We covered the first half of 2010 a couple of days ago, to resounding snores, but that won’t keep me from exercising my First Amendment right to complain about derivative cinematic entertainment I could otherwise easily avoid. Now then…
The A-Team — June 11
I like how shows like Beavis and Butthead received tons of bad press from overwrought parents groups who thought an animated mentally challenged teen with a penchant for arson might become a role model for kids, when all Hannibal, B.A. and the gang ever did was present these same impressionable youths with the weekly spectacle of live human beings emerging unscathed from machine-gun battles and helicopter crashes.
The Karate Kid — June 11
I don’t want to point out the obvious, but since this is taking place in China, shouldn’t it be the Jeet Kune Do Kid, or the Duan Quan Dude? Hell, call him the “Wu-Tang Kid” and at least get a cameo by the RZA, or something.
Footloose — June 18
The fact that Zac Efron bailed on this shouldn’t make you hesitant to
check it out, assuming that any movie still not attached to a director
in January still has a chance of making its summer release date. Maybe
James Cameron has some time to kill.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse — June 30
Team Edward? Team Jacob? Where do I sign up for Team Van Helsing? Or Team Blade?
Predators — July 7
I may be biased, but I believe the 1970s and `80s were some of the
finest years for horror and action cinema in movie history.
Unfortunately, it also seems to have rendered an entire generation of
directors incapable of producing anything original. Otherwise why the
insistence on redoing Halloween? Or making a Thing prequel (yes, I understand Carpenter’s movie was itself a remake)? Or
rebooting Predator? Because I’m sorry, but unless Bill Duke
threatens to “bleed someone real quiet” and Arnie smears himself in
mud, it ain’t Predator. I don’t care how many times Adrien
Brody(!) says, “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice — July 16
Finally, Nicolas Cage’s post-Leaving Las Vegas career makes
sense.
Step Up 3-D — August 6
Fine, I’ll say it: fuck 3-D. It makes the picture too dim, unless you
shell out $12 for the “IMAX Experience,” and it’s absolutely
irrelevant and gimmicky for something like the third Step Up.
And personally, I think the continuing odyssey of young “Moose” is
plenty compelling without any visual interference.
Saw VII 3D — October 22
See above, though the prospect of entrails and/or eyeballs “comin’ at
ya” is always…intriguing. There’s no trailer or plot released for
this yet, but I’m going to go way out on a limb and say a bunch of
people are going to be forced into a series of life-threatening traps
with limited time to escape. And maybe the traps will also be keyed to
their own personal demons. I don’t know, I’m just spitballing.
Red Dawn — November 26
Okay, I’m not going to argue the original was great cinema, but
there’s simply no way the new version is going to have the same kind
of Cold War “oomph” that made 15-year-olds like me across this great
nation hide caches of food and arrows in the woods around their houses
for the coming Russkie invasion, which would force them to run to the
hills.
I don’t know about today’s kids. I’m sure they’d Twitter up a storm.
Tron Legacy — December 17
Sigh. Unlike just about all of these other remakes, this one actually
boasts the return of its original star. The problem lies in impressing
today’s video gaming crowd. I don’t know if you remember the old Tron
game, but robot spiders and rotating Star Castle-style walls
aren’t going to cut it.
That should help inform your moviegoing choices for the coming year.
Maybe next I’ll cover 2010’s TV offerings. Or maybe I’ll just talk
about Kendra Wilkinson. What a trooper she is.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2010.
