This week is all about a return to simpler times, to years ago when a smarter-than-your-average bear ruled (not really) the airwaves. When video games looked like grids and we dreamed of entering the game ourselves. When people thought Owen Wilson was actually funny. Ahh, those were the days. Remember, I'm not reviewing these films, just predicting their Tomatometer score. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.
Tron: Legacy
Here's an admission: I don't play video games. I mean back in the day I dabbled in a little Atari here and there, rocked a few rounds of Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo and spent a couple of hours with Fifa soccer on Sega. But overall, I don't consider myself a video game connoisseur. So I'm not ashamed to admit I know relatively little about anything Tron-related. I've never seen the original, played any of the video games and didn't have any real interest in watching this at first. But, man the trailer just looks visually stunning. Maybe I've been missing out on this video game thing.
Tron: Legacy comes twenty-eight years after the original became a phenomenally nerdy landmark. In the sequel, Garrett Hedlund plays Sam Flynn searching for his father, Kevin Flynn, in the only place I would ever look for someone that's been missing for almost three decades: a video arcade. First time feature director Joseph Kosinski brings a computer graphics background to his film. Early reviews indicate he made a worthy follow up to the original.
Making a long-awaited sequel (or part of a franchise) is never an easy thing, and making them good is even harder, just ask George Lucas. This time it looks like everyone got it right. The Rotten Watch for Tron: Legacy is 71%.
How Do You Know
Not being a guy who typically falls into the romantic comedy trap (i.e. most of them looks absolutely dreadful) it is rare to see a rom-com trailer that looks both funny and touching. This one actually made me smile a little bit. Oh god, what is happening to me? Am I becoming a woman? Nevermind, umm beer, girls, burping, yeah those are things I'm into.
And besides the high levels of estrogen now seemingly flowing through me, there is another reason to get excited about this flick: director James L. Brooks. Now Brooks' movies have been few and far between of late, Spanglish (52%) in 2004 was his last directing work, but the guy's resume is nothing if not fantastic. There's As Good as it Gets (85%), Broadcast News (97%), and Terms of Endearment (89%) to just name a few. I usually don't go this far back into the someone's history, but those titles are definitely worth a mention.
His newest movie seems to be the same kind of rom-com in disguise. Really, it's actually a touching drama with comedic moments. With an all-star cast (Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, and Owen Wilson), Brooks could have another winner on his hands. The Rotten Watch for How Do You Know is 75%.
Yogi Bear
Here's a novel idea for those movie people with a little creative block: take a middling, moderately annoying, completely dated, and just generally stupid cartoon character and make a live action movie starring him and the guy from the show Ed. All of the sudden you've got a winner on your hands. And by winner, I mean a movie so stupid I couldn't even make it through the whole trailer on mute.
I really don't know what movie studios are thinking when I see crap like this getting thrown up on screen. Of course adults will hate this flick (they didn't even like Yogi Bear when they were kids, no one did), but will children want to see this? First time director, and 3-D expert Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth 61%) sure hopes so.
Just because I think it looks stupid though, Brevig's 3-D and some celebrity voiceovers (Timberlake and Aykroyd) could put the film close to the middle. The Rotten Watch for Yogi Bear is 39%.
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Recapping last week:
I've been doing this a long time (almost an entire year!) so when I'm off on a movie by more than 50%, you can rest assured there's a certain level of embarrassment. Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and gang totally fooled me into thinking they'd put together a quality production. Nope, not even close, and instead we get The Tourist (Predicted: 77% Actual: 20% ). Wow, 57% off is a true loss in the purest sense of the word. But I admit my mistakes, few and far between as they may be.
The rest of the week turned out better. In fact I was more off on The Tourist than the rest of last week's movies combined. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Predicted: 62% Actual: 51% ), The Fighter (Predicted: 74% Actual: 85% ), and The Tempest (Predicted: 34% Actual: 26%) were all within 15%, making the week an overall win. In fact, the biggest win was having The Tempest be even worse than I thought. That film looks dreadful.
Next week, Jack Black is stranded on an island, the Fockers return and the Coen Brothers are back with a western. It's going to be a Rotten Week!
