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Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's my MOST anticipated film (after Dark Knight), but it is up there.

If I were making a list of most anticipated summer movies, it would be:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Narnia: Prince Caspian
3. Wall-E
4. (tie) Indiana Jones IV and Iron Man

Of course, Iron Man was able to snag the coveted "first out of the gate" spot, being released on 5/2/08. The question is, will it pull in numbers closer to Fantastic Four or Spidey?

Awesome! Thanks for that. That's one my must sees.

Cant Wait for Iron Man its my 3rd most anticpated film of 2008.

I'm glad I could see it online and not have to tune away from Monday Night Football to watch it before The Hills.

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

Wow Shryke... do you really love Narnia that much? Is it because of the books or did you actually totally fall in love with that first Narnia film? I mean, it was a good film, but not so great that I'd push an elderly person over to watch before anyone else.

Yes, tuan, I do love Narnia that much, and yes, it is because of the books. Apart from LOTR and the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, there is no series of books that I loved reading more as a kid. As for the film, I think it perfectly captured the essence of the books without going overboard on the Christan allegory. Plus, Georgie Henley was just cute as a button, wasn't she?

Andrew Adamson should be commended. I am very glad that Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader are in the near future.

Too bad my internet sucks. Otherwise I could watch it. Its got robert downey though. This should be good. Soon as I get broadband Ill be seeing this.

Yeah. That looks pretty awesome. I wasn't sure about Robert Downey at first, but he looks like the perfect stark.

As far as most anticipated of 2008

There's only The Dark Knight.

Although, with nothing out early in the year, and Jon Favreau's box office appeal, Iron Man should do very well.

My take: Meh.

Honestly, and I know I'm going to astonish / offend a lot of folks by saying this, but I wasn't looking forward to Iron Man before the teaser, I wasn't all that impressed by the teaser, and I can't even honestly put Iron Man in my Top 20 Most Anticipated Films of 2008. To be absolutely truthful, my present eagerness for Iron Man is only slightly greater than my attitude, at this time last year, toward Ghost Rider... and substantially less than the anticipation I felt in late '02 for Ang Lee's Hulk. (But, then, I wasn't quite as disappointed with that film as most people I know were. I consider it to be a very brave, even profound, nigh-revelatory misfire, one that had the potential to be the greatest comic-book adaptation to date, but ended up being perhaps the genre's greatest disappointment... But, I know, I'm in the minority here, too. You must remember, I think Starship Troopers is a staggeringly textured work of consummate pop-culture pornographic genius, I think Pulp Fiction is desperately overrated -- although Kill Bill: Vol I is practically flawless -- and I think Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Steven Soderbergh's Solaris are practically the only TRUE "science-fiction" films to be made since Dave Bowman flushed himself down the Great Big Onyx Celestial Port-o-Let at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

However, I digress.

Consternation! Uproar! I know, admitting to such a shocking lack of comic-geek empathy is a little like advocating picante sauce cooked and bottled in New York City. "Git a rope." But, there it is.

And I say all this with the greatest possible affection and respect for: [1] Robert Downey, Jr., perhaps his generation's very best actor (whose work in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ought to have earned him an Oscar nom; who was shockingly deprived of an Academy Award win for Chaplin -- I mean, come ON! Pacino, fine, but for Scent of a Woman?!?!? [Edited for content.] I can't friggin' believe Los Angelinos rioted for Rodney King, but not for that...; who was note-perfect in Natural Born Killers, Home for the Holidays and Wonder Boys; and who was the very best, nay, the ONLY, good thing, ever, about Ally McBeal, with the exception of course of its eventual, culture-resurrecting cancellation); [2] Jon Favreau, though his Kevin Smith-worship is more than a smidge concerning (his roles in Swingers, Dogtown, Very Bad Things and yes, even Rudy were top-notch); and the source material (though I never followed Iron Man as closely as, say, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men or Cerebus, he was -- apart from the Incredible Hulk and the Silver Surfer -- my favorite Kirby creation). Don't get me wrong: I WANT to see Iron Man succeed, in the same vague, abstract, unemotional, detached sort of way that I want to see Jennifer Hudson, or Castle Wolfenstein, or Paraguay succeed. It's just that I'm not terribly invested in it either way.

Heck, I even like what Favreau & co. seem to be doing with Iron Man; it's got a Lord of War-meets-Rocketeer attitude I think is pretty damn nifty, and it seems to me that they're going to have top-flight special effects and production values, even if none of the imagery seems terribly inventive (the flight scenes look straight out of Superman Returns and Transformers, the weaponry from the private collection of Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg, and forgive me but Iron Man himself looks like a cross between Doctor Doom, the ABC robot from Judge Dredd, the Iron Giant [heh] and the NorthAm Robotics Corporation's Andrew model, custom paint job by Ramone's Paint and Body Art in Radiator Springs).

I...just...don't...care.

I remember when, in early 1987, I was at a Houston Astros game and the center-field display came alive with an early trailer for this spectacular science-fiction film I'd snagged a part as an extra in. All the scenes I was in had been filmed at night, so I didn't realize at first what I was looking at, but eventually I realized that this was "my" movie -- about a future city, and a police officer who becomes this Bionic Man, sort of, and duels it out with street gangs in the urban canyons of Dallas, redone to look like 21st-Century Detroit. Yeah, it was RoboCop, and by the end of the ad I was out of my seat, whooping and yelling and generally making an ass out of myself. And this guy next to me, maybe 25 or 30, just glowers at me until I finally sit down, and then he says, "What's so great about that? Just another dumb-ass piece of [crap]. Explosions and [crap], who cares?" Now, I'm not saying THAT, exactly, about Iron Man, but I understand a little how that guy felt, now. I just can't get excited about it. Keep in mind, though, I thought The Matrix was going to be another Johnny Mnemonic, too, until I saw it; and I was convinced that Event Horizon would be phenomenal. Whups.

Oh, my Top 20 Most Anticipated for '08? (Those films that actually have a release date; there are many, many others I'd list, ahead of these, even, but for the fact that I don't know precisely when (or, even, if) they'll be coming out, like Hellraiser, Constantine 2, Dirty Dozen, Hannibal the Conqueror, Atlas Shrugged, Foundation, The Sparrow, The Once and Future King, The Singularity is Near, World War Z, Harrison for America, Shelter, Telepathy, The Gauntlet, Sleeper, Infestation, Flicker, Rockfish, Fire Bay, Defiance, Hereafter, The 28th Amendment , Clark & Lewis, The Rule of Four, Conspiracy, The Mechanic, Circumference, Here, There Be Dragons, Challenger, Pattern Regonition, Silence, The Changeling, or 12th Man. Not to mention, Opus: The Last Christmas.) But, anywho, here ya go...

[1] The Dark Knight;
[2] Star Trek;
[3] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (despite the fact that Order of the Phoenix disappointed);
[4] Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (despite the fact that Lucas MUST have chosen that name);
[5] The Parasite, or Cloverfield, or Monstrous, or Overnight, or 01-18-08, or Slusho, or Found, or Mookie Blaylock, or Whatever the Hell It's Called;
[6] Get Smart!;
[7] The Other Boleyn Girl;
[8] Pride & Glory;
[9] Vantage Point;
[10] 21;
[11] The Happening;
[12] Babylon A.D.;
[13] 10,000 B.C.;
[14] James Bond 22;
[15] Doomsday;
[16] Speed Racer;
[17] Wanted;
[18] The Day the Earth Stood Still;
[19] Wall-E (despite my MASSIVE misgivings...);
[20] The Brazilian Job.

Right now Iron Man, for me, ranks probably in the mid-30s, somewhere between The Ruins and Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. Let the screaming for the head of Nicodemus begin!

I remain, as always (or, anyway, until I'm decapitated by someone with a scythe yelling incoherently about how I could possibly be looking forward to The Brazilian Job)...

Nico.

that was awesome.

To quote Rowan Atkinson in a particularly funny episode of Blackadder II: "I thank God I wore my corset, because I think my sides have split."

Mookie Blaylock? Dude, you should charge admission for that sh*t.

Perhaps I should revise my list to include ALL of 2008, as the minute list I provide covered only the summer.

So, in order:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Narnia: Prince Caspian
3. Wall-E
4. Harry Potter 6
5. Star Trek (didn't know there was a definite release date, but whatever)
6. Indiana Jones IV
7. Iron Man
8. Vantage Point (awesome, awesome trailer)
9. Babylon A.D.
10. Speed Racer (anxious to see what he&she Wachowski can do with it)
11. Wanted
12. Get Smart
13. Hellboy 2
14. The Mummy 3
15. The Incredible Hulk
16. Jumper
17. Tropic Thunder
18. Bond 22
19. Madagascar 2
20. The Forbidden Kingdom (Jet Li AND Jackie Chan? About effin' time!)

Also looking forward to:
One Missed Call
Mookie Blaylock (that is the sh*t)
John Rambo
Charlie Bartlett
The Eye
Fool's Gold
The Spiderwick Chronicles
10,000 B.C.
Inkheart
Nim's Island
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Kung Fu Panda
The Happening
Valkyrie (Tom CruiS.S.e? Interesting...)
Hancock
Death Race
City of Ember

Shrykey: Our lists are actually pretty similar -- yay, someone else is a fan of Vantage Point and Wanted! I'm actually looking forward to my next prostate exam more than John Rambo, which ought to have been titled Last Blood.

However, I digress.

Star Trek indeed has a Stardate: 12.25.08, which means my daughter will be opening up her gifts from Santa all by herself that morning. [Grin] No, I'm not kidding.

I was hugely underwhelmed by the first Narnia movie, and I honestly have no idea why. I love the books, I thought it did a fine job. I just failed to have any emotional connection with it. Perhaps Lord of the Rings, like a cinematic Vlad the Impaler, drained me for all time, although if someone responsible were to bring The Belgariad, or Piers Anthony's World of Tiers, or The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, or Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, or any of Anne McCaffrey's novels, or The DragonLance Chronicles, to the silver screen, I think I might wet myself with uncontrollable glee.

Ember also looks promising. And, I admit, Valkyrie intrigues me, I can't believe I failed to list it at all.

That "Mookie Blaylock" rip was an homage of sorts to one of my favorite bands, btw. Pearl Jam went under that name for a bit before they settled on their final name. Creativity just means you cover your tracks well enough so no one can figure out who you stole from. [Grin]

P.S. Kung Fu Panda? Oh, my heads...

I remain, as always...

Nico.

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

tuan69, here it is: Although I'm certain that Wall-E is going to be one of the most incredibly rich visual experiences in the history of the medium, I don't much care for what I've heard of the story / plot, so far. Love the moxie it takes to make an entire film, in this Century, virtually without language (from what I understand, R2D2-esque beeps, boops, hoots, chirps and whistles, and tonal prompts a la Close Encounters of the Third Kind will be pretty much the only "dialogue" used, at least through the film's first act) and with, essentially, a high-functioning Roomba as its hero / protagonist; there's actually something vaguely...Biblical...in that, for (should we take the Old Testament at its [heh] Word) God, too, has a history of taking those with the most humble professions (shepherds), the most meager qualities (pre-adolescent boys, not even old enough to strap on armor against the Philistines), even the most "dirty" lives and attributes (prostitutes, murderers... see the life of Saul / Paul, for instance), and using them at just the right time, in just the right place, thereby transforming not only themselves, but their worlds for the sake of a greater purpose, a higher calling, a supernatural destiny. Such seems to be the lot [heh] of the titular Wall-E, a future generation's battery-operated Noah, a digital messiah for yet another Eden corrupted by the works of man.

However, I digress.

All that aside, as I've made little secret of here (this is not, after all, my former column, where I strove to adopt a tone of neutrality, and where I expended great effort to ensure that no one could see my personal political, religious or ideological convictions... this is a public forum, and I'm far more relaxed and, actually, blunt here, for better and worse), it's the timely political message Wall-E seems to be shouting from the rooftops that I've frankly grown tired of. From what I've heard, Pixar might well have called this film The 13th Hour, or The Day the Earth Smelled Still, or Lucifer's Hummer, or Alas, Crapylon...or even The Day After the Day After Tomorrow. It's not that I mind environmentalism, or political commentary in film. Syriana, for example, is one of my very favorite films; I admired An Inconvenient Truth and thought it quite deserving of its Best Documentary Oscar, I enjoyed and recommend The 11th Hour for anyone who, at a minimum, wants to see a bona fide celebrity using his star power for unqualified good, instead of mere self-promotion; I even insisted on seeing Who Killed the Electric Car? on, of all days, my birthday last year. (Yes, I'm a real party animal, I am, woo. Hoo.) I'm looking forward extremely to In the Valley of Elah and, most especially, Grace is Gone, and I've been a member of both the Sierra Club and Ducks Unlimited for better than fifteen years. I even defend Michael Moore. I've just tired of seeing one political Party's platform get squeezed into virtually every manner of children's entertainment out there. (Though, I get that Wall-E is trying to be more than simple "children's entertainment," I really do.) March of the Penguins... Happy Feet... Bee Movie... and, now, it seems, Wall-E might as well have had bumpers in them with Al Gore moribundly intoning, "I approve this message!" (Hey, guys, if you really wanted to make a film about a robot doggedly cleaning up humanity's $#!+ long after the entire race left the friggin' planet to rot, why didn't you cast our former V.P.? However, I digress.)

You know what I'm saying here, tuan? If VeggieTales' new movie, say, had this whole thinly veiled, moralistic subplot allegorical to why (for example) abortion is wrong, or why kids should be allowed to pray openly in schools, or why the U.S. was right to invade Iraq, I'd have the same misgivings and begin to be just as critical about those sorts of (imo, inappropriate and, even, subversive) films, with grown-up, political themes being marketed to families as wholesome, nonpartisan entertainments. Now, I get that Jonah: A VeggieTales movie struck some of these notes, too, but (again, my opinion) it's understandable and even defensible because "Jonah" was, after all, its title. It's not like the makers of that film were going to any trouble to hide its specific religious context / message... If a kids' movie were to be called, say, Christ's Sake! or Mohammed, Prophet of the World, or Buddha Time! or even A Norse is a Norse (Of Course, Of Course), well, I'd say, let the buyer / viewer beware, folks. You don't buy a Toyota (or, these days, a Ford, or even a Chrysler) and then cry foul because you thought you were acquiring an American car.

However, I digress.

Point is -- I wonder how many of these, after all, children's films with a fairly consistent "Man bad, Environment good" theme can be released before they face something like a popular revolt against them. Plenty of people out there -- Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Socialists, Communists, Constitutionalists, Anarchists, Sophists, Pessimists, Optimists and Realists -- think man ought to be a good and thoughtful steward of the planet and all its denizens. Far fewer, believe me, want to see what can be mistaken for campaign-season ads on the Disney Channel, in their Polly Pocket playsets (those that haven't been recalled, that is), on Webkinz.com or in their Happy Meals. All I'm saying is, tuan, if Pixar wanted to make a film about mankind needing help from a B166ER prototype to redeem itself (man) and ensure the survival of the species, cool. That's a movie I want to see, but not necessarily if I'm going to be hit over the head for 110 minutes straight with imperatives to economize, recycle and buy carbon footprint-offsetting credits, to make sure we don't all turn into the descendants of Ignatius J. Reilly and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. More to the point, that's not a film I'd encourage my kid to see, either, at least until she was mature enough to not simply internalize and regurgitate everything pop-culture throws in her face... say, twelve or thirteen, when she can / should start thinking for herself, and spread her intellectual wings beyond any one perspective's / person's (even, mine) ability to lead her by the nose. And I really, really doubt Pixar (not to mention, Disney) intends with Wall-E that I deny it to my just-turned eight-year-old. It is, after all, ostensibly a "kids' movie." Right?

[Sigh] However, again, perhaps I digress. Let me close by saying this: It's not my intention to pound my own particular political or moral drum, here. This isn't the sort of rant I think is appropriate to this forum, or even this site, and I don't want to spoil any possible eventual return to columnar writing by poisoning the water table, so to speak, with my (by definition) narrow and somewhat inflexible political views. This is, after all, an entertainment Website, not to be confused (I would hope) with either moveon.org, for example, much less johnmccain.com. However, tuan69 asked an eminently fair question, and more than deserves an honest answer. In future, however, so as not to degrade the nonpolitical nature of this forum, or disrupt / scandalize it with any of my personal ideological ravings, when asked directly why I might be soft on Bee Movie, or Wall-E, or whatever, I'll just answer: "I have philisophical objections" and leave it at that. Anyone desiring a more complete answer is welcome to E-mail me, but I don't want to risk hijacking the conversations here with non-germane political wankering, even if it happens to be mine. I hope that's fair. Let me also say: I might well be wrong, like, "Dewey Defeats Truman" wrong, about all of it, and I most certainly hope I am, vis-a-vis Wall-E. There is no crystal ball, no magic mirror, no Calculor to determine the accuracy of opinion, after all. There's only perspective, and conversation, and perhaps even discernment, if we're very, very lucky.

Hope I answered your question, tuan. [Grin] If not, after all that... well, then, in fact, I've finally become wholly digression, and am now more hypothetical than real.

Nevertheless, I remain, as always...

Nico.

ETA: a "Space Odyssey in animated form" would be... wow. Again, I really, really, really hope you're closer to the truth than I am, tuan.

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