The New Wave: 2/11/11

They haven't Fed Exed this dude to North Korea yet? Why the heck not?  Considering Bieber's own prankster image, I find it funny that there's been even the slightest outcry about all the Internet petitions against the kid. The biggest outcry, however, came when this concert film/biopic of the adolescent pop star was first announced with Davis Guggenheim(An Inconvenient Truth) to direct. The pot shots at his career were immediate, and he quickly fled in another direction only to be replaced by Jon Chu(Step Up 2 and 3). Nobody said a word about the change, figuring that if anything this was a lateral move for the musically inclined filmmaker. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to screen this for us, and I'm not sure how motivated I am to be the only old man sitting amongst a sea of little girls at the nearest theater.

So he's no Russell Crowe or Michael Fassbender, but Channing Tatum makes for an impressive Roman combatant in The Eagle, a fictional account of the lost Ninth Legion, which disappeared in the hills of Scotland. While Tatum certainly looks the part, it's Jamie Bell(remember Billy Elliot?) who actually steals the film as his possibly duplicitous slave.  The Eagle marks the second pairing of director Kevin MacDonald and his The Last King of Scotland screenwriter, Jeremy Brock. My review of The Eagle can be found here.

On paper it has all the right pieces. Ed Helms(The Hangover) gets his shot at being the face of a comedy all it's own. The supporting cast is top notch, featuring John C. Reilly and a sexy red-haired Anne Heche. Alexander Payne(Sideways) serves as producer. And then there's director Miguel Arteta, coming off last year's hilarious box office flop, Youth in Revolt. Do all those pieces fit together to make for a comic gem equal to the sum of it's parts? Well...yes and no.  My review of Cedar Rapids can be read here.

Walt Disney Pictures passed on this clever take on the classic William Shakespeare tragedy, but it eventually landed in the laps of Touchstone Pictures. Infused with a rockin' Elton John score and featuring the voice talents of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, Disney might be wishing they'd put up more of a fight to hold on to this one. You can read my review of Gnomeo and Juliet here.

Well, it certainly looks like another lazy Adam Sandler effort, doesn't it? Even the cool Hawaiian locale is probably just an excuse for him to loaf around and watch his co-stars in bikinis in between scenes. Not that I blame him when those co-stars are Jennifer Aniston and scorchin' Brooklyn Decker. Note that I didn't add Nicole Kidman, who also makes a surprising supporting role as a former enemy of Aniston's character. Considering the film's plot has a lot to do with plastic surgery disasters, it makes me wonder if her presence is some sort of inside joke she's not fully aware of. Check here for my review.