The Good the Bad and the Ugly – May 4

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 4, 2008

The Good

Iron Man (In Theaters): Unlike Spider-man 3 last year, the summer movie season started with a global shockwave of fanboy and critical acclaim. We were all pumped for this one, but honestly, if someone told you that Iron Man would be the best reviewed movie of the year on RottenTomatoes before the movie was released, you probably would have told them they were off their rocket. Oh, and it also grossed $100 million on opening weekend. Jon Favreau has hit it big with this one.

New Trailers From Iron Man Screening: Of course, the most important responsibility for the summer igniter, besides entertaining the hell out of us, is to get us ready for what the rest of the season has in store for us. The sneak preview I went to featured a smorgasbord of The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, and The Hulk and I thought all of them, with the exception of one rotten egg mentioned at the bottom, were fantastic.

The Band’s Visit (In select theaters): This is a tie with Iron Man for my film pick of the week and you should see my review here. It’s a light and honest film with an excellent script by newcomer Eran Kolirin and one of my favorite’s of the year so far.

The Golden Compass and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (On DVD): Anyone with a predilection for fantasy films should find themselves right at home here with the visually stunning The Golden Compass. It’s not quite Harry Potter, but it’s still pretty good. But if you want to see something really fascinating, go rent The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which ended up being my favorite film of 2007 and that’s in a year that gave us No Country For Old Men, Jesse James, Once, American Gangster, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Plain and simple, this is one of the uber-masterpieces of the decade. Period.

Ian McKellen to play Gandalf in The Hobbit: Thank goodness for this, it just wouldn’t have been the same without him. I’m glad Guillermo Del Toro is getting as many original cast members as possible back together.

The Bad

The Lovely Bones: Speaking of hobbits, Peter Jackson is having a lot of trouble with his first feature film since King Kong. There has been reports of dissension among the cast and crew. Two cast members, including Ryan Gosling have even dropped out. And now the release date has been pushed back. Sounds like a nightmare.

Miley Cyrus: I feel sorry for any young teenage girl who has to deal with celebrity status and is expected to be a perfect role model. I’m not saying I approve or disapprove of her recent photo shoot with Vanity Fair, in which her bare back was shown. I’m saying that it’s no big deal. It’s not like she dressed up like Marylin Monroe and posed nude. It’s not like she was arrested for a DUI. She doesn’t even have a fucking drivers license yet and we’re already assuming she’ll be the next Lindsay Lohan. People need to calm the fuck down and stop rushing to hasty conclusions. And it doesn’t help that the media watches her like a hawk and is ready to make a huge deal out everything she does.

The Ugly

Speed Racer Early Buzz: Now, I’m a big supporter of the Wachowski’s. The Matrix is one of my favorite sci-fi films and I also dug V For Vendetta. I had been looking forward to this until the early buzz came out. And that buzz definitely meets the criteria of the word ugly. The average user rating on IMDb so far is a 5.4. Not good, not good at all.

New Trailer From Iron Man Screening-The Love Guru: Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Mike Myers hater. I do love me some Austin Powers but the man can also make dreck like The Cat in the Hat. I have a feeling that The Love Guru is going to end up like the latter. Why, do you ask? For one, the trailer makes the film look absolutley horrendous. There’s not one laugh to be found. Not one! If that’s not enough, then the fact that Jessica Alba is in it should convince you. Bad movies tend to follow her around like a shadow.

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