Because I no longer seem to have time to read books anymore, I've decided to make a sad attempt to at least see a few holiday movies. I notice a lot of things just out or coming out in the near future and would be interested in how people will rate them. Assuming that between work and family obligations, I will be lucky to see two or three new movies, what should they be?
The ones on my radar screen so far are:
AVATAR - James Cameron spends even more money on special effects and special camera technology than he ever has before. Could be absolutely amazing, or a major disaster.
SHERLOCK HOLMES - I generally like Robert Downey Jnr, dislike Jude law and am agnostic (but leaning towards not a fan of) Guy Ritchie. So how do I decide on this one?
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - very strange choice for Tim Burton, but it's usually worth seeing what he's up to. And Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter of course.
IRON MAN 2 - When is it coming out? Has the advantage of Robert Downey Jnr without Jude Law.
TRON LEGACY - Are they really making this film or is it just a cruel teaser?
JURASSIC PARK 4 - What???
THE LOVELY BONES - The book was depressing. Is it possible the film could be even more so? (And the big news for Twilight fans is that Robert Pattinson was spotted sneaking into the preview screening through the back door. No word on what he thought of it...or what he was wearing...or who he was dating...)
BROTHERS - Great cast, probably great acting, but I'm not sure I can think of a more depressing way to spend a winter's afternoon (see "The Lovely Bones").
Anything major I'm missing here?
(Oh, and do vote for us in the ABA Journal's Blawg 100. It's nice to know people are reading...)
On the Sherlock Holmes movie, it looks like it will mostly be made up of "fancy" camera work. And, while I like Robert Downey Jr., too, I can't really see him as an action hero, as the previews seem to make him out to be in this film. (I don't remember Holmes being a ninja, either, but from the looks of the previews I was wrong about that.) It's just more plausible to think of him talking the bad guys into submission, as in the wonderful and under-appreciated "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang"
Posted by: Matt | December 10, 2009 at 11:14 PM
Jacqui, you missed these ten:
IT'S COMPLICATED -- Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin find romance while reading selected passages of the UCC to each other.
UP IN THE AIR -- George Clooney goes around the country to law schools, firing deans who have hired too many con law profs and too few UCC profs.
NINE -- starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, and others in a musical tribute to ... Article 9 of the UCC.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING -- A "Merchant Ivory" production (probably starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, and others), again about the UCC in the time of William Shakespeare.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS -- a David Lean film version of Dickens' masterpiece, featuring characters Pip, Miss Havisham, Estella, and Magwitch, and the one thing that connects their lives: the UCC.
VERTIGO -- Alfred Hitchcock directs this thriller about a voyeur who suffers from vertigo when he reads ... the UCC.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS -- A perfected security interest trumps an unperfected security interest. A holder in due course takes free of an obligor's personal defenses to payment. And eight other vignettes illustrating additional UCC "commandments." Narration by Charlton Heston. With cameos by Grant Gilmore and Karl Llewellyn.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE -- Jimmy Stewart is given the chance to see how pathetic life would be ... without the UCC.
INDIANA JONES AND THE TRULY LAST CRUSADE -- Harrison Ford returns as Indiana Jones to confront the ultimate challenge: to find the true meaning of ... UCC 2-207.
FINDING NEMO DAT -- the long-awaited sequel to "Finding Nemo."
Posted by: Tim Zinnecker | December 11, 2009 at 12:00 AM
For the rest of this year, I agree on "Up in the Air." I'm also excited about "Me and Orson Welles." Richard Linklater is a terrific director, and Christian McKay supposedly does a spot on Orson Welles. According to critics, Jeff Bridges gives an awards-worthy performance in Crazy Heart. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is Heath Ledger's last film, and Terry Gilliam always makes interesting, if not entirely successful movies.
For next year: "The Green Zone," "The Rum Diary," "London Boulevard," "Inception," "Tree of Life," oh, and "Hot Tub Time Machine."
Posted by: Colin Miller | December 11, 2009 at 07:55 AM
Tim - you seriously need help! (Although I too assumed that the musical Nine must have something to do with Article 9 of the UCC - hazard of being a commercial lawyer from way back...)
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | December 11, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Jacqui, the colonoscopy earlier this week may have robbed me of my pride and dignity (and about seven pounds!), but not my off-kilter sense of humor!
Posted by: Tim Zinnecker | December 11, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Tim - I think you also forgot about "District 9" dealing with the strange land where Article 9 rules the society. I'm not sure what the forthcoming sequel will cover, though. Maybe an attempt to revise Article 9. Could be called "District 9A".
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | December 11, 2009 at 09:12 PM
I share Jacqui's admiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s acting, and I've been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes since my early youth. Not even Jude Law and Guy Ritchie (both of whom I dislike) could dampen my excitement about this revisionist contribution to the Sherlockian apocrypha.
I'm also looking forward to Alice in Wonderland (another of my youthful obsessions), which I think is a great vehicle for the magic of Burton-Depp. And, of course, Iron Man 2.
In light of Tim's catalog of great moments in UCCinematic history, I should mention my own dream project: A Hollywood blockbuster musical about Pennoyer v. Neff, written and directed by the Coen brothers, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Sylvester Pennoyer, Jeff Bridges as Marcus Neff, ZZ Top Guitarist Billy Gibbons as John Mitchell, and Steve Buscemi as Mr. Justice Field, with a musical score by Portland musicians Richmond Fontaine.
Posted by: Eric FInk | December 11, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Eric: You are truly a man after my own heart! Now, if only we could make a UCC movie out of TRON Legacy...
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | December 12, 2009 at 09:58 AM