Coming attractions

I haven't done this in a while. I should go back to see how many of the upcoming movies I wanted to see I managed to see. I was going to see House of Wax this weekend, finally, but instead took the kids to see Madagascar (I know, I just ruined what little street cred I had in the horror blogosphere). UPDATE: When I compiled similar lists earlier in this blog's history, I was pretty much writing it for myself as a checklist reminder of movies I wanted to see. But I want to throw out the question to others: Which of the upcoming movies are you most looking forward to seeing? June 10 - Haute tension. French film opens in the U.S. Trailer here. This will probably go into my NetFlix queue even though I'd prefer to see it on the big screen. June 17 - Batman Begins. Let's just say I'm cautiously optimistic. June 24 - Land of the Dead. ::Drool:: Long awaited, eagerly anticipated and politically probably more relevant than ever before, I can't wait for this movie to open. Bewitched. I saw a trailer for it before Revenge of the Sith. It looks like the great pilot episode for a remake of a TV series. I doubt if there's enough to make it worth seeing on the big screen. Nicole Kidman as a witch is hot, though, and the wife loves Will Ferrell. July 1 - War of the Worlds. If the drive-in at Stephen City, Va., is playing it, that's where I'm going to try to see it. For some reason, seems like the perfect place to see this movie. Undead. An Australian zombie film hits the U.S. probably to ride the coattails of Land of the Dead. But it looks like a good popcorn flick and if you haven't seen the trailer yet you should. The Guardian raved about it. To be honest, I'm looking forward to this more than the big budget War of the Worlds. Here's what The Guardian had to say about Undead:

There's a few bob in zombie films nowadays; it's a lucrative niche market, and platoons of the walking dead with their outstretched arms and vacant stare are relatively cheap to rustle up. But Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's superb zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead recently raised the bar very high for this kind of thing, as well as giving us an unimprovably brilliant description of the zombie's befuddled, belligerent behaviour: "Like a drunk who's lost a bet." This is an Australian zombiesploitation splatterfest by the Spierig brothers, Michael and Peter, and it likeably declines to take itself too seriously, while simultaneously being very clearly the creation of people who take the genre very seriously indeed.

July 8 - Fantastic Four. This may sound like the most trivial of concerns, but I really wish they had made The Thing more clunky looking. Irregardless of the reviews, this is on my must-see list. The inner-fan boy in me cannot be denied. Trailer here. Dark Water. I don't know if I want to dive in to these waters after walking out of Ring 2. As someone on the IMDB message board asked, "No pirates?" July 22 - The Devil's Rejects. Long-time readers of this site know I've been watching the development of this movie with keen interest. July 29 - The Brothers Grimm. From the IMDB description of the plot:

Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. They are put to the test, however, when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage.

Terry Gilliam directing. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. What's not to like? Night Watch. Russian fantasy film with vampires, witches, shapeshifters and other creatures battle for control of the night. Here's part of how Filmcritic.com described Night Watch:

Once it receives its long due stateside release, the smash Russian fantasy epic Night Watch will inevitably be compared to The Matrix, most likely because of all the people running about a modern-day city (wearing sunglasses at night, no less) doing battle with forces that normal folks can’t even see. Also, the film was a box office hit and the first in a planned trilogy. But truth be told, Night Watch has much more in common with the worlds created by fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman, most especially his classic Neverwhere (filmed for British TV) about a secret world existing just below the surface of everyday London. The two works share an abiding interest in the careful creation and delineation of complex universes of the unreal – not to mention a love of dark, shady places, and large-scale struggles between good and evil.

Entire review well worth reading. Don't forget to answer which movie you're most looking forward to seeing.