So - What Have We Got To Look Forward To?

Frost/Nixon is out 23/01 
The much talked about Tom Cruise/WW 2 flick Valkyrie is out 23/01

Gran Torino (possibly Clint Eastwood's last acting role) is slated for 20/02
Watchmen is currently pencilled in for 06/03
Dragonball (10/04) could go either way...

I saw Frost/Nixon today in an advance screening and it's excellent. A gripping reenactment of probably Frost's finest moment with an immense performance by Frank Langella as the disgraced ex-president.

Anything Ron Howard makes is pretty much a must see.
Valkyrie looks interesting.
Dragonball - I still find anime and stuff based on anime an acquired taste.
Gran Torino - another one I'm not sure about.

Why am I ALWAYS the oldest kid on the block (48 in August). I had the indignity of being the oldest swinger in town at a recent new years eve party. That would have been almost bearable had I not already been thinking how horribly middle-aged and dull everyone seemed to be....!?!

Not much I'm looking fwd to movie-wise. Most seem over convoluted, over bloated and as dull as dishwater. Am I really alone in thinking 'Dark Knight' was predictable, long-winded and dreary? (Just like the POC franchise....sorry Mark!) And the prospects of 'Quantum' makes me yawn...I'll bet it's a pretty predicatble re-tread of the not bad 'Casino Royale'. Frost I found unbearable at the time and still have a Nixon/Agnew support badge in a collection somewhere (I got it as a kid in the US) and find that part of political history painful. So not looking fwd to that one.

Watchmen was a fun book and may turn into a fun movie (I liked V for Vendetta much more than I thought I would) so I'll wait and see.

There's more inevitable dispapointment to come with an A-Team movie, a 'Donnie Darko' sequel, a World of Warcraft movie (I kid you bloody not) and another Terminator movie. Gawd save us!!

You're only two years older than me, Grandad, and I'm not ready to become a Grumpy Old Man just yet - I'm busy having my third or fourth childhood, thank you very much. ;)

I agree a lot of current blockbusters are convoluted and bloated, and some are dull as ditchwater, but they're not aimed at discerning, mature moviegoers and media professionals. They're aimed at dumb f*ckers like me.

There's not a hell of a lot you can do with the Batman franchise to stop it being predictable. It's the nature of the beast. You could bend it out of all recognition (if your name was Frank Miller and you had a death wish), but then it would probably stop being Batman. I thought as a reboot of the franchise (remember I haven't seen Batman Begins properly) it worked very well and Heath Ledger's Joker is going to take some performance to erase.

When I take delivery of Quantum, I'm going to watch Casino Royale directly before it and treat both pictures as one long one. I thought CR was a better picture than I'd expected, but I still feel that the Bond team have gone too far divorcing themselves from the previous movies. If there's one franchise doesn't need a reboot, it's 007, but what it does need is somebody who can come up with the bonkers plots of old.

A-Team movie - I pity the fool who came up with that one. Which reminds me - Duffy uses that line in her "Rain On Your Parade" single. Miss BA Baracus, perhaps?

Donnie Darko - haven't seen the original, won't see the sequel.

World of Warcraft - I've seen an ad for the game with Ozzy Osbourne going on about being the Prince of Darkness since 1979, then in games footage the Devil erupts out of the ground, points a sword at Ozzy and roars that there is only one Prince of Darkness. Sharooooooonnnnn!!!

Terminator: Whatever - Can't call it Terminator 4 or the director gets really upset according to Total Film. Meh.

Call it a chick flick, but I kind of like the look of Bride Wars with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway.

Oh, and Inkheart looks fun as well.

Predictable I can live with ...it's the overly complex and poorly penned / edited narratives that i don't like. And it's a trend that I see more and more of in the Blcokbuster world. If I sound snobby I really don't mean to. I like a good Carry On as much as the next man. Maybe it's an age thing. I prefer my movies at a gentler pace, and less (un-necessarily) complex and convoluted.

'Bride Wars' might be fun. I won't expect much from Inkheart though....always difficult condensing a 600 page book into two hours. Still - I shouldn't judge until I've seen 'em I spose.

And on a brighter note I feel sure there'll be some unexpected pleasantries ahead. Just can't see too many likely prospects on the slate. (sigh)

Having said that, I completely avoided 'Get Smart' as I loved the TV Series as a kid and didn't want to spoil it ala The Saint / The Avengers et al. I'll check it out now if you you liked it as I know you're a fan of the original series too. I did see a clip with some beaded curtains coming undone that made me laugh aloud so maybe it will be just what the doctor ordered.

I liked Quantum, but I'd definitely recommend watching Casino again first, as it really is a sequel, and there's a lot of back-referencing which you might remember, but a refresher course is always good!

The A-Team film is surely destined for epic fail status...

I'd recommend Get Smart wholeheartedly. Pick up the Bruce and Lloyd simulquel as well as that's a riot. I've been immersed in Get Smart since the beginning of December, picking up the entire original series (five seasons), the two movies Nude Bomb and Get Smart Again (which are disappointments), the 1995 "Son of" series with Andy Dick (and he certainly is), the new movie and Bruce and Lloyd. The new movie nails the whole classic "Get Smart" vibe - although Anne Hathaway isn't as lovesick as Barbara Feldon's Agent 99. There are some great action sequences as well as jokes - in fact I think Maxwell Smart is a deadlier shot than 007.

I've been reading the new issue of Total Film and suddenly I'm not sure about Watchmen - one of the characters is supposed to kill a pregnant woman and rape another. I know "genre" is supposed to be a dirty word these days, but....

Well, I've made a good start by getting Series 1 of Get Smart (R2) - did you pick up all 5 x US sets? I wasn't aware of the spinoffs and had no idea about the recent 'simulquel' (great name!) ...but inevitably will mop 'em all up to satisfy the completist in me. The first series is fantastic - even more enjoyable than first time round and there are very few series you can say that about. (Though 'Dark Shadows' is proving to be just as much fun second time around...and on that note, Johnny Depp is supposed to be playing Barnabus Collins in a remake. Now I like that boy but the prospects of him playing the charismatic Barnabus seem ludicrous!)

I picked up the R2 set of series 1 as well, but just before Xmas picked up the R2 box set from Play. It's gone up by £30 since then. :o