Random Movie Stuff - 7/5/12

- Inside Llewyn Davis will now open February 8, 2013.  It's the next movie from the Coen brothers, and it's about the folk-music scene in 1960's New York.  Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Oscar Isaac and John Goodman star.

- Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Angela Bassett will star in Olympus Has Fallen.  Butler will play an ex-Secret Service agent who defends the President (Eckhart) when terrorists attack the White House.  Bassett will play the head of the Secret Service.  Antoine Fuqua (King Arthur) will direct.

- Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical) will star in Scary Movie 5.

I've caught a couple 2011 titles recently.  First my wife and I were looking for a romantic movie to watch on Netflix Instant, and I remembered Certified Copy had good reviews.  Well, it's one of those movies that shouldn't be listed as a "romance" just because it stars a woman and a man.  That's like calling Revolutionary Road a romance.  So because it wasn't what we expected, my wife hated it.

Not the movie's fault, but Certified Copy (★★½) is one of those talky, well-acted foreign films that has an interesting hook, but it becomes increasingly unpleasant as it unwinds.  Juliette Binoche stars as Frenchwoman who goes to meet a British author in Tuscany, and most of the movie is their conversation as they tour the city.  We know only what the movie tells us, and as their conversation continues, we start to question the relationship between the two.  Do they already know each other? Is this some odd flirting ritual?

Also, the Scera theater has kid movies every Wednesday afternoon for cheap, and we bought season tickets.  Since the 4th was a holiday, I was able to accompany them.  Unfortunately the movie was Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil (★½), one of the ugliest animated movies I've ever seen on the big screen.  It is cheap, television-level quality and never should have made it to theaters.  Having said that, it had a couple good lines here and there, buried among the crap, and my kids really enjoyed it.