Time to move on! Some movies on the horizon…

I would apologise for my absence over the last month but it’s not my fault – it’s that Jake Gyllenhaal and Prince of Persia (plus FIFA and SW19). I’m not used to this sort of intensity of publicity; where turning on the computer is equivalent to having all your hours of spare time, and some not so spare, sucked down the tube of your carboot Dyson. However, things are now calming down, we’re getting back to normal levels of constant busyness, and so I can open my eyes and understand that the world of movies didn’t just stop for June, it just felt like it at the time. But, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure I missed very much.

As someone who has no interest in shoes unless they have a Nike swoosh, I was never going to see Sex and the City 2, but while films (such as Knight and Day, Toy Story 3, Karate Kid and the A Team) have been opening in the US, they haven’t made an appearance here yet. Not that I can blame distributors – you don’t have to see all the flags on the cars, buildings, offices, building sites (I even saw one on a dog), to know there’s a football tournament going on. The shop displays of Doritos, dips and Australian lagers also indicate that people are sticking with their living rooms or local pub rather than a cinema.

It is a poor show at UK cinemas right now (with the exception of Prince of Persia, of course!) but it’s as if we’re on hold, waiting for good things to come along when the hot weather and sport gives us a break. Knight and Day will come (as they have done since time immemorial) and I want to see this for Peter Sarsgaard – a fine actor who continues to feel the need to mix the good with the not so good. Always good in whatever he does, I do wish he would focus on the roles he enjoys rather than those he professes that he will never even watch. I don’t know if Knight and Day falls into that category – I hope not. I would like to say, though, that I can’t help but resent the use of Muse in the trailer above. Muse will always make me want to see a film.

The two films that I’m looking forward to the most this summer are Scott Pilgrim and Inception. This is despite the problems that I have with Leonardo DiCaprio’s movies. I would rather have had my eyes torn out than see Shutter Island but then I feel guilt for such a statement because I know Leo is a good actor, I just don’t believe many of the roles he adopts. But what I have seen of Inception, which is less than little, indicates that DiCaprio may be serving a story rather than it serving him. And Christopher Nolan is at the helm. Hopefully, it won;t hurt to give it a go.

Judging by my previous post, you can see I’m keen to see Scott Pilgrim and the second trailer was great. But I didn’t enjoy the third trailer. I don’t want everything in a film to be explained to me before I see it and while trailer number 2 fired me up, trailer number 3 got the extinguisher out.

The Last Airbender is another big movie on the way but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been put off by the latest offerings of M Night Shyamalan. I’m also getting a little tired of movies where people fight with poles. I did enjoy Sixth Sense and Signs made me a little nervous (at least for the first half) but everything since has disappointed. Maybe the Last Airbender is Shyamalan’s last chance to impress. The trailer does – I’m more worries about the other 100+ minutes. I’m passing over the A Team because I can, unfortunately, remember the original and I can also remember my disappointment at hearing that Liam Neeson was taking part in this movie remake.

A story that I have followed with interest over the last month is the question of who will become the archetypal enemy known to history as Professor Moriarty. The voice heard in Guy Ritchie’s last Sherlock Holmes was one of those where, no doubt intentionally, you can’t put a name to it. The blogs are indicating that Daniel Day Lewis is a possibility and when I think about it that could be a good choice. He’s an actor who excels in both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ roles and is always believable. I can’t help but think that the actor must be well known – a worthy opponent for Robert Downey Jr – and this does narrow the field. Fortunately, in this role, Daniel wouldn’t have to sing.

A movie I am most certainly looking forward to comes later in the year – The Social Network from David Fincher. Watching the teaser trailer below, which has just been released, my spine tingles. Drama is brought in on itself and the little details become epic.

I would have liked to have seen Centurion, but that didn’t make any theatre near me at all.

So let’s get this World Cup out of the way…