Alan Rapp

Yeah we knew FF2 was going to get made but Jessica Alba’s interview with MTV makes the sequel sound even worse than the original.  “We’re going to amp up the action, amp up the love interest, amp it all up!”  About her own character Sue Storm Alba added, “I’m the most powerful of the four…I can kind of do everyone else’s powers.”  Scared yet?  Well then how ‘bout what she has say dealing with the plot of the new film which will involve the introduction of my favorite Marvel hero – the Silver Surfer.

The Surfer, created by Jack Kirby, was one of Marvel’s first attempts to add depth and philosophy to comic books in the form of a contemplative, noble, tragic, and poetic hero that Stan Lee fell so in love with for years he would allow no other Marvel writer to create his high minded dialogue which often included the Surfer’s distaste for what humans were doing to their planet and themselves.  So how does the movie version stand-up?  “There’s a little tension between the Silver Surfer and Reed, he’s a little good and a little bad so it’s just a matter of what does Sue Storm bring – the good or the bad – out of that boy.”  Seriously, if Marvel lets a half-wit like Tim Story destroy one of Lee and Kirby’s greatest creations to make a buck at the box office I’m done with the House of Ideas Greed for good.

FF2: Still Craptastic
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So what’s out there this week.  Well today we’ll take a look at the films scheduled to be released this week which includes a remake of The Omen screaming into theaters on Tuesday, and the latest from Robert Altman and Pixar’s newest racing onto the screen this Friday.  All that and more; read on.

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Here’s what’s scheduled to hit theaters this week.  Want to know more, just click on the title for film info including a full cast list.  Want a closer look, just click on the poster to watch the trailer.

The Omen (opens Tuesday)

Remake of the 1976 horror flick about a young child named Damien (Seamus Davey Fitzpatrick) that might just be the devil!  The remake borrows shots and dialogue aplenty from the original (not to mention shots lifted directly from Kubrick’s The Shining).  This one stars Julie Stiles, Marshall Cupp, and Liev Schreiber.  This isn’t director John Moore’s first remake, he gave us the 2004 version of Flight of the Phoenix which looks quite good compared to this one.  The film hits theater on Tuesday (6/06/06 – isn’t that clever!) so check back tomorrow for our review.

Cars

The latest from Pixar is just an amazing and dazzling piece of animation that borrows its heart (and plot) from the Michael J. Fox flick Doc Hollywood.  Owen Wilson voices the young hot shot stock car who finds himself trapped in the small town of Radiator Springs forced to fix the damage he inadvertently caused on his way to the biggest race of his life in California.  There he finds what he’s been missing in the sleepy town where he if forced to slow down.  Other voices include Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, Tony Shaloub, George Carlin, and Larry the Cable Guy.  Check back on Friday for our review.

A Prairie Home Companion

Put together Garrison Keillor (who wrote the screenplay) and Robert Altman (who directs) and fill the cast with Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, and John C. Reilly and you’ve got my attention.  The film is a behind the scenes look of the final days of America’s most celebrated radio show broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Despite the great cast listed above the one getting the most hype is Lindsey Lohan (isn’t that one of the signs ushering in the apocalypse?).

The King (limited release)

Gael Garcia Bernal plays a troubled Elvis Sandow who after his discharge from the Navy goes in search of his long lost father (William Hurt) who abandoned him as a child and now lives as a pastor with a new wife (Laura Harring), son (Paul Dano) and daughter (Pell James) in Corups Christi.  Written by James Marsh (who also directs) and Milo Addica (Monster’s Ball); both were labeled as nihilists after the film’s premiere at Cannes and has been attacked as well for the film’s incestuous subplot.