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A look at the biggest comics, movies, TV and video game releases for this week
By Wade Gum |
Posted June 18, 2007 9:30 AM |
MOVIES
Evan Almighty
Friday, June 22
Rated PG
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 Behold! The most expensive comedy of all time! It’s a budget of biblical proportions! How does a comedy end up costing upwards of $250 million (and that’s not even including the marketing budget)? Did they physically construct an ark and then flood an entire city? Did they hire a really great giraffe that demanded a $10 million salary and points on the back end? Did they build another Tower of Babel so they could have a script consultation with God? It boggles the mind.
Now it’s up to you, America. It’s up to you to make sure that poor movie executives make their money back on “Evan Almighty.” If you don’t see this movie, they might not be able to afford any more plastic surgery from Dr. 90210. Don’t let starving movie executives cancel their memberships to Gold’s Gym. See this movie a dozen times! It has Steve Carell! That counts for something, right? It’s also the only non-horror release of the weekend, so if you don’t want nightmares about ghosts and torturing people, you have no choice.
1408
Friday, June 22
Rated PG-13
Stephen King adaptations don’t exactly have the best track record. For every “Shawshank Redemption” and “Green Mile,” there are a dozen movies like “Dreamcatcher,” “Firestarter,” Thinner” and “Desperation.” Heck, even when Stephen King adapts his own books into movies as a director, things still go bad. Not even that Green Goblin truck could redeem “Maximum Overdrive.”
This latest adaptation may just have a chance at being good, though. There’s some good talent involved, like John Cusack, and it’s based on one of the better short stories in King’s Everything’s Eventual anthology. It’s pretty much a simple ghost story about a creepy haunted room in which most guests end up committing suicide. It’s also a very short story, so the filmmakers have had to cram in some subplots about a dead daughter and the like.
If “1408” can deliver a disturbing little tale about a dirty hotel room, it can be considered a successful King adaptation. If it fails, at least we still have Frank Darabont’s adaptation of “The Mist” to look forward to.
Captivity
Friday, June 22
Rated R
How do you make people pay attention to your run-of-the-mill torture horror film on a weekend with a blockbuster comedy and a Stephen King adaptation? Why, piss off the MPAA of course! The rather graphic billboard ads for “Captivity” incited the ire of many a concerned passing motorist and got the production company in a lot of hot water with the ratings board. Then again, it also got the film all over the news, and when it comes to horror movies, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The film also holds a big appeal to disgruntled fans of television’s “24” who still hold a grudge against Kim Bauer. If you ever groaned in despair as you were forced to watch yet another horrible Kim subplot, now you can go watch this film and see Elisha Cuthbert get tortured. It won’t make up for the “Kim is stuck in a cougar trap!” plotline, but it’s still cathartic.
VIDEO GAMES
Resident Evil 4
Tuesday, June 19
Nintendo Wii
$29.99
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 Who says the new consoles have a drought of games? Just because the only marquee release of the week happens to be a port of a 2-year-old Gamecube title doesn’t mean jack. Besides, it’s the best Resident Evil game to date and an incredible action title for less than 30 bucks! Resident Evil 4 plays with the franchise formula by ditching the T-Virus and the Umbrella Corp. in favor of creepy voodoo zombie aesthetics and evil alien parasites.
In addition to the new story, Resident Evil 4 features revamped controls that make it easier than ever to target specific body parts and blow zombies to pieces. It even has Wii-specific controls that involve such innovative actions as “wiggling the controller” and “wiggling the controller really fast.”
Leon Kennedy becomes a one-man arsenal with a steady supply of rifles, shotguns, grenades and rocket launchers stuffed in his pockets. Capcom was legally required to make players escort an annoying teenage girl through portions of the game; otherwise it would simply be too awesome and cause other game developers to quit in frustration.
Transformers
Tuesday, June 19
Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable
$29.99/$39.99
Transformers—they’re more than meets the eye. You may think you only see a crappy Civic parked on the street corner, but it’s actually a dangerous robot capable of destroying you! That seems like a lot of wasted effort to terrorize humanity. Why not just transform into a Yugo and kill humans the old-fashioned way?
If you can’t wait for Michael Bay’s newest explosion-laden movie full of robots, the video game adaptation is now available for purchase on your favorite portable systems. The DS has two different versions featuring Autobots and Decepticons (think Pokémon Red and Blue) where players can do battle with each other wirelessly. You can also do cooperative play and go through the game together with friends. PlayStation Portable owners can compete in four-person multiplayer matches online.
TELEVISION
AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies
Wednesday, June 20
8 p.m.
CBS
What better way to figure out what movies are good than by listening to the opinions of old people who haven’t watched a new movie in over a decade? If you think “Tootsie” is the height of comedy, your tastes will be right in line with that of the American Film Institute!
Truth be told, while the AFI’s judging criteria may be a bit suspect when it comes to comedies, they’re rock solid when it comes to drama. If you’re looking to broaden your horizons by watching the work of such auteurs as Hitchcock, Wells, Coppola and Wilder, there’s no better way to start than by watching the films on this list. In this 10th anniversary edition, the AFI will consider films from the past 10 years in their selection. However, if you expect “Shrek” to unseat “The Godfather,” you may be in for disappointment.
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