Green Hornet: F Yeah!

Green Hornet comes out tomorrow and despite some bad buzz from last year’s Comic-Con, I think the movie’s going to be fun on a bun.

Here’s why:

• Seth Rogen as action hero is awesome against-type casting

• It’s got a fun, bright, crisp, pop look to it

• I have a not-so-secret man crush on Seth Rogen.

• It’s mad genius crazy, visionary director Michel Gondry’s first action movie. (He’s done some amazing music videos as well as director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.)

• The Black Beauty

• Though it wasn’t shot in 3D, it was conceived that way. It looks like it makes good use of the extra dimension.

• Kato-Vision.

• It was written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who also wrote Superbad and Pineapple Express, and they know their way around a buddy pic.

• The notion that studios dump their less than stellar movies in January is an antiquated notion. These days, the popcorn movies don’t always come out in the summer.

• Did I mention my worship of Seth Rogen?

So...If anyone needs me, it’ll have to wait until Saturday because I'm gonna be at the movies.

The Obligatory Summer Movie List

As a kid, summer used to mean everything. No school. Long days. Camp. Now that I’m a workin’ man, the only thing that summer means is that it’s hotter outside when I trudge back and forth to the office. Well, that and movies.

As we rapidly approach the start of the summer movie season, which seems to start a little bit earlier every year, here are the things that are attracting my attention.*


*There are dozens of other movies coming out, some of which may be good, but this list is already long enough.


I THINK (HOPE) THEY WILL BE GOOD

STAR TREK
I’m not a Trekker, but I’m a nerd. This movie looks awesome.

UP
It’s Pixar. Nothing more needs to be said.

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
A new approach to boy meets girl. I read this script a few years ago. It was charming. It was heartbreaking. It was the thinking person’s romantic comedy. I hear the movie has done the script justice.

THE HANGOVER
Three guys attempt to find their friend who went missing the night before during their Vegas bachelor party. It’s got all the ingredients for a great comedy. It’s from the director of Old School and Road Trip and it’s got Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms.

PUBLIC ENEMIES
Johnny Depp as Dillinger. Though the trailer gives away way too much, I think this one’s going to have style to spare.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION
I’m cautiously optimistic for this one. I just hope it’s not brainless.

BRUNO
If you loved Borat… It’s going to be very funny only if all of the jokes haven’t been spoiled before you see the movie. It already has a lot to live up to. I’m currently on media lockdown on this one.

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
Similar to Star Trek, I’m not usually a fan of WWII movies…unless they’re directed by Quentin Tarantino

EXTRACT
It’s Mike Judge (Office Space). Nothing more needs to be said.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS – See the trailer? I think this looks great.


JUST NOT SURE ABOUT THESE

WOLVERINE
It’s going to be big and bloated and not nearly as good as X-Men 1 and 2. However, I’m sure it will be better than X-Men 3.

FUNNY PEOPLE
My man crush on Seth Rogen not withstanding, Judd Apatow looks like he’s channeling James L. Brooks. I want to believe that this is going to be great, but I just don’t know.

LAND OF THE LOST
Will Ferrell has tried big budget blockbusters before (remember Bewtiched?). I hope that this time he gets it right.

TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
I am madly in love with the book. But there is no way that the movie is going to do it justice.


RUN FAR AWAY

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
How many times can Matthew McConaughey play the same role? According to WonderWife™, as many times as he wants. That doesn’t mean I need to be there.

TRANSFORMERS 2 - It’s Michael Bay. Nothing more needs to be said.

YEAR ONE
I hate to hate on this one with Judd Apatow producing, Harold Ramis (“Groundhog Day”) directing and Jack Black and Michael Cera starring, but I think it’s gonna be a stinker.

GI JOE
Stephen Sommers looks like he’s channeling Michael Bay.

ICE AGE 3
It’s got Scrat and dinosaurs, so there’s a 100% chance I’m going to be seeing this with the Bean. But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be good.

DANCE FLICK
It looks way better than EPIC MOVIE or MEET THE SPARTANS, but that’s not saying very much. But why make a parody when the main movie you are spoofing (in this case “Save the Last Dance”) is over 8 years old?

ANGELS AND DEMONS
Tom Hanks pisses off Catholicism once again. As a child of the 80s, it’s sad that I don’t care about Tom Hanks anymore. It’s not that I think this will be a bad movie, but it’s one that I’m wholeheartedly not interested in seeing.

(click to read)

Kev and Seth Make a Porno

After gorging myself at the trough of summer movies for the past few months, for some reason I’ve found it hard to motivate to the theater, even though there are a half-dozen movies I’d like to see right now. I could blame it on the baby, but considering that she was born during the apex of the summer movie season and I still saw most of what came out, I have nothing to blame but laziness and The Force Unleashed.

But looming on the horizon is a flick that is going to get me out of my slump, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, in which my hero Seth Rogen teams up with another geekboy idol, Kevin Smith. CLERKS came out just as I was finishing film school and that movie stood as a beacon of hope for all of us geeky, fledgling filmmakers that yes, we can make it. I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s ever since.*

Kevin Smith just may be the king of all fanboys. He’s a comic book nerd who happens to be infinitely more literate and talented than most of us. He’s a great storyteller and writes sharp dialogue. Yes, he’s profane. But come on, who doesn’t love a good dick joke? I dig Kevin Smith for many of the same reasons that I love Seth Rogen. He’s a regular guy, who’s carved out a solid career doing the stuff he wants to do…films that speak the language of the fanboy.

And now they’ve made a movie together. Oh happy day!

I’m itchy with anticipation for ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO. It comes out in a few weeks.

*I use his first name as if I know him, but the closest I’ve come to meeting him is standing two feet away at a wedding.

Pineapple

Seth Rogen is my hero.

I like him because he's a selfish filmmaker. He's not making movies for the masses, he's making them for himself. I bet he sits around with his friends, drinking beers, smoking bowls and talking about movies. The kinds of movies on which they grew up. Movies that shaped their tastes. Movies that they don't really make anymore. No different from a lot of us movie geeks. But here's the cool part, he then goes off and makes those kinds of movies.

That's how we get something like Pineapple Express.

My tickets are bought. I can't wait.