The Ruins (trailer)
Overview: A documentary about the Japanese noise band would probably be asking too much. This is a horror film about some hikers who decide to visit a Mayan temple, with icky results.
Best Case: The screenplay was written by the author of the popular book of the same name, which was praised for upsetting horror conventions. He’s also the author of A Simple Plan, and if this film can construct a more complex moral picture than what horror films starring young people typically offer, it might be worthwhile. The director is a relative unknown with one lauded short film to his credit.
Worst Case: Young people go to mysterious foreign place and die horrific deaths. It’s not exactly cinematic virgin ground. Will Central America be as angry about this as Brazil was about Turistas?
Leatherheads (trailer)
Overview: John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) and George Clooney (famous guy from lots of stuff) are old-timey football players in the 1920s. Calvin Coolidge jokes and flapper outfits seem likely.
Best Case: Among A-list actors, Clooney seems to be one of the smarter and more discerning in terms of choosing roles. After a number of weighty Oscar-baiters and political treatises, a comedy is a good fit for him. Krasinski’s performance here and in the film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (which he is ambitiously also writing and directing) could make or break his chances as a name actor beyond The Office (assuming License to Wed hasn’t already).
Worst Case: Few films haul out the heavy clichés like sports comedies. And personally, the first week of the Major League Baseball season is the absolute nadir of my interest in football.
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (trailer)
Overview: The titular potheads run afoul of bungling national security agents who suspect an unholy alliance between North Korea and Al-Qaeda. Marijuana is probably referenced a few times.
Best Case: It’s difficult to think of another upcoming film with such extreme best case and worst case outcomes. The original had some surprisingly fresh humor for a stoner comedy, and while it had plenty of weak jokes, its rapid pacing excused some of them. If this movie is smart enough to follow through on its rather gutsy title, there’s room for some stingingly topical political humor and commentary. As an additional plus, Neil Patrick Harris is returning to his eponymous role, even though the upswing in his career since the first film means he’s not obligated to do so.
Worst Case: Postal with more pot jokes. The first Harold and Kumar wasn’t exactly in the same league as comedies by Broken Lizard or Judd Apatow’s crew, and it’s a long way down to the lowest common denominator that this sequel could easily hit.
The Love Guru (trailer)
Overview: Mike Myers plays the titular guru and is hired to help a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey star with his troubled marriage. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Alba also star. This and 2003’s wildly successful The Cat in the Hat are essentially the only non-Shrek, non-Austin Powers features Myers has done in the past 10 years.
Best case: Lots of hockey. Mats Sundin cameo.
Worst case: Austin Powers 4: Diminishing Results. The manic tone and fish-out-of-water angles are all too familiar. The preview suggests scenes that appear to be weirdly recycled bits of Austinism, most notably a shameless reworking of the Austin-can’t-stop-saying-mole gag from Goldmember. Will Ferrell and others have reoriented mainstream comedy so far to the weird and silly that Myers, who seemed fresh in 1997, is badly outflanked in films like this.
