Even in lieu of the writers strike, I see quite a few movies I'm dying to see this year.  How about you guys?

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Quantum of Solace - After missing the incredible Casino Royale at theaters, I'll be there in theaters day one for 22.  November is a crazy-long time away, though. -_-;   

The Dark Knight - I'm hoping that the unfortunate passing of Ledger won't cast a dark veil over the movie's success, because it looks like Nolan and Goyer have gathered all the right ingredients for another excellent Batman flick.  I'm particularly interested in hearing what Zimmer and Howard will come up with for the score; even Zimmer admits that the thematic score for Begins was a tad barebones, and he promises further maturation and development of the music for the new movie.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - After viewing the likes of Stallone's Rocky and Rambo, it should be interesting to see if Ford and gang can similarily pull together both character and franchise out of retirement of twenty years.  In any case, this one's been a long time in coming; it'll do well at the box office, I'm sure, but let's hope we get a film that matches up to the original trilogy. (Well, Ark and Crusade, at the very least.)   Also..... new John Williams score!  Yes!!

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince - Arguably the best book in the series, like Solace, this one's gonna be hell to wait out for.  Yates proved with Order of the Phoenix that he's got the directing chops to pull off a good movie adaptation, so I'm confident that Half-Blood will turn out just as well.  Too bad Hallows is only getting the two-part movie treatment; I'd love for them to stretch out Half-Blood too, if it'd make for a more complete and effective film.  I'm on the fence with Nicholas Hooper at the composer wheel, though.  Gosh, was Phoenix a dull score.

WALL-E - It's Pixar, so this is obviously a no-brainer for me.   I'm sure it's going to be at least moderately good -- it's not a Bird or Lasseter project -- but Stanton had a good handle on things with Finding Nemo. (A film which is decidedly lower on my list of Pixar faves.)  Plus, Wall-E himself is kinda cute. ;)

Others films of interest, though perhaps not day one (or even week one) caliber include: Iron Man, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Lovely Bones, and Star Trek.

On a side note, it seems the writers strike may be coming to an end!

Aw, I notice no Step Up 2 The Streets on your list, Angela.  = P

Though a lot of movies sound interesting, I'll most likely wait for their DVD release, especially since I see movies with friends, and what we end up seeing is dependent on consensus.  From what we've discussed, the list is tentatively the following:  10,000 BC, Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk (it's a reboot, here's hoping it is better than Ang Lee's), The Dark Knight, "Untitled X-Files sequel", and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. 

If I get my hand on the Potter series on HD for cheap (I've never seen the series before), I may end up seeing the new Harry Potter film in theaters, especially since you said this one is based on arguably the best book in the series.  Star Trek wasn't on the IMDB list, but I'm not sold on the concept of a Trek reboot either.  We'll see after the trailer.

The only one I really looking forward to is Quantum of Solace (big surprise, right?).  I hope to go my local premiere again, finances permitting.

Of course I'll see Indy 4, HP6, Narnia 2, and The Dark Knight, but I can't say I'm super excited about any of them, especially HP6.  Unlike Angela, I think Yates did a lousy job with HP5 and Hooper was downright terrible.  I also think HP6 is one of low points of the books (relatively speaking), but that's a whole other story.

A sequel to the first Batman film where the makers really "got it" and another Indiana Jones movie... I need nothing else!

Red Cliff - John Woo + Three Kingdoms = WIN. The teaser trailer looks amazing: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vFi4Uz5oojg

Also looking forward to Prince Caspian, Dark Knight, Hellboy 2 (another great trailer) and Indy 4.

My list is pretty much identical to Angela's. A little less excited for HP6 because it's one of the duller books (and having Hooper back doesn't help).

So, those who saw Indy 4, did you happen to catch the trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?  It looks absolutely fascinating, and I'm definitely going to keep tabs on it until its intended December '08 release:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/05/23/ … in-button/

Curiously enough (ooh, an effortless pun!), the trailer was apparently placed up online, but then was immediately taken down.  There exists a low-res Spanish language version, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v3V5KAIyM4

^

I thought the trailer was very arty. Definitely loved the use of Saint-Saëns. The cast looks absolutely terrific, which has me interested.

I'm surprised that Benjamin Button is a David Fincher film; doesn't seem like his normal thing.  That does definitely make me want to see it even more, though!

Probably just that one Pixar movie with the robot who looks like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. I'm a sucker for animation.

Man does that film look depressing.  (maybe it's supposed to look that way?)

WALL*E's probably the only one I'll go to the theatre for (unless my sister springs for a ticket to the Potter flick again; then again, she was so utterly disappointed by the last one she might not want to), because

A. I want to support the things Pixar makes that aren't sequels before Disney impels them to make Cars 3 (sadly, they're already at work on Cars 2), and
B. Theatre viewing experiences today are an affront to three or four different senses at the same time.

I'm currently looking forward to The Incredible Hulk and Hellboy II.

I decided against seeing Indiana Jones 4 because I'm worried it will only irritate me, as the new Star Wars movies did.

JULY-24-1998

Go see 'The Killers' if you're looking for a decent suspense movie with a decent amount of creepy ambience.
It reminded me a lot of the opening movie for the REmake of Resident Evil on GameCube because of its desolate setting out in a Raccoon Forest-At-Night-type of area.
And even the big oak front-doors of the house were reminiscent of Spencer Mansion's double front-doors. The fireplace reminded me of the fireplace in Lisa Trevor's cabin, too (as dumb as that may sound).

As for the music, i'm not sure who composed it but some of it was reminiscent of the droning, agonizing style of the first SILENT HILL soundtrack. Nothing groundbreaking, but it still added to the terror-factor.

The movie's ending was pretty weak, unfortunately. i would've liked for it to have been a bit more fleshed-out (no pun intended?) and not so simplistic. If the ending had been at least 15 minutes longer with a little more to it, some kind of unseen twist and/or more gory-story, i would've been satisfied but yeah, the ending was lame.

This wasn't a terribly original movie and isn't a classic by any means, but like i said before, i did enjoy most of it for its ambience and setting.
If you're at the movies this week but have no interest in Sex & Teh City, your inner Survival-Horror side of you might want to check this out.

I don't go see movies anymore. Last movie I went to was The Island back in June of 2005. I dunno I just lost interest in movies in general. I find some tv programs far better, like Lost and House. But Wall-E really looks superb; I might rent it on Bluray sometimes.

EDIT - Speaking of Wall-E, is it just me or are Pixar's movies more visually advanced (or beautiful, I don't know how to describe it) than Dreamworks' movies?

There are a lot of movies I will be seeing in 2008 (and I've already seen more this year than I usually see), but there's only one that matters:

Quatum of Solace.

I have to give some credit to WANTED, because they used nin's 'Everyday Is Exactly The Same' so well.
I couldn't help from singing along with it while it played..

HOMER: Heh-heheh.. See, Lisa? It's funny 'cause it's true!!

Wall-E:  Japan does not get this until December surprisingly;
even though there's very little English voice acting in this...

Quantum of solace: Daniel Craig is hot.

Batman: the Dark knight...interested in seeing Heath Ledger's Joker.

Ponyo on the cliff by the Sea: the new Ghibli film. comes out in two weeks.  Yay!!

Others I'd like to see soon:
Speed Racer, Mummy 3....

Got a gander at Tropic Thunder during The Dark Knight previews.  It looks like it could be a lot of fun, in a hilariously stupid over-the-top popcorn way:

http://www.killermovies.com/t/tropicthunder/

It'd make for an amusing upset if this turns out to be the more talked-about role for Robert Downey Jr. than Iron Man.  I mean, he sure fooled ME with that makeup.

I hope this movie will be as funny as it looks, but Stiller has been really hit and miss lately, and I don't personally like Jack Black very much.  I'll probably wait for the reviews before I decide to see it.

I can't stand Jack Black.  He annoys me by far.  And not a Stiller fan either.  However, Downey Jr. in blackface does my curiosity and the trailer was amusing.  I'll probably wait to see it on dvd though.

THE DARK NIGHT was excellent overall, way better than SPEED RACER, the ending was a little 'meh' though.
Still, DARK NIGHT definitely deserves all the success it's receiving, i wouldn't try to contest that at all.

The soundtrack keept on reminding me of TAPPEI's song from the MGS1 ost, 'THE U.S.S. DISCOVERY' (track 3 was it?).
Also i heard some of the beginning of White Zombie's 'More Human Than Hu-man' in there somewhere.

I definitely saw a bit of Dave Hayter's vocal delivery in Bail's psychotic-americana gruffness, but everybody borrows from everybody else, right?

One thing i didn't understand was why there were no 'violent whipping of the wind' sounds during Jocker's dialogue while he was hanging upside-down from that freakin' building near the end.
Without any windy sound effects, it seemed kinda fake. I mean they were pretty high-up there, weren't they??

A fantastic movie overall though, the action scenes were great and i was hanging on almost every werd of Jocker dialogue, Bank Ledger was THAT good.
I can't see his overdose possibly being suicidal now, he had way too much talent for someone to just 'give up'.
His delivery kinda reminded me of Jack Sparrow's cockiness, and the puns & werdplay were very 'Jaffar From Afar' (from Disney's ALLADIN, 'Get.. the POINT?!?')

I also got to see MAMA MIA!, even if Broadway musicals aren't yer thing, definitely-don't pass this one up either!!
MAMA MIA! is a really uplifting movie with awesome songs that'll lift your soul from The Darkness if it happens to be there.
But then again both of these films are at the tops of the box office right now so i guess well-made films'll sell themselves anyway.

I feel sorry for poor ol' MEET DAVE, which is way inferior to DARK NIGHT and MAMA MIA!, but it's never right to kick someone while they're already sprawled out bleedin' and lyin' on the ground..

Rest In Peace, MEET DAVE. 'You poor, misguided soul.' (TENCHU '98 quote from Rikimaru)

Better luck next time, Monsieur Edie Murphy..

The Darkness??

Is that like a swamp jungle from EarthBound or somethin'??

PINE-APPLE EXPRESS, baybeh!

Will be back with mini-review soon!

Just got back from seeing Tropic Thunder, and it was massively entertaining.  It's an awesomely hilarious war action flick in its own right, but you'll dig it even more if you're in on the whole Hollywood/movie-making satire joke.  Surprisingly, the movie, to me, wasn't entirely embodied by Downey Jr., despite how excellent his performance is - all the actors equally rock, and a wonderful group dynamic forms between the characters throughout the film.  I particularly liked Jay Baruchel here; any film/tech geek worth their salt will get a kick out of his PS3/Blu-ray vs HD-DVD explanation. ;)

And Tom f---ing Cruise.  Les Grossman is his best role in years.  ^_^

I just got back from Mirrors and I can say with certainty that it is the best movie I've seen this year. Better than Iron Man, which was previously my favorite of '08.

The reason why I liked Mirrors so much is because when I walked out of the theater, I was happy. It is rare for me to not be a little bit annoyed and it is common for me to be very annoyed. But I felt good and that's why I see movies, for that rare good feeling.

The reason why I saw Mirrors is because it is a remake of a Korean movie, Into The Mirror, which I enjoyed considerably. I also liked High Tension, a previous work of the director.

An example of a movie that made me very annoyed was Hellboy II. One of my friends said that Hollywood is not getting better at making movies; they are getting better at making trailers. My new strategy for deciding what to watch is that if the trailer looks cool, then Avoid That Movie. This is why I absolutely refuse to see the new Mummy movie, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

So, with The Half-Blood Prince, Lovely Bones, and Star Trek now officially postponed till 2009, it looks like the only movies left for me to see this year are Quantum of Solace and Benjamin Button.

I may go ahead and see Caruso/Spielberg's Eagle Eye at the end of September.  LeBeouf is kind of wearing me out at this point, but I'm in the mood for a good action/conspiracy thriller.

So I saw Eagle Eye today, and though it's getting massacred by the critics, I thought it was decent.  The action sequences are plentiful and exciting - so much so that it sort of kills the conspiratorial intrigue after a while, and degrades into popcorn fodder. (High-adrenaline popcorn, but popcorn nonetheless.) The purported big reveals and twists (which are shown way too soon at the halfway mark) weren't as revealing or twisty as I wanted them to be, and the plot devices are steeped in Spielberg generics.  Not only that, but those devices feel terribly outdated by today's standards - which, I suppose is no wonder, since the film's story was apparently originally conceived back in 1996.  And then there's the ending, which ALMOST leaves a resonating mark, only to be mucked up by the last one or two tacked on minutes of "happy" Spielberg resolutions.

Brian Tyler's music score?  It's typical Tyler here: bombastic and horrendously overwrought.  Hardly subtle for a conspiracy thriller, yet somehow, this one might end up being an enjoyable listen outside of the movie.  I'll pick up the soundtrack next week.

There's now two movies coming out on Christmas day that I want to see.  The first is Benjamin Button, of which a wonderful new trailer was just released.  Check it out here:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount … minbutton/ 

And the other is Disney's Bedtime Stories.  I'm hardly a fan of Sandler's, but the premise looks like it could be a lot of fun.  Or maybe I'm just sold by the fact that they've using Back To The Future 3's western theme as the temp track. :) 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/bedtimestories/

i saw Into the Mirror a few years ago,, Usually a good asian movie is why i AVOID the american remake.

Took a pass on Bedtime Stories, but I did catch Sandler's "You Don't Mess With The Zohan" on DVD this weekend.  Not sure if it was something I would've wanted to see in theaters, but it's got its fair share of entertainment value.  There's a Happy Gilmore/Kung Fu Hustle vibe, what with the slapstick, over-the-top cartoon reality direction.  The military commando-turned-hairdresser idea is outlandish enough, and while the secondary plot regarding the conflicting struggle for peace between Israelis and Palestinians could've been fodder for disastrous implications, when it's placed within the intimate, more personal context of New York City, hilarious storytelling ensues.

Gonna have to catch Benjamin Button next weekend.  And then, a round-up write-up of my favorite flicks of 2008.

For the sake of accessibility, I thought I'd go ahead and gather up all of the official threads designated to 2008's movies.

Rambo
Cloverfield
Iron Man
Speed Racer
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
The Incredible Hulk
Kung Fu Panda
Wall•E
The Dark Knight
Quantum of Solace
The Day The Earth Stood Still

Saw Benjamin Button. I left the theater feeling unfulfilled. Technically, the movie is superb, with good performances, excellent makeup/CGI effects and a soaring score by Alexandre Desplat. Problem is, for those 166 minutes, I never felt connected to the characters. There was this emotional distance that permeated the entire film. It was trying to be very profound and in a lot of ways, it was... but at the cost of its heart.

Next up for me is Revolutionary Road. I'm in the mood for a downer.

I don't think I've ever heard NYC being described as intimate or personal before, heh.

Yep.  You'd have to see it to understand. :)