Once January 1st rolls around, the offical window for Oscar consideration is officially closed. What’s that mean for you, the faithful audience member? Well, traditionally it means that you can look forward to four months of crap, throwaway films, and the other miscellaneous niche stuff that the studios couldn’t find a place for, but maybe it’ll be different this time around. Let’s take a look…
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January 6th sees the release of Eli Roth’s (of Cabin Fever fame) film, Hostel. The advance word is that this vacation-from-hell horror romp is chock full of blood, gore, torture, and nudity. Fun! The plot revolves around three backpackers who head to a Slovakian city in search of not-so-wholesome fun and instead find some pretty harsh horror. Personally, I kinda hated Cabin Fever so I’m up in the air on this one.
Also on the 6th is the latest droppings from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company, called Grandma’s Boy. Starring Sandler film staple Allen Covert, this one is about an aging video game tester who lives with his grandmother and her two pals. My cup overrunneth.
On the 13th Terrace Malick (Days of Heaven, Thin Red Line) delivers The New World, a more reality based retelling of the story of Pocahontas and her lover, John Smith, but told more from Smith’s perspective. Starring Colin Farrell, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, and more people who’s first name start with ‘C’, if nothing else this should prove to be a ridiculously well shot film. Malick has what may well be one of the best eyes for cinematography in the business, but I may be one of four people who still think Thin Red Line was a brilliant look at war. I’ve seen some extended footage from this already, and I’m ready to see more, but I’ll still admit this one could go either way.
The Weinstein Company lets loose Hoodwinked on the 13th as well. They picked this up at the Cannes earlier in ‘05 (with great fanfare), but an early January release seems to indicate that perhaps it’s not going to be the Shrek killer they thought it was. Some of us will be seeing this one later this week (as it’s being pimped for ‘Best Animated’ consideration), so I’ll let you know what we find out.
Having decided that between Hoosiers, Coach Carter, Blue Chips, He Got Game, and that episode of Scooby Doo with the Harlem Globetrotters that there’s still some basketball stories needing to be told, Buena Vista Pictures is putting out Glory Road, starring Josh “Don’t Call me Matt” Lucas as Texas Western coach Don Haskins, who led the first all black team to the NCAA tournaments in 1966. I think collectively the basketball film should have ended with the excellent Hoosiers, but hey….what do I know. I’m a football guy.
And lastly we have Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah as a woman who decides that terminal illness is a good excuse for a wonderful vacation, in which many life lessons will be learned. Latifah has charm to spare, but she’s often thrown it away on forgettable projects. I’m none to excited about this one, myself.
We’ll finish up with the last two weeks of January releases next week, so check back.