Is it possible for a movie with a  trailer as electrifying as the new Karate Kid to fail? No, it’s not. The Karate Kid, a remake of the 80’s classic with the same name, might be as big of a hit as the original.

Plot

The story seems to be similar to the original. In the new version, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) from Detroit moves to China with his mom (main prostitute from Hustle and Flow and Benjamin Button’s mother). Parker hits on a female classmate, upsetting the school bully who was probably sweet on her also. Dre and the bully have a fight which ends in Dre going home and crying about how he hates it in China. He gets beat up a couple of times before Jackie Chan (Mr. Miyagi) steps in, trains Dre, enters him into a tournament where he faces and inevitably defeats the bully. It’s a simple story that kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

This will launch the kung fu craze for a whole new generation.

Action

The question we must ask is whether a remake of such a classic movie was  necessary. I think it was. Our attention spans have gotten much shorter. We need movies with fast action and a quick paced plot. In the original the action looks fake and is slow.

During the ‘You’re the Best Around’ montage there’s a scene in which Ralph Macchio is facing a guy twice his size. Macchio, in his awkward karate stance, takes a couple of quick steps away from his opponent, gyrates for a second then throws a punch that floors the other guy even though it looks like he didn’t even touch him. It’s comical, unrealistic and used to get me really excited. But now it’s dated.

We’ve grown accustomed to precise, fast choreography. Movies like Rumble in the Bronx (my first exposure to this new genre of fast-action kung fu movies), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,  Ong Bak: Thai Warrior and a slew of other fast-paced, fast action movies that  have brought a whole new dimension to the fight scene.

We will no longer accept the Van Damme style round-house kicks that the victim literally waits for with his chin sticking out. No, we want choreography that turns ordinary items into deadly weapons. We want choreography that requires actual athleticism. I want to see fast punches, quick blocks and slow-motion evasive movement.

And that’s the type of action we’ll get from this movie. At least that’s the impression I get from the trailer.

Kung Fu Kid?

So there’s a little bit of controversy regarding the title of the movie.

According to a comment I read on YouTube  (I pride myself on my thorough reporting), the original title was supposed to be ‘The Kung Fu Kid’. Apparently there’s a lot of people that are upset because technically, Jackie Chan trains Dre in kung fu and not karate.

Would “The Kung Fu Kid” be a better title for this movie? I don’t know. I don’t think it matters. But I definitely think people should continue to argue about it.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this movie.

Prediction: Jackie Chan will be nominated for best actor.

Check out the trailer here.

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Here are some posters from the 3rd part of the Pirates of the Caribbean (At World’s End).

Watch the trailer.

300 has topped the box office charts for this weekend, pulling in a whopping $70 million. That is bigger than the top opening of 2006 (Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, $68 million) and places it as the third highest opening weekend for a R-rated movie.

300 is based on the graphic comic by Frank Miller (Sin City) which in turn was “inspired” by the battle of Thermopalye, where 300 Spartans blocked the advance of a million-man Persian invasion army. Needless to say, since the movie is based more on the comic than the actual events, artistic liberties abound.

If you have seen the trailer, it’s pretty obvious why it was so successful. If you haven’t, you need to right now (click on the link above). The movie looks absolutely fantastic. It was shot in a similar way to Sin City, where nearly all of it was shot in front of a blue screen, making it feel like the comic has come to life. Everything is absolutely over the top – from the hypermasculine Spartan soldiers to the massive battle scenes. Words can’t do it justice. Watch the trailer and judge it for yourself.

Rated R for all sorts of bad things. In theaters now.

Spartans drive the Persians off a cliff. Visually stunning.

When I first saw the poster for Nanny Diaries, I imagined it to be similar to the show Nanny 911 on Fox, where a British Nanny is brought in to straigten out some bratty kids. It’s a fun show to watch, especially when the British Nanny yells at the parents for being horrible people.

After viewing the trailer, however, I’ve realized it’s nothing like the show we love so much on fox. It’s a story of love between people of different social status. Scarlett Johansson is a lowly nanny and her neighbor is the son of someone rich and evil (who will undoubtedly disapprove of the love affair). In the end they fall in love and all of the men who were dragged to the theatres for this movie by their wives or girlfriends sprint for the exit before anybody sees them.

I’d wait for this movie to come out on video.

Check out the trailer

Watch the trailer.

 This movie includes:

 Clarinet playing frogs …

 … cloud surfing …

 … fairies …

… and butterflies exploding out of a guy with two heads.

Words fail me.  I know anime tends to get a little weird, but this really takes the cake.  Probably not one for the kids either – rated R.

 Coming to theaters May 25, 2007.

Watch the trailer.

 Contrary to what the title suggests, this not a movie about group of women hanging out and man-hating at the local coffee shop.  Instead, it stars Adam Brody (TV’s The O.C.) as a guy who suffers a quarter-life-crisis after he gets dumped by his longtime girlfriend.  Desperate for a change of scenery, he moves out of town and in with his grandmother.  Brody is soon befriended by the mother next door and develops a relationship with her high-school daughter.  In the process, he discovers himself, learns to love again, finds meaning in life, etc etc.  Typical Zach Braff fare, only with a younger and more annoying version of Zach Braff.

I thought Meg Ryan was to be the love interest at first, but five seconds later she’s relegated to the role of “asexual, friendly mom.”  Nice to see her still making movies though.

 Coming to theaters April 20, 2007. 

Adam Brody busy finding himself.

Penelope is a woman with a pig nose, no friends, and a concerned mother (played by the mom from Home Alone). This seems to be basically Beauty and the Beast in reverse. This time the beast is a woman, and the beauty is a guy with a British accent. Here’s my prediction for how this movie will end: Instead of Prince Charming falling in love with Penelope’s inner beauty, he’ll hire a plastic surgeon and make Penelope get a nose job.

Reese Witherspoon is also in this movie, she plays a wisecracking drunkard. Every good romance movie needs a wisecracking drunkard who helps the ugly betty through tough situations.
Overall I think it’ll be a very watchable movie, especially with the mom from Home Alone making her patented KEVIN! face.
Check out the trailer: http://www.reelnow.com/play.php?video_id=336

Hollywoodland explores the suicide of “Adventures of Superman” star George Reeves, which quickly became one of Hollywood’s most controversial deaths. Was it a suicide of a troubled actor whose career was fading? Or did somebody want him dead?

Reeves’s mother believes her son was murdered, and hires a private detective, Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), to discover the truth behind Reeves’s death. The movie interleaves Simo’s investigation with flashbacks to Reeves’s (Ben Affleck) life and career. As Simo uncovers Reeves’s tangled personal life, he discovers tensions between the star and his fiance (Robin Tunney), his jilted lover (Diane Lane), and her powerful studio-boss husband (Bob Hoskins). Meanwhile his investigation is drawing bad publicity to the studios, and somebody is making sure that Simo is blocked at every turn.

Hollywoodland combines elements of film noir with the retro glamour of the 1950s Hollywood. The acting is top notch, with Brody as the dogged private eye, Affleck as the troubled star, and Lane as his longtime patron giving stellar performances. Unfortunately, the movie does not really take a stand on the question of “Who really killed George Reeves?”, instead opting to present an array of theories without espousing any particular one. This really puts a damper to the flow of the movie, as there are no AH-HA moments when Simo finally figures out the truth: instead we leave him simply wondering what actually did happen. In that sense, the movie stays very true to the history of George Reeve’s death.

Coming to DVD this Tuesday, February 6.
Adrien Brody looking for some answers.

Watch the trailer.

Ever play astronaut when you were a little kid, with your cardboard box “rocket ship” and your aluminum foil “astronaut suit”? Well, apparently somebody made it into a movie, but instead of a little kid, we get a 50-year old Billy Bob Thorton. Thorton plays a retired astronaut who never made it into space, so one day he decides to build a rocket ship on his family farm to achieve his life’s dream. Of course, he has to face all sorts of doubting naysayers and for whatever reason NASA is out to stop him as well – wouldn’t be an inspiration tale without the man holding you down.

Thought I saw this a few years ago when it was called October Sky. But kidding aside, seems like a rather charming and positive story concept.

Rated PG. In theaters February 27, 2007.