Upcoming Films

I thought this could be a good catch-all for films that still have a ways to go before release. Sort of like our old pre-production thread, but maybe also a better fit for films that are in post-production or just at the rumors stage.

And the reason I start this is because I needed a place to post this.

Joss Whedon films Much Ado About Nothing adaptation in 12 days.

Press release - "because it is fancy."

I'm apprehensive. Nervous. Twitchy. And excited.

I...don't know how I feel about that casting at all. Benedick and Beatrice was MY COUPLE before I even knew what "shipping" was. The part of me that hated Wes/Fred even more than Willow/Tara wants to barf, but then I remembered how much I liked Amy Acker on Dollhouse, and maybe, maybe she'll be able to pull it off after all.

Nathan Fillion as Dogberry is probably going to be a treat, and let's face it, he can't possibly be worse than Michael Keaton in that part. Most surprising to me is the casting of Don Pedro and Don John. I would've switched it around. But it could be fun to watch those two play against type.

My Wes/Fred issues were also the only reservation I had. I'm going to try to go in with an open mind, but...those two weren't exactly a chemistry explosion.

I was most giddy to see Tom Lenk's name.

Yep I saw Tom Lenk and yelled "Yay", I really think he is so underrated especially the work he did in Buffy S7.

I also wondered about Maher as Don John (though I'm one of the few who l thought Keanu was solidly good in the part and pretty much loved the whole Branagh adaptation).

Otherwise Joss + Shakespeare and this particular play has the potential to be pretty awes.

I just love Joss's whole can-do attitude here. "I'm gonna call a bunch of my friends and head up to the house in the country and make a Shakespeare movie." It's like the thing friends of yours might do for Public Access TV, except all the people involved are totally awesome.

I have apparently completely blocked out Dollhouse because I had to go to IMDB to figure out how Reed Diamond got involved!

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to reunite for a movie about mobster Whitey Bulger.

With Affleck directing and Damon as Bulger, this has the potential to be awesome.

Joss talks to EW about Much Ado

There are a couple of stills there as well. Pretty.

The more I think about it, the more I'm warming up to Maher as Don John. As written, the character is sort of a cipher with no clear, discernible motive. He's a milquetoast Iago, and thus, it's a lot harder to buy that everyone would believe his lies so easily. But give Don John a pretty baby face like Maher's, make him look more trustworthy and innocent, and suddenly that aspect of the plot is a lot easier to swallow.

I was disappointed when I realised who would be Beatrice and Benedick. I can see Alexis Denisof as Benedick, but unless Amy Acker completely changes her voice she might be the only person to ever make me want to strangle Beatrice. The only time I haven't wanted to strangle an Amy Acker character was Illyria. Although I should just thank the casting gods that it isn't Jewel Staite.

I'm the opposite; I feel more confident about Acker. She really impressed me in Dollhouse with the layers she showed in her performance and I think she could pull off Beatrice's wit. (She won't be as good as Emma Thompson, but who could be?) Denisof, on the other hand...I think he's more adept as a comic actor than a dramatic one, and I'm one who preferred dorky Wesley to pretentiousdark Wesley, so I think he'll do fine with Benedick's comic moments. The serious moments are the ones I'm worried about.

The EW article says that Anthony Stewart Head was going to play Leonato but had conflicts and had to drop out. I am heartbroken, and I wish I'd never known that, because I am going to spend the movie judging Clark Gregg against what could have been.

So, this Adam Sandler movie where he plays both the Adam Sandler character and the Adam Sandler character's sister, in drag. What...is up with this movie? It seems like the kind of thing he would have made, like, the day after he left SNL. Admittedly, I haven't researched it, but from the commercials it looks neither like a movie that modern-day Adam Sandler should be stooping to (it looks like more of a Rob Schneider type of joint), nor like anything that should even be greenlit. The joke is Adam Sandler is dressed as a woman? Is that still a concept? Is there more to it maybe? How did the people making a movie like that get enough money to hire Adam Sandler? Did Adam Sandler lose all his money in bad investments or something?

I mean, it's not that I think Adam Sandler is The Classiest Gentleman Alive, but this seems like a step down for him. He's been doing grown-up movies lately. No pun intended.

My theory is that it's been in development for a decade. And possibly was shot like three years ago.

I also thought it was about the Gap Girls the first time I saw the commercial.

Adam Sandler does everything through his own production company, Happy Madison. That company's whole point is "make whatever stupid idea Adam Sandler and his friends cook up." That's why movies like Zookeeper and Buck Larson get made in the first place. He's in charge. So it's less "Adam Sandler needs money" and more "Adam Sandler thinks this is HYSTERICAL and doesn't care what anyone else thinks."

Really! I didn't know that. Well, that explains a lot then. Heh.

That preview has been shown before every movie I've seen in the last month, and every time I see it, I lose a few IQ points. Especially when it's paired with the new Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy movie, which also makes me want to weep. The only way I could be less interested is if they tried to shove Mike Myers in there somewhere.

It does look awful. Tower Heist got a surprisingly good review from New York Magazine though.

For some reason I can't pinpoint, I have the impression that Tower Heist is a lot smarter than the previews give it credit for. I have absolutely nothing to base this on, but wasn't shocked to hear it got a positive review from a credible source.

When they made everyone watch that new Adam Sandler movie as part of a "reward" on Survivor, I felt embarrassed for all involved.

(It looked like they had a fun time editing the reactions to make it seem like people were enjoying the movie, even more so than the time they made everyone watch the Jack Black version of Gulliver's Travels.)

I read on Twitter a comment from someone that Adam Sandler's last few movies look as bad or worse than the movies his character was ashamed of making in Funny People. I have to turn the channel when the commercial for this horrible movie comes on because I hate it that much.

I like to pretend that Jack and Jill doesn't exist because many moons ago, Adam Sandler made a handful of entertaining movies that I love to this day. And this latest effort looks like a huge, steaming turd, so I don't want it to sully my enjoyment of these movies.

When I saw the poster for Jack and Jill (before seeing the trailer and realizing both characters were played by Sandler), I honestly thought Jill was Molly Shannon and got a little excited that she finally had a gig...even if it was in a crappy Sandler film.

Regarding Tower Heist, I look at the people cast in it and have to believe that it's probably funnier and smarter than most would expect. Alan Alda will class up the film if nothing else.

Alan Alda, Casey Affleck, Judd Hirsch. I'd consider the presence of any of those three a good sign.

But...

Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Tea Leoni. Directed by Brett Ratner. From a script with four names on it, only one of whom gets credit for both story and screenplay.

Yeah, that one is going to have to have some serious word of mouth to overcome all those negatives for me.

Eddie Murphy is actually funny in the trailer. So I'm going to see it, for old time's sake. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he was funny almost every time he was on screen.

Also the rest of the cast ain't half bad.

Yeah I have to say even the other four you mentioned are ...people I like more then I dislike. Well I think Eddie Murphy squanders his talent, but he does have it.