By Chris Kavan - 10/07/11 at 06:47 PM CT
Did you miss me? If I have any steady readers, I was in DC on vacation last week and didn't get my usual blogs in. Fret not, I'm back in the saddle again. If you're looking for the popular movies this week, you can choose between a taut political drama or a rock-'em sock-'em robot Rocky.
1) For my money, I have to give the edge to The Ides of March. Ryan Gosling may not have made as big of impact as he would have liked with Drive but pair him with George Clooney (behind and in front of the camera)? It should be a knockout. Not to mention the supporting cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei: it's clear that Clooney is once again going for something powerful and hopefully complex. While the reviews aren't in the stratosphere, they are mostly positive. We'll see if there's enough good will come Oscar time.
2) Ever since I saw the first trailer for Real Steel, all I could think of was that Rocky has been reborn as a giant robot - you knocked my block off! I think this movie could be a lot of fun - but I can't tell if I'm supposed to take this film seriously or just have fun with it - and that's the main issue I have - the trailers show a lot, but leave me conflicted. This gets put into my "solid rental" pile.
3) Even if it's not opening widely, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the horror/unimaginable monstrosity that is Human Centipede II (Full Sequence). I watched the first out just because so many people had been discussing it with a perverse sense of wonder. When the sequel was refused classification in the UK (since lifted after making a few edits) this one suddenly showed up on my radar. I don't even want to think too much how much more deranged this will be - just reading the synopsis made me feel like I should take a shower - still, will I watch this? Sadly, the answer is probably yes.
We'll see come Sunday whether the combined might of giant, boxing robots or dirty politics will make a dent at the box office. Stay tuned for the full report.
