It might be tough to get excited about a spinoff of the Shrek franchise, but at least in the case of Puss in Boots, Antonio Banderas — voicing the titular kitty — sounds like he's having a ball (of yarn) (I had to, guys). And at least this tertiary Shrek character has a little charm; we very well could have gotten a Gingerbread Man movie, and for all the money we've given DreamWorks for Shreks over the years, we would have deserved it.
Silver: “It’s an end-of-days movie, written and directed by Abel Ferrara.” Now that’s a statement that separates 4:44 Last Day on Earth from the glut of other apocalyptic thrillers thrust upon us (seemingly) once a month.
After such affirming and sunny features (kidding) as Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, it’ll be interesting to see what Ferrara does with the topic of Judgment Day. And for good measure, he’s even brought along Mr. Creepy himself (a.k.a. Willem Dafoe) to sprinkle in some crucial bug-eyed gawking.
Jibes aside, I actually kind of dug this trailer, and am sincerely intrigued by this film. I’ve always thought there are two ways to make a good sci-fi horror/thriller: (1) straight fun (Zack Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead), or (2) use the subject matter as a way to comment on society (George Romero’s 1978 Dawn of the Dead). It appears Ferrara took this metaphor-ripe material and went with option no. 2, and, at least based on the trailer, seems to say that we civilization are on our last breath ... and that we had it coming. Now that’s an Abel Farrara movie.
Browne:When the phrase "today it doesn't matter where you live or how much money you have, we are all about to face the same fate at the same moment" was stated, this film immediately had my attention. That's the opposite of every "the world is ending" film that's come out, in preparation for the real thing, because the premise of each previous has been "today, if you live in the right place or have seven billion dollars, you can secure yourself a different fate on an ark or a spaceship, unlike the rest of the common folk." Bravo, Mr. Ferrara, for finally keeping it real with us. I can't wait for this.
In The Grey, Joe Carnahan's follow-up to The A-Team, a pack of wolves hunt a group of oil-drilling plane crash survivors in the Alaska tundra. The film is being compared to Jaws or The Edge. Also, it will provide audiences the opportunity to see Liam Neeson punch a wolf.
