In Theaters: 04.18.08

I managed to miss last week because I was enjoying a nice break at home. That break got extended a little too far into the week and so now I’m attempting to make up for it. Don’t fret, I’ll look at a few films I missed, even though you probably won’t care for them much anyway. As for this week, you’ll be happy to hear that some worthy titles are now starting to arrive in theaters. This is the average trend you’ll see every year, as we get closer and closer to summer more and more good movies come out. By the time we’re well past summer and into November and December we’ll see the majority of the “Oscar-worthy” titles. It’s a natural cycle but this year has been one of the worst in recent memory.

Coming out on top last week was Prom Night, and to be honest I wasn’t thinking it would actually do that well. Prom Night is often mistaken as a remake of the 1980’s title of the same name which starred Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s probably a smart move not to rehash an old film that was also regarded as trash, so at least they got that right. Prom Night finds itself disregarding all the facts of life in order to create a fun motion picture. Usually there is nothing wrong with that but in this case its story is almost as generic as the mistakes it constantly runs into.

Street Kings debuted with a disappointing $12.5 million last weekend, almost half the earnings Prom Night took in. It looked as if this would be a return to form for Keanu Reeves after making a few weak titles (excluding A Scanner Darkly). Unfortunately, Street Kings is related more to Point Blank than Speed. The biggest problem cited is the miscasting of several crucial roles, especially Hugh Laurie as Captain Biggs. On the Bright Side, it supposedly finds its place among other cop movies without reminding you too much of any past efforts in the genre. In short, that means it will be an ok rental when the time comes.

Of all the movies coming out this week 88 minutes is definitely the worst. Actually, it’s already being regarded as one of the most hated films of all time and is currently placed at 84, right above Epic Movie, on Metacritic’s list of worst-reviewed films. It’s not often we see such a horrible movie, especially since this had all the makings to be good (besides the most crucial part, a script). To be fair, I was actually sad considering I’m a fan of Al Pacino and Jon Avnet’s Fried Green Tomatoes.

Anyone remember when Jet Li was going to call it quits after making Fearless in 2006? Well, he lied to us and after making War he’s returning to a certain Forbidden Kingdom. After seeing both its commercials and trailers I found that the Forbidden Kingdom is truly confused. Does it want to fit in with the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers? Or would it rather be regarded as a fun ramp along the lines of any recent Jackie Chan movie? I think these questions are answered when you find out Rom Minkoff is directing. Minkoff isn’t a terrible director by any means but his portfolio, which consists of Stuart Little and The Lion King, doesn’t really scream “intense action” to me. Plus, one of my pet peeves is when a foreign looking movie features English speaking characters. It completely takes me out of the experience. If you’re a big fan of Jet Li or Jackie Chan this is probably one of the dream teams you’ve been waiting for, take full advantage while you can.

My pick of the week is undoubtedly Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This is the first release of the year from my list of early anticipations and it appears this will go down as one of the year’s best comedies. Jason Segel is Peter Bretter (A.K.A. the role he was born to play) along with a strong supporting cast that includes Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, and SNL’s Bill Hadder. I’m going to keep this short because I don’t want to overwrite on the subject. I’ll be seeing the movie later tonight so you can expect a fully informed opinion by tomorrow.

As we look into the distance things are looking better and better. Be on the lookout for Harold and Kumar, Iron Man and some “indie” flicks looking to make inroads into mainstream audiences.