2007 In Film

Tool
You know how sometimes you buy an album and it takes a while to see what's so great about it then you'll be sitting there in the right mood listening to it while you do something and it's just kind of "there" playing in the background and you're not paying it much attention and all of a sudden you realise you "get it"? Maybe not. But that happens to me a lot and it just happened to me and Ænima, which I finally picked up from Real Groovy on Monday. Awesome album. Eventually.

Lateralus is up next I guess, which I hear takes ages to "get." May as well tackle it - I do have available "ages" to wait until Chi-Dem arrives. Possibly literally.

"All I Wanted Was A Second Honeymoon And Now The Floor's Made Of Lava..."
Incredibly, an episode of The Simpsons from 2004 they just screened on TV3 this evening didn't completely suck; it wasn't great but it was actually almost passable as an "old episode." Why? It was family-centric for one thing, which always helps, it avoided being overly outrageous and bizarre in ways that simply don't fit in with the tone of the show, it featured some very clever lines and amongst other highlights parodied the Catch Me If You Can credits sequence fairly effectively too, recalling some clever references from the old eps.

But I was thinking about The Simpsons Movie coming out this year, the plot of which is currently unknown, and how they should approach it. From the teasers, it looks like they're going for big dumb jokes, and I'm hoping what we've seen so far won't actually be in the film (might not be, they're pretty basic gags that could have been thrown together to avoid letting us see anything of the film itself), though I get the feeling this is going to be one of those lame "adventure episodes" stretched out over 90 minutes. And I think the best model they should have based this film on would have to be the two-parter Who Shot Mr. Burns? from back in the day. I saw it a few weeks ago and it struck me as the type of thing which, in feature length, could set up for some tight, focussed storytelling within the typical Simpsons mould we're expecting from the film anyway - avoiding it from becoming too bloated in its lengthy form. Right now I honesly think it's gonna suck, and I've been right about movies way too often lately.

Movies You Have To See In 2007
I did this in February last year and was sometimes right (Inside Man, MI3, Superman Returns, POTC2, Snakes On A Plane, The Good Shepherd, Flags Of Our Fathers, The Departed) and sometimes so very, very wrong (Ice Age 2, Poseidon, Miami Vice, X3, The Sentinel). But anyways, looking through the 2007 release schedule, here are my picks for movies you have to see this year and the all important "why"...

Smokin Aces (January) - The new film from the guy who did Narc stars Jeremy Fuckin' Piven and looks funny, action-packed and stylish. Need I say more?
The Number 23 (February) - Jim Carrey's new film is a dark twisted tale of paranoia in which he discovers a book that appears to be based on his life and ends with somebody's murder... Kind of similar to last year's Stranger Than Fiction, but despite that and the fact that it's directed by Joel Schumacher (who did, in all fairness, nail Phone Booth), it looks very cool
300 (March) - A historical epic based on the works of Frank "Sin City" Miller and directed by the guy who did the Dawn Of The Dead remake *drools*
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (March) - This one's done as a CG, but it could be shot on Super 8 and I'd at least rent it
Grind House (April) - I plugged this one last year too when it was scheduled for October 2006. Rodriguez + Tarantino + Kurt Russell + Zombies + Woman with a gun for a leg. Holy fuckin' shitballs, it's a cinephile's wet dream come true
Pirates 3 (May) - Yeah, skipped over Spider-Man 3 because IT WILL SUCK. Heard nothing but bad news. I'm still not sold on Pirates 3 either actually, but if it's better than 2 then it'll at least be worth seeing, because part 2 was quite decent if ultimately unsatisfying due to its inevitable incompleteness
Hostel 2 (June) - Hostel was a surprisingly intriguing, sadistic hardcore-thriller / softcore-porno, and I think we can count on Eli Roth for a sequel of equal "quality"
Ocean's Thirteen (June) - Let's not kid around here: Twelve was abysmal. But, on the other hand, Thirteen has AL PACINO.
Live Free Or Die Hard (June) - Die Hard 4, for those who missed the reference. Like The Simpsons, I think they may take the wrong approach - the trailer hinted at big budget action but little of the suspense or humour that's characterised the series in the past. That said, ITS DIE HARD 4 BABY
Harry Potter 5 (July) - I've skipped Evan Almighty (expecting typical bad Hollywood material and a waste of Carrell's talents) and Transformers (damn you Michael Bay), but I must recommend this one - the series is on the right track after the last two entries, and I'm particularly interested to see how they turn this next installment into a movie given the general lack of movie-ness of the book
The Bourne Ultimatum (August) - The perpetually solid-but-not-spectacular series finishes with a movie directed now by a post-United 93 Paul Greengrass; i.e. maybe he'll calm the fuck down for this one too
Rush Hour 3 (August) - Oh yeah, another awesome sequel - Tucker + Chan equals gold so this should be great. Yes, that's CHRIS Tucker in case you forgot, he hasn't been in a movie since... Rush Hour 2. In 2001. Seriously.
Mr. Bean's Holiday (September) - I'm skeptical, but the awful trailer showed this was closer to Bean-the-TV-character than the last movie's Bean-via-Hollywood, which can only be a good thing
American Gangster (October) - Ridley Scott directs Denzel and Russell Crowe and it's a crime drama. w00t indeed.
The Golden Compass (December) - Based on Northern Lights, which I loved back at Macleans a few years back. Cool.
I Am Legend (December) - Will Smith who, with The Pursuit Of Happyness's incredible success, proved himself once again to be the most bankable actor in the world, stars in a movie where he fights vampires or something: a pretty awesome way to finish the year I say