So what’s out there this week. Well today we’ll take a look at the films scheduled to be released this Friday including a comic love story with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, remakes of The Hills Have Eyes and The Shaggy Dog, and finally the wide release of Johnny Depp’s The Libertine plus more. Read on…
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Here’s what’s scheduled to hit theaters this Friday. 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.
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Remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 horror film (Craven acts as producer for this one) about a suburban family gets stranded in the middle of nowhere and hunted by psychotic mutant savages through the desert. This time around the cast includes Ted Levine (no not as serial killer Buffalo Bill but the dad of the family under attack). Kathleen Quinlan, Aaron Stanford and Vanessa Shaw also star. Wow even the horror genre is scraping the bottom of the barrel to make remakes these days. Are there no original ideas left in Hollywood?
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And the answer to my question is a resounding no. Tim Allen stars as Dave Douglas who from time to time turns into a sheepdog and has madcap adventures. Kristin Davis, Robert Downey Jr., Craig Kilbourne, and Jane Curtin also have roles in this updated and dimwitted remake that steals the name from the 1968 Disney film starring Fred MacMurray and Annette Funicello and story from 1976’s The Shaggy D.A. Why remake one film badly when you can do two at once?
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Matthew MacConaughey plays a single guy living at home with his parents (Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates). Unable to get him to move out they decide to set him up and hire a dream girl (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get him to move out. Contrived plot (even for romantic comedy standards) versus the charisma and chemistry of the cast. Which will win out? Directed by Tom Dey who gave us Shanghai Noon (yah!) only to follow it up with Eddie Murphy and Deniro in Showtime (eh?).
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Johnny Depp stars as the 17th century poet John Wilmot the Earl of Rochester known in his time more for his whoring and drunken debauchery than his prose. The film got a very limited release back in November with hopes of an Oscar run and met with indifference and a mixed critical response (to put it politely) that set the wide release back months. Wait, I already saw this movie it was a comedy and starred Heath Ledger. Ignored by every awards show the film was dumped in the cold winter open date of early March. Still with stars like Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, and Rosamund Pike there has to be something worth seeing. Right?
Evil (limited release)
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Travel back to the year 2003 (the year this Swedish film was released). Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (the man who gave us Derailed last year, oh you don’t remember it? Don’t worry you’re not alone) the film is about a boy sent to a private boarding school where the younger students are at the mercy of the seniors. Critics raved about the film’s cinematography but fond the plot less than original. The film did earn itself an Oscar nomination for best Foreign Language Film in 2004.
Ask the Dust (limited)
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Writer/director Robert Towne’s latest is an adaption of the John Fante novel starring Selma Hayek as a fiery Mexican beauty (what else?) who dreams of meeting a rich American, getting married and surviving the Depression. Of course her plans get complicated when a pennyless Italian writer (Colin Farrell) falls for her. Usually Towne’s work as a screenwriter where he doesn’t direct (Chinatown, The Firm, MI:2, Days of Thunder) turn out much better than when he tries to do both (see Tequila Sunrise).
The Zodiac (limited)
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Emotional thriller about victims and impact of the Zodiac killings in San Francisco. The first of two movies out this year about the Zodiac killer (the second hits theaters in September with Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Edwards, Bijou Phillips, Chloe Sevigny, and Ione Sky). So what’s this one got? Phillip Baker Hall, Justin Chamers, Rory Culkin, and Robin Tunney. Yeah, I may wait until September.
Duck Season (New York and Los Angeles only)
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Independent Mexican hit of 2004 tells the story of two best friends, a pair of 14 year-old boys, have an adventure that includes their neighbor, a pizza delivery man, and a painting of ducks on what was supposed to be a lazy Sunday afternoon. The film won a record 11 Ariel Awards (Mexican Film Awards) and nominations and wins at the Independent Spirit Awards and the Paris Film Festival. Will it be an art house hit with American audiences as well?