January in Film

New year, another year of films with a lot of intrigue and hype surrounding them. Of course, the barren wasteland of January starts off the year and this year, doesn't even look like it has an absolute gem to break up the monotony like the few January's have had. Here are my thoughts on all of January's wide releases (excluding Lone Survivor, Her, August: Osage County and Labor Day, which all expanded wide this month but were released in December.)  

Films I want to see:
2.Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (1/17): I haven't seen any of the previous entries in the series, but this Jack Ryan reboot looks pretty damn cool. With a talented actor like Chris Pine playing the title character and an experienced action director in Kenneth Branagh at the helm, this is one of the very few early-month films that could be a home run.
 
1.Ride Along (1/17): The teaming of Kevin Hart and Ice Cube has me sold. Hart is such a great standup comedian that is just waiting to breakout in film while Cube has displayed his comedy chops in various films for almost 20 years now. Hart and Cube certainly have the potential to be a great comedy team and that alone has be really excited for this film.

Films I'm not sure on:
I, Frankenstein (1/24): I'm a sucker for action-horror films a la Underworld and I, Frankenstein certainly looks the part with its dark setting and stylized action shown in the trailer. The only reason this isn't a must-see for me is the questionable personnel involved on both sides of the camera and the fact it has been delayed numerous times. I'll probably end up checking it out because there isn't much coming out that even piques my interest at this point of the year, but I'm certainly skeptical.

That Awkward Moment (1/31): The redband trailer offered up a few laughs and I do like Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, the problem is that this may end up being too formulaic to be enjoyable.

Films I have zero interest in:
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (1/3): Looks like a cheap spinoff of the other Paranormal Activity films. I'm not really a fan of the original franchise, so there's really no need for me to check out the spinoff.

The Legend of Hercules (1/10): Way to go Lionsgate getting ahead of the curve and releasing this before Dwayne Johnson's big-budget Hercules movie comes out in August. This movie looked pretty bad to me from the start then I found it was directed by burnout Renny Harlin and any blind hope I had for this immediately vanished. If I want to see a Hercules movie this year, I'll wait till August and smell what The Rock is cooking.

Devil's Due (1/17): Oh sweet another found-footage demonic possession horror film.... Pass

The Nut Job (1/17): Let's just say I'm not the intended audience for a movie about squirrels robbing a nut store. 

January in Film

So here we are in the new year. 2013 has a tough act to follow after the great year 2012 was, but there are a lot of films on the schedule this year with potential. As the year starts, I have to say this January continues the trend of recent years and has more intriguing fare than we usually see in the first month of the year. Here's to another year of cinema and here are my thoughts of all of the notable January releases.

Films I want to see:
6.Parker (1/25)-Jason Statham in his familiar wheelhouse is a guarantee I will see it. This film should also benefit from the presence of Michael Chiklis as the villain and talented veteran director Taylor Hackford.

5.Movie 43 (1/25)-Pretty funny looking anthology film with an all-star cast including Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Emma Stone, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, Richard Gere, and many more A-list stars. Seeing this many name actors in the same film and the series of short films concept is definitely appealing to me. Hopefully it's as funny as the red band trailer makes it out to be.

4.Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (1/25)-This looked just alright to me until I saw the red band trailer. Now it looks like a fun, gory B-movie to me. It should also be interesting to see a serious actor like Jeremy Renner play off-type in a corny horror-comedy like this. I'm expecting this to be a load of dumb fun making it perfect fare for January.

3.Broken City (1/18)-The trailer is good, but I'm expecting the movie to be better than it looks because of the talent involved. Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe are two of the best actors in the business right now and I loved director Allen Hughes's last movie The Book of Eli. It look like intriguing gritty thriller not unlike Wahlberg's Contraband, which was released last January.

2.The Last Stand (1/18)-Ahnold is back! Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to the big screen has been a long time coming and The Last Stand looks like a glorious return for the action legend. It looks to be loaded with explosions, big guns, corny dialogue, and B-movie greatness or in other words, It's got all the makings of a Schwarzengger classic. The fact that acclaimed Korean director Kim Ji-Woon is behind the camera makes it all the better.

1.Gangster Squad (1/11)-I've been waiting for this one ever since it got delayed from it's September release in the aftermath of the tragic Aurora movie theater shooting (The climax of the film involved gangsters shooting up a movie theater. The studio decided to cut the scene and re-shoot a different ending, causing the delay.) I absolutely love gangster movies and this look like it's going to be a great one. The cast is loaded with talent including Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Nick Noltie, Emma Stone, Sean Penn (I can't stand him, but he is a gifted actor), Michael Pena, and Anthony Mackie. Based on the premise, how good it looks, and the cast, This is one of my most anticipated movies of the year and I hope it lives up to my expectations.

Films I'm unsure about:
Texas Chainsaw 3D (1/4)-I have a soft spot for slasher movies and the trailer is actually pretty decent for this. The problem is that I despised the 2003 remake and even though this film has nothing to do with it, I'm a bit wary of how it will be. I will check it out on DVD though and maybe it will surprise me.

Film I have zero interest in seeing:
A Haunted House (1/11)-What the hell happened to Marlon Wayans? The first two Scary Movie films were really funny, but ever since he really lost his niche at spoof films. This movie looks pretty damn unfunny and even though I do like Cedric the Entertainer, I won't be seeing this one.

Mama (1/18)-Good cast, but Guliermo Del Toro-produced horror always underwhelms and the concept is dumb. 

January In Film

Happy New Year everyone! January marks the start of the new year and I am very intrigued to see what 2012 can bring. The film slate for 2012 has some potential, but you don't really know until the end of the year what the overall quality will be. Anyways, here is my take on the first crop of films of the new year with my thoughts on all of January's films.

Films I Want To See
3.Man On A Ledge (1/27)-It's not the most original concept ever, but the trailer looks pretty good. The solid cast adds to the my excitement level.

2.Underworld: Awakening(1/20)- Having Kate Beckinsale back is a huge boost. I'm also glad they are going back to the roots of the franchise and not continuing on with the prequel series. I only hope this is in the same ballpark in terms of quality as the original.

1.Contraband(1/13)-This might be the best looking film for the first few months of 2012. Mark Wahlberg is back to his gritty-film past, Ben Foster should make a good villain, and the plot is very intriguing. The second week of January the past few years has produced some great films and I hope Contraband will join that list.

Films I'm Not Sure About
Red Tails (1/20)-This could end up being great (George Lucas is producing it), but I feel like I don't know enough about the film right now to make a decision about weather or not I want to see it.

Haywire(1/20)-I am not a huge fan of Steven Soderbergh's work, but the trailer for this isn't bad. I will probably give it a shot.

The Grey (1/27)-I just saw the full-length trailer a few days ago and I am more interested in seeing it now than I was after I saw the teaser. I still feel like this could end being kind of dull (depending on the length), but it has some potential.

Films I Have Zero Interest In
The Devil Inside (1/6)-Yet another exorcism movie. This one looks particularly bad. I actually can't think of the last time an exorcism movie looked this bad (and there has been a LOT of bad ones in the past 5-10 years.) I will be avoiding this one like the plague.

Joyful Noise (1/13)-I really can't stand musicals and this isn't going to change it. It is really funny to me that Dolly Parton is in this though.

January In Film

January is a dull time for new films. It's mostly dominated by the Oscar-bait releases from December and the new releases tend to underwhelm. The past couple years, January has brought one great film to the table (Notorious in 2009 and The Book Of Eli in 2010). This January has the least amount of wide releases in recent years, here are my thoughts on these films.

Films I Want to See
2.The Mechanic(1/28)-I am not going to lie. I love Jason Statham. I have seen just about all of his movies (with the exception of In The Name Of The King, I will never watch another Uwe Boll film no matter who's in it). His movies may be similar in nature and they pretty much never fail to entertain. The Mechanic is a remake of a 70's Charles Bronson film and it's basically more of what Statham does best, kill people and deliver mindless entertainment, count me in.

1.The Green Hornet(1/14)-This is the film I expect to be the gem of January. Seth Rogen superhero film, Great fucking idea! This is one of my most anticipated films of the first few months of the year. The trailer looks to be really cool and really damn funny. Throw in the great Christoph Waltz as the villain and you have what will hopefully be a great film.

Films I Am Unsure About
The Dillemma(1/14)- I most likely won't see this film, it doesn't look funny. I do like Kevin James and Vince Vaughn, so it might warrant a watch on DVD, but the odds aren't good.

Films That I Have No Intrest In At All
Season Of The Witch(1/7)-It's been shelved for over a year, switched distributors and looks pretty damn bad. I do like Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, but not enought to convince to see this sure to be piece of shit fantasy adventure.

No Strings Attached(1/21)-Way to follow up Black Swan Natalie Portman. This doesn't look as bad as it sounds on paper, but that's about it.

The Rite(1/28)-Another exoricism movie? This seriously needs to stop, this is becoming one of the most tired subgenres in all of Hollywood. This doesn't look to be an different than other exorcism films. They thrown in the Vatican and the "based on a true story" gimmick, that's really about it. Poor Anthony Hopkins, he hasn't made a good movie in over 10 years, a serious fall from grace.