The TV Addict 

Because July 19 can’t come soon enough, enjoy the first five minutes of THE DARK KNIGHT

During the summer everyone is always talking about anticipating this film or other, but a lot of times the reason we’re looking forward to a particular film is not just its concept, but the acting performances it promises. So with my Top 10 Most Anticipated Summer Movies list already up, I thought I’d highlight a few of the actors – in no particular order - whose work I’m most looking forward to seeing this summer season.

Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly, STEP BROTHERS
These two are a perfect comedic duo, and the concept of STEP BROTHERs – purportedly devised by the two actors themselves – is a perfect, simple vehicle to let their humor shine. Above all else, I’m just so happy to see John C. Reilly finally breakout, even if after years of solid character roles it turned out to be comedy that would get him noticed.

Robert Downey Jr., TROPIC THUNDER
It’s really hard to imagine Downey Jr. could top his performance in IRON MAN, but I’m incredibly curious to see how he is going to pull off playing a white Australian actor who in the film is in turn playing an African American. Inherently it seems like a politically incorrect disaster (then again, the Wayans did turn themselves white a while back), but based on all the trailers it looks like he pulls it off perfectly and – most importantly – hilariously.

Heath Ledger, THE DARK KNIGHT
Before you get the wrong idea, I’m not morbidly looking forward to Ledger’s performance in THE DARK KNIGHT because it was his last. I’m looking forward to it because it looks phenomenal. Based on the trailers, it just blows my mind how Ledger all but disappears into the role of the Joker, both in manner and appearance. It seems like such a seamless melding with the psychopathic spirit of the villain, that HYPERLINK “http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/14/discuss-could-heath-ledger-land-an-oscar-nod-for-his-dark-knig/” some are already wondering whether it may deserve an Oscar nomination.

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Editor’s Note: Our Top 10 Anticipated Summer Movies was actually written in April, but posted late due to theTVaddict’s unfortunate addiction to TV!

Honorable Mentions: THE HAPPENING, THE INCREDIBLE HULK,

Guilty Pleasures: MAMMA MIA!, SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS 2, THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND , WANTED, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR

10. GET SMART (June 20th)
I’ll concede that there’s a pretty substantial chance that GET SMART might not end up being very good. The thing is I grew up loving the TV show (when I lived in Germany the only English-language channel we got was one that played older shows like “Bewitched,” “I Dream of Jennie,” etc), and Steve Carell is ideally suited for the role – both in terms of appearance and humor. I also never cease to enjoy watching The Rock poking fun at himself, nor seeing Anne Hathaway get increasingly more attractive and diverse with her roles.

9. STEP BROTHERS (July 25th)
The interactions between Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in TALLEDGA NIGHTS were the highlight of the film for me, and the notion of pitting them together as boy-men stepbrothers is nothing short of comedic gold. I mean, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much during a trailer. The “Did we just become best friends?!” line cracks me up every time. It’s good too to see that Will Ferrell is taking a role that is also ideally suited for his brand of humor (and isn’t making fun of a sport/career).

8. TROPIC THUNDER (August 15th)
Robert Downey Jr. playing an over-the-top method actor playing an African American solider? That’s all I pretty much need right there. But sure, having Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Nick Nolte and a handful of cameos doesn’t hurt either, nor does the film’s motivation to spoof war films like APOCALYPSE NOW and the way they attempted to immerse their actors in the war experience.

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Last week a number of highly anticipated films released new high quality production stills, so I thought I’d throw in a sort of “Greatest Hits” of the ones I thought stood out the most, including some from the QUANTUM OF SOLACE (which seem to reveal that the guy from the end of CASINO ROYALE gets a bit of a working over, and even Bond looks pretty beat up here), great iconic images from THE DARK KNIGHT, some romantic TWILIGHT moments, and a gorgeous image from WALL-E.

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A lot of new movie posters have hit the net in the last week or so, so instead of throwing them up individually, here’s a compilation of the best ones that are worth checking out, including a cool new Joker poster for THE DARK KNIGHT, HELLBOY 2, the new PUNISHER movie, TWILIGHT, and the Rainn Wilson comedy THE ROCKER (which is sort of cool for emulating THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP poster, but also kind of not).

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This has already made the rounds on the internet, but for those awesome people out there who choose to get their film news from this humble site, above you can see the first picture of Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face in the upcoming THE DARK KNIGHT. The image is actually from the trailer, and if you look closely, you can just barely make up some of the scarring on the non-showing side of his face.

If that was enough Two-Face revelations for you, the Los Angeles Times also interviewed Aaron Eckhart (whom I’ve been a fan of ever since IN THE COMPANY OF MEN), who spoke about his character. You can check it out here (there are some moderate spoilers about what happens to his character, so beware), but basically he talks about the fact that fans are going to be in for a violent surprise, as the make-up effects he’ll be wearing will apparently make us sick to your stomach, it’ll be so gruesome. He also talks about the difference between Batman and Two-Face, suggesting that “”The difference between Batman and Two-Face is how far they are willing to go and how they make their point,” Eckhart said. “Otherwise, we’re talking about vigilante crime-fighting. That’s what Batman is all about. He has a strong sense of justice. And Harvey Dent has an extremely strong sense of justice. … He’s horribly injured. But he is still true to himself. He’s a crime fighter, he’s not killing good people. He’s not a bad guy, not purely…” Later he notes that “I’m interested in good guys gone wrong. They’re not the bad guy, they’re the good guy doing bad things.”

Sounds like Harvey Dent/Two-Face is in good hands.

If you’re not excited about THE DARK KNIGHT by now – and really, how could you not be as a self-respecting film buff? – this trailer might help. Heath Ledger looks perfect (and very unsettling) as The Joker, there’s loads of action, and harp-eyed fans might also pick up a couple of extra tantalizing teases along the ways. There also seem to be some really great lines in it, like The Joker’s “The city deserves a better class of criminal, and I’m gonna give it to them” or Harvey Dent’s “Either you die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” It looks like this summer the biggest competition has now become which superhero movie will be better: THE DARK KNIGHT or IRON MAN.

“Look, Mom, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, its… uh … a marketing campaign in over-drive.”
I’m excited as the next guy about THE DARK KNIGHT, but is anyone else feeling maybe a little itty-bit inundated by the film’s extremely active marketing campaigns?

If someone had told me five years ago that 3-D would catch on the way it seems to be doing now, I’d probably have politely guffawed in their face. I mean, while I was growing up any film that was 3-D was usually extremely cheesy and low-budget science fiction or horror films, requiring you to park in a drive-in and wear cheap, goofy looking glasses. No studio would have dreamed to make a big-budget film in 3-D, and yet that’s exactly what’s happening now. I’m not sure which film you can blame for the resurrection of 3-D. On the one hand SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER, was a relatively high profile use of it, but I would argue it was really the surprise success of the 3-D IMAX version of THE POLAR EXPRESS that really cemented the trend, particularly for kids films. I mean, just have a look here to see how many films in the last few years had some 3-D elements to them.

It seems now that a studio will take any chance to make a film 3-D if they can. For better or worse the trend seems to be staying. The recent HANNAH MONTANA concert film proved very popular, and there are several 3-D projects currently in development as well. The announcement that prompted me to write about all this, actually, is that Disney is planning on making STEP UP 3-D.

Now, I’m not sure what is a bigger shock at this point for me. The fact that I didn’t realize until now that the STEP UP series even was Disney? (Well, technically, Touchstone, but that’s owned by Disney. I guess I never could be bothered enough with the film to even check who made it.) The fact that there was even a sequel in the first place? The fact that the sequel did well enough that it merited another one? Or the fact that the third installment for some reason needs to be in 3-D?

I don’t mean this to sound too catty, but who is actually going to watch STEP UP 2 in the theatres? What’s the demographic like? It must be tweens and teenagers, because that’s the only reason I can determine why Disney would feel the third installment of the series would be a good choice for 3-D, because they are the demographic that seems predominantly tempted by 3-D. Of course to some degree the property lends itself to the format, allowing viewers to see dance moves jump right out at them. The thing is, I just don’t see 3-D as anything appealing. You could tempt me with the new INDIANA JONES film being in 3-D, and I still wouldn’t see it because I see the format as nothing more than a novelty that – to me – detracts, not enhances, my experience of a film.

But to a much younger demographic, the novelty of 3-D is presumably what makes it so appealing to them. I’ll admit, a twelve-year old me would have been excited about a 3-D version of INDIANA JONES, because I would totally confuse the novel and gimmicky nature of 3-D as something that was “cool.” And I think that’s exactly why the studios are making so many films now with that technology. I doubt that they see the format as anything more than a novelty, but I also know that what they see more predominantly is the dollars that this particular gimmick can produce for them.

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