Movie Tuesday

One of the features on we discussed for WKFTB -- and yes we did map out a basic outline for the blog – was a weekly movie/pop culture post designed to A) keep you up to date on that week’s new releases B) inform you of other movies or sweet projects that we feel you should know about and C) hopefully give a few pop culture tidbits at the end of the post.

The idea was to post this every Monday as a Movie Monday post with the pop culture info at the end of the trailers/reviews, etc. But because of the Michael Young news yesterday, I kept in tune with my daily sports posts and completely ignored the movies.

So we’ll give you the post today instead. And because of some complaints about the lengthiness of some of these posts, I’ll restrict the comments to caveman-style one-word responses, and follow that up with embedded clips of the corresponding trailers. That should be enough to keep the ADD-SportsCenter-McNews crowd happy.

We’ll give you the title, release date, the crowd buzz (linked to Fandango) and the critics’ reviews (linked to Rotten Tomatoes). After that we’ll have the trailer. We’ll give you 2-3 movies coming out this week, one more coming soon, and a final one that’s in the future. We’ll follow it all with interesting notes that may or may not go with the featured movies. Since this is a rough go, please provide feedback/suggestions on how to do it better or what you want.

The Wrestler
Release Date: Friday
Fan Buzz: Great
Critic Reviews: Great
WKFTB Opinion: Go see it. Fabulous reviews from critics and fans alike. Great movie if you don’t like wrestling, but if you do it’s a must-see. WARNING: there is a tear alert for all males.



Notorious
Release Date: Friday
Fan Buzz: Good
Critic Reviews: Good
WKFTB Opinion: You know we’re hip-hop slanted and you know we were going to see this anyway. But, with solid reviews from fans and critics alike, this is a no-brainer to see, hopefully in Randolph.



Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Release Date: Friday
Fan Buzz: Surprisingly good
Critic Reviews: None, meaning it most likely wasn’t screened for critics
WKFTB Opinion: Whenever you don’t hold an early screening for the critics, it means one thing: movie sacccckks. Trailer looks like one of the most corniest things on earth. We like Kevin James, but his shtick is getting a bit old. Go see this movie…if you’re a mega chooch.



Watchmen
Release Date: March 6 (maybe, see below trailers)
Fan Buzz: People seemed pumped
Critic Reviews: Too Early
WKFTB Opinion: Trailer looks amazing. This is definitely one of those movies you need to see in the theatres, because regardless of how good it is, with the CGI, explosions, sounds and huge effects, it will obviously be way iller on the big screen. There is a problem with the release though, see below.



Public Enemies
Release Date: July 1
WKFTB Opinion: Johnny Depp plays legendary gangster John Dillinger? With Christian Bale co-starring? Looks like another Depp Summer Blockbuster. No trailers yet, but the video below is kind of cool, just a bunch of stills from Depp shooting the movie and a few of what look to be viral videos of the set.



Pop Culture Round-Up:
-Depp was busy this year. Not only did he film PE, but he also shot as the Mad Hatter in 2010’s "Alice in Wonderland". Honestly, if someone put a gun to your head and said, who is the best person to play the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, don’t you instantly scream Johnny Depp?

-Problem with Watchmen: Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox are in a court battle over distribution rights. Warner made the $100 million picture and wants to distribute it itself, but Fox owns the distribution rights to any adaption of the graphic novel (Watchmen). The two sides will resume battle on Jan. 20, with the March 6 release in jeopardy if there’s no agreement.

-Will Smith has no movie coming out this summer. Crazy, right? But he is in preliminary discussions about a sequel to "Hancock" and prequel to "I Am Legend."

Sweet Releases/Debuts this week: American Idol tonight on FOX, season premiere of Flight of the Concords this Sunday on HBO, "Swing Vote" comes out on DVD.