The List! 1/22/10

I often complain about the January-March movie season as being the dumping ground for films the studios have zero faith in. For the most part I'm right, but every now and then a gem creeps up. I'm hoping Legion can be one of those gems, and isn't the spotty looking action flick it appears to be. This is actually a big weeek for Legion star, Paul Bettany, who has two films of vastly different types coming out today. Both of which are on my must see list. Not sure what kicked him back into stardom after a lost period that saw him starring as a self mutilating albino in The Da Vinci Code. Not his shiniest moment.

Well, at least he's not serving up tennis ball romances with Kirsten Dunst anymore. Yes, that's a reference to the awful film, Wimbledon, that Paul Bettany starred in. Here he's Michael, a fallen angel who decides to protect humanity when God has finally decided to wipe us all off the map. God's weapon of choice? Legions of angels with guns and stuff. Surely the G-O-D could've come up with a less gruesome method? I'm partial to plague carrying locusts, myself. My hope is that this film does not take itself too seriously and has some fun with the ridiculous premise. Otherwise this might be a disaster of biblical proportions.

Welcome back to Hollywood, John Amiel, I hope you survive the experience. The director hasn't been seen in seven years, ever since he unleashed the big budget bomb, The Core, on us all back in 2003. Paul Bettany makes his second appearance on The List this week as evolutionist Charles Darwin, in the midst of writing his master work, On the Origin of Species. Buzz on this has been scant, which is strange considering the problems the film had getting distribution here in the States, thanks to pro-Creationists causing a stink. It's a movie. Get over it.

If there's time....

I'm as surprised as anybody that this isn't in my list of "Avoid At All Costs" flicks for the week, but my reasons are simple. This is such a monumental step backwards for The Rock, who was forging something of a decent career for himself whether his films were any good or not. What's more, I think he knows it. The former People's Champ has been power bombed by mediocrity, and I want to see his face as he telegraphs every corny line of dialogue. This looks so much worse than The Gameplan it's not even funny.

No...no...a thousand times no!!

My review of this film is already up, and I think it's best summed up as a TV Movie of the week minus the entertaining commercial breaks. Ignore any and all ads equating this thing to The Blind Side, a vastly superior film. Unless you're in the mood to pay $10 for something you can find on Lifetime any day of the week, just avoid it entirely.