Mr. and Mrs. Smith - Neither Brad Pitt nor Angelina Jolie make my list of preferred actors & actresses. Although I liked the latter's performance as Francesca Cook in Sky Captain, she's just never caught my fancy. Until now. Er, right. She's right attractive, as a matter of fact. Gratuitous gunplay with a gorgeous woman can always catch my eye. Consider both of them caught. According to some IMDB reports, Nicole Kidman was going to be in the Angelina Jolie role. Curses.
Bewitched - It has Nicole Kidman. 'nuff said. That being said, I used to like watching the original series on television in various re-runs, and I was rather interested in seeing how well Miss Kidman would compare to Elizabeth Montgomery, who was arguably one of the best-looking women on television during the original broadcast run of the series.
One of Australia's finest---alongside Cate Blanchett, of course---does very well, thank you. She'll go very far in covering up for that blathering idiot Will Ferrell. Michael Caine's presence ought to add to the success. Did I mention that Nicole Kidman's a babe in this? Combine it with a touch of white magic, and well, hellllloooooooo nurse, to quote one of the Warner Brothers.
War of the Worlds - This might be good. I really enjoyed---and was often scared by---the late 1980s Paramount syndicated show of the same name. I'm not much of a Tom Cruise fan---any man who'd leave Nicole Kidman---but this might actually be good. I'm sort of hopeful about this, even though I doubt I'll ever get to hear that creepy "To life immortal!" again.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - I have high hopes for this, and it looks to be done well. I'm eager to see how this one plays out, with special curiosity as to the way Lewis' Christian themes and imagery survive the Hollywood process. I just wish Jadis had gone to one of my favorite Australian actresses. Tee hee. Hopefully this will be well done and do well; I'd like to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader put to film.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention one other picture's trailer.
Fantastic Four - I barely understand this particular Marvel franchise. Most of the comic books I read when I was younger were moldering back issues of the Marvel Battlestar Galactica book, Transformers, and the various Robotech series. At any rate, Jessica Alba is miscast as Susan Storm Richards. From a visual perspective, Jessica Alba doesn't match what I've found to be the more or less image of Mrs. Richards; the color scheme seen in the movie doesn't work. Oh well.
Johnny Storm looks interesting, and Reed Richards looks like Reed Richards should. Ben Grimm will be weird to watch on screen. Nevertheless, I'll probably shell out for this flick as well. I can't remember the last time all the trailers to a movie came away with me thinking "I'll go and see it". Interesting.
Posted by Country Pundit at May 19, 2005 03:43 AM