> May 30 - The Italian Job
>
> I'm a sucker for heist movies. Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton were made for them. The director, F. Gary Gray, is a hit-or-miss kind of guy. He did The Negotiator, which was terrific, and A Man Apart, which (so I understand) is not.

No, no, NO! Everything I've heard about this tells me it's going to suck. I mean, it's set in Los Angeles where nippy little minis aren't going to be at a huge advantage on all those freeways, Michael Caine turned down the role of Mr Bridger when he saw the script, and bised the original is just perfect. They shouldn't be allowed to mess with it.

> July 11 - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
>
> Despite the heavy-hitting hype for this movie, I don't know of anybody -- either those who have read the graphic novels or those who haven't -- who is impressed with the trailer. It's hard not to rely too much on the trailer to judge how a movie is going to be, but I just don't see the potential. I'm fearing a disaster on the scale of The Avengers. The director doesn't impress me, either: the one film of his I've seen is "Blade," a movie that some people really like but I hated.

One day someone's going to convert an Alan Moore comic and actually stick to the plot. But in this case, I can't work out what they actually bought; not one single character, place or plot element is under copyright, and they didn't keep the slightest semblance of the plot.

Still, I expext it'll be mindless fun in the X-Men mould.

> July 18 - Johnny English
>
> Rowan Atkinson is funny, but he's not infallible. "Bean" was funny in spots, but it was mostly a poor adaptation of the much funnier Mr. Bean series. Johnny English is a spoof of James Bond. Austin Powers aside, Bond spoofs don't tend to work, because what people don't realize is that James Bond is *already* a spoof of more serious spy films. Making fun of something that's already got its tongue in its cheek doesn't tend to work. Still, we'll see.

Could work. This was inspired by a series of credit card commercials Atkinson did, which were funny. But there's a world of difference from a series of 30 second slots and a 90 minute movie. Still, the trailers look promising...

> July 18 - Bad Boys II
>
> Didn't see the original.

Loved the original. I rate it alongside My Dinner With Andre and Enemy Of The State as the only good movies Will Smith has been involved in. This is on my "too see" list.

winter"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"mute