In the inaugural issue of Premature Reviews we will look at the good, the bad, and the interesting in upcoming movies. None of these movies has been released yet, so this will be an exercise in psychic abilities. Let’s see what movies you should go out and see and which should be avoided.
Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass have already proven to be a good team with the Jason Bourne series. I am expecting them to show more of the same with the upcoming movie Green Zone. This time Matt Damon will be playing Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and be in search of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. While the name has changed, Matt Damon will still be ridiculously good at whatever it is he does, and I’m assuming that will include killing a large number of people. The action scenes will be great, there will be some explosions, and the story lends itself to some interesting potential plot twists. Since Green Zone is set during the early days of the Iraqi War, there is a lot of potential to show the events that led to larger conflicts. The fact that Roy Miller won’t have reliable information to base his investigation off of leads me to believe he will end up going solo and preventing a weapon of mass destruction from being unleashed. I give Green Zone a premature rating of 4/5 Jason Bournes.
Irreverent comedies have become all the rage these days, mostly because of Seth Rogen comedies like Knocked Up and Pineapple Express. The difference between those movies and Hot Tub Time Machine is they had plots that actually made some sense. Sure they might have gotten outrageous at times, and some might argue that having a hot tub that travels through time is no different than a DeLorean that travels through time. I would tell those some to shut up. I just can’t see Hot Tub Time Machine becoming a classic like Back to the Future. The only thing that saves Hot Tub Time Machine at all is its cast. Craig Robinson is better known as Darell from The Office, and he is absolutely hilarious. John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Clark Duke should provide some laughs as well. In the end all Hot Tub Time Machine will have is some good one-liners. I give this a premature rating of 2/5 disco balls.
Tim Burton has a unique film style that seems to produce unforgettable movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, or movies we can’t forget soon enough like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The issue I have with Alice in Wonderland is it seems to be leaning more towards Charlie and the Chocolate Factory territory. What we love about Tim Burton is the unique nature of his movies, but sometimes that nature doesn’t translate well to remakes of movies that are already considered classics. At the same time, Alice in Wonderland seems to lend itself better to the craziness that is Tim Burton’s mind. I predict that Alice in Wonderland will be hated by some and loved by others, and that I will be one of the others. Alice gets a premature rating of 4/5 white rabbits.
