets “Brotherhood of the Wolf” meets something infected with the bad inappropriate accent of Keanu Reeves.  I personally appreciate the desire to retell old stories with new vision, but Benecio del Toro as a werewolf?  I think I could get behind that more if it were a contemporary piece and not “period”.  There’s a lot of plot given away in the trailer, but can we say it’s “too much plot” if we already know the story really well?  It’s not new by any means, even if you were born after 1990.  Lon Chaney, Jr., may well be rolling in his grave over this one, but we have until February 10, 2010, to see if it’ll be worth the time.

Surrogates

Bruce Willis may once again be my hero.  Every time I think he’s gone as far as he can, he surprises me, and this time, it’s with a return to what I adore about movies: new takes on established themes that somehow manage to still be entertaining.  “Surrogates” is the story of a world where humans live vicariously through the bodies of robots.  It’s a little like “Strange Days” meets “Total Recall” with a little bit of “Matrix” thrown in for non-hippy-raver flavor.  I’m not expecting it to answer any of the deepest mysteries of humanity, but it looks like it’s going to be pretty thrilling ride – despite the blaringly bad toupee.