soulscape

I never stray away from the subject of movies for too long, do I? I wanted to stoke the fires of curiousity and anticipation for some movies due out in the next year or so. Some of the more interesting-sounding ones:

- Sin City: One of the most interesting trailers I have ever seen, this movie is based on the comics by Frank Miller and directed by Richard Rodriguez of Desperado fame. It definitely attracted a lot of interesting names, including Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, just to name a “few” - yeah, they’re all in the movie. But you have to see the trailer for yourself, which you can find at www.apple.com/trailers. Due out in April.

- Kingdom of Heaven: You ladies will appreciate the fact that this one stars Orlando Bloom - your favorite elf is a knight in this one, directed by Ridley Scott. The trailer makes sure that you know this film is from the director of Gladiator, of course this should attract the same kind of crowd. It also has Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons and an actress I’ve never hear of before named Eva Green. Another great looking trailer with some visuals that will definitely invoke some of the battle scenes of Return of the King. There’s a lot of capes and robes flapping in the wind and a lot of scruffy faces wearing some mean looking armor. You can also check this trailer out at www.apple.com/trailers. Due out in May.

- War of the Worlds: Steven Spielberg, making the kind of movie he makes best, sci-fi. Tom Cruise is in this remake of H.G. Wells’ classic. Only a teaser trailer is out so far, but this second collaboration between Cruise and Spielberg should be at least as good as their first, Minority Report. I imagine that this movie is going to be what Independence Day would have been if Spielberg had directed it. Due in June.

- XXX/State of the Union: I’m actually not anticipating this one. But I have to give it some notice, if for no other reason than for laughs. This is a sequel to XXX starring Vin Diesel, but this time, the anti-Bond is…….ICE CUBE. Ha! Check out the trailer just to see them try to make Ice Cube look like a killing machine.

- The Pink Panther: Yes! I used to love those Pink Panther movies, and who better to make a new one then Steve Martin? He plays Inspector Jacque Cousteau (sp?) with a cast that also includes Kevin Kline, Jean Reno and Beyonce Knowles. Due out in August.

- Unleashed: I guess Jet Li’s not done collaborating with those French. In this one coming in April, he plays a man that was raised “as a dog”, with some type of mind control collar, and trained to kill. Apparently he somehow ends up with a blind character played by Morgan Freeman who, along with a young woman, helps him become more normal. Meanwhile, his former master is looking for him. Strange concept, but it looks like there’s some cool fight scenes, which is basically what you look for in a Jet Li movie.

- The Island: No trailer for this, but here’s the synopsis from another film site - “Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the “The Island,” reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are actually human clones whose only purpose is to provide “spare parts” for their original human counterparts. Realizing it is only a matter of time before he is “harvested,” Lincoln makes a daring escape with a fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson). Pursued by the forces of the institute that once housed them, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a race for their lives to literally meet their makers.” Sounds a bit like the Matrix under a different context, but I love the actors they have, including Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi. This one’s directed by Michael Bay and is due on in July.

- Doom: I couldn’t help take notice of a film starring The Rock based on one of the most popular video games of all time. The game that basically jumpstarted the first-person shooter genre. It’s from the guy who directed Cradle 2 the Grave and Exit Wounds, neither movie of which I’ve seen. Not much other info on this, except that it’s so far due in August.