TGITDNMAR (6/22/07)

It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released. If you thought last week was a bad week, it doesn't get all that much better this week.

Let's see what's hitting the theaters today:

Evan Almighty
Can you feel it in the air? I can - in fact, I can almost hear it. That's right - let the Steve Carell backlash begin!

Actually, I don't begrudge Carell for taking this role - after all, to go form supporting player to star of a "franchise" in a few years (and to see his salary probably multiply by about 20) is bound to be an ego boosting event. And he has been on a roll.

That said, it stops here. By all accounts, this looks like a boring (PG rating won't help), preachy, unfunny kids movie that just happen to cost a fortune to make.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 5%


1408
This has gotten pretty good reviews thus far, which bodes well. With Hostel 2 bombing big time, I imagine the horror fans out there will jump at the chance to see a tense thriller adapted from a Stephen king story. Hopefully, this will also be a comeback picture for John Cusack, who has frankly stunk up the joint for the past five years or so, with High Fidelity being his last quality film.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 60%


A Mighty Heart
Don't go into this looking for a laugh. In what's sure to be this year's version of United 93, Angelina Jolie plays the widow of Daniel Pearl. I've only seen one film from director Michael Winterbottom (Code 46), but it's one that I happen to think is great. That said, this is probably a rental - summer's a bad time to release über-downer dramas.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 20%


You Kill Me
Director John Dahl used to be considered one of the hot, young, up-and-coming Hollywood auteurs. Unfortunately, that was in 1994. After two of the better noir thrillers of that decade (Red Rock West and The Last Seduction), Dahl was hot. He immediately followed Seduction up with the terribly named Unforgettable, which turned out to be a serious case of false advertising.

Dahl made a comeback with the commercial bomb turned cult hit Rounders, but hasn't really done much then, and that was nearly ten years ago. Now comes Kill Me, which features some decent buzz and a good cast, including Ben Kingsley, Dennis Farina, Bill Pullman, and Phillip Baker Hall. Maybe worth a look...
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 44%