NJAFBIT: Greenberg

WHY I'M INTERESTED:
Baumbach's latest features Ben Stiller as a stalled, semi-matured bachelor, newly arrived in Los Angeles from New York, sleepwalking a fine line between clueless lost soul and listless old soul. Stiller is certainly capable of good acting, especially in this type of role (see: Flirting with Disaster) and, as a trailer, it's a wonderfully evocative grouping of scenes.

Baumbach has had no trouble keeping himself in my good graces, through both his scripts with/for Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic) and his writer-director gigs (Margot at the Wedding, Squid and the Whale.) Greta Gerwig, who I like perhaps a little too much considering how well she slips time and time again into the now-fabled "manic pixie dream girl" role (albeit each time with a hint of not-so-pureness,) plays Stiller's love/like interest. And Mark Duplass, on the heels of success in Humpday and Baghead, also makes an appearance, perhaps signaling the final death knell and assimilation of 'mumblecore' (whatever the hell it was, anyway) into the Hollywood machine.

Baumbach, having already tread the post-collegiate transitional blues in Kicking and Screaming, appears to be filing another report from the frontlines, this time from post-career, non-committal flailing middle-aged-dom. He's about as qualified as anybody. Throw in Rhys Ifans, and Jennifer Jason Leigh in horn-rimmed glasses (she is also co-writer,) and a tantalizing soundtrack by LCD Soundsystem genuis James Murphy, and I'm sold.

PREDICTION:
Two parts mumble-something, one part jittery NYC entitlement, one part Sundance-y sparkle.

RELEASE DATE:
3/26/2010

NJAFBIT: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans / My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

WHY I'M INTERESTED:
Sadly, in film there all too often is such a thing as the oft-mentioned "law of diminishing returns." Many would say that Werner Herzog has fallen prey to it, and although I am not exactly among them, I admit to some casual misgivings of late. But- say what you will about Herzog's post-millennial films (his 1999 documentary on Klaus Kinski proved to be the last film he would make entirely in German, officially ringing in his "American" period,) the guy is keeping himself busy. And, to be fair, he hasn't laid any massive stinkbombs just yet, even if he hasn't really equaled much of his earlier work, to say nothing of his earliest (and acknowledged) masterpieces, which now seem light years away. So, we take a deep breath, muddle through the internet rumblings, and wait for the next one to come out, ever fearful of that one giant misstep that could land him in America's bad graces, where he seems to have ended up in Germany.

Well.. Here they are. Both of them. He's got two in the pipeline. Both have annoyingly long titles, and both would seem to be, at least in so far as what is perceptible in these trailers, 'crime' movies. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans



And,

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done



Aaaaaand... I'm already lost.

I can hear the faint praise damning these two already. "Herzog riffs on the American cop movie." I can hear his voice in the interviews. "These were the films I was watching as a young man." BL:POCNO has got The Cage himself, Eva Mendes showing a little skin, and Val Kilmer. MSMSWHYD has got Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny, and David Lynch himself on as producer (oh, and Udo Kier!) Both, wonderfully, have Brad Dourif, Irma P. Hall, guns, B+/A- list casts, a hint of marketability, and all sorts of baffling, tantalizing potential, so expect these two to be paired for a long time to come. Both will hopefully be out this year, but neither has an official release date announced (although both will be showing at the Toronto International Film Festival in just a few days, so keep your eyes peeled for the early reviews.)

Will Nick Cage bring the new Herzog to a big shiny multiplex near you? Let's hope not. But it might happen. Let's be real, though; Kinski (and, to a lesser extent, Bruno S.,) were Herzog's true muses in the fiction film. He seems to know this. Maybe he's shopping for a new one? If so, let's hope he chooses Shannon over Cage. Or that he has a clue what to do with either of them.

Either way, it's new Herzog. Two of them! You gotta get excited.

PREDICTIONS:
Not going there. Not this time.

RELEASE DATE(S):
see above

NJAFBIT: 500 Days of Summer

WHY I'M INTERESTED: Good cast, great looking soundtrack. A former music video director at the helm. A few good reviews that peaked my interest. That'll do the trick. (Although, I'm really praying that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has not morphed into the second coming of Keanu Reeves.) I'm a sucker for Zooey D., anyway. Bigtime. What can I say.

This is flirting dangerously close to "too close for comfort." Maybe it will put my summer in perspective. Maybe it won't.

PREDICTION: Whatever. I'm seeing it.

RELEASE DATE: 7/17/09

NJAFBIT: Inglorious Basterds

WHY I'M INTERESTED:

You gotta hand it to Brad Pitt; he's making it almost impossible to hate him these days. Realistically, if you look at his output as a whole, he's pretty much ALWAYS been in cool movies. It's easy to forget how many. Since his breakout in Thelma & Louise (itself nothing to scoff at,) he's bounced from Cool World to Kalifornia, to Se7en, to Fight Club, to last years fantastic Burn After Reading and Benjamin Button, never going more than a couple years without appearing in something great. He's co-starring with (WTF?) Mike Myers, straight off his blockbuster star-making turn in The Love Guru.

The trailer shows shades of both Tarantino's lamer side (Pitt's lousy, boring monologue,) and awesome side (some fun, Kill Bill-ish action moments.) Worth betting that both sides will turn up in the finished film, but in what proportion, who can say. The problem I'm having more and more with QT movies is my inability to just listen to what these people are saying, without picturing it coming from the mouth of QT himself. This is the major problem with outspoken, wordy filmmakers (ie. Kevin Smith, et al.)

But, much as I may try to resist, I end up seeing every Tarantino movie in the theater. He is one of the defining filmmakers of our generation, and I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt until he gives me reason to think otherwise. For a 'teaser,' this gives a pretty damn good indication of what we will be getting. I'm intrigued enough not to immediately dismiss it.

PREDICTION: Imperfect, funny, weird, awkward.

RELEASE DATE: 8/21/09

NJAFBIT: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

WHY I'M INTERESTED:

Well folks, you certainly don't need me to tell you that 2009 is looking grim. But what you might not know is that it's looking awfully grim in the movie world as well. Even after we endure the annual pre-Oscar famine currently plaguing multiplexes, the horizon still looks dreadfully bleak. So bleak, in fact, that there is not a single movie currently announced that I can get excited about until May 29th (Pixar's Up). But hey, what's this... a Street Fighter movie..?!?

Chances are you forgot about 1994's original Street Fighter, perhaps as an act of self-mercy. To refresh your memory, it featured Raul Julia and JCVD hamming it up in what turned out to be the first ripple of water in a tidal wave of crappy retro video game-turned-movie cash grabs. This time, Michael Clarke-Duncan leads a cast of nobodies, including Hinsdale's own Chris Klein (not heard from since his sparkling lead turn in Rollerball,) who has amazingly not yet commited suicide even after his fiancee dumped him and briskly went on to spawn the demonseed of Tom Cruise.
Director Andrzej Bartkowiak, who was actually the DOP on a few semi-prestigious pictures, made the leap to directing about ten years ago and promptly fell into a ditch, first directing that legendary thespian DMX three times (THREE TIMES) and then moving up the ladder to guide The Rock through another ten-years-too-late video game adaptation (Doom.)

But, let's keep things in perspective. We beggars must not be too choosy. It's gonna be desperately slim pickings for a couple months, kiddos. We've got a couple groan-worthy horror remakes, a massive heap of lame looking at best comedies, and.. this. Sadly, horribly, we might actually end up seeing this. Will it suck? Oh yes, it will suck (not a good sign: the film's "blog" has not been updated since June..) But hey, if it sucks in a good way, then at least we know we can look forward to the super-secret He-Man and Voltron adaptations that are supposedly being penned as we speak by the same writer.. (GULP)

PREDICTION:
The ultimate test of "so bad it's good."

RELEASE DATE: February 27th

NJAFBIT: Pineapple Express

WHY I'M INTERESTED:

The stoner movie has been a genre for a long time, at least since the days of Cheech and Chong, but the majority just don't give stoners very much credit. I'm not much of a pothead myself (years of menial occupations have kept me wary of possible drug tests,) but I've seen enough to know that not all fans of the sweet leaf are slobbering, lowlife video game heads. This trailer definitely makes getting high look fun again.

Judd Apatow has sadly devolved from an earnest, take-it-or-leave-it everyman writer into a bonafide brand name, but this seems to have all flavor without the issues. Seth Rogen was basically the only funny part of Superbad, and James Franco (who was already a part of the Apatow clan from Freaks and Geeks) just looks perfect.

David Gordon Green now has five feature length films under his belt, and the three I have seen (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow) are wonderful. Born in 1975, he is surely the youngest director I can think of that I am comfortable calling "great." Already the best of his generation, if Pineapple Express is as good as it looks, he may be one of the best around.

Plus, this is without a doubt the best trailer I have seen for any movie in a hell of a long time. I can no longer disassociate the MIA song from the movie.

Also- title song by fucking Huey Lewis!

PREDICTIONS: Fun, Hilarious.

RELEASE DATE: 8/6

NJAFBIT: Baghead

WHY I'M INTERESTED:

Actually, I don't know exactly. This movie could be many things. For one thing, it hasn't really opened yet, but it's got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And the Michelle character looks a lot like the chick from High Tension. I guess I am completely intrigued by the ambiguity, which the reviews would indicate exists in the film as well. It's not a horror movie, not a comedy, not a drama. What is it? Even the trailer keeps you on your toes.

I haven't seen The Puffy Chair (mostly because it looks extremely good in a wrenching, non-feel good kind of way,) but I probably should. And Mumblecore is as stupid a non-word as emo, if not worse. Yes, the shaky cam is getting really, really old. But we should all be prepared to deal with it in the event that it enables actual "indie" film making (i.e. low cost, high concept.) If it's good, then it's good. Right?

PREDICTION: Scary? Funny? Awesome?

RELEASE DATE: 7/25 (limited)

NJAFBIT: The X-Files: I Want to Believe

WHY I'M INTERESTED: Because the X-Files is probably my favorite show ever, and it's probably yours, too. And because Gillian Anderson is looking more like Juilanne Moore every time I see her. The fact is that the X-Files is the Twilight Zone of our generation. Legendary and timeless.

PREDICTION: I think (I hope) that Chris Carter's still got it. He's the kind of guy that's too big a hard-ass to make this if it wasn't something he thought could work. And the trailer looks good. Whether or not Duchovny and Anderson will be able to give the kind of performances they could in the show's heyday remains to be seen.

Also, plus ten for casting Billy Connolly (this rule applies to all movies ever, including Muppet's Treasure Island,) and for the fact that Robert Patrick is nowhere to be seen. Minus one each for casting X-hibit and Amanda Peet. Eww.

The first movie was balls-out. I have no reason to think that this one won't be.

RELEASE DATE: 7/25

NJAFBIT: The Happening

WHY I'M INTERESTED:
If ever there was a candidate for NJAFBIT, it's this.

Sadly, this already looks so vague and empty, like Body Snatchers crossed with War of the Worlds on Valium. You know you're in trouble when even a red band trailer has a hard time selling the hard stuff. This looks really weak. I can already see Shyamalan making some flimsily-veiled, preachy, dickheaded discourse on the disconnectedness of people in the internet age, etc. etc. etc.. Anyway, they already made that movie. It's called Pulse. Netflix it, for God's sake.

"We lost contact." *sad piano chord*

"With WHOM?"

".. With everyone."

I get it. Please, PLEASE spare me. Please tell me you've learned from your last two MAJOR mistakes and are actually going to offer up a decent script this time (doesn't look like it.) And spare me another twist ending. As if it's not bad enough that you only seem to know how to make one kind of movie. The schools of copycats you spawned after "The Sixth Sense" are doing it better than you at this point.

If Shyamalan blows another one, I will be really upset. If it sucks but makes money anyway (which still seems possible, somehow) I will be even more pissed. And Mark Wahlberg isn't going to help matters. M. Night, I hope I'm wrong, but.. what the fuck are you thinking??

PREDICTION:
Better than Lady in the Water and The Village, worse than Unbreakable and Signs.

Or, complete and utter bullshit.

RELEASE DATE: 6/13

NJAFBIT: Standard Operating Procedure

WHY I'M INTERESTED:
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG ERROL MORRIS

Another long time favorite, fresh off his first Oscar win 2 years back. Tackling the Academy's (and the film world in general's) current favorite documentary subject: Iraq and company.

I think the huge abundance of Iraq war documentaries and fiction films just goes to prove how much a defining event it will be of our time. Glad Morris is throwing his hat into the ring.

Also music by Danny Elfman!

PREDICTION:
Perfect. Bliss.

RELEASE DATE: 4/25, apparently?

Never Judge a Flick By It's Trailer: Redbelt

WHY I'M INTERESTED:
Mamet does sports. Fighting sports, no less. How has this not happened yet? And why did it surprise me at first that he would be a fan of mixed martial arts? My favorite writer, hands down, and one of my favorite directors as well. He shits gold. Great to see Mantegna rejoining the Mamet fold. He has appeared in three separate Mamet-written productions (The Water Engine, Lakeboat, and Edmond) but has not technically been on screen under Mamet's own direction since Homicide in 1991. Perhaps they mutually agreed on this, as Mantegna was the lead in Mamet's first three films (with House of Games and Things Change.) Also, Tim Allen. Yes, Tim Allen. Lest we forget what Mamet has done with Ed O'Neill on multiple occasions.

PREDICTION:
His best thing since "Heist" and maybe my favorite movie of the year.

RELEASE DATE: 5/2

Never Judge a Flick by it's Trailer: Leatherheads

(part one in a continuing series)



WHY I'M INTERESTED:
John Krasinski could have so easily been Tobey McGuire (or worse,) and that would have killed my interest almost completely. Also, Clooney is easily one of my favorite actors, and may actually be one of my favorite directors as well (even with only 2 films.) The man has talent, folks. Also the writers seem to have a sports background, which should keep it honest. And God bless them for being OK with the least flashy trailer I have seen in eons. It's like a trailer you would see at the beginning of an old VHS of "Hoosiers." This seems too old-school to be true. Straight-forward meat and potatoes, no gimmicks, like "Bull Durham" minus forty years.

PREDICTION:
Maybe too sentimental or too slapstick, but I doubt it. Betting on excellent.

RELEASE DATE: 4/8/2008