> > May 15 - The Matrix Reloaded
> >
> > When I do the standard "What summer movie are you most eager to see?" Reader Poll question, this is the movie that will make it boring by being the certain winner. I have to admit, I'm pretty pumped for this movie. I just hope that Reloaded/Revolutions expands as much upon the ideas of the first film as upon its special effects.
>
> See, I didn't much care for the first film. I can't fault the effects, mind, but I wasn't too excited by its mythos, which appears to be a cross between standard cyberpunk and typical Oriental "hero destined to appear blah blah blah" action flicks. So I'm not terribly excited about the second film, and will probably be the only person who picks something else on aforementioned poll.

While the first movie was entertaining, I am completely non-excited about the sequels.

Keanu's role in The Matrix was rather well as he was playing a guy who was bewildered for the majority of the film. As such, it was just the right movie for him. The events at the end of that movie indicates he's now confident and in control. I have great difficulty in thinking that he can pull off a role like that.

The original movie made a lot of money and then the Wachowski brothers started saying the movie was always intended to be a trilogy. That struck me as false -- I've read the short fiction The Matrix was based off of. They pretty much covered the aspects of the story in that film. It seems these sequels weren't created because someone had a story they wanted to tell; they were created because someone saw the box office receipts.

General fear of action sequels: What everyone remembers from the first movie are the bullet time shots, which have been overused in commericals, television, and other movies. As (action) sequels generally try to outdo the original movie with bigger explosions, bigger stakes, bigger stunts, there's most likely a pressure to create some new, bolder type of special effect in Reloaded and Revolutions and a pressure to include it in some sort of show-stopper. Again, something that's not brought forth because of a desire to tell a story, but because of a desire to create something larger and bring in more money.

Color me completely uninterested.

> > June 6 - Man-Thing
> >
> > A comic book adaptation about a swamp creature that feeds off fear. The comic book genre is just one step away from B horror movies sometimes.
>
> I always liked the comic - which was, of course, in the same vein as a B horror movie (comics in general spent a long time as B horror rags before the coming of Superman changed the whole landscape). I'm not convinced that a movie would be at all entertaining, though, since Man-Thing was only ever good in small doses.

It's also strange that this is one a Marvel comic book property, yet it's getting nowhere the big push that the other three movies based on Marvel comic book properties have.


> > June 20 - Hulk
> >
> > The Superbowl trailers looked pretty bad.
>
> I dunno. These Marvel Comics summer effects montages have me a bit jaded at this point.

I can't tell about the trailers during the Superbowl -- we picked that game up off of the ol' television antenna, on the channel that didn't come in too clearly. However, the trailer that was before Daredevil looked rather sharp.

Two things about the movie make me really want to see it: Ang Lee and Jennifer Connelly. Sam spoke about Lee, I'll speak about Connelly.

Jennifer Connelly is one of those actresses that isn't on the A list of Hollywood, but she's someone who has picked her roles very carefully (at least since 1991). In all of her movies the last decade, she's either been cast in a great role or appeared in a great film. I don't think she'd jump into a fluff movie at this stage of her career simply because of money.

Plus, I think she's hot. But you already knew that.

> > July 2 - Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
>
> I liked the first film and was not especially fond of the second. This third movie strikes me as being a good investment of time for those who like to see things blow up, and not really for anybody else.

Following on this, I'd have to say I'm more excited about The Matrix Reloaded than I am to see this movie.


> > 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.

Yo. I got your "impressed with the trailer" right here.

Of course it was more "impressed that they're actually making this movie" mixed with a little bit of "oh, so that's why it's been months since the last issue of Top Ten".

> > 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.

Perhaps that was true back when the Bond franchise started, but now? The Bond movies these days are no longer spoofs, they've taken on an life of their own.

> > July 25 - Seabiscuit
>
> I know nothing about it other than it has a lousy title.

Same here. I thought they remade a skit from an Abbott and Costello movie into a full length film.

> > August 1 - 28 Days Later

From the title, I thought it was a sequel to that Sandra Bullock in rehab movie.

-FP