THE LEGEND OF HERCULES
Release Date: January 10, 2014
What it’s about: Sold into slavery, the son of Zeus must fight his way back to his kingdom.
What it’s got working for it: Has the potential to be a fun adventure.
What’s it’s got going against it: Looks mighty humourless – the kiss of death when it comes to these painfully serious epics.
JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT
Release Date: January 17, 2014
What it’s about: From the pages of best-selling author Tom Clancy comes this contemporary action thriller.
What it’s got working for it: Screenwriter David Koepp is a terrific writer. He wrote the script to my favorite Spiderman movie. The only one I actually liked.
What’s it’s got going against it: With less than a month to go before opening, not much advance buzz. Not a good sign.
THE NUT JOB
Release Date: January 17, 2014
What it’s about: A squirrel and his rat friend plan the heist of a nut store.
What it’s got working for it: Love the heist premise in an animated setting.
What’s it’s got going against it: The unfunny trailer. Also, the curse of Katherine Heigl.
RIDE ALONG
Release Date: January 17, 2014
What it’s about: A tough cop brings his prospective brother-in-law on a ride along through the mean streets of Atlanta.
What it’s got working for it: The trailer shows promise. Love the idea of a gamer applying his gaming experience to real life action.
What’s it’s got going against it: A long line of failed buddy comedies that came before.
I, FRANKENSTEIN
Release Date: January 24, 2014
What it’s about: Dr. Frankenstein’s creation could be humanity’s only hope in a war waged between gargoyles and demons.
What it’s got working for it: A rich and potentially interesting mythology.
What’s it’s got going against it: There’s such a fine line between “rich and interesting” and “cheesy and ponderous”.
Thanks for the early posting…I needed something to distract me from how the Ravens game is going at the moment. Hopefully your Snow Monkeys are doing well.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit looks interesting, but Tom Clancy based screenplays have been tough to pull off in the past. I’m glad to see that David Koepp also worked on Mission Impossible; it gives me hope that he can handle this type action thriller.
On the rest, I think it’s a wait and see.
It looks like January is going to be a fairly dry month for movies. The Hercules one looks like it could be interesting, but if it’s another one of these three hour epic craptaculars, then count me out, at least for the movie theatre.
The rest look kinda awful.
Yeah, no. 🙂
You were discussing recently the idea of Stargate continuing in graphic novel form recently but did you know that Big Finish are currently producing Stargate audio dramas voiced by members of the cast? You can see them all here: http://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/stargate. Perhaps turning the planned SG-1/Atlantis movie into an audio drama would be another potential way of continuing the franchise. It worked for Doctor Who before that returned in 2005
the hercules movie looks like it has bad acting too.
the jack ryan movie isn’t based on any clancy story, so i don’t know if that will help or hurt. plus it’s the second attempt at a reboot of the series. anyone remember the ben affleck one way back in 2002? supposedly it made money, but sequels never materialized for one reason or another.
That Hercules film is not only historically inaccurate, and steals the Sampson premise with being chained to the walls, but has plot holes a mile wide, just in the trailer. I hate to think what the whole movie will be like. It is probably an excuse to fill the damned thing with nothing but fight and chase scenes then call it a movie.
I was equally disappointed in the recent Star Trek films. They were more about battles and action than the concept that Gene Roddenberry had envisioned back in the day.
I dearly hope this does not happen to future Star Gate stories.
I, for one, am looking forward to Ride Along. Looks like a hoot! 🙂
das
From yesterday…
So true!! I think I owe my own hip dysplasia on too many cats and not enough bed. 😛 But ya know, I wouldn’t change it for anything! There’s just something about having that warm, furry body pressed up against you during the night that makes everything seem right in the world. It’s just wonderful!
Until they fart. 😛
das
I might like the Chris Pine movie, Kenneth Branagh, and you are right about not much preview. and the others, not so much interest for me…
~Forgot to tell Akemi, I thought her new coat looked really warm and pretty.
HERCULES: The beefcake factor make make up for the lack of humor.
The rest? No opinion.
Hercules looks like a handsome movie. 😉 What, Jason Momoa was not availble?? I was laughing while watching The Nut Job trailer. Squirrels have that effect on me.
Ride along might be good. When do you get to your mom’s house? Safe travels and I hope she is well.
@ Das wrote – “There’s just something about having that warm, furry body pressed up against you during the night that makes everything seem right in the world.”
It makes me feel like part of the pack. My beagle won’t let me hold and cuddle her like a baby, so when I let her jump in my bed and sleep under the warm covers by my feet and legs, I feel like she is accepting me into her dog family. So I love it, even though I get a backache, because I can’t move freely and shift around.
Hey, there’s a free-range pug in The Nut Job. It might be educational to see how pugs live without servants to carry them. Crime syndicates, perhaps.
I’d worry about letting kids see that until I was sure how the plot went down. We don’t want another The Cat in the Hat on our hands. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the resolution to that was a mad dash to cover evidence of what the kids did so that the mom wouldn’t believe the boyfriend when he told the truth that they were up to shenanigans. At long last, a children’s movie that gave comeuppance to the one who was telling the truth and rewarded the liar.
Also, The Nut Job is bad ethics for the squirrels. I know the nut trees were a bit short of nuts this year and the squirrels had to go into hibernation early and skinny and it’s going to be a hard winter, but all the more reason for them to double down on their foraging efforts, not wasting time with risky schemes.
I, Frankenstein looks pretty cool. The Nut Job could be fun, but not enough fun for me to pay money to watch it on the big screen.
Ride Along does look more appealing to me than the typical rookie ride-along movie. The sister’s fiance angle is just more. Ice Cube is always more, but I was hoping he’d be the fiance. And I have a new niece-in-law as of Saturday so maybe I’m just mushy about that right now, but maybe that’s a hint at how the movie will have just enough mixed gender outing appeal to get it the box office receipts.
I initially let my cat go wherever he wanted until I woke up in the middle of the night with him curled up and asleep on my face….After that he was banished to downstairs 🙂
None of the upcoming movies look very interesting. Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit and the Nut Job – maybe? But i don’t have very high hopes.
My little sister and i are planning to go to Tokyo next year, but we dont know any Japanese or anything much about Tokyo. We were mostly planning to go for the food. Im going to be combing through your past blog entries for ideas, but would you have any suggestions for must go/ see places? Also do you know anyone who might be willing to show us around, even for an afternoon?
Hercules looks like a fun romp. Yeah. I’m sure I’ll eventually catch Frankenstein on Syfy, over and over and over again…..
Kevin Hart is having a moment but man is he shrill, like a car alarm going off at 3 am. I enjoyed watching him fall into the lava pitt in “This is the End”.
I love Aaron Eckhart, I even watched his straight to DVD flicks. I want to see Keanu’s Ronin flick, Her, and the very girlie Austenland.
Merry Christmas to the SGUers, SGAers and SG1ers!
I wonder who would win in a battle between Frankenstein and Alien…
ie, it would be amusing to see our monsters as our saviors…
Santa is text form: *<]:{0)
@Jovanna
It all depends on what you’re into, or should I say what you’re going for, there’s lots of places if you love anime, manga, videogames, music, movies etc. And a lot of places if you just want the cultural stuff.
At least Knights of Badassdom has Summer Glau in it. It’s nice to see her getting work, besides being in series that are soon to be cancelled, that is.
Peter Dinklage is pretty good, although I can’t say I’m as excited to see him as much as Summer. He was really great in The Station Agent, and of course he makes a good Tyrion Lannister, even if he does still have his nose. I was disappointment about that. Overall though the trailer does look really bad.
Shadow Recruit — YES. The rest–probably not.