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THE DIAMONDBACK | DIVERSIONS | MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2010
Autumn’s cinematic highs and lows MOVIES
Buried (Oct. 8) from page 1
The Town (Sept. 17) Lest we forget “Bennifer,” Ben Affleck (Extract) has been the center of more than a few jokes during his career. This fall, by teaming with two rising actors — Jon Hamm of AMC’s Mad Men and Jeremy Renner of The Hurt Locker — for a film about violent bank robberies in Boston, Affleck is tapping into the badass he never knew he could be. With any luck, The Town will have a tangled web of a plot and real, emotional characters instead of devolving into a lukewarm actioner with a half-hearted love story as the trailer suggests. — Zachary Berman
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (Sept. 24) It’s strange to think a movie about a world ruled by anthropomorphic owls is somehow weirder than the normal computer-animated film fare, but it’s hard to get over the fact that the filmmakers want their viewers to believe in a world where birds are the only form of natural wildlife. Sure, audiences should suspend disbelief as the cute owl heroes fly in a race against time to find the mythical Guardians and save themselves from evil, but how far is too far? Perhaps strangest of all is that the film is directed by Zack Snyder, director of the homoerotic gorefest 300. As great as the action and computer cinematography (including 3-D viewing) might be, there is a point where a concept might just be too silly to hold viewers’ attention. — Z.B.
The Social Network (Oct. 1) Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network tells the tale of Facebook’s conception and the difficulties it faced in its first few years. Founder Mark Zuckerberg will be portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), and the movie will also feature new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield (I’m Here) as business partner Eduardo Saverin and Justin Timberlake (The Open Road) as entrepreneur Sean Parker. David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) directs. — Andrew Freedman
A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, Buried is a thriller starring Ryan Reynolds (Paper Man) as Paul Conroy, a truck driver who wakes up in a buried in a coffin underground with nothing but a knife, a lighter, a cell phone and amnesia. Limited oxygen, terrible reception (even Verizon can’t save you six feet under) and fear are obstacles to his ultimate goal: getting out of that coffin alive. — A.F.
Oh, and this time, a baby and a cute dog are among those in mortal danger. Be very afraid. — Z.B.
Saw 3D (Oct. 29) The seventh and allegedly final installment in this torture-porn series offers all the blood and gore the franchise’s fans enjoy, but in an extra dimension. The serious tone the Saw films attempt to convey looks to be diminished with the 3-D effects. See for yourself when it hits theaters. — R.H.
Stone (Oct. 8)
Megamind (Nov. 5)
Gerald “Stone” Creeson (Edward Norton, Leaves of Grass) is in jail for covering up the murder of his grandparents, and a parole officer played by Robert De Niro (Everybody’s Fine) is set to review his case weeks before Stone’s parole hearing. Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil: Afterlife) plays Stone’s wife, who sleeps with De Niro’s married character in an effort to help Stone’s case. And, of course, everything goes as planned — not. — Reese Higgins
Leave it to DreamWorks to satirize the superhero craze (in 3-D, natch). Megamind (Will Ferrell, The Other Guys) may be the most brilliant villain in the world, but he has been engaged in a lifelong rivalry with superhero Metro Man (Brad Pitt, Inglourious Basterds). When Megamind takes reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey, Date Night) hostage, the villain’s view on life changes drastically, changing Metro City forever. Hopefully, the excellent voice cast can elevate this movie to a level DreamWorks hasn’t found before. — A.F.
Red (Oct. 15) Bruce Willis (The Expendables) is Frank Moses, a retired blackops CIA agent living a peaceful life. After an assassination attempt, he pulls his old team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren) out of retirement for one more mission. Based on DC Comics’ miniseries of the same name. — A.F.
Paranormal Activity 2 (Oct. 22) One might think big Hollywood scams only work once — if audiences are smart enough, they’ll catch on that Hollywood is bombarding them with hype to go see a bad film. The Blair Witch Project set the stage years ago — a super-low-budget, foundfootage-style film touted as a scary descent into psychological fear that wasn’t really terrifying at all. Now, Paranormal Activity, which was effectively the same movie and had a similarly staggering gross, has a sequel. With a decidedly bigger budget that now allows for multiple camera angles in a new house, audiences should be prepared for more long, drawn-out setups and extremely small payoffs.
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Due Date (Nov. 5) It would be hard for viewers to pack any more Zach Galifianakis (Dinner for Schmucks) into their collective film-pipes, but among the numerous movies in which he is slated to star, Due Date looks to be one of the most promising. Galifianakis is paired alongside resident self-destruction comebacker Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man 2) for buddy-style road trip comedy in nearly the exact same vein as Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but with a modern edge. Directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover), Due Date has the potential to be one of the funnier movies of the year. — Z.B.
127 Hours (Nov. 5) Director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) is behind the camera for this screen treatment of Aron Ralston’s real-life stor y of survival. Ralston (James Franco, Eat Pray Love) becomes trapped under a boulder while exploring the canyons of Utah. The outdoorsman reflects on his life as he weighs his everslimming options. Boyle usually delivers, so this is one to watch out for. — R.H.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Nov. 19) After all this time, it seems the
Robert De Niro, left, and Edward Norton star as a parole officer and a prisoner, respectively, in Stone, set for an Oct. 8 release. COURTESY OF MOVIEWEB.COM
Harry Potter film series has begun to grate uncomfortably against its viewers just like the shallow Twilight saga is. Finishing the behemoth narrative in film form should feel like finishing a railroad — a huge, useful accomplishment. Instead, will viewers be left with the same incomplete, Swiss cheese narrative that has plagued the last three Harry Potter films, this time drawn out over two movies in a lastditch effort to keep the series alive? Certainly there will be some grandiose, fulfilling onscreen moments in the film for even the most jaded or blasé of fans because The Deathly Hollows truly is Warner Bros.’ last chance to get the Harry Potter story onscreen in an acceptable fashion. Though ticket sales won’t be an issue, it’s going to take a lot of real magic to get these last two films back to the quality of the first few in the series, if not surpass it. — Z.B.
Black Swan (Dec. 1) Natalie Portman (Brothers) and Mila Kunis (Date Night) star as competitive rivals in the world of New York City ballet. Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) directs this psychological thriller. If the bizarre trailer is anything to go by, this will be one freaky night at the movies. — R.H.
The Fighter (Dec. 10) Six years after the flop of I Heart Huckabees, David O. Russell returns
with a directing credit for this film, a product of star Mark Wahlberg’s passion for the project. Based on a true story, the film follows boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward (Wahlberg, The Other Guys) and his trainer and half-brother (Christian Bale, Public Enemies), who helped him turn pro in the 1980s. The studio is pinning its Oscar hopes on this one. — R.H.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Dec. 10) The already-tired film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’ classic Christianthemed novels — about an alternate world found inside a piece of furniture — sails into theaters with its third installment. The Narnia gang boards the royal ship, the Dawn Treader, for a high seas adventure to the end of the world. Catch this in 3-D at participating theaters. — R.H.
TRON: Legacy (Dec. 17) In the 3-D sequel to the 1982 film Tron, Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund, Death Sentence) is constantly thinking about the disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn, formerly the world’s leading video-game creator (a role reprised by Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart). When Sam finds a strange signal emanating from his father’s arcade, he is pulled into the digital world where his father has been trapped. Together, the two will fight a threatening virus that prevents their escape. Expect tons of special effects. — A.F. diversions@umdbk.com rhiggins@umdbk.com afreedman@umdbk.com
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