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 Every year around this time I can't help but
get excited about all the big, new movies hitting cinemas over the
Summer, and last week I began running through the coming
blockbusters, with ideas for like-minded classics already on DVD
that you can enjoy while you're waiting. The League of Gentleman's
Apocalypse (released June 3), Batman Begins (June 16) and Land of
the Dead (August 16) that I've already covered, here are the next
handful of features I expect to draw in the crowds, along with
numerous recommendations for similar but already proven titles that
you can add to your Blockbuster
list
.
Comics legend Frank Miller, author and artist
of the greatest graphic novel of all time, The Dark Knight Returns,
has written and co-directed (along with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin
Tarantino) a stylish and faithful adaptation of another one of
his greatest hits, Sin
City (June 3). A collection of interweaving stories based in a
morally bankrupt metropolis, its eclectic cast includes Bruce
Willis, Mickey
Rourke, Clive
Owen, Elijah
Wood, Josh
Hartnett and many more besides. To get in the mood for that one,
I'm going to be exploring the darker side of crime with con classic
The Grifters, Scorsese's Taxi
Driver and, finally available on DVD and one of my all-time
favourite movies, film noir classic Double
Indemnity
.
Tabloid sensations Brad
Pitt and Angelina
Jolie co-star as Mr and Mrs Smith (June 10) in Doug
Liman's (The Bourne Identity), romantic action comedy of the
same name. Pitt and Jolie play a bored married couple whose lives
are spiced up by the revelation that they are in fact professional
assassins who have been hired to kill one another. Three movies
spring to mind with this one: Danny
DeVito's pitch black comedy War
of the Roses, in which unhappy marrieds' Michael Douglas and
Kathleen Turner squabble to the death; James
Cameron's outrageous adventure True
Lies, which sees the Governator
hiding his secret agent identity from hot wife Jamie
Lee Curtis; and most notably Prizzi's
Honour
, a late classic
from the great John Hust on
starring Jack
Nicholson and, again, Kathleen
Turner
as
amorous killers hired, like the Smiths, to bump each other off.
Smash these three films together and you get Mr and Mrs Smith.
After
Batman Begins, the film I'm most looking forward to is Steven
Spielberg's alien invasion megaflick War of the Worlds (July 1),
previously made to great effect by George Pal in 1953, now updated
and relocated to the States with Tom
Cruise - who I finally like because he was brilliant in The
Last Samurai. Written by H.G. Wells - the father of science
fiction - more than a century ago (1898 to be precise), War of
the Worlds invented the notion of beings from another world
descending on Earth with conquest in mind. Though it would have been
nice to see a version of the story set in late 19th Century Kent, I
can understand why an American studio would want a newer, more
Mid-West friendly take on the story. Fortunately with Spielberg
at the helm, we can at the very least expect one hell of a light
show, with massive tripod invaders cutting vast swathes of
destruction for our extreme viewing pleasure. Of the many, many
alien invasion movies made in the past fifty years or so, my
personal favourites include the
original War of the Worlds, Robert Wise's The
Day The Earth Stood Still ("Klaatu Barada Nikto!"), John
Carpenter's jaw-dropping The
Thing, nastily hilarious action classic The Hidden and, best of
the bunch, Tim Burton's joyfully malicious Mars
Attacks
!
One of the most enduring and endearing super
hero families from the pages of Marvel Comics, The Fantastic Four
hit the big screen on July 22. With luck, they'll be fighting fit
and up for the challenge of establishing themselves in an already
competitive superhero market. Whether or not they live up to the
high standards of the Spider-Man,
Blade
and X-Men
franchises remains
to be seen. Fingers crossed, though.
Join me next week for some half-term survival advice and the final installment of my Big Summer
Preview... so many viable alternatives to fresh air and exercise!
Marshall
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