Summer 2005 Movie Preview

Darth Vader, the Dark Knight and Willy Wonka Come Back to Life

By Sara Michelle Fetters

>>Continued from page 1.

Batman Begins (Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Ken Watanabe and Gary Oldman. Written by David Goyer and Christopher Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Opens June 15.)

The Dark Knight has pretty much always been my favorite superhero. Spider-Man was – and still is – close to my heart, but it’s been Batman who’ve I really adored. Tim Burton’s masterpieces only made this admiration stronger, both of them wondrous examples of gothic storytelling at their zenith. So imagine my disappointment when Joel Schumacher almost killed the series by putting nipples on the Batsuit and dressing up Arnold Schwarzenegger like an overgrown garbage disposal. Can Christopher Nolan, he of the brilliant one-two punch of Memento and Insomnia, pull off the resurrection? Well, if the terrific series of trailers are any indication, all signs point to yes.

George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (Starring Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo. Written and Directed by George A. Romero.)

Sure, Romero’s last foray into the realm of flesh eating zombies Day of the Dead sort of stunk, but so what? Any horror aficionado worth their salt has to be excited about this once-great terror master returning to the genre he himself created. Will it be any good? Well, Romero hasn’t made a decent flick in decades, so the outlook is decidedly cloudy. Still, I can’t help but want it to succeed, if only to show up all the new-school imitators acting like brain devouring dead people was a new concept they invented all by their lonesome.

OTHER JUNE TITLES OF INTEREST

Well, Nicole Kidman in a big screen adaptation of Bewitched (June 24) can’t help but promote just a wee bit of interest, even if the presence of costar Will Ferrell and director Nora Ephron dilutes that somewhat. More intriguing, Doug Liman’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the film that supposedly destroyed Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s marriage (thank you Angelina Jolie). Liman struck gold once before with a film besieged by a bloated budget and a troubled production (The Bourne Identity); can he do it again? Of course there is Steven Spielberg’s take on War of the Worlds (June 29), but how much more do I really need to say about that one? I’m kind of curious about Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man (June 3) but, in all honesty, I’m kind of tired of self-referential historical sports dramas. Finally, Sally Potter (Orlando) returns with Yes (June 24), a bizarre sounding love story with Joan Allen and the rest of the cast all speaking in iambic pentameter.

JULY

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Deep Roy and Christopher Lee. Written by John August and Based on the Book by Roald Dahl. Directed by Tim Burton. Opens July 15.)

I adore Gene Wilder and think pretty much all of the songs in the 1971 original border on perfection. It’s one of the first movies I ever remember seeing and one of the chief reasons I became a film critic. In every rational sense, a remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory should terrify me. But director Burton and star Depp have an uncanny knack for success (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow). Can they make it four for four?

The Brothers Grimm (Starring Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Peter Stormare, Monica Bellucci and Jonathan Pryce. Written by Ehren Kruger. Directed by Terry Gilliam. Opens July 29.)

Gilliam’s (The Fisher King) long-delayed and royally expensive fantastical adventure looks to be the year’s biggest train wreck waiting to happen. Much like his The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, it’s a film its studio (in this case Miramax) has been struggling for almost two years to figure out exactly what to do with it. Now with the Weinstein’s ending their partnership with Disney this fall, they’re dumping it into summer with hopes the combination of the director’s name and the two leads star power can wring a few bucks out of filmgoers before shuttling it off to video. But Gilliam, even when he fails, can still be guaranteed to turn in something completely unusual and visually worthwhile. How can a movie featuring the creators of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White be any different?

OTHER JULY TITLES OF INTEREST

Lots, including a big budget adaptation of The Fantastic Four (July 8) starring Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis, the superhero academy comedy Sky High (July 29) with Kurt Russell and The Island (July 22), a cloning adventure directed by the ever-hyperactive Michael Bay. Two remakes, Richard Linklater’s take on The Bad News Bears (July 22) and Walter Salles’ Dark Water (July 8), have my interest piqued, while Sundance favorite Happy Endings (July 15) should be good for a laugh or two considering the presence of deadpan favorite Lisa Kudrow. Most unusual sounding, the first part in a proposed Russian horror trilogy, Night Watch (July 29), that posits the future of the world will be fought by supernaturally endowed freedom fighters whose end designs – on both sides – are morally ambiguous. It looks and sounds silly, but hey, if someone would have told me a saga about a little person trying to destroy a golden ring would turn out to be one of the greatest works of literary fiction of all time I’d have thought they were borderline insane, too.

AUGUST

Broken Flowers (Starring Bill Murray, Jessica Lange, Julie Delpy and Jeffrey Wright. Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch. Opens August 5.)

I don’t know much about this one, too be completely honest, other than it stars Murray, Lange and Wright, and is directed by Jarmusch (and that he wrote it with Murray in mind). That’s more than enough, however, as each one of the director’s films, no matter how oddball or esoteric, is cause for celebration. Will this finally be the feature that makes him a household name? Doubtful, but there’s always hope.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Starring Steve Carell, Catherine Keener and Paul Rudd. Written by Steve Carell and Judd Aptow. Directed by Aptow. Opens August 19.)

Normally, this crude sounding comedy is exactly the kind of film I hate. For some reason, though, I’m intrigued by this one. Maybe it’s the presence of Keener, an actress I adore. It might be the idea of a 40-year-old virgin is something (unfortunately) near and dear to my heart (good gawd I need a boyfriend). Or it just could be, and this is probably the most likely of them all, that Steve Carell (Bruce Almighty, NBC’s The Office) just might be the funniest comedian working today.

OTHER AUGUST TITLES OF INTEREST

Not much, but Four Brothers (August 12) with Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson could prove interesting. There’s also Grizzly Man (August 5), a documentary from Werner Herzog about a mountain man who spent 14 summers filming himself with Grizzly Bears. Mike Judge (Office Space) has a new untitled comedy (August 5) that could prove worthwhile, while Wes Craven tries to make up for the insipid Cursed with Red Eye (August 19), a suspense thriller starring Rachel McAdams of Mean Girls.

BOX OFFICE PREDICTIONS

Gosh I suck at this, but it’s become tradition at this point for me to showcase just how bad my prognostication skills really are. Just remember, if you’re betting in an office pool and you go by my numbers, after you lose you only have yourself to blame.

1. War of the Worlds - $320 million

2. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - $300 million

3. Batman Begins - $250 million

4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - $220 million

5. The Fantastic Four - $180 million

6. Madagascar - $160 million

7. The Wedding Crashers (July 15) - $155 million

8. The Island - $150 million

9. Dark Water - $140 million

10. Mr. and Mrs. Smith - $130 million

Potential Sleepers

· Kingdom of Heaven (May 6)

· Cinderella Man (June 3)

· Herbie Fully Loaded (June 24)

· Bewitched (June 24)

· The Longest Yard (May 27)

· Monster-in-Law (May 13)

· The Dukes of Hazzard (August 5)

· Kicking and Screaming (May 13)

· The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (June 10)

Article Posted: May 4, 2005

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