With the arrival of the New Year, Hollywood is prepared to hurl another salvo of films into theaters to see what sticks. The first few months don’t have much of a reputation for delivering blockbusters, but that’s not going to stop filmmakers from trying to put movie tickets in your hand.
January’s wave of movies are like the disposable pawns filling out the front line in chess. We’ll see if this year’s selection can buck the trend.
Trying to take a bite out of Batman’s success in recent years, newspaper mogul turned crime-fighter “The Green Hornet” is pushing past his time on the radio and television for his shot on the big screen. Funnyman Seth Rogen will try to overcome his half-baked loser routine for his first action role, but it’s anybody’s guess how the buddy cop movie with a comic book twist will go over.
Taking shots at traditional relationships, both “The Dilemma” and “No Strings Attached” feature familiar names in potentially compromising positions. “Dilemma’s” Vince Vaughn struggles with the knowledge that his best friend’s wife is cheating on him, while “String’s” Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman explore the world of friends with benefits.
“The Rite” will be the newest fix for your exorcism needs. Anthony Hopkins provides some class to the whole affair, but we’re still talking about a genre that banks a lot on finding new ways to shockingly contort the human form. Action junkies may prefer the latest “Crank”/“Transporter” experience from Jason Statham, “The Mechanic.”
February features an equally unpredictable crowd of movies, led by the cleverly named creepy roommate film “The Roommate” and the underwater spelunking survival film “Sanctum.”
The second week of the month has a little something for everybody, provided you’re optimistic about your chances of being disappointed.
“Gnomeo & Juliet” should be good for lawn-ornament loving little ones, provided the director wisely avoids the conclusion of the source material. Justin Bieber’s biopic will somehow make a fortune despite its very specific target audience. Adam Sandler, despite his name practically being an anathema to the genre, will star in the romantic comedy “Just Go With It.” Having made a living off them, perhaps co-star Jennifer Aniston will keep it on track.
I try to avoid prejudgment of upcoming movies, but previews for Nicolas Cage’s “Drive Angry 3D” have me convinced the only angry driving will be away from this one after having to cough up the cash for a 3D ticket.
A week later, the “Taken”-esque “Unknown” likely will be better than it has any right to be with the presence of Liam Neeson. The month wraps up with Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis realizing that it’s not just their marriages that are holding them back from scoring with the ladies in “Hall Pass.”
Finally, March has the greatest potential for sending you home happy after the credits roll. With their film’s very “Dark City” feel, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt defy a mysterious life-altering authority in the sci-fi thriller “The Adjustment Bureau.” Johnny Depp will be appealing to the family audience once again as chameleon “Rango,” bumbling his way into protecting a town in a Wild West full of animal inhabitants.
The sci-fi theme continues the next week with Jake Gyllenhaal taking a tip from “Quantum Leap” and trying to save the day in the last eight minutes of another man’s life in “Source Code.” If that’s a little too low-key for you, Aaron Eckhart will lead the fight against alien aggressors in “Battle: Los Angeles.”
The more literary-inclined will prefer the older, darker take on “Red Riding Hood” or the film adaptation of “Jane Eyre.”
In the last weeks of the month, Matthew McConaughey will try to make us take him seriously in “The Lincoln Lawyer,” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will laugh it up with their alien buddy “Paul” and a sequel to the popular children’s series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” will take to the silver screen.
As the cherry on top, Zack Snyder will try to blow your mind with “Sucker Punch.” Robots, giant samurai, dragons and sword-wielding young women; who knows what’s going on with this movie. At least you can’t say you’ve been there, seen that.
So, while I can’t speak to the quality of the early 2011 lineup, there’s certainly a wide enough gamut to satisfy any cinematic appetite. Be sure to check here every Thursday to see how they turn out.
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