2004 Summer Movie Preview
April 27, 2004
The once-important French director Jean-Jacques Beineix once remarked that the quality and integrity of the cinema has been corrupted, “polluted by the box office.” This sane, somewhat redundant statement is painfully obvious come summertime, when studios present mind-numbing, CGI-heavy, sensory-pounding comic book adaptations and an endless list of sequels and unoriginal ideas, simply because unoriginality is safe, and brings in the cash. Taking a look at the lineup of summer movies that will unfold over the next four months, one gets the distinct feeling of deja vu. Of course, with the big money season, we’re bound to get sequels and remakes, but, for all of the flash, and a few hidden gems, this year’s crop is mildly average. That’s not to say there isn’t anything to get excited about, there is, and though there is undoubtedly going to be week-after-week of lame teen comedies, uninspired action yarns, and overblown blockbusters, there will be a precious few diamonds, both big and small (art-house small), amongst the scrap heap.
What will make this summer feel like a long rerun, and as predictable as high gas prices and the annual barrage of 4th Street potholes, will be the openings of two surefire big box-office sequels, the highly anticipated return of Spiderman, and another romp through the forest with everybody’s favorite green ogre, Shrek. Two years after Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi turned Peter Parker’s weblicious superhero into box-office gold (topping $400 million), the franchise returns for the prime weekend of the summer (June 30th, which leads into the big July 4th week). Families gathered for franks and fireworks will no doubt want to take the little ones, or teenagers looking to distance themselves from family outings will flock to catch up on Spidey, Mary-Jane, new villain Doc Ock, and all the web-slinging, computer-enhanced fun we’d expect from yet another comic-book film. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original blockbuster, frankly, a man shooting webs out of his wrists is pretty bogus on the scale of superpowers, but in the hands of Raimi, who always touches up his films with a nice sense of humor, and based on an exciting early preview, this sequel should please even the most comic-weary filmgoer. Even if it doesn’t, it’s going to make a bundle anyway.
The long list of sequels this summer includes some predictable garbage like “Alien vs. Predator” (Aug 15) and “Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood” (like the original Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez original wasn’t bad enough, do we really need a sequel, minus J-Vo and J-Lo no less?), but, along with “Spiderman 2”, the list has a few notable entries. The most highly anticipated return is for the funny green ogre, his new bride, and their hilariously annoying donkey in “Shrek 2”, due for release on May 21st. If the trailers are any indication, the geniuses who turned “Shrek” into one of the best, and most successful animated films of all time should have another masterpiece on their hands. In addition to regulars Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy (his best role of the past 10 years), the vocal talent this time includes John Cleese and Julie Andrews as Princess Fiona’s royal family, and Antonio Bandares as a suave, frisky, swashbuckling kitty. “Shrek 2” is likely to be the season’s first big bang (if “Van Helsing” and “Troy” perform poorly that is), and should easily finish off the year with another Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Indeed, it’s been quite the fairytale for DreamWorks.
The most interesting sequel this year could be the third installment in the highly successful Harry Potter franchise, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (June 4). In ‘Azkaban’, our favorite boy wizard is no longer much of a boy, he is growing up rapidly, and so is the franchise. Finally out of the stodgy hands of Chris Columbus, Harry Potter undergoes a radical transformation through the direction of the hot Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, best known for another growing-teens film, the much praised and controversial “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, but whose resume also includes the fairytale adaptation “The Little Princess”. The early word on HP3 is that, with the addition of the always-interesting Gary Oldman as a murdering wizard, and Cuaron’s artistic eye, ‘Azkaban’ is the darkest of the three (just like the book), and that’s reason alone to get excited.
Believe it or not, this movie year does have some original ideas to it, and a few of them should be big moneymakers. Brad Pitt dons armor and sandals and a bad foot as Achilles in Wolfgang Peterson’s expensive, expansive retelling of the classic Trojan battles in “Troy” (May 14), while Will Smith fights rogue robots in Alex Proyas’ potentially bad, potentially great (the trailer is so-so), “I, Robot” (July 16). And Will Ferrell should likely continue his hot streak with the ‘70’s TV news send-up, “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (July 9), which he co-wrote with former “Saturday Night Live” head writer Adam McKay, making his directorial debut. If this pans out, Ferrell could find himself making Jim Carrey money as the most sought after comedic talent in Hollywood.
In remake territory Denzel Washington cools off from “Man on Fire” to take the Frank Sinatra role in Jonathan Demme’s update of “The Manchurian Candidate” (July 30), chasing brainwashed Liev Schreiber all the way to the Republican National Convention, where he probably won’t run into G.W. Bush or Dick Cheney, but will have his cross set on his Lady Macbethian mother (Glenn Close, inheriting the great Angela Lansbury role). Other remakes this season include Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan in a hot air balloon in “Around the World in 80 Days” (June 16), and yet another telling of the Arthurian legend, “King Arthur” (July 7), which is of note primarily because it stars Keira Knightley in a skimpy leather getup as Guinevere.
If that doesn’t pique your interest, than new films from three of the biggest names in Hollywood might. Michael Mann (“Ali”) steps out of the ring to direct Tom Cruise as a hit man on the run in “Collateral” (Aug 6), while that other larger-than-life Tom, re-teams with a little director named Spielberg for “Terminal” (June 18), a thriller staged inside an airport. Under the guise of two masters, Cruise and Hanks should have no trouble carrying their potential Oscar-bait films. With Spielberg back to drama and action, his heir to the throne of psychological sci-fi, M. Night Shyamalan is back with his fourth film, a period piece about a haunted forest, “The Village”, starring Joaquin Phoenix (star of Night’s hit “Signs”), Sigourney Weaver, and Oscar-winners Adrian Brody and William Hurt. Early buzz has it that Night’s creepiness and twisty writing remains in tact for this spook fest set in 19th century Pennsylvania, but one wonders how long he can go before audiences begin to grow tired of his scare-tactics and heavy seriousness. We’ll see, it opens July 30th.
All of the aforementioned films will be big, overly hyped, multiplex moneymakers, but like every year, there are a few notable independent and foreign under-the-radar films worth seeking out for dramatic absolution from the popcorn flicks. Personally, I’m dying to finally see Zhang Yimou’s martial arts epic “Hero” (Aug 20), which looks to be a major departure from his intimate, mainland human studies of the 90’s. The film has been floating around on bootleg Asian DVD’s for some time now, but thankfully, we’ll get to see it as it should be seen, on the big screen, in its original language. Another Asian superstar, Takeshi Kitano returns with his award winning update of an oft-filmed legend, “The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi” (June 4), which will fare better than his previous effort, “Dolls”, which failed to obtain an American release. Independent original Jim Jarmusch presents a contemplative series of conversations with his compilation of “Coffee and Cigarettes” (May 14), while other famous names like Spike Lee (“She Hate Me”), Ross McElwee (“Bright Leaves”), and Alexander Sokurov (“Father and Son”), look to engage us with artistic and thought provoking cinema. Any of these smaller films, including Sundance favorites like Zach Braff’s “Garden State”, the fast food expose “Super Size Me” and the revelatory documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” will be a welcome alternative to all of the Spider-men, Cat-women, and Van Helsing’s clogging up this summers long and loud movie season.