1. Vantage Point (3,149 Theaters, 90 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The thriller is a hard movie to do. It must make logical sense while keeping the audience guessing. This is not easy to do, when the audience has seen years and years of thrillers and know all the conventions.
The producers of this movie try to keep it fresh by adding a Rashomon aspect to it—eight characters see a supposed Presidential assassination. But things aren’t what they seem. Two Secret Service agents have to piece together the eight divergent viewpoints and try to get at the truth.
They also add, if the trailer in any guide, that the President might not really have been shot. This, of course, is something fresh and new, but remarkably hard to understand. What is the reason for this fake assassination? And will it be logical? That is the main stumbling block I have with the movie. And how they answer that stumbling block will determine how good I think the movie will be.
2. Witless Protection (1,333 Theaters, 97 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Can someone explain the appeal of Larry the Cable Guy? I don’t mean “redneck Comedy”. I can watch Ron White or Jeff Foxworthy and get a chuckle. I just don’t find LtCG funny. I mean, he’s from Nebraska, but he puts on a fake Southern accent? He may be a hick, but he’s not the type of hick he pretends to be.
While I don’t think he’s funny, a lot of people do. He’s become the Earnest P. Worrell of the 21st century. And, as a result, he keeps on making movies, much to my chagrin.
In this one, Larry plays a small town sheriff who must protect a government witness from people who want to killer. Amazingly, he does a good enough job of it to fill up 97 minutes. Even more amazing is that Jenny McCarthy plays his wife.
It’s also interesting that this movie features Yaphet Kotto reprising his role of Agent Alonzo Mosely from Midnight Run. I believe that will be the only comparison that will ever be made between those two movies.
3. Charlie Bartlett (1,122 Theaters, 97 Minutes, Rated R): I bet the powers behind this film were glad that there was a delay in getting this movie out. This film was shot almost 2 years ago and actually was part of last year’s Cannes Film Festival. I believe it was originally scheduled to come out in November of last year, but was delayed to this week.
But during that time, a little movie called Juno came out. Both movies feature a far too intelligent for their own good teen that gets into assorted troubles but are really good at heart. Of course, Juno made over $100 million dollars (and counting) and received an Oscar nomination. This film hopes the similarities means that it equals the first part of the Juno’s success.
The film centers on a young kid who is kicked out of private school and must go to public school. There he finds a way to fit in by becoming a psychiatrist to all the other students.
Star Trek fans might want to line up for tickets, because the lead, Anton Yelchin, will be the new Pavel Chekov.
4. Be Kind, Rewind (808 Theaters, 101 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The plot sounds like it could be a Bill Murray or Robin Williams movie from the 1980s.
A video store employee accidentally erases all of the tapes in the store. To replace the lost videos, the two employees decide to reshoot all the videos by themselves. Sounds wild and wacky, right?
But it comes from the mind of Michel Gondry, the man who brought us Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, two of the most unique and original movies to come down the pike in years.
How will the kind of tame plot be interpreted by the weirdly inventive Gondry? Are we to expect some of the same esoteric imagery we saw in those films, or will it be more like the trailer appears to be, a rather straight forward comedy? I, for one, can’t wait to find out.
Now, the predictions. This is what I predicted for last week:
- Jumper
- Fool’s Gold
- Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins
- The Spiderwick Chronicles
- Juno
And this is how it turned out:
- Jumper
- The Spiderwick Chronicles
- Step Up 2: The Streets
- Fool’s Gold
- Definitely, Maybe
All four movies released last week did better than I thought they would, resulting in me going 1 for 5. Well, at least I got one right. This makes me 49 for 135 after 27 weeks, for an average of 36%.
This is what I predict for this week:
- Vantage Point
- Charlie Bartlett
- Witless Protection
- Jumper
- Be Kind, Rewind
