The New Wave: 5/14/10

You know how you know it's the summer season? Because every friggin' Friday is another blockbuster, or potential blockbuster. This week Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe team-up again to do battle with a couple of chick flicks, and y'know what? They barely win out. What are the chances that Robin Hood gets it's head handed to it by the combined efforts of Amanda Seyfried and Queen Latifah?

This is the 5th, count 'em 5th(!!) time that director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have teamed up, and Robin Hood might be the most joyless of them all. Even Body of Lies had a few jokes tossed in amidst the political backbiting. At least Crowe is back into his muscle bound, Gladiator shape and no longer the Little Debbie snack cake he was in Lies. Some things to remember: this was initially titled Nottingham, and co-starred Sienna Miller rather than Cate Blanchett. The script sucked so hard that the film got pushed back until finally everybody was happy. Personally, I liked the original revisionist idea of having the Sheriff of Nottingham being the good guy. At least it was fresh. Not that this version is bad. It's just a little uninspiring. You can check out my review here.

A few years ago I never would've pegged Amanda Seyfried as a romantic lead. I just figured she'd always be that cute chick who popped up in the background of teen flicks like Alpha Dog. Now she's got the market cornered on sappy melodramatic romances, and while I don't expect this to match Mamma Mia's success I do expect it'll do pretty well head-to-head with Robin Hood. Why? Because Robin Hood looks dull and flat, while atleast Letters to Juliet's sweetness practically jumps out of the screen and onto your lap.You know what else? I'll take Seyfried over Kristen Bell, Isla Fisher, or any of these other cookie cutter rom-com queens anyday. You can read my review here.

It might take you a little while to get used to the idea of seeing the lovable ol' Michael Caine as a geriatric one-man army against a horde of thugs and druglords, but it's well worth it. Caine puts on the best performance he's had in years as a former Marine who has lost everything: his wife, his best friend, even his neighborhood has gone to crap. The gangs have taken over, and it isn't long before they come knockin' on Harry's door. You really wanna get off this old guy's lawn. One of my favorite films of the year. You can read my review here.

I feel bad that I'm not more familiar with Korean director Kim Ji-Woon's previous work considering I've become such a huge fan of that region's particular style of cinema. If he's anywhere near as creative as Bong Joon-Ho(Mother) or Park Chan-Wook(Oldboy), then I need to start paying him more attention. His latest film The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a fusion of Korean and old school spaghetti westerns. Sounds just crazy enough to work.

Aww, don't they look cute? I genuinely feel bad that I missed every single screening of this romantic comedy, pairing up one of hip hop's greats....and Common(you can see why John handled the interview). Something about Queen Latifah has completely won me over, and she's managed to make lesser films shine(Last Holiday is a prime example). Whether or not she can turn this badly titled, uninspiring flick into a winner is yet to be seen. My home John didn't think it was too bad, though. You can check out his review here.

If there's time....

I can scarcely think of anything I want to do less than sit through yet another Nicole Holofcener film about spoiled, rich suburbanites and their petty problems. She keeps making the same darn film,(Walking and Talking, Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing) and they all feature Catherine Keener, who I genuinely like but feel is playing the exact same role every time I see her. This one looks no different as she's playing a spoiled, rich, hypocritical suburbanite who scams people by buying cheap stuff at yard sales and marking it up at her trendy store. Ugh. The only reason I have any interest at all is the presence of Vicky Christina Barcelona's Rebecca Hall.