While we here at LRG salute bad movies during August(unofficially known as Bad Movie Month),truth be told that like the proverbial bad penny,awful films can pop up at just about any time of the year.
Another old saying,"you can't judge a book by it's cover" can be easily re-applied to cinema with "you can't judge a movie by it's trailer",yet some of those can be seen more as warnings than enticements to spend your money at the box office on opening weekend.
Of course,I could be wrong about the quality of these upcoming films but take a look for yourselves before you pre-order those tickets,folks. First up on the hit parade is When in Rome starring Kristen Bell as an unlucky in love New Yorker who decides to hedge her romantic bets by swiping a few coins from a magical fountain while on a trip to Rome.
This causes the guys who tossed the coins in to fall under a love spell and hunt her down while she tries to figure out if the man she's really interested in is doing so because of true love or under the influence of magic.Kristen,why are you doomed to be in these kinds of ridiculously bad romantic comedies? You were Veronica Mars,one of the smartest and savviest female leads on TV-pick something worthy of your talents,please!:
Speaking of wasted talent,John Cusack stars in Hot Tub Time Machine(a movie that first came to my attention via The Soup),as one of four fellas that wind up back in the 1980s due to the title communal bathing item. It's not just Cusack's time and acting ability being tossed into the trash-Rob Corddry,Craig Robinson and Clark Duke,you guys deserved way better than this:
Sometimes,certain actors seem to take just about anything that comes their way,regardless of whether or not he/she is right for the part. Many,like Christopher Walken,can bring a whole other level of entertainment to routine comedies and action films with their offbeat presence and artistic geniuses like Johnny Depp can even get Oscar nominations out of Keith Richards impersonations in a trio of Disney theme park based flicks.
Nicholas Cage,however,is more along the lines of that unwelcome guest at the party who one wants to be responsible for telling him it's time to go home. This year,you can take your pick of Cage poison by either seeing him as a knight who leads a band of men taking a medieval witch to her punishment in Season of the Witch:
Or,wait until the summer to watch him play a wizard who mentors a Jonas Brothers reject into being The Sorcerer's Appentice. Either way,Nick,you fit into fantasy films as smoothly as a elephant riding a unicycle down an escalator-did you learn nothing from Ghost Rider?:
Other dubious movies are clearly made with the best intentions such as Furry Vengeance,which has Brendan Fraser learning a lesson about green issues the hard way from some live action animal hijinks. The message is well meant but I think the point could be gotten across without resorting to cheap crotch shots and outhouse gags:
Perhaps I'm being too picky-after all,not every movie has to or should live up to everyone's standards of fun. Fun is subjective,which is why the term "guilty pleasures" exists.
Yet,considering all of the time,money and material that goes into making a movie and putting it out there for audiences to enjoy,some projects seem to be real head scratchers as to how they got the greenlight while others that are more original and creative are still struggling to be noticed by the big timers in Hollywood.
Oh well,that's show business. In the meantime,don't feel the need to spend your entertainment money on a movie that will no doubt be available for DVD rental all too soon. Even if your kids clamor to see Dwayne Johnson in Tooth Fairy(dude,family films are nice but set some limits there!),hold out for something better at the multiplex. They'll thank you for it,one day:
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