Cine'cism

Let’s assume I don’t just like hearing myself talk and that I had a reason for re-listening to an old WEEKEND Watchers podcast previewing spring films.
What I found was that many times I was proving myself right.

To no surprise, “Watchmen” was the biggest fanboy exploitation ever made; “State of Play” was one of the better movies of the spring and “Inglourious Basterds,” which at the time was my most-anticipated movie of the year, is now the best movie of the year.

Yet in the same podcast, I expressed my excitement for “Duplicity,”  “Monsters vs. Aliens,” “Star Trek” and “Wolverine,”  all of which were severe disappointments in my book. 

So who do I blame for my inaccurate predictions?

I blame the infinite number of trailers that never fully characterize a film. I blame high expectations for films that never live up to their of hype. And I blame the industry for requiring advance speculation on a film, when all of my information is second hand to begin with, and the first hand was never that informed, either.  
With that said, I’m not the biggest fan of previews. They are often wrong, uninformative and uninteresting to those only looking for the movies they’ve seen trailers for.

But with no intention to further fan the flames of films too over-hyped to begin with, here are my thoughts on the upcoming months in film.

Opening on Friday is “Where the Wild Things Are,” everyone’s favorite children’s book no one remembers. Although I’m as hopeful as anyone, if there’s reason to be excited for “Wild” it’s because this is Spike Jonze’s first film since the brilliant “Adaptation” and not the Arcade Fire song that compliments the suspiciously cute trailer.

But this month is also home to the Coen brothers’ latest, “A Serious Man,” which is a serious Oscar contender. Hilary Swank is also a potential nominee (for Best Actress) for her performance in “Amelia,” and “New York, I Love You” is the American version of a lovely collection of French short films titled “Paris, Je T’Aime.”

In November, potential blockbusters “A Christmas Carol,” “2012” and some weird Wes Anderson thing (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”) are all sure to be disappointments. But how many people will miss out on new films by Pedro Almodóvar (“Broken Embraces”), Rob Marshall (“Nine”) and Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) because of a little film called “New Moon?”

In fact, the better book-to-film adaptation this year will be of Cormac McCarthy’s (“No Country for Old Men”) novel “The Road.”

As for December, the battle of the directors will be the interesting one. Who will win out – Guy Ritchie’s film about Sherlock Holmes or Clint Eastwood’s movie about Nelson Mandela?

And whose visual endeavor will be more lucrative – James Cameron’s “Avatar” with some underwhelming 3-D or Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones,” based on a best-selling novel? 

But if there’s one film I’m most excited about, it’s “Precious,”  a film about a black teenage girl with an extremely low self-esteem.

It won audience awards at both Sundance and the Toronto Film Festival, and the film is receiving more buzz than “Slumdog Millionaire.”

An independent winner for Best Picture would be a marvelous stride for the indie industry, but with continued distribution problems, most people will be lucky to see it before March. 

I cannot tell you how much more I care about this film and others than teen vampire angst, and it’s up to the masses to show they care, too.

If you would like to see “Precious” before its Oscar wins and DVD release, seek out this and other films wherever you can, and know that your ticket is a vote telling Hollywood what movies we desire.