The Best Is Yet To Come
What more could you possibly ask for? An Arnold Schwarzenegger comeback?
| 08 Oct 2007
It's been an interesting film year so far as the big-hitters have left us simultaneously surprised and disappointed. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, despite Jack, failed to set the sea alight; Spider-Man 3 was over-crowded and unsatisfying; Transformers hit the CGI mark but was as empty as the Autobots' driver's seats and Shrek 3 was simply an ogre too far. On the plus side, the recently released Bourne Ultimatum was a fitting finale, the animated TMNT (yes that stands for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was shell-shockingly good, Die Hard 4.0 was decent even without the vest and Rocky Balboa surprised us all by delivering a 12th round knockout. So is the movie year over? Well in the words of the Italian Stallion himself, "Ain't nothing over 'til it's over."
The month of October sees Ben Stiller reunited with directors the Farrelly brothers for the first time since There's Something About Mary with The Heartbreak Kid, and expectations are high that there will be plenty of crotch-zipping and gooey hair-gelling. Moving up the serious charts, the Michael Mann produced (but sadly not directed) The Kingdom gives us Collateral's Jamie Foxx, Alias' Jennifer Garner and a hip cast as US government agents investigate a bombing in the Middle East. Fans of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant will then be pleased as animation king Brad Bird releases his latest flick, Ratatouille, which tells the tale of rats attempting a spot of gastronomic flair in the kitchen. Sacrebleu indeed.
Continuing October and Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn takes a stab at fantasy fairytale Stardust in which young lad Charlie Cox attempts to retrieve a fallen star so he can win the heart of Sienna Miller despite the fact neither Jude Law nor Daniel Craig had to do anything of the sort. Next up is a treat for console enthusiasts everywhere as video game Hitman is translated to the big screen with Die Hard 4.0's Timothy Olyphant grabbing a pistol and playing the titular role. The end of October then delivers the next instalment in one of the most speedily filmed franchises known to man with Saw 4 which, no doubt, will provide the usual dosage of flesh-cutting and appendage removal.
Moving to November, and vampire movie 30 Days of Night pits Josh Hartnett and former Summer Bay resident Melissa George against some evil creatures of the night who, unlike Peter Kay, have no affinity for garlic bread. Also released at the beginning of the month is Paranoid Park where acclaimed director (words which usually cause the masses to switch off) Gus Van Sant makes a move away from his Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester days and back to his Elephant-style roots as relatively unknown actors tell the story of accidental skateboard death. If that's a little too indie for you then Lions for Lambs should be right up your street as Tom Cruise plays a US Senator who has to deal with a journalist in the shape of Meryl Streep and a moralistically crusading academic in the form of old charmer Robert Redford (who also directs). And if that doesn't have you, ahem, flocking to your cinemas then maybe the teaming of director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe (not to mention Denzel Washington) will in crime-thriller American Gangster, which will hopefully be more Gladiator than A Good Year.
November produces more joy for gamers with Resident Evil: Extinction as Milla 'only-reason-for-watching' Jovovich tries to make us forget about the previous debacles. We then go medieval for the superbly cast (Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone to name but some), realistically animated (think Polar Express rather than 300) Beowulf from Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis. Filling up the month's awaited line-up is Awake, which stars junior Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen, as a heart surgery patient who is, rather unfortunately, awake during the gruelling procedure and has to, rather fortunately, watch his partner Jessica Alba wrestling. With her decisions and inner-demons that is, not in jelly.
In the final month of the year we are treated to former Tomb Raider model Rhona Mitra looking to cure a virus in apocalyptic thriller (nope, nothing to do with Mel Gibson) Doomsday. Coming from the director of Dog Soldiers and The Descent, hopes are high. Fantasy fan-boys everywhere will then have an early Christmas as The Golden Compass finally hits screens and introduces the rest of us to a parallel universe with world-uniting dust and souls that take the shape of animals. Pre-Christmas time then brings us back to romantic territory with Gerard Butler, minus rippling abs, and Hilary Swank, minus boyish appearance, who get together in adaptation P.S. I Love You which sees the latter receive messages penned by the former before his death which planned out a year's worth of activities for her. What a thoughtful chap.
Well, there you have it. Zombies, gangsters, government agents, lovey-couples, vampires and, er, cooking rats. What more could you possibly ask for? An Arnold Schwarzenegger comeback? Well, watch this space as he did say (repeatedly I may add) he'd be back.
The month of October sees Ben Stiller reunited with directors the Farrelly brothers for the first time since There's Something About Mary with The Heartbreak Kid, and expectations are high that there will be plenty of crotch-zipping and gooey hair-gelling. Moving up the serious charts, the Michael Mann produced (but sadly not directed) The Kingdom gives us Collateral's Jamie Foxx, Alias' Jennifer Garner and a hip cast as US government agents investigate a bombing in the Middle East. Fans of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant will then be pleased as animation king Brad Bird releases his latest flick, Ratatouille, which tells the tale of rats attempting a spot of gastronomic flair in the kitchen. Sacrebleu indeed.
Continuing October and Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn takes a stab at fantasy fairytale Stardust in which young lad Charlie Cox attempts to retrieve a fallen star so he can win the heart of Sienna Miller despite the fact neither Jude Law nor Daniel Craig had to do anything of the sort. Next up is a treat for console enthusiasts everywhere as video game Hitman is translated to the big screen with Die Hard 4.0's Timothy Olyphant grabbing a pistol and playing the titular role. The end of October then delivers the next instalment in one of the most speedily filmed franchises known to man with Saw 4 which, no doubt, will provide the usual dosage of flesh-cutting and appendage removal.
Moving to November, and vampire movie 30 Days of Night pits Josh Hartnett and former Summer Bay resident Melissa George against some evil creatures of the night who, unlike Peter Kay, have no affinity for garlic bread. Also released at the beginning of the month is Paranoid Park where acclaimed director (words which usually cause the masses to switch off) Gus Van Sant makes a move away from his Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester days and back to his Elephant-style roots as relatively unknown actors tell the story of accidental skateboard death. If that's a little too indie for you then Lions for Lambs should be right up your street as Tom Cruise plays a US Senator who has to deal with a journalist in the shape of Meryl Streep and a moralistically crusading academic in the form of old charmer Robert Redford (who also directs). And if that doesn't have you, ahem, flocking to your cinemas then maybe the teaming of director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe (not to mention Denzel Washington) will in crime-thriller American Gangster, which will hopefully be more Gladiator than A Good Year.
November produces more joy for gamers with Resident Evil: Extinction as Milla 'only-reason-for-watching' Jovovich tries to make us forget about the previous debacles. We then go medieval for the superbly cast (Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone to name but some), realistically animated (think Polar Express rather than 300) Beowulf from Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis. Filling up the month's awaited line-up is Awake, which stars junior Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen, as a heart surgery patient who is, rather unfortunately, awake during the gruelling procedure and has to, rather fortunately, watch his partner Jessica Alba wrestling. With her decisions and inner-demons that is, not in jelly.
In the final month of the year we are treated to former Tomb Raider model Rhona Mitra looking to cure a virus in apocalyptic thriller (nope, nothing to do with Mel Gibson) Doomsday. Coming from the director of Dog Soldiers and The Descent, hopes are high. Fantasy fan-boys everywhere will then have an early Christmas as The Golden Compass finally hits screens and introduces the rest of us to a parallel universe with world-uniting dust and souls that take the shape of animals. Pre-Christmas time then brings us back to romantic territory with Gerard Butler, minus rippling abs, and Hilary Swank, minus boyish appearance, who get together in adaptation P.S. I Love You which sees the latter receive messages penned by the former before his death which planned out a year's worth of activities for her. What a thoughtful chap.
Well, there you have it. Zombies, gangsters, government agents, lovey-couples, vampires and, er, cooking rats. What more could you possibly ask for? An Arnold Schwarzenegger comeback? Well, watch this space as he did say (repeatedly I may add) he'd be back.