I was a big fan of Event Horizon awhile back, being one of the few legit creepy space horrors in memory. Big props to Paul W.S. Anderson for that film, even if his career has sucked rhino balls since. But now he's back, so to speak, producing Pandorum which bares more than a passing similarity to that film. Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster(damn he's come a long way since Fast Forward!) star as a pair of astronauts who wake up on a spaceship and with no memory of what happened. They soon find themselves on the run from mutated creatures which have seemingly taken over the ship. As much as I love Surrogates, Pandorum is a film that's right up my alley. I'll be checking it out this morning as soon as I'm done here. Can't wait.
A quick scan of director Jonathan Mostow's work shows Breakdown, U-571, and Terminator 3, the estrogen injected installment of the franchise. Not a bad lineup to hang your hat on, and Surrogates looks like another notch in the director's belt. Based on the Robert Venditti comic book series, Surrogates takes place in a world where people live in near total isolation, choosing to live their lives through robotic "surrogates" that experience life for them. Bruce Willis stars as an FBI agent who must investigate the first death perpetrated through the killing of a surrogate, and uncovers a larger conspiracy within. There's always a larger conspiracy, isn't there? I've been eagerly anticipating this film for months, but now that it's upon us and I've seen more footage, i'm getting a distinct I, Robot vibe from it. That's not a bad thing. I enjoyed I, Robot quite a bit but it's not something I would seek out to watch again. So in that case I hope I'm wrong and this actually exceeds that film. It doesn't have Will Smith in it, which is an automatic plus.
If there's time...
The Punch Drunk Critics will be taking over Horrorfind Weekend all day Saturday, which is prime movie watching time for me. But I should still be able to snag a couple minutes to catch up with Amreeka, a film that first caught my attention a few months. It's the story of a Middle Eastern single mother, who wins a lottery to receive a green card to the US, only to discover that life here ain't all she thought it would be. The trailer looks charming, and the comedy is upbeat and peppy. Most movies covering this subject are either depressing or heavy dark comedies(Towelhead comes to mind), so this is a welcome change of pace. Plus it stars my girl Alia Shawkat from Arrested Development.
No...just...no...
This glossy, sparkling number wouldn't make it through the opening rounds of American Idol, much less hit the big time. There was never any chance I was going to see this, but the fact that it looks more like Center Stage or the bastard cousin of High School Musical only seals it's fate. At least the 1980 original, which I also despise, had some grit to it. It had the look that these people were scrapping it out, pulling themselves from nothing for a shot at stardom. The people I see in this film look more like they fell off the cover of Teen People, which probably ain't far off.
I think Abbie Cornish is the best young actress working today. She's beautiful and shows an emotional range that most actresses her age simply don't have. But not even she can get me to sit through this right now. I'm currently engaging in a strict "No Period Piece Policy" which will end at the exact moment the Detroit Lions win their division. Bright Star is the story of the extremely short life of romantic poet, John Keats, and his inspiring relationship with Fanny Brawne. I might catch this on Netflix one day(the policy only extends to theatre viewing), but sitting through it just seems unbearable right now.
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