By: NYC’s Funniest Young Comedian 2010, Scott Yager
Judging by the overwhelmingly positive response to all of our movie previews and critiques, I am pretty confident in this article’s impending success as is will be dedicated to five summer flicks that I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE! Inception has been out for a couple weeks now but it still makes an appearance on this list because for a movie like this…one viewing is simply not enough. Read on to see the five most anticipated films of the rest of the summer.
5) Inception: Viewing Number 2 – Inception is both a larger than life blockbuster but also a mind-bending thriller unlike anything we have ever seen. It is rare that a marriage like this penetrates the average Hollywood formula for a summer blockbuster (the last one possibly being The Matrix in 1999) but Christopher Nolan managed to make a movie that makes you think about the intricacies of its concept just as much as you think about when you might have a chance to see it again. Having only seen it once while writing this I can honestly say that I am looking forward to my second viewing of Inception almost as much as I am looking forward to my first viewing of ALMOST every other movie that has been announced. Knowing how the structure of the film works and more importantly knowing what standard storytelling devices NOT to look for (lack of a true villain, no REAL stunning plot twists, the big “good guy turns bad” moment), a second viewing will allow for me to fully enjoy all the little gems hidden in Inception from the very first second all up until the closing credits. Inception is not your average movie. It is rare that you find a blockbuster that is so original and because of this it takes a while to completely let go and embrace the film for what it is. A ton of people WERE able to do this but I am honest enough to admit that upon exiting the theater immediately after watching the movie I was not AS blown away as everyone else. Visually yes…cinematically…of course…but it took MANY conversations with people who had also seen the movie to truly allow my brain to compute all that was going on. That being said, I still know that there is more and that is why I MUST and WILL see this thing again VERY SOON.
4) Dinner for Schmucks/The Other Guys – These are the two big comedies coming out this summer and I find it hard to believe that BOTH of them can suck. My prediction is that one of them sucks and the other one is good. It is hard to say which is which though. Both have plots and casts that seem too good to be true. They seem like simple concepts designed to perfectly align their electric mix of stars and play to their strengths. For instance, Schmucks is about a group of guys who make it their mission to lure complete idiots to a dinner so they can mock them as a form of entertainment. This seems like the PERFECT way to allow for Steve Carrell and Zach Galifianakis to be the weirdos we know they can be without being over the top and seeming forced. In The Other Guys, THE ROCK and Sam Jackson play cool laid back cops…and Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg play The Other Guys, complete tools who hate each other and ruin everything they touch. Both of these concepts seem like perfect ways to exhibit their dream casts and in a perfect world they would both be laugh out loud slapstick comedies that fit perfectly into the summer comedy mold. Will this happen? Probably not…but because of this I will probably see both of them, knowing…or at least wishfully hoping that ONE of them will be as good as it could be.
3) The Social Network – It’s a movie about the creation of Facebook directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg seems perfectly cast as Zuckerberg, the nerd who created Facebook and changed the world forever but Fincher doesn’t really seem like the guy who would do this project. THAT is what entices me. The guy does Fight Club, Zodiac…and now THIS? Whether the story IS a lot darker than it would seem to be or is just going against the grain and making a different type of movie for once, either way this seems like a story I want to see unfold on screen, especially if it is going to be told by one of my favorite directors of all time. I remember watching Seven and thinking man…this guy could shoot THE SHIT out of a movie about an Internet social network.
2) Legacy – I will confess that I know little about this movie. Youtube it and check out the trailer. It is a very small movie that got a lot of buzz at festivals earlier in the year because the lead actor Idris Elba (Stringer Bell on the Wire) is said to have delivered one of if not the best performance of both his career and the year in general. Because I fell in love with this guy on The Wire and have always said one day he will be A MEGASTAR I am following his every move and hearing that he could actually score an Oscar nomination for his turn in Legacy makes me very excited that my prediction could actually come true. This is a very small movie that might not even get a wide release but hopefully it’s good Elba can get the love he deserves cause he SHOULD be the next Denzel.
1) The Town – I LOVED GONE BABY GONE. LOVED IT…and who directed it? Ben Affleck. After watching the trailer for his newest film The Town I was reminded of how the once hated actor REALLY can make a good movie. Also set in Boston, The Town is about a crew of bank robbers who wear REALLY cool masks, which includes both Affleck and Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker. They are being hunted by JOHN HAMM FROM MAD MEN!!!!!!!!!! Which is awesome beyond belief and the two chicks in it are Blake Lively (who plays a hooker) and Rebecca Hall from Vicky Christina Barcelona, who is shadily one of the best actresses in Hollywood. I will be seeing this the day it comes out and you should too. Go watch the trailer now and you will be hooked. The Town looks like an AWESOME thriller that will have to get REALLY cute to ruin what seems to be an already awesome cinematic scenario.
