Opening Tonight

This weekend gives us four major wide release openings, and as could be expected in September only one looks very good.

The Awesome:
Eastern Promises: After David Cronenberg hit a massive home run with A History of Violence, he’s teamed up again with Viggo Mortensen in what seems to continue his recent trend of accessible movies. For most of his career Cronenberg’s been known as an art house genius with films like Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch and Crash (the good one not the one with Matt Dillon), but now his fantastic work is being seen by audiences. Word so far indicates this is likely to be one of the best films of the year.

The Mediocre:
The Brave One: I think I liked this better the first time when it was called Death Wish. Jodie Foster has proven her acting prowess, but hasn’t been in anything decent in years, and this simply doesn’t seem like a Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) movie at all. I’m highly skeptical, but the pedigree alone means that true failure is unlikely.

Mr. Woodcock: Billy Bob Thornton doing more of his patented marvelous asshole shtick developed in Bad Santa and the Bad news Bears remake. It’s nice to see Susan Sarandon in something not as serious as her usual fare, but nothing else about this movie strikes me as rising above the mundane.

The unmitigated disaster:
Dragon Wars: I swear that up until yesterday I thought this was a sci-fi channel joint. It has everything – poorly rendered effects, a completely cliché plot, and best of all – there is absolutely no one you have ever heard of involved in any aspect of the filmmaking. Because it has dragons it’ll make a certain amount of money, but if this is still in theatres by October I will be stunned.
Dragon Wars is a sure fire bomb, and for anyone that enjoys watching Sci-Fi on Saturday afternoons this is a rare chance to see such a spectacle on the big screen. I know I’ll be there. And then I’ll cleanse myself with Eastern Promises.