8 More Movies To See In '08

After recieving copious complaints from friends about movies I "forgot" to mention, I've decided to do a sequel. Like I Love The 80s: Part Deux, only, you know, not. Same deal as last time, trying to cast a wide net.

8. IRON MAN

This is the main reason for this post. I don't know why, but I forgot about what has the potential to be single, coolest, comic book to movie adaptation ever. Actor turned director Jon Favreau is extremely savvy and looks to have a handle on things. Also. Bobby Downey Jr., who, after Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang can do no wrong in my eyes. The cast is superb, the suit looks awesome (thanks Stan Winston) and there's a hot rumor Sam Jackson has a cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. superspy Nick Fury.

What more could you want? A peak you say? Look no further.



7. SMART PEOPLE

I'm not familiar with the director, or the screenwriter, and to be entirely honest, the story is fairly run-of-the-mill indietastic pseudo-intellectual family dramady, but ELLEN PAGE IS IN IT. You know, Ellen Page...cut off a guy's dick in Hard Candy (sorta), wasted months of her life on X-Men: The Last Stand, totally eye-fucked me throughout Juno (dude, she wants me.) Plus, Dennis Quaid...with a BEARD. Thomas Haden Church keeps Wings alive with the plucky comic relief. It could be this year's little-indie-that-could or it could be a low-budget version of The Family Stone. I'm gonna give it a shot, and so should you.



6. X-FILES 2

Yeah, I know nothing about the plot or anything else about it really, but I'm not gonna be able to say no. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back together is worth the price of admission.



A bunch of screaming nerds at Wondercon can't be wrong. Plus, if it sucks, it'll be really fun to make fun of.

5. THE CHANGELING



The plot doesn't zhing me at all. A woman's son goes missing or something and comes back but they think he's an alien. It sounds like some shit the Sci-Fi Channel would hesitate to air. However, it's written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Strazcynski and directed by CLINT EASTWOOD, so yeah, I don't care if the main cast is actually puppets and the sets are miniatures, I'm gonna see it. Clint's on a streak and I don't foresee this ending it. If he saw something in a movie that sounds this lame, it's gotta be interesting. And who needs puppets and miniatures when you've got Angelina Jolie's Africa-saving lips?

4. SPEED RACER

Another movie that has a fairly high suck probability, The Wachowskis adaptation of the beloved anime just looks like alot of fun. The action looks intriguing, even if the whole film's overall style looks like Spy Kids on crack. John Goodman as Pops Racer. Matthew "You Know What's Interesting About Me? Nothing." Fox is Racer X. At least the car chases will be cool.



3. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK



Pint-sized, indescribably brilliant screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, the man that took us inside John Malkovich's head, gave himself a fake twin brother, and then took us inside Jim Carrey's head, is making his directorial debut in this film about a theatre director, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who deals with the women in his life while trying to recreate New York City inside a warehouse for his new play. Sounds adequately Kaufman-esque to me. Here's hoping he's got some camera skillz.


2. MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

This movie has one major thing going for it that I love and one major thing going for it that I hate. I LOVE writer-director Wong-Kar Wai. Even when he's not entirely on the ball (2046) he's still an immensely talented storyteller who directs the way some men paint. Emotionally evocative and sumptuous images set to poetic words and haunting music. He's an auteur if ever there was one. This is his first English language movie and it stars Norah Jones.

Yes, that Norah Jones.

Why? Wong-Kar Why?????

It got 'eh' reviews at festivals, and Jude Law is in it, which never helped anyone, but so is Natalie Portman, playing the kind of part I'm sure Faye Wong would've got had this film been made in China. The trailer's got me on the fence, but it looks pretty enough to warrant my dough.



1. QUANTUM OF SOLACE



After Casino Royale I will follow Daniel Craig and this reinvigorated Bond franchise into the bowels of hell. I don't care that Marc Forster is directing it and the closest he's come to action is Billy Bob Thornton tearing Halle Berry's ass up in Monster's Ball. I don't care that this is the first Bond film that doesn't follow an original Ian Fleming story. I also don't care that the title sounds like an Outer Limits teleplay Harlan Ellison would've written fucked up on absinthe trying to break a contract. It's Bond. James Bond. Recognize.