Last year was quite interesting, as total studio box office broke records almost completely with sequels. Those were mostly blockbusters and bubblegum films, which typically do much better money-wise than the serious Oscar worthy fare. This year, in this critic’s opinion, was rather weak on the award worthy submissions. The movies I most enjoyed were (in no particular order) “Knocked Up,” “1408,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “Transformers” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” I think it will be to Hollywood’s benefit not to have the Academy Awards this year because of the ongoing writers’ strike. Nothing I’ve seen nominated so far seems all that great.
So, let’s take a look at the first half of 2008 and see what we have to look forward to this year. Mark your calendars; here is what is on its way to a theater near you:

February
“Vantage Point” - A great cast tries to unravel a presidential assassination. If they can keep their focus and not spin off into 50 different stories, it should be one of the year’s best movies.
“Semi Pro” - Will Farrell and Woody Harrelson team up for some basketball hijinx. Harrelson already did this in “White Man Can’t Jump” and Farrell is starting to become a one trick pony. This one smells more like “Blades of Glory” but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

March
“Funny Games U.S.” - Solid cast and supposedly wonderfully written, a family gets tortured without all the saw-like gore. Definitely dark and twisted, should be interesting.
“Drillbit Taylor” - Owen Wilson offers up his bodyguard services to some kids. Didn’t the Rock make this movie a couple of years ago?
“21” - about some MIT brainiacs who go to Vegas and use their über smarts to break the bank. It’s got Kevin Spacey (“The Usual Suspects”) so it could be “Ocean’s 11” for smart people.
“Run, Fat Boy, Run” - Starring Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead”), need I say more? It already has the award for best movie title of the year. Bound to be hilarious.

April
“Leatherheads” - George Clooney and Renee Zellweger in a romantic comedy about football in the 1920’s. Yeah, sounds dumb to me too.
“Baby Mama” - SNL alumni Tina Fey and Amy Poehler re-team to yuk it up about an uptight corporate career woman who hires a surrogate mother to have her child. Fey has demonstrated her ability to write a good feature film (“Mean Girls”) and since they aren’t trying to take a three-minute “SNL” skit and turn it into a movie, this one has potential to be funny.

May
“Iron Man” - Robert Downey Jr. as the legendary, comic book hero. The previews look awesome. This could be the new Spiderman.
“Speed Racer” - It’s a shame, but I think they are going to screw up yet another iconic figure of my childhood. So many people have jumped on and off this project, the ejector seat on the Mark 5 must be worn out by now.
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” - IJATKOTCS will see if the 66 year old Harrison Ford still has any crack left in his whip.
“Starship Dave” - “Norbit” meets “Men in Black.” This movie should put the final nail in Eddie Murphy’s career.

June
“You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” - Adam Sandler as an Israeli Mossad agent moonlighting as a hairdresser. How many times is Hollywood going to make this movie?
“The Incredible Hulk” - stars Ed Norton but based on how little is being said about this film, you’d think it was an indie with subtitles. 
“The Happening” - M. Night Shamalamadingdong returns with another “out there” story similar to “Signs.” Let’s just hope there isn’t a mermaid living in a swimming pool in this one.
“Get Smart” - Steve Carell (“The Office”) stars as agent Maxwell Smart in this film taken from the TV classic. A ton of people will see it because of Carell’s TV fame, but this one has “Inspector Gadget” written all over it.
“The Love Guru” - Marks Mike Myers return to live action. Not at all groovy baby.

July is blockbuster summer movie season, so we’ll discuss those when the weather gets warmer and the studios roll out their big guns for the year. Until then, keep checking here for my weekly reviews of current new releases or check my webpage at: filmschool-101.com for past reviews.