If January 2008 movies are lousy, you’ll hear about it from me
You may recall that last year (well, technically still “this year”) I took January off from reviewing new movies. I thought at the time that it might become a tradition, but this year (well, technically still “next year”) I don’t feel compelled to put myself on hiatus. Maybe I’ve seen enough great movies lately that I’m not feeling burnt out.
There’s also the fact that, for the first time maybe ever, there are January releases on the docket that look intriguing and that might actually be good! “Cloverfield,” the annoyingly hyped but admittedly cool-looking monster movie from producer J.J. Abrams, opens Jan. 18. The next week we get the fourth Rambo movie, apparently just called “Rambo,” which may not be good but which at least warrants some attention. Most January movies are altogether ignorable.
(Sidetrack: How can they just call it “Rambo”? Wasn’t the first one called “Rambo”? No sir. The first one was called “First Blood” and featured the character of Rambo. The sequel was called “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” and then came “Rambo III” and now what should be called “Rambo IV” is being called just “Rambo.” For a while they were calling it “John Rambo,” which would have provided a nice symmetry with Stallone’s recent “Rocky Balboa.” Then for a few minutes it was being called “Rambo: To Hell and Back” — really — and I’m glad they changed their minds about that.)
So it will be business as usual this January! Already I am looking forward to (links go to trailers) “27 Dresses,” “One Missed Call,” “Untraceable,” “First Sunday,” “Mad Money,” and wow, maybe I should rethink this.
December 26th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Looking forward to them thar reviews, Eric. But I’m especially awaiting your “Best of 2007″ lists… Them’s my favorites.
December 26th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I agree with your last paragraph. Two nights ago I saw a bunch of commercials for those movies and I thought “These all look rather crappy.” However, none look as bad as “Epic Movie” so that makes it better than last January by a long shot.
December 26th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I always thought Jan/Feb. were the bad months for movies. I’m not really sure why, but I guess it’s the time when the most mindless ones come out. I am looking forward to Persepolis though!
December 27th, 2007 at 7:32 am
The Evolution of the Rambo movies amuses me for some reason. The first movie was about a Vietnam vet who goes to war against a small town in the pacific northwest. The second movie has Rambo go back to Vietnam to fight the Russians. And the third has him go to Afghanistan to help the Taliban defeat the Russians. The fourth one, presumably, will have him fighting a group like the Taliban.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I thought Rambo: Pearl of the Cobra was one of the titles a while back. John Rambo would have been a nice title I think, too bad they dropped that and just went to Rambo. It really doesn’t make sense for the 4th installment to be named something so simple.
December 27th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I’d like to say that every time I see a commercial or trailer for One Missed Call I feel like weeping and cursing America for destroying perfectly good Japanese movies with terrible remakes.
December 27th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
“The Evolution of the Rambo movies amuses me for some reason. The first movie was about a Vietnam vet who goes to war against a small town in the pacific northwest. The second movie has Rambo go back to Vietnam to fight the Russians. And the third has him go to Afghanistan to help the Taliban defeat the Russians. The fourth one, presumably, will have him fighting a group like the Taliban.”
Ok first off. First Blood was not about Rambo going to war against a small town. It was about traumatized Vietnam vet who violently retaliates against a society who he feels has betrayed him and the men he served with. His beef is with the prejudice Sheriff and not the town citizens.
In Rambo III, the people Rambo was helping were not the Taliban. The Mujahedeen were a separate group from the Taliban. The Taliban was formed in Pakistan back in early 90’s and took over Afghanistan in 1995 when the people there were unhappy with current Gov’t. You can’t fault Stallone for not predicting the future of Afghanistan. The Mujahedeen split into several groups and formed what later became the Northern Alliance. Also Osama Bin Laden didn’t arrive in Afghanistan until the late 90’s. It’s not like Rambo was the only one helping these guys defeat the Soviets. The U.S Gov’t made no secret of aiding these guys to get the Russians out. That was not a mistake. The mistake was basically leaving them to their own devices when the Soviets had left. Stallone later regretted making a movie portraying Russians as enemies during a time when the U.S was trying to be friends.
The 4th movie has Rambo trying to rescue missionaries from Burma, a country notorious for years of genocide and human rights violations. Their oppressive regime has more in common with the Khmer Rouge than the Taliban. If anything the movie will inform the world community about the atrocities in Burma.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Thanks to J.J. Abrahms, Eric will still be watching movies in January! Or shall we credit film.com, since they are paying him for reviews?