Despite what my mother may say, I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of being a film snob. I’ve liked some rather questionable, and some outright bad, movies. (When in college, I actually paid money to see Josie and the Pussycats in the theater, and I enjoyed it. True story.) I can even get behind a simplistic romantic comedy if it’s entertaining and offers at least one original idea. That being said, when it comes to My Sassy Girl, I’m going to have to SKIP IT.

First there’s the story; kooky girl meets uptight boy and shakes up his life. You mean like Sweet November? Or the TV show Dharma & Greg? Or maybe more along the lines of Garden State? Or even Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Or maybe it doesn’t even matter, since variations of this storyline have been done to death by a slew of better movies.

Then there’s the actors. Someone at some point decided that Elisha Cuthbert was more than a pretty face and let her star in movies, when she really should stick to roles like the leading lady’s best friend or the girl the leading man lusts after before he ends up with his true love. And then Jesse Bradford is that guy who did that one movie…or was it that other movie…well, he looks familiar, so I guess he was in something I saw at some point, but didn’t care enough to remember.

And then there’s the awful title. “My Sassy Girl,” seriously? Was “My Crazy Lady” already taken? What about “My Super Kooky Chick” or “My Impulsive Impudent Gal”? (And yes, I realize this movie is a remake, but plenty of remakes have had the good sense to adopt a title better than the original one.)

So while I’m sure this movie will have a charming moment or two, I’m going to have to skip out on watching mediocre actors tell a story I’ve already seen at least a dozen times. Maybe if I’m lucky, Josie and the Pussycats will be on cable and I can revel in watching a quality second-rate movie.

My Sassy Girl is rated PG-13 and opens some time in Spring 2008. (Official site)

While I’m not working on TrailerSpy, I actually make my living as a scientist. And on more than one occasion, I’ve heard my scientist friends exclaim that someone should make a movie about life inside the lab. And not some Hollywoodized movie about a horrible genetic experiment gone wrong, but an actual drama about what it’s really like to be a scientist working in the research world.

But whenever I’ve heard this proposal, my response has always been the same: “It’ll never happen.” And it’s not that there aren’t some interesting story-lines that take place in a real laboratory. It’s just that the realities of science do not jive with the realities of Hollywood. I mean, what’s the chance of Hollywood making a movie about a bunch of socially awkward, not-so-attractive intellectuals, grinding out experiments in relative solitude?

But then I saw this trailer for Dark Matter, and I’ll be damned if Hollywood hasn’t just made a movie about what it’s really like to be a scientist working in the research world. Granted, they’ve obviously taken a few creative liberties, and it’s obviously dramatized quite a bit. But in general, it really does look like a pretty realistic depiction.

And what I’m really impressed by is the fact that the lead-character is Asian. Granted, it’s based on a true story, but they could have easily changed the character to a European and then just taken a well-known Hollywood star, slapped a pair of glasses on him, and given him an accent. But instead, they made a movie about a very real phenomenon in science: an Asian immigrant who joyfully comes to America, only to work for an overly critical boss, who pressures them into spending 24/7 in the lab, at the expense of their both family’s and their own well-being (I’ve had more than a few co-workers who fit that description perfectly).

Since Dark Matter is going to have a limited release, I’ll probably just RENT IT when it hits DVD. But I am definitely very intrigued by this movie. And kudos to Meryl Streep for joining the cast and giving this movie some leveraging power. I doubt it would have even gotten its limited release without her.

Dark Matter is rated R and opens in select cities on April 11 (Official Site).

If you’ve ever looked at one of today’s overly pampered celebrities who has everything, yet never seems to have had a lesson in basic manners, and wondered, “What the hell is their problem?”, Flashbacks of a Fool may be of interest to you. The newly minted 007, Daniel Craig, plays a spoiled movie star getting on in years whose career is taking a nosedive and whose “friends” can no longer stand to be near. Ah, the joys of being a celebrity! During this career crisis, he goes back to his hometown for the funeral of a childhood friend, where he is forced to flashback to the days of his youth and revisit the choices he made then that turned him into the pompous ass he is now. Oh, and apparently Craig does a full frontal nude scene.

This looks like it could be a pretty good film (with or without Craig baring his junk), but unfortunately there’s no immediate plans to release this in US theaters. So I guess I’ll have no choice but to RENT IT.

Flashbacks of a Fool will no doubt have an R rating and it opens in the UK on April 18 (no word yet on a US release). (IMDB page)

Ewan McGregor is a dorky accountant who seems to be living nearly every guy’s dream: he’s befriended by Hugh Jackman and introduced to a sex club that gives him full access to kinky sex with a variety of anonymous, gorgeous women. The only rules are no rough stuff and no names are exchanged. Done and done!

And of course it’s all fun and games until someone goes missing and you’re the prime suspect. McGregor finds himself the center of a police investigation when one of the women he liaised with disappears, and when he names Jackman as the one who introduced him to the girl, it turns out Jackman isn’t quite the friend he claimed to be. Interesting…this will definitely be added to my RENT IT list.

Deception is rated R and opens April 25. (Official site)

It seems like Helen Hunt has been pretty much MIA from the Hollywood scene for a few years, and now she’s making her return by pulling double duty as both the director and star of Then She Found Me. At least she’s been busy during her downtime!

Hunt plays a middle-aged woman who’s life takes a nasty turn when she realizes her chances of having a baby are quickly dwindling, her adoptive mother dies, her husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her, and her birth mother with boundary issues (Bette Midler) shows up (if I found out Bette Midler was my real mother, I’d be having a pretty rough time, too). But things start to look better when she begins a relationship with Colin Firth (from Broderick to Firth; talk about an upgrade!). And of course her life takes another dip when in a moment of weakness she sleeps with her estranged husband, and it leads to a pregnancy. Now Hunt needs to figure out how to make things work with Firth, how to incorporate Broderick into the life of their child, and how to deal with her new overbearing and oversharing mother. Sounds like fun. Or maybe it just sounds trite and predictable. I’ll have to RENT IT to find out.

Then She Found Me is rated R and opens in limited release April 25. (Official site)

I’m willing to bet that if you ask anyone who isn’t an avid movie-goer why that is, they’ll say something along the lines of, “There’s nothing original anymore. All the possible stories have already been told.” (Or possibly, “It’s too damned expensive,” which is also true). It’s because of this unoriginality in most new movies that I have to give movies like Mister Lonely major kudos. Even though the movie looks like something most audience members won’t be interested in (I’m anticipating seeing phrases like “too weird” and “pretentious indie nonsense” being thrown around), it’s got an original concept. And in today’s entertainment world, that’s saying a lot.

Mister Lonely tells the story of one man’s journey, and that man happens to live as a Michael Jackson impersonator (Jackson from the Thriller years, not Jackson the molester). He meet up with a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, who takes him to live on a commune full of impersonators, where she lives with her husband (Charlie Chaplin) and daughter (Shirley Temple), and a slew of other pretenders (there’s a Madonna, a Queen Elizabeth, and a Sammy Davis Jr., just to name a few). They live as their characters 24/7 and put on a lavish stage show every night.

So are they all pathetic people hopelessly out of touch with reality? People with tragedies in their past, so they find it easier to live as other people? Seriously mentally disturbed people who honestly believe they are who they pretend to be? I don’t know, since the trailer sort of fizzles out after introducing the commune, but I hope these are the sort of things the movie delves into. I’ll definitely be adding this one to my RENT IT list.

Mister Lonely is not yet rated and opens in limited release April 30. (Official site)

There is a major shift taking place in Hollywood right now, and for some reason, I was completely oblivious of it until today.

There was a time in Hollywood when actors were clearly differentiated into three categories. Comedic actors appeared in comedic movies, dramatic actors appeared in dramatic movies, and action stars appeared in action movies. Period.

I guess the first major deviation from this occurred when Robin Williams was cast in Good Morning Vietnam, and since then, pretty much every major comedic actor has tried his hand at dramatic acting. More recently, dramatic actors have also been dabbling in comedies (Robert De Niro, John C. Reilly, etc.). But up until very recently, action movies were still reserved for guys whose muscles were far more impressive than their acting chops (Arnold, Sly, etc).

I’m not sure when this started to change exactly, but telling by the global outcry over Daniel Craig’s selection as the newest Bond, I’m thinking it wasn’t that long ago.

But this year, the phenomenon has been taken to the next level: Superhero movies. There are two major Superhero movies coming out this summer (Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk), and by some strange imbalance in the universe, they’re both being helmed by tremendous actors (Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton). I for one have no idea how this shift occurred, but I can tell you this: I’m absolutely loving it!!

I love Superhero movies, and it can only improve them to put some actual actors in the leading roles. And if you compliment their acting skills with all that glorious CGI and other special effects (as they clearly did with this movie), well, I don’t know about you, but I’m giddy just thinking about it.

I guess it goes without saying that The Incredible Hulk is a SEE IT for me. And I do hope that everyone else will see it as well, just so that Hollywood will be persuaded to keep this miraculous new trend alive.

The Incredible Hulk is not yet rated and opens June 13. (Official Site)

Tropic Thunder has the potential to be one of the funniest movies to premiere in Summer 2008. Or it could be one of the most angrily controversial movies in recent memory. Either way, it should be interesting to see the public’s reaction.

Starring and directed by the sometimes funny Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder tells the story of a group of narcissistic actors (is there any other kind?) filming a new Vietnam War epic in the spirit of Apocalypse Now. One is a typical action star (Stiller), one is a comedic actor looking to establish himself as a serious actor (Jack Black), and one (here comes the controversy) is a white actor who is so serious about portraying a role written for an African-American actor, that he dyes his skin black (Robert Downey Jr.). The film crew eventually gets fed up with their high-maintenance cast that they dump them in the jungle to fend for themselves, all to the blissful obliviousness of the cast, who thinks the cameras are still rolling.

The idea of having a movie that stars a white guy in blackface is certainly raising some eyebrows, but Stiller insists that the movie is poking fun at pampered actors, not black people, as seen in this article in Entertainment Weekly. That may very well be the case, but is that what the audience will allow themselves to see? Given the mixed feelings I have about Ben Stiller movies, I’ll wait to RENT IT and find out.

Tropic Thunder is not yet rated and opens on August 15. (Official site)

I wasn’t that excited about this film at first, but with every new piece of footage I see, I’m quickly coming around. I have to admit, these new international trailers look pretty damn cool. Those Wachowski brothers sure do know what they’re doing.

International Trailer #1:

International Trailer #2:

I must be getting a bit cynical in my old age because my first thought after seeing this new trailer for The Onion Movie was “Fox is a bunch of idiots…they would have made a ton of money if they’d just released this thing into theaters 5 years ago.”

Of course, if you don’t know the story behind The Onion Movie, you probably don’t understand that thought at all, let alone why it’s cynical. So perhaps I should give you a quick history lesson.

Basically, a while back, the writers of the satirical newspaper “The Onion” had a brilliant idea to make a movie that loosely followed the format of their highly successful newspaper. And so they did just that, and the movie was set to be released in 2003 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Except that the movie was so god-awful that Fox refused to release it, and eventually they dropped the movie all-together. Then in 2006, New Regency Productions bought it, and now, in 2008, it’s finally being released…straight to DVD!!

But here’s the thing. This trailer looks pretty damn funny. And most people (myself included) love The Onion. And thus, by my estimation, the movie would have made a ton of money in the opening weekend alone, even if the movie was, in fact, complete trash.

So that’s why I think that Fox is a bunch of idiots.

But here’s the other thing. The reality is that Fox did the right thing. They had a mediocre product, and instead of promoting the hell out of it and trying to make a quick buck, they took the high road and didn’t release it at all. In other words, for once, Fox acted as though they actually had some semblance of moral integrity.

Which is why I now feel cynical, because the reality is that I still think that Fox is a bunch of idiots for passing up on all that cash.

Then again, I suppose I’m the biggest idiot of the bunch. Because, despite having the knowledge that this movie probably is going to be one of the worst films ever created, I’m still going to RENT IT. Why? Because it’s impossible to hear a movie industry story like that and not take a look to see what all the hype was about. Plus, as I said, I do love The Onion.

The Onion Movie is not yet rated and the DVD release date has not yet been announced. (IMDb page)