Chic, IL This Year in Movies

I just saw the Spider-man trailer on of all things, the Mona Lisa Smile DVD. This goes perfectly with my question to all of you:

What 2004 movies should Chicago Force be planning to see as a group?

We've of course seen the Star Wars movies together, but also made group trips to LOTR's, Harry Potter, Matrix and others. So what's up for this year?

 

There are a handful of sci-fi fantasy flicks that would be fun to attend as a group (and Spidey2 is at the top of the list) but I can think of only one movie that we really _should_ get together for: whatever piece of poop FOX decides to put the Episode III trailer in front of.

-Le Penguin
"I foresaw your death last night."

 

Off the top of my head--

Hellboy (April 2)
Spider-Man 2
Harry Potter 3

these are all summerish movies. In the fall:

Star Trek: Who Cares?
Michael Jackson's Neverland: Never Tell Your Parents
Christopher Lloyd: RIP Your Career

matt

 

World of Tomorrow

 

You know, I saw that trailer, Haz, and I must say that looks be be the dumbest movie coming out this year.

All in my own humble opinion, of course.

 

Considering your average geek's propenisty for diefying and/or villifying every single sci-fi/fantasy film released (see the "ain't it cool" boards for the worst examples of this practice) the post-viewing discussions of the films we see together will probably be pretty interesting...

-Le Penguin
"...and I got _this_ scar sneaking under the door of a pay toilet."

 

i think its a toss up between aicn and imdb for world's dumbest message boards. if you could bottle up poo in html form and put it on the world wide piece of crap thats what you would have.

back on topic, i was really looking forward to The Punisher but now that i see the trailer on tv it looks pretty weak if you ask me.

 

I thought I saw an eBay auction for bottled up poo in html form.

 

A quick run-down of films sure to draw the freaks out of our literal or figurative basements:

Alien/Predator (meh)
The Day After Tomorrow (from the makers of ID4; not my style)
I, Robot (trailer looks terrible, but you never know...)
Shrek 2 (didn't care for the first, plus I don't need to hear Mike Myers' way overdone Scottish accent ever again)
The Punisher (not interested enough to make a snarky comment)
Van Helsing (see I, Robot)
The Incredibles (Pixar + Brad Bird = can't wait)
Scooby Doo 2 (this can't be for real... I must've died and gone to Hell)
Garfield (yep... definitely in Hell)
Ella Enchanted (not a geek film, but Anne Hathaway needs to hurry herself on over to my place right this very minute)
Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith's earned a shot at making a straightforward flick)
Kill Bill 2 (first one didn't do anything for me)
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow (could be great, could be horrible, could be completely unremarkable; this is the kind of movie that justifies film critics)
The Stepford Wives (WALKEN! WALKEN! WALKEN!)
Hellboy (here's where I start kicking myself for never reading the comics back when all my friends were recommending them)
Spider-Man 2 (first one may have been the perfect comic book movie, let's see if Rami can keep that vibe going)
The Village (m. Night's movies don't always mean a lot when they're over, but damn they's creepy while yer watchin' 'em)
Dawn of the Dead (cautiously optimistic on this one; how was that preview tonight?)
Chronicles of Riddick (no opinion on this one, either)
Harry Potter and the Creepy Yet Charming Predicament (wake me when it's over)
Godzilla (possibly the movie I'm most looking forward to seeing)
Troy (cautiously optimistic on this one as well)

I'm sure I've missed a few

-Le Penguin
[insert old-school Godzilla roar here]

 

AICN is still a good source of info on genre tv shows and is one of the first places you'll find links to movie trailers (sometimes before they're officially released.) Their horrible message boards are at least easily ignored. What bothers me most about the site -besides the rampant narcissism (sp?) and horrible spelling/grammar in the reviews- is the fact that in recent weeks, every film or tv show mentioned on the site is done so with a link to its respective sale page on Amazon.com. A good sales strategy for Amazon, yes, but it shreds what little integrity the writers had left.

-Le Penguin
"I'll trace a chalk outline around your dead fuc&in body!"

 

The latest news I heard about the Godzilla 50th anniversary flick is a tentative title, "Godzilla: Final War". Also, apparently Toho is going to give the Big G another break after this one... not a permanent retirement, just ten years or so to give room for fresh ideas. (or simple nostalgia build-up) I'd heard previously that there will be at least ten other monsters in this one, spanning G's entire career, but I don't know which ones. (a few are no-brainers....)

As for other 2004 genre films...

I definitely want to see Hellboy, though I find myself in the same situation as you do, Penguin. My only experience with the character so far has been a crossover that also involved Batman and Starman (Jack Knight). I'm going to wait until after I've seen the film to try picking up any of the collections, though. That way I won't be thinking, "It doesn't measure up to the source material." Although since (I believe) Mike Mignola is heavily involved with the film, it should be okay there.

AVP... I saw a short behind-the-scenes snippet at last WindyCon, and it did pique my interest.

Spidey 2 and HP3 are on my to-see list, but they get plenty of hype elsewhere, so I'll leave off here.

Van Helsing... I would see this if a group goes, but not neccessarily if I'm going it alone

I, Robot... haven't seen the trailer, but I'm more likely to see this one just to see how badly they butchered the source material. (cheap show, though)

 

Saw the preview for Dawn of the Dead last night. Pretty fast paced action. I thought the beginning looked good, and the zombies move as fast as the ones in "28 Days Later".

I'm holding out hope for this one.

 

New Spiderman trailer is available. Downloading now, haven't watched it yet.

 

Incredible!

And it's coming out on my birthday. Cool.


Lookin' forward to it!

 

Saw it and it looks way to cool! Man that movie will rock. Also keep on the look out for the punisher.

 

An Unfortunate Series of Events

Does anyone else think they should stop making brilliant children's books into Movies That Suck? And, yes, I am talking about The Polar Express that just won't work, Tom Hanks notwithstanding.

 

For every good adaptaion like "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Wizard of Oz," there's ten thousand "Cat in the Hat" and "The Grinch"es out there. They're hard to ignore in today's "ad/media firebombing" world, but fortunately the bad ones are usually soon forgotten.

Has anyone massacred Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" yet?

-Le Penguin
"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"

 

sooooo...

have we set up any screenings of upcoming geektastic movies yet?

 

I'd be down for catching "Spider-Man 2" with the gang, provided it's in the city.

-Le Penguin
"**** you, Archie. Just for tht you're not in the gang anymore."

 

I'm surprised that Autobot didn't suggest "This Old Cub"