pre-emptive movie reviews

Ok, I feel like sharing my thoughts on some upcoming movies. Why? Because I have a blog and I can.

The Road
When I read The Road by Cormack McCarthy, I knew it would lend itself well to film. So I wasn't surprised when the announced they were making it. However, I'm torn about seeing it - I know it will be a great movie but I know it will make me cry. It's a very dark, bleak, gray, post-apopolyptic story. However, the trailers make it look like the mom in the story has a bigger part than she originally did in the book. Maybe it's just flashbacks or something, but I hope the story isn't too altered.

Alice in Wonderland
As for Alice, that's my favorite director (Tim Burton) and favorite actor (Johnny Depp), making my favorite book. Win. I've been excited about this since I heard it was in production. Yes, I'm sure I'll still have some minor complaints about it, but it might be one of those book-to-movie things that I have to pretend are two separate entities.

Sherlock Holmes
Another movie version of a book coming out is Sherlock Holmes. This is yet another of my favorite books, so I'm more than a little annoyed that for some reason they made the detective an action star. I'm sure it would have been a fine movie, but why don't they call it something else? (Jay suggested "Ass Kicking Detective.") The whole point of Sherlock Holmes is that he was more cerebral. Yes, there was the occasional chase scene, but nothing like the trailers are showing.

Going off on a minor tangent, this reminds me of the movie I, Robot. You guessed it, another of my favorite books. But the thing is, the book I, Robot is really a collection of loosely related short stories. I never saw the movie, but from the previews I know that it is in fact based on another Isaac Asimov book, The Robots of Dawn. Why didn't they just call it that? Is it because that book is part of a trilogy, and even though the book can stand alone fine they would feel obligated to make all three movies?

(Can I just mention here that I hate the superfluos comma that is involved in the title of that book because it makes my grammar in that sentence look atrocious. Sorry, I'm a nerd like that.)

Out of these, I'll probably only see Alice in the theater. Nothing against the other ones, but I really don't make it to the theater that much. I haven't been at all since I move to Asheville, and the last one I saw in Michigan was Star Trek. So that should tell you something. Doesn't stop me from offering my thoughts on the matter though. :)