TCM'74
Jan 1st, 2004, 06:14:52 PM
I decided to dedicate a thread to the upcoming releases to ring in the New Year (-up til March). Cut and pasted from IMDB. Should be stated that any slated release is tentative. There were many more films but these were the ones that caught my attention most. The first three months have, IMO, a slew of bad films.
JANUARY 2nd
Japanese Story
[12/31 --LA/NY]
Director:
Sue Brooks
Stars:
Toni Collette
Gotaro Tsunashima
Lynette Curran
Samuel Goldwyn Films: Sharing equal disdain for one another, a geologist and a Japanese businessman nevertheless are thrown together on a trip far out into the West Australian desert. Their predicament goes from bad to worse after they become stranded and must rely on one another for support and survival. Lost amongst the deluge at Cannes 2003, Story was still a huge hit in its native Australia and plucky enough to score a modest release here in the States, where the mere mention of Toni Collette's name causes the indie set to squeal with glee.
JANUARY 23rd
The Butterfly Effect
Director:
Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Stars:
Ashton Kutcher
Amy Smart
Melora Walters
New Line Cinema: While trying to come to terms with painful memories from his childhood, Evan Treborn discovers his ability to travel back in time and alter his personal history. Naturally, every change he makes affects his future, however. Despite the heavy release date shuffling, we have to give Kutcher snaps for branching out, in an R-rated feature, no less. But with writer-turned-director Bress (responsible for Final Destination 2's screenplay) guiding the production, we're hoping Butterfly won't be all, "I've created a rift in the future's design!"
Dirt
[limited]
Director:
Michael Covert
Tracy Fraim
Stars:
Tracy Fraim
Michael Covert
Tara Chocol
Mac Releasing LLC: When Junior (Covert) and Scooter's (Fraim) mother dies, they try and find a woman to take care of them, as they have no clue how to fend for themselves. Their first attempts, with hookers and strippers, are disastrous. Desperate, they kidnap DeDe (Chocol) from the grocery store, only to find that she's a willing captive (it's better than living with her abusive husband (Crooke), who also happens to be the local sheriff). But when Dede's husband gets even with the boys, they plot a larger crime to exact their revenge. Director Covert is back, with a handful of stars from his debut, American Strays, in tow. It's worth noting that this is indie distributor MAC Releasing's third release; they shipped out Washington Heights a year ago.
Touching the Void
[LA/NY]
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Stars:
Simon Yates
Joe Simpson
Brendan Mackey
Nicholas Aaron
The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September), his documentary crew, and two very brave actors traveled back to Siula Grande to recreate the events that befell Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. This looks amazing.
JANUARY 30th
The Big Bounce
Director:
George Armitage
Stars:
Owen Wilson
Morgan Freeman
Gary Sinise
Sara Foster
Warner Bros: Surfer/drifter/con man Jack Ryan (Wilson) makes his way to Hawaii and lands a job caring for Walter Crewes (Freeman), a judge on the island. His new gig leads to an involvement with a beautiful, enterprising woman (Foster), who's really the lover of a real estate tycoon (Sinise) - a shady businessman and longtime rival of Judge Crewes. Ryan, naturally, has to choose between the woman, the money, or the honorable path. It was only a matter of time before Wilson would land a lead role in a "sexy noir thriller" type of production. And Armitage, who last directed John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank, certainly knows a thing or two about working with charming, oddly beautiful actors.
FEBRUARY 13th
50 First Dates
Director:
Peter Segal
Stars:
Adam Sandler
Drew Barrymore
Rob Schneider
Sean Astin
Columbia Pictures: Henry Roth (Sandler) is a veterinarian living in Hawaii who enjoys the company of vacationing women. He leaves the playboy life behind after he falls for Lucy (Barrymore), who suffers from short-term memory loss. Since she can never remember meeting him, Henry has to romance Lucy every single day and hope that she falls for him.Proving that the winter doesn't have to be the dumping ground for crappy movies, Columbia's giving Kisses for Valentine's Day; in fact, it has the exact same release date as The Wedding Singer. Sandler and Barrymore, both older and wiser, know that audiences want to see them goofily stumble into love, and have resigned to give the people what they want.
FEBRUARY 20th
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Director:
Quentin Tarantino
Stars:
Uma Thurman
David Carradine
Michael Madsen
Daryl Hannah
The Bride continues her vengeance quest against her ex-boss, Bill, and his associates.Tarantino's back in the territory that first brought him fame, with a lead role scripted for one of his most memorable stars. Will it be huge? Of course it will. Will there be backlash against the decision to split Bill into two 90-minute films? Sure, but we imagine this decision was made in favor of editing the movie down too much, as his big studio daddy is known to do.
Welcome to Mooseport
Director:
Donald Petrie
Stars:
Gene Hackman
Ray Romano
Maura Tierney
20th Century Fox Film Corporation: After his term comes to an end, the former president (Hackman) retires to a small New England town. His neighbors convince him to run for mayor, but, in an effort to keep things honest, the owner of the local hardware store (Romano) opts to run against him. Naturally, what should have been a fair race turns into an all-out war.Director Petrie is riding high after two back-to-back successes, Miss Congeniality and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Make it three in a row, because he's assembled an excellent cast for a light political comedy.
FEBRUARY 27th
The Passion of the Christ
[2/25]
Director:
Mel Gibson
Stars:
James Caviezel
Monica Bellucci
Newmarket Film Group: A film detailing the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Non-subtitled; in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew. Wellspring Media steps out on a limb, distributing what's easily the most controversial film in recent memory. In the wake of this film's release, we're expecting protests, pickets, and wildly divergent opinions. Finally, for some, it will be thrilling to take in a movie and gauge the audience's reaction.
Broken Lizard's Club Dread
Director:
Jay Chandrasekhar
Stars:
Jay Chandrasekhar
Bill Paxton
Kevin Heffernan
20th Century Fox Film Corporation: When a serial killer interrupts up the fun at the swanky Club Dread -- a hedonistic island paradise for swingers -- it's up to the club's staff to stop the violence ... or at least hide it! Fox Searchlight released Broken Lizard's Super Troopers almost exactly two years ago, and watched it become one of their biggest hits to date. With Paxton on board, they look to repeat their success.
MARCH 5th
Hidalgo
Director:
Joe Johnston
Stars:
Viggo Mortensen
Omar Sharif
Zuleikha Robinson
Touchstone Pictures: The true story of Frank T. Hopkins, a Pony Express courier who, along with his horse Hidalgo, travels to Saudi Arabia to participate in a long-distance race that turns into a round-the-world adventure. Director Johnson has plenty of family films under his belt to net a big win for Disney, and his experience as an art director is worth noting here, too. Handsome Viggo's made a smart post-LotR choice by trying his hand at a different kind of historical epic...alongside the man who defines the genre, Omar Sharif.
Starsky & Hutch
Director:
Todd Phillips
Stars:
Ben Stiller
Owen Wilson
Snoop Dogg
Vince Vaughn
Dimension Films: Street-smart detectives Starsky (Stiller) and Hutch (Wilson) are on the trail of Reese Feldman (Vaughan), a drug dealer turned white collar criminal. Relying on tips from smooth-talking informer Huggy Bear (Dogg) and their Ford Torino hot rod, they screech off to fight their toughest battle yet.Since the Charlie's Angels films have made TV show adaptations safe for the time being, Warner Bros. was hot to jump into bed with Dimension Films to make S&H. And the mounting production costs - to get that sweaty, authentic 70s look, no doubt - haven't made either studio jumpy, from what we understand. Meanwhile, look for the homoerotic overtones to be at an all-time high -- higher than even Zoolander, according to leakage from the set.
MARCH 19th
Dawn of the Dead
Director:
Zack Snyder
Stars:
Sarah Polley
Ving Rhames
Mekhi Phifer
Jake Weber
Universal Pictures: As a plague-like event unleashes armies of flesh-eating zombies, a nurse (Polley), a police officer (Rhames), and a clutch of survivors hole up in a shopping mall in a desperate fight for their lives....and the funny thing is, Sarah Polley's a vegetarian. There's no word yet this film is an indicator that George A. Romero's close to getting his wish - making the fourth installment in his classic Dead series. And with director Snyder, who has somehow emerged from TV commercial obscurity, at the helm of this project, we're a bit dubious -- no matter how huge indie horror films have become in the last year. Screenwriter James Gunn, however, is a beacon: he envisions this update to be incredibly gory and a testament to survivors in a world where the rules have completely changed.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
[limited]
Director:
Michel Gondry
Stars:
Jim Carrey
Kate Winslet
Tom Wilkinson
Focus Features: When Joel (Carrey) discovers that his girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) has had the memories of their relationship erased, he decides to do the same. He contacts Dr. Howard Mierzwaik (Wilkinson), the inventor of the process, and gradually his memories disappear. Problem is, he starts to remember the passion that fueled the early stages of their relationship, and now he literally can not get Clementine out of his head.Gondry didn't really storm out of the gates with his first Kaufman-scripted venture, Human Nature, but maybe he's learned some new tricks since then. And, okay, it's very likely that Spotless will have the superior script, too. It'll be interesting to see if Carrey can earn the same acclaim as Nicolas Cage in Adaptation., and whether he can drag his film into profitability as well.
MARCH 26th
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Raja Gosnell
Stars:
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Matthew Lillard
Linda Cardellini
Neil Fanning
Warner Bros. Pictures Inc: The Mystery, Inc. gang must contend with a masked villain who unleashes scary monsters Captain Cutler, The Creeper and The 10,000 Volt Ghost in his attempt to take over Coolsville. Jinkies! Scooby-Doo 3 is in development already, with fresh guns handling the script instead of James Gunn (who's got dueling movies this week, what with the Dawn of the Dead remake). Since this is the type of movie that spawns hundreds of news items, all the good secrets (Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone, Ruben Studdard, Peter Boyle all in the cast) have been revealed, we can sit back and ponder the CGI-potential of the 10,000 Volt Ghost while we get our Shaggy imitation together.
The Ladykillers
Director:
Joel Coen
Stars:
Tom Hanks
Marlon Wayans
Irma P. Hall
Buena Vista Pictures: A remake of the 1955 comedy, where a professor assembles a group of thieves for a casino heist. After they hole up in a sweet old woman's home, they find that she's the biggest threat to their plans.It's one thing to accept the Coen's testing out their mainstream appeal twice in a row (and this will certainly be their biggest hit to date), but it's quite a challenge to see Hanks and Wayans in roles made famous by the liked of Guiness and Sellers.
JANUARY 2nd
Japanese Story
[12/31 --LA/NY]
Director:
Sue Brooks
Stars:
Toni Collette
Gotaro Tsunashima
Lynette Curran
Samuel Goldwyn Films: Sharing equal disdain for one another, a geologist and a Japanese businessman nevertheless are thrown together on a trip far out into the West Australian desert. Their predicament goes from bad to worse after they become stranded and must rely on one another for support and survival. Lost amongst the deluge at Cannes 2003, Story was still a huge hit in its native Australia and plucky enough to score a modest release here in the States, where the mere mention of Toni Collette's name causes the indie set to squeal with glee.
JANUARY 23rd
The Butterfly Effect
Director:
Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Stars:
Ashton Kutcher
Amy Smart
Melora Walters
New Line Cinema: While trying to come to terms with painful memories from his childhood, Evan Treborn discovers his ability to travel back in time and alter his personal history. Naturally, every change he makes affects his future, however. Despite the heavy release date shuffling, we have to give Kutcher snaps for branching out, in an R-rated feature, no less. But with writer-turned-director Bress (responsible for Final Destination 2's screenplay) guiding the production, we're hoping Butterfly won't be all, "I've created a rift in the future's design!"
Dirt
[limited]
Director:
Michael Covert
Tracy Fraim
Stars:
Tracy Fraim
Michael Covert
Tara Chocol
Mac Releasing LLC: When Junior (Covert) and Scooter's (Fraim) mother dies, they try and find a woman to take care of them, as they have no clue how to fend for themselves. Their first attempts, with hookers and strippers, are disastrous. Desperate, they kidnap DeDe (Chocol) from the grocery store, only to find that she's a willing captive (it's better than living with her abusive husband (Crooke), who also happens to be the local sheriff). But when Dede's husband gets even with the boys, they plot a larger crime to exact their revenge. Director Covert is back, with a handful of stars from his debut, American Strays, in tow. It's worth noting that this is indie distributor MAC Releasing's third release; they shipped out Washington Heights a year ago.
Touching the Void
[LA/NY]
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Stars:
Simon Yates
Joe Simpson
Brendan Mackey
Nicholas Aaron
The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September), his documentary crew, and two very brave actors traveled back to Siula Grande to recreate the events that befell Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. This looks amazing.
JANUARY 30th
The Big Bounce
Director:
George Armitage
Stars:
Owen Wilson
Morgan Freeman
Gary Sinise
Sara Foster
Warner Bros: Surfer/drifter/con man Jack Ryan (Wilson) makes his way to Hawaii and lands a job caring for Walter Crewes (Freeman), a judge on the island. His new gig leads to an involvement with a beautiful, enterprising woman (Foster), who's really the lover of a real estate tycoon (Sinise) - a shady businessman and longtime rival of Judge Crewes. Ryan, naturally, has to choose between the woman, the money, or the honorable path. It was only a matter of time before Wilson would land a lead role in a "sexy noir thriller" type of production. And Armitage, who last directed John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank, certainly knows a thing or two about working with charming, oddly beautiful actors.
FEBRUARY 13th
50 First Dates
Director:
Peter Segal
Stars:
Adam Sandler
Drew Barrymore
Rob Schneider
Sean Astin
Columbia Pictures: Henry Roth (Sandler) is a veterinarian living in Hawaii who enjoys the company of vacationing women. He leaves the playboy life behind after he falls for Lucy (Barrymore), who suffers from short-term memory loss. Since she can never remember meeting him, Henry has to romance Lucy every single day and hope that she falls for him.Proving that the winter doesn't have to be the dumping ground for crappy movies, Columbia's giving Kisses for Valentine's Day; in fact, it has the exact same release date as The Wedding Singer. Sandler and Barrymore, both older and wiser, know that audiences want to see them goofily stumble into love, and have resigned to give the people what they want.
FEBRUARY 20th
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Director:
Quentin Tarantino
Stars:
Uma Thurman
David Carradine
Michael Madsen
Daryl Hannah
The Bride continues her vengeance quest against her ex-boss, Bill, and his associates.Tarantino's back in the territory that first brought him fame, with a lead role scripted for one of his most memorable stars. Will it be huge? Of course it will. Will there be backlash against the decision to split Bill into two 90-minute films? Sure, but we imagine this decision was made in favor of editing the movie down too much, as his big studio daddy is known to do.
Welcome to Mooseport
Director:
Donald Petrie
Stars:
Gene Hackman
Ray Romano
Maura Tierney
20th Century Fox Film Corporation: After his term comes to an end, the former president (Hackman) retires to a small New England town. His neighbors convince him to run for mayor, but, in an effort to keep things honest, the owner of the local hardware store (Romano) opts to run against him. Naturally, what should have been a fair race turns into an all-out war.Director Petrie is riding high after two back-to-back successes, Miss Congeniality and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Make it three in a row, because he's assembled an excellent cast for a light political comedy.
FEBRUARY 27th
The Passion of the Christ
[2/25]
Director:
Mel Gibson
Stars:
James Caviezel
Monica Bellucci
Newmarket Film Group: A film detailing the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Non-subtitled; in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew. Wellspring Media steps out on a limb, distributing what's easily the most controversial film in recent memory. In the wake of this film's release, we're expecting protests, pickets, and wildly divergent opinions. Finally, for some, it will be thrilling to take in a movie and gauge the audience's reaction.
Broken Lizard's Club Dread
Director:
Jay Chandrasekhar
Stars:
Jay Chandrasekhar
Bill Paxton
Kevin Heffernan
20th Century Fox Film Corporation: When a serial killer interrupts up the fun at the swanky Club Dread -- a hedonistic island paradise for swingers -- it's up to the club's staff to stop the violence ... or at least hide it! Fox Searchlight released Broken Lizard's Super Troopers almost exactly two years ago, and watched it become one of their biggest hits to date. With Paxton on board, they look to repeat their success.
MARCH 5th
Hidalgo
Director:
Joe Johnston
Stars:
Viggo Mortensen
Omar Sharif
Zuleikha Robinson
Touchstone Pictures: The true story of Frank T. Hopkins, a Pony Express courier who, along with his horse Hidalgo, travels to Saudi Arabia to participate in a long-distance race that turns into a round-the-world adventure. Director Johnson has plenty of family films under his belt to net a big win for Disney, and his experience as an art director is worth noting here, too. Handsome Viggo's made a smart post-LotR choice by trying his hand at a different kind of historical epic...alongside the man who defines the genre, Omar Sharif.
Starsky & Hutch
Director:
Todd Phillips
Stars:
Ben Stiller
Owen Wilson
Snoop Dogg
Vince Vaughn
Dimension Films: Street-smart detectives Starsky (Stiller) and Hutch (Wilson) are on the trail of Reese Feldman (Vaughan), a drug dealer turned white collar criminal. Relying on tips from smooth-talking informer Huggy Bear (Dogg) and their Ford Torino hot rod, they screech off to fight their toughest battle yet.Since the Charlie's Angels films have made TV show adaptations safe for the time being, Warner Bros. was hot to jump into bed with Dimension Films to make S&H. And the mounting production costs - to get that sweaty, authentic 70s look, no doubt - haven't made either studio jumpy, from what we understand. Meanwhile, look for the homoerotic overtones to be at an all-time high -- higher than even Zoolander, according to leakage from the set.
MARCH 19th
Dawn of the Dead
Director:
Zack Snyder
Stars:
Sarah Polley
Ving Rhames
Mekhi Phifer
Jake Weber
Universal Pictures: As a plague-like event unleashes armies of flesh-eating zombies, a nurse (Polley), a police officer (Rhames), and a clutch of survivors hole up in a shopping mall in a desperate fight for their lives....and the funny thing is, Sarah Polley's a vegetarian. There's no word yet this film is an indicator that George A. Romero's close to getting his wish - making the fourth installment in his classic Dead series. And with director Snyder, who has somehow emerged from TV commercial obscurity, at the helm of this project, we're a bit dubious -- no matter how huge indie horror films have become in the last year. Screenwriter James Gunn, however, is a beacon: he envisions this update to be incredibly gory and a testament to survivors in a world where the rules have completely changed.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
[limited]
Director:
Michel Gondry
Stars:
Jim Carrey
Kate Winslet
Tom Wilkinson
Focus Features: When Joel (Carrey) discovers that his girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) has had the memories of their relationship erased, he decides to do the same. He contacts Dr. Howard Mierzwaik (Wilkinson), the inventor of the process, and gradually his memories disappear. Problem is, he starts to remember the passion that fueled the early stages of their relationship, and now he literally can not get Clementine out of his head.Gondry didn't really storm out of the gates with his first Kaufman-scripted venture, Human Nature, but maybe he's learned some new tricks since then. And, okay, it's very likely that Spotless will have the superior script, too. It'll be interesting to see if Carrey can earn the same acclaim as Nicolas Cage in Adaptation., and whether he can drag his film into profitability as well.
MARCH 26th
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Raja Gosnell
Stars:
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Matthew Lillard
Linda Cardellini
Neil Fanning
Warner Bros. Pictures Inc: The Mystery, Inc. gang must contend with a masked villain who unleashes scary monsters Captain Cutler, The Creeper and The 10,000 Volt Ghost in his attempt to take over Coolsville. Jinkies! Scooby-Doo 3 is in development already, with fresh guns handling the script instead of James Gunn (who's got dueling movies this week, what with the Dawn of the Dead remake). Since this is the type of movie that spawns hundreds of news items, all the good secrets (Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone, Ruben Studdard, Peter Boyle all in the cast) have been revealed, we can sit back and ponder the CGI-potential of the 10,000 Volt Ghost while we get our Shaggy imitation together.
The Ladykillers
Director:
Joel Coen
Stars:
Tom Hanks
Marlon Wayans
Irma P. Hall
Buena Vista Pictures: A remake of the 1955 comedy, where a professor assembles a group of thieves for a casino heist. After they hole up in a sweet old woman's home, they find that she's the biggest threat to their plans.It's one thing to accept the Coen's testing out their mainstream appeal twice in a row (and this will certainly be their biggest hit to date), but it's quite a challenge to see Hanks and Wayans in roles made famous by the liked of Guiness and Sellers.