In Theaters: 03.14.08

The biggest release hitting theaters today is Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! featuring an impressive list of voice actors. The fact that Jim Carrey and Steve Carell lend their talents will be enough to propel it to the top of the charts over the weekend. 10,000 B.C. is expected to plummet after starting out at an impressive $35.9 million. This should sound familiar since I predicted it would happen last week because the word of mouth is less than favorable.

By far the most interesting (and fought over) movie this week is Funny Games directed by Michael Haneke and staring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, and Brady Corbet. This is actually Haneke’s second attempt at making Funny Games. He successfully completed a foreign version in 1998 with mixed feedback but that didn’t stop it from becoming a cult hit of sorts. The new version seems to be getting the same type of response from critics (we’ll see if fans respond). Based off what I’ve seen so far it looks like a modern day Clockwork Orange. Just by comparing the two trailers (Clockwork trailer, Funny Games trailer) it’s easy to see a few similarities. Is anyone ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence?

At first I thought Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! would be flop (I don’t know why) but after examining it all this week I can see why it’s getting good reviews so far. The 3D characters are exactly what the doctor asked for, especially when you consider the actors behind them. Besides Jim Carrey and Steve Carell there is the voice acting debut of Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. This looks like a tour de force of actors jam packed into roughly two hours of entertainment. I would’ve included a short synopsis but I haven’t read the book. Plus, anyone interested in seeing it above the age of 14 is probably going for nostalgia purposes and already knows it by heart anyway.

I’ve been waiting for a documentary to cover media spin and now it’s finally here in the form of War Made Easy. Narrated by Sean Penn, the film “[covers a] 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.” For the most part it exposes the similarities between the Vietnam and Iraq wars using examples of media propaganda from past and present. Jeremy Earp, one of the directors, is no stranger to politically charged documentaries; he also played a role in forming 2004’s Hijacking Catastrophe. I guess you could say these guys are like the serious versions of Michael Moore. Chances are this won’t be coming to a theater near you but you can buy the DVD at the official website.

It is pretty inevitable that Doomsday is going to be a poor movie. It wasn’t screened to critics so that means they wanted audiences blindly entering the theaters this weekend. That’s too bad considering director Neil Marshell had an excellent track record and I especially liked what he did with the 2006 horror/drama, The Descent. I still have hope that this movie won’t be too horrible for that reason alone. It’s really too early to call but let’s just say things aren’t looking good at this point.

If none of these movies seem to fit your taste then you can always try to find the courage to go and see Never Back Down! No? I wouldn’t either. Unlike previous weeks there are enough good wide releases coming out this week so people won’t have to check out an older release. Which, by the way, there are still plenty of good old releases in theaters like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (excellent, saw this last week), There Will Be Blood, and The Savages (making a slight comeback after getting some nominations at the Oscars). Stay tuned for write ups next week on Drillbit Taylor and Shutter.