Get There Early: August 24, 2009
GerRARd!
Gamer
The seemingly ubiquitous Gerard Butler is cast in a sympathetic and believable hard-action role, again. Of course, with the sci-fi twist, you know it’s got my interest piqued a little, but I’m wondering at which point the writer stepped away from “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card and started penning his own interpretation thereof. It’s gritty, it’s dirty, and Butler is a slightly more emotional version of Clive Owens. I know I can’t be the only one thinking that there were scenes in there lifted from “Children of Men”. And then there’s the whole “Running Man” aspect of it, and I think that makes… two? three? movies with the same focus/goal of Death-Row Convict Earns Freedom Through Lethal Entertainment Only To Get Screwed By The Man In The End. “Gamer” comes out next Friday, September 4, 2009.
Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio has really started to grow up. As a fresh-faced starlet-bait pretty boy, he wasn’t terrible as an actor, but he tended to get shoe-horned into roles that fit him like a factory-reject suit from an octopus farm. Now that there are roles with a little more substance coming – and casting directors who aren’t afraid to bank on DiCaprio’s naturally creepy presence – I suspect we’re going to see something impressive very soon. The “Inception” trailer gives almost nothing about the plot – which is good since it’s not slated for release until July 16, 2010 – but it’s certainly very fascinating to think of how using a sudden tilt room is going to come into play.
Youth In Revolt
Do you ever get the feeling as you look at Michael Cera that he’s kind of disgusted with himself and he really wants to get into a more serious acting role that maybe has some relevance to a demographic larger than the years between 14 and 19? Yeah, me, too. And then I see a scene with him running, and I realize that that’s probably never going to happen. I think this film will fit squarely with the other genre pieces “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” (which, in hindsight, really only had two things going for it) and “Charlie Bartlett” (which had the same two things going for it, but also had Chekov, so maybe that’s three). “Youth in Revolt” does not have those two things going for it and almost has the opposite of those two things, so… yeah. Michael Cera with a mustache doing a teen-angst meets “Fight Club” routine. Maybe we’ll figure it out October 30, 2009.
