Do you ever find yourself with a date-night on your hands & you want to go to the movies, but you & your spouse can’t quite settle on which one to see. Usually my hubby wants to see a movie with some action, & a little bit of Catherine Zeta Jones thrown in for good measure. I don’t mind action, but I usually want to see the movie that has all of the buzz swarming around it. Oh, & a little bit of Brendan Fraser thrown in for good measure doesn’t hurt. So what do you do? Well, hopefully these upcoming movies will help to satisfy everyone’s movie-going needs, it just all depends on which way you look at it.
He wants: Action, things blowing up, & a great villain
She wants: Oscar-worthy performances, & a love story
Solution: The Dark Knight (July 18)
This one definitely covers all of the bases. Action? Check. Things blowing up? Certainly seems so. A great villain? Actually there are two (The Joker & the genesis of Two Face). Oscar-worthy performances? Well, you’d have to be living in a hole to have not heard at least a little bit about Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. Michael Caine, who stars in the movie as Alfred, was recently quoted as saying "I’ve been this business for 50 years, so I’m not easily impressed. But this guy just blew me away." There is all kinds of Oscar buzz surrounding Ledger’s performance, portraying the Joker as a tortured soul as opposed to the cartoonish incarnations by Jack Nicholson & Cesar Romero that we all are familiar with. In the very least he has taken a hold of The Joker & made the character his own.
As far as a love story goes, Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes, the childhood friend & love interest of both Bruce Wayne & District Attorney Harvey Dent (aka Two Face). Okay, okay, so "love story" may be a bit of a stretch, but come on, at least Maggie Gyllenhaal is a major upgrade from Katie Holmes.
The movie has already broken online ticket sales records & in many of the big cities will be shown non-stop for 72 hrs starting Friday (or is that Thursday, I can never figure that one out) at midnight. Now I know I have mentioned this movie soooo many times, but I really think that it (& its predecessor Batman Begins) changed not only how we view superhero-movies, but also what we want out of them. That is, more reality, less fantasy.
He wants: Government espionage, thriller, & mystery
She wants: Relationship analysis, possible love story, & some dark humour
Solution: X-Files: I Want To Believe (July 25)
Okay, okay, so we don’t really know much about this incarnation of the X-Files movie except that it is a stand-alone mystery (think of the old "monster-of-the-week" episodes) that doesn’t really deal with the whole X-Files lore. Apparently this was done to appeal to the broadest audience possible, but honestly, how many people who didn’t watch one episode of the TV show are going to go shell out $10 each to see this movie? I’m guessing not many. But who cares about them anyway!!! I loved this show & have always had a huge crush on David Duchovny (don’t ask about the time my friends set me up with a guy solely based on the fact that he looked like David Duchovny….one word….disaster), so it’s right at the top of my list of must-sees.
This movie has all of the things I mentioned above, including maybe a little bit of Mulder-Scully lovin’. Did anyone else see the "about-to-kiss" shot in the trailer? I want to believe in that!!
He wants: Exotic locales, girls in bikinis, & big-name actors
She wants: Hunky (hunky?!? What am I, 12?!?) guys, great girlfriends, & fabulous music
The Solution: Mamma Mia (July 18)
Okay, maybe not high on most guys’ lists (although my Dad does admit to dancing in the aisles when he saw the musical…oops maybe I wasn’t supposed to say that), but it definitely does fill all of the criteria. Greek Islands. Lots of bikinis. Meryl Streep. Pierce Brosnan. Colin Firth. Julie Walters. Now I know that some of you may question the "hunkiness" of Pierce Brosnan, but not I. Plus, he sings!! I love the mother-daughter dynamic in this movie, plus the "old" girlfriends who are always there to tell it like it is. So if you can’t drag the hubby to see this one, then definitely grab the girls & make a night of it. I already have a GNO lined up to see this one. Great movie. Great food. Great company. Just what my brain needs right now.
And as far as the music goes, I am convinced that even people who profess to hate ABBA, don’t really. Honestly, how can you hate ABBA? I mean, they’re Swedish!! Their music is infectious, & oh ya, did I mention? Pierce sings. James Bond singing?!? Worth. Every. Penny.
So hopefully this gives you a few ideas on how to look at movies in a different light. In the very least it might help you sell a certain movie to your spouse that they would normally not be caught dead seeing. "Oh ya sweetie, it’s got all kinds of big name actors. And did I mention the girls in bikinis?"
Fab recos, Margot! I can NOT wait to see both X-Files and Mama Mia. I am going to wait to hear what others have to say about Batman as sometimes the hype is just that. You are back in top form!
See you in a few weeks 😉