Movies Opening This Week: Robert Rodriguez's spoiled kids

A lot of movies to cover this time... but perhaps an always major release is a new Robert Rodriguez film, because Rodriguez films are usually good. He's dug from the bottom of the barrel with the horrible Lavaboy and Sharkgirl and appealed the B-movie sensibilities of the critics with the underappreciated Planet Terror, but one thing remains for sure: he's a pretty big inspiration for indie filmmakers everywhere.

Still, why steal Meryl Streep's spotlight though? More on that later...

Shorts

Once again taking inspiration from his kids, Rodriguez's new film is about a stone that's able to grant wishes. Somewhat reminds me of the premise for Transformers 2, because everyone's trying to get and all, and hopefully it will also have the same surprising adult humor that the Spy Kids films possess (minus the third film, that is).

To be honest, however, I doubt it. Who knows though? The man is a pretty good filmmaker for the most part. He just listens to his kids a bit too much.

Julie & Julia

The first Meryl Streep flick of the summer, Julie and Julia is about a secretary named Julie Powell who aims to flip through the entirety of Julia Child's French cookbook in a year for her blog. Along the way, she learns that cooking is not all about pots, pans and groceries. In a weird twist, the movie also focuses on Child herself, and how she came to be such an inspiration for Powell and her experiment.

This is actually quite interesting because both lead very separate lives, and yet there are some similarities between them. I'd like to see if the movie works... though it's rather unfortunate that early reviews of the film, while positive towards Streep's performance as usual, aren't very impressed with the finished product. Really, Nora Ephron doesn't have the cleanest resume either. Her only good movies are You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. Her stinker? Well how about her more recent Bewitched? Whatever the case, I still have high hopes for this one.

Paper Heart

A few weeks ago, Michael Cera was with Jack Black and Harold Ramis. Now he's returning to Seth Rogen so he can make something genuinely funny. But wait a sec, this isn't even a comedy at all; it's actually a mockumentary that chronicles the life of a girl named Charylene Li. She claims that she doesn't believe in love, but when she meets Michael Cera, her beliefs go shaken.

It looks pretty interesting and cute... something you'd take a date to or something. Early critique has been extremely overwhelmingly positive, so it might probably be really good. To boot, Cera and Li have dated before thus they know each other, so expect the issue of comfortability and chemistry out the window!

There is an appealingly "guerilla" style to it that somewhat attracts me to it. Maybe I'll keep tabs on this.

Perfect Getaway

It looks like a film based on Lost without as much of the Sci-Fi, Survivor without the reality, and probably every other single survival horror movie out there. Yes, with nothing much special to bring to the table, it's the Perfect Getaway.

It features a pretty bland premise of a group of people finding paradise in an island, but it turns out that the island is nothing but. It suddenly becomes more dangerous as the body count ramps up, and in the end, two people will probably survive it anyway.

Nothing exciting, really. I have to give it to them for not spoiling the monster/creature/whatever that they're gonna reveal in the end though.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I can't really relate to the toy-based cartoon since I didn't watch it when it was still on channel 5, but I do know that many people just feel very nostalgic about the brand. So why not ruin your childhood with a live action remake?

The gang is pretty much back and played this time by a surprising cast of credible actors like Sienna Miller and Dennis Quaid (or at least this guy was credible), and they're here to, what else, defeat Cobra Commander. Action scenes look decent (but the ninjas look silly), but I don't know what to say about the story yet so... uhh, I got nothing to say since I've only got a 30-second trailer to work with.

Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy), it looks like a decent summer flick at best, and a toy resurrection (to cash in on) film at worst. Will the early good reviews be enough, or will it suffer the same fate as Transformers? Well, all I know is that I think Stephen Sommers is, safe to say, a better than director than Michael Bay, so... why not give it a chance for now?