A sequel 22 years in the making finds Gordon Gecko (Douglas) newly released from prison and working with his daughter's fiance (LaBeouf) to rebuild his empire. I'm incredibly excited to see this film hit theaters if for no other reason than I'm TIRED OF SEEING THE FREAKING TRAILER!!! This movie was supposed to come out a year ago but got delayed multiple times. As a result the promotion has been EXTENSIVE and I believe I'm seen the trailer no less than 75 times and I'm not even kidding there. I am interested, though, to see the critical response. This has all the signs of a total bust (September release, multiple pushbacks, sequel well past the prime of its predecessor, etc.) and yet it seems to be getting award buzz. Weird.
"You Again" - Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Betty White
A twenty-something (Bell) comes home for her brother's wedding and discovers his bride-to-be is the girl who made her miserable in high school. To make matters worse, as it turns out the mothers of the two rivals were also high school enemies. This actually looks to be not the worst thing ever made which is probably due solely to the presence of the immortal Betty White. Man, is that woman funny. I don't want to see this but if you pulled a gun on me and forced me to choose between 3 viewing of "You Again" or 1 viewing of "The Backup Plan," I'd take Betty White any day.
"Legend of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" - Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren
I have no idea how to explain this movie. The summaries I read were all equally confusing. I think it's about an average barn owl who dreams of being some sort of warrior owl and one day is afforded the opportunity. I don't know why but I confess an actual interest in this thing though it is destined to be a TREMENDOUS flop. It might be the fact that 30 Seconds to Mars, a favorite pump-up, anthem band here at the Soap Box, provides the backing for the trailer which is a terrible reason to see a movie. Regardless, I imagine I'll hold off until DVD but I'm rooting for the owls.
LIMITED
A contractor in Iraq (Reynolds) wakes up to find himself locked and buried in a coffin that will hold him until he dies or has his ransom paid. This is a litmus test for Reynolds who will essentially pull a "Castaway" as the only person on screen for a good portion of the film. I'm a HUGE Reynolds fan so while I expect "Buried" to make very little money, I'm very interested to see the critical response to his performance.
"Waiting for Superman"
A documentary about the sad state of our public education system. This is directed by David Guggenheim, who recently directed both one of my least favorite documentaries ever ("An Inconvenient Truth") and one that I ranked as the top movie of the year in 2009 ("It Might Get Loud"). I'm not sure I have the patience to sit through something I already know to be truth (seriously, folks, our public school system is crap) but it might find its way to the Instant Queue.
"Like Dandelion Dust" - Barry Pepper, Mira Sorvino
A festival darling, "Dust" provides what is supposed to be an authentic look at parenting through the stories of a family of haves and a family of have nots. I don't follow the festival circuit too closely these days but man, has this thing been cleaning up. It will never find a theater near me at a time when I can see it, I'm sure, but a DVD release could be a big draw for me. I say it every time he's in a movie but I love Barry Pepper and I think he's an actor who deserves a better hand than the one he's been dealt so far.
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