With the completion of both the Matrix and LOTR trilogies, I was expecting 2004 to be kind of a bummer year for movies. But there are several scheduled films that appear to hold promise. Here's my list of movies I plan to see (so far, and in no particular order. BTW, the links go to the official or Yahoo sites, most of which have those cool trailers.):
The Ladykillers - Tom Hanks and the Coen brothers? Together? Hmmmm...
King Arthur - I normally go by directors. And I don't like Antoine Fuqua, but it's got Clive Owen (star of the great BMW films) and Keira Knightley. Did I mention it's produced by Jerrry Bruckheimer?
Resident Evil: Apocalypse - I was mildly surprised by the original movie. I'll probably see this one.
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov's stories, directed by Alex "Dark City" Proyas, starring Will Smith.
Man on Fire - Nothing I like better than some righteous indignation. Particularly when it's got some righteous killin' to go with it. I am worried about Denzel being able to pull of the killin' part though. Directed by Tony Scott.
The Stepford Wives - Nicole Kidman is the rare actress who I will see regardless of director. She's done nothing bad. (If you're thinking of Eyes Wide Shut ... remember she was NUDE.)
The Chronicles of Riddick - Sequel to Pitch Black. Planned as a trilogy. Vin Diesel gettin' savage again.
Very little is known about Kerry Cornan, except that he (or she?) is 29 years old, and wrote some sort of "incredible software" to go along with the script that impressed producer Aurelio De Laurentiis (Leviathan) enough that he got the wheels rolling to get this project a $60 million dollar budget. What sort of software could it have been... and who exactly is Kerry Conran? A few different people have written in to answer at least one of those questions, but I forgot to post it here. Kerry is definitely a "he". The bigger questions remain unanswered. Not anymore, they don't. The Los Angeles Times has revealed that Kerry Cornan is a CalArts graduate, and his software is a CGI program that allows him to shoot his entire movie against blue screens, and fill in the backgrounds later with images he's been working on for years, which are mostly already done. What this allows Conran to do, which is what is so revolutionary, is to have an already existing 3-D storyboard of every scene, with stick figures in place where the actors are supposed to be. Now, all he has to do is stick in his cast, and he's basically done, it sounds like.
Hmmmm. Visit the site. Watch the trailer. Decide for yourself.
Troy - Brad Pitt is one of the few actors I'll see in anything. Wolfgang ain't that bad of a director, either. I just hope it's better than the USA miniseries, Helen of Troy.
The Ring 2 - Gore Verbinski is not the director (I think) so this will likely suck. But I liked #1. (And yea, I know the Japanse original was better, so STFU.)
Van Helsing - Hugh Jackman plays the Dracula slayer.
Blade: Trinity - Yea it'll suck, but Blade II had some good action scenes.
The Punisher - Even the trailer looks bad, and it has ... oh my ... John Revolta. But I am sucker for righteous indignation.
