Tuesday, September 16, 2008

10 screens and there's nothing on!

I’m starting to think I’ve made a bit of a mistake. I’m wondering if I should have bothered re-launching this blog now. No, not because no one reads it (I’ve reconciled myself with that), but because there is very little to look forward to in the cinema for the rest of the year.

The only film that I am dying to see is Quantum of Solace. I’ve been a fan of James Bond since my grandmother sat me down in front of Goldfinger when I was about 7. Unfortunately for me, most of the Bond films released in my lifetime have been pretty poor. Anything with Roger Moore was dreadful and both Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, while good Bonds, suffered from dreadful scripts – with the exception of Goldeneye, which remains one of my all-time favourites.

Thanks to Casino Royale I was able to leave the cinema truly satisfied with a Bond film for only the second time. Actually that’s a bit of an understatement; I was far more than just satisfied. If Quantum of Solace is half as good then I will probably still be satisfied.

I would like to look forward to the next Harry Potter film this winter but, unfortunately, Warner Brothers have moved it to next July because they haven’t got enough good films in the pipeline for the summer season. Doesn’t bode well does it?

So for the next six months, until Watchmen comes out in March, there’s nothing that I’m really excited about. Of course there’s every chance that the legal wrangling over the rights to Watchmen will mean that it doesn’t come out until next summer either!

However, this lack of big exciting movies isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It usually means that there will be a few decent small budget or independent films that will get some time in the cinemas. This is not the first time I’ve experienced such a cinematic lull and it has led to some excellent discoveries in recent years. Brick, Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl and Goodnight and Good Luck could have easily passed me by if there had been a big blockbuster on in the next screen.

So, if anyone knows of any small gems out now or in the near future, especially if they have Ryan Gosling in, please let me know.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey hey! You've got a reader.

I can't relate to James Bond. I've always thought they were okay, but unlike the rest of the world, thought Casino Royale wasn't all that. Not bad, but Pierce Brosnan was a better Bond, and all the plots kinda seem the same to me....

That next Harry Potter looks really good though, so it should be worth the wait.

Watchmen? Count on a summer release for that. This doesn't go to trial until January, so a March release is highly unlikely, unless WB just caves completely.

Unfortunately, I'm in no shape to be giving reccomendations, as I'm actually in a run of medicore/bad movies lately. Not sure if it's your cup of tea, but Clone Wars, Tropic Thunder, and the Dark Knight were all worth looks.

Matt said...

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for leaving a comment. I'm quite astounded that someone is actually reading my blog!

As for your recommendations - I loved the Dark Knight and saw it a couple of times.

I didn't like Clone Wars at all, but I'm going to see Tropic Thunder tomorrow night, so I'll post something on that later this week.