Chances of me seeing it: 100%. Aron Ralston's grim, gruesome, and fascinating story is interesting enough to get my ass in the theater all by itself. Combine that with Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle and you got a movie I'm certainly not gonna miss.
Chances of me liking it: 80%. The irony of this incredibly kinetic trailer is that the movie is about a guy trapped by a boulder, a film Boyle himself has described as "an action movie with a guy who can't move." There's no denying that it's an interesting concept, but it's been said that Ralston is going to spend at least an hour of this film completely alone onscreen and it remains to be seen whether or not James Franco can carry a movie more or less all by himself. Tom Hanks was able to pull it off in Cast Away, but with all due respect to Franco who I have enjoyed in several roles, Tom Hanks is a much better actor than James Franco is. But this is all just nitpickings and musings. Boyle is a great director and if they stick to the viscerally disgusting events of what actually happened I'm pretty confident that this movie is gonna be a must-see.
Gemma Arterton and not one but two movies that start with the letters "Leg" after the jump!
Another Year
Chances of me seeing it: 5%. I should clarify that I don't think this looks like a bad movie. It seems well-made and Jim Broadbent is a fine actor. People will see and enjoy it and they won't necessarily be wrong. But Another Year looks very, very British and very, very elderly and does not appeal to my sensibilities in any way, shape, or form.
Chances of me liking it: 1%. This trailer serves two purposes with equal skill, as both an advertisement and the greatest two-minute cure for insomnia ever made. I won't enjoy this film because I'm closer to my birth than my death. What I'm saying is that if you want to see this movie then you are really, really fucking old.
The Freebie
Chances of me seeing it: 55%. This movie looks like it would most appeal to young, liberal-minded, married people, only two of which apply to me, but it may prove an interesting examination of fidelity. I really like lead actress Katie Aselton from her role in The Puffy Chair (and a tiny role in one episode of The Office as a girl Michael Scott fell in love with when they donated blood together), but this is her directorial debut and it is yet a mystery whether her charm carries over to competence behind the camera.
Chances of me liking it: 35%. I will see this film if it gets good reviews, but there's always a dangerous element to seeing critically-acclaimed indie films because you never know when the critics are just lauding it for the fact that it's indie. But I won't count it out either. I got an open mind.
Going the Distance
Chances of me seeing it: 10%. It doesn't look horrible for what it is (I'd much rather watch this than The Ugly Truth), but I virtually never see romantic comedies unless they're produced by Judd Apatow or have unanimous critical acclaim, and this movie is not going to have unanimous critical acclaim. I have yet to find Drew Barrymore compelling as an actress outside of the opening scene of Scream.
Chances of me liking it: 5%. Stranger things have happened, but not many.
Inside Job
Chances of me seeing it: 95%. Unlike most liberals (and all conservatives), I don't generally value or enjoy having my views preached back at me. I don't listen to Air America or watch Keith Olbermann, and I was at first "eh" on the idea of this documentary. That is until I discovered that it's the next directorial effort of Charles Ferguson, who made the terrific 2007 Iraq War documentary No End in Sight, a film piercing, informative, and fascinating beyond anything Michael Moore's trolling can accomplish. But No End in Sight is very much a product of its era, hopelessly outdated three years later, and I'm eager to see Ferguson step into 2010.
Chances of me liking it: 75%. Putting aside the fact that I wish they'd found a way to do this without interviewing Eliot Spitzer (I mean, how can you not laugh every time he appears onscreen?), I have high hopes. I'm no expert on the intricacies of the financial crash and if this film is as comprehensive as No End in Sight then I look forward to learning a lil' something. But I'll provide room for the possibility that it could turn into a shrill leftist screed.
Legacy
Chances of me seeing it: 90%. Stringer Bell may not have been the very best character in The Wire (though he's pretty high up there), but I think Idris Elba was the show's most naturally magnetic performer, the one I'd first peg for future stardom. Hell, he even brought bona fide badassery to The Office, perhaps the last television show in the world that one would describe as badass prior to his arrival. It's been a shame to watch him slumming in The Losers and Takers so I'm excited to see him step into something a bit more intellectually muscular.
Chances of me liking it: 60%. The "one room" part of the premise concerns me a bit, but the trailer definitely perks my interest... if only for the opportunity to see Elba do his thing for a couple hours.
Legendary
Chances of me seeing it: 30%. I can't get a feel for this movie from the trailer. Is John Cena the main character? Or is it his wannabe-wrestler little brother? I have to assume the latter, because if not the trailers would have just ignored the little guy, but it seems like the film's focus is mostly on the people around him rather than the kid himself anyway. He wasn't even considered important enough for the actor playing him to make the cast scroll. This movie looks like a mess. That said, my love of Karate Kid-type stories is undeniable, hypothetically even ones about wrestling, so I'll have to do some research and see if this ends with a climactic tournament, because if so, shit, I'm so there.
Chances of me liking it: 15%. That said, the swelling, fetid melodrama of this trailer does not bode well.
Tamara Drewe
Chances of me seeing it: 40%. It looks competently made. I even chuckled a few times at the trailer. And putting aside her flat, dull performances in Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans (which I'll forgive because actors I know to be talented like Mads Mikkelsen and Alfred Molina gave equally flat, dull performances in those films), I kinda like Gemma Arterton. She grabbed hold of the screen in Quantum of Solace anyway. But the basic premise of this movie doesn't leap out at me, so it's definitely one to read the reviews on. I'd rather see it than Another Year though, I'll say that much, because Another Year is just snorrrrreeee
Chances of me liking it: 25%. A little Gemma Arterton goes a little way. A lot of Gemma Arterton goes a long way! Let's hope this movie has lots of Gemma Arterton!
And the week's winner is: It's gotta be 127 Hours, right? I'm presuming that none of these other movies have repulsive self-surgery performed with a dull pocket knife, and I know for a fact that none of them have Danny Boyle directing. The choice is clear. Inside Job has plenty of promise too, though.
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