2008 Preview: Top 20 Movies to See This Spring
by Brian Tallerico

You'd never know it from most of the entertainment press, but there are actually other movies coming out between Cloverfield and Iron Man's premiere this May. All of the blogosphere is abuzz with spoilers and previews for 2008's summer movies like The Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and it's hard to blame them. We're damn excited about those three and many more in what's looking like the best summer season in years. But, as your thermometer will probably tell you, it's a long, long time until summer. Believe it or not, there are dozens of interesting movies coming out in February, March, and April that aren't getting nearly the press of the summer 2008 flicks and, if you're like us, you're not just going to sit and wait for the big budget extravaganzas coming later this year. So, what should you see this Spring? (I know that referring to February-April as "Spring" is a little weird, but the movie world regards May-August as "Summer," so just roll with it.) Get out your calendars and mark the premiere dates for these 20 movies that we're most excited for over the next few months.

FEBRUARY

The Eye
Release Date: February 1st
Studio: Lionsgate
Starring: Jessica Alba, Parker Posey, Alessandro Nivola, Rachel Ticotin, Rade Serbedzjia, and Chloe Moretz
Written by: Sebastian Gutierrez (Snakes on a Plane)
Directed by: David Moreau & Xavier Palud (Them)
Official Site: www.lionsgate.com/theeye/

Plot: Sydney (Alba), a blind violinist, gets a cornea transplant and starts to see things that she really shouldn't. Let's just say she could have an interesting conversation with the kid from The Sixth Sense. A modern ghost story, The Eye is based on the 2002 Korean flick Jian Gui, which not only made us wary of ever going in an elevator again, but also featured one of the best last-minute twists in recent memory.

Why We're Excited: Remakes of Asian horror films have been about as consistently awful as any genre out there and the early season release date combined with Jessica Alba's nauseating 2007 hat trick of Fantastic Four 2, Good Luck Chuck, and Awake makes us incredibly cautious about this one, but anyone who has seen the brilliant original holds out hope that some of that great film might still exist in the American version. Also, David Moreau and Xavier Palud made one of the coolest indie horror films of the last couple years, the great Them. If Jessica's take on The Eye is awful, at least it will introduce fans to the original movie and the director's previous work. That's more than we got out of The Grudge 2.

Jumper
Release Date: February 15th
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, and Rachel Bilson
Written by: David S. Goyer (Blade) and Jim Uhls (Fight Club) and Simon Kinberg (Mr. and Mrs. Smith)
Directed by: Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith)
Official Site: www.jumperthemovie.com/

Plot: Have you ever just wanted to get away? Hate waiting in line at the airport? Wondering when the teleportation that Gene Roddenberry promised us is finally going to come to life? In the world of Jumper, it's not technology, but a genetic anomaly that allows a young man (Hayden Christensen) to teleport anywhere he wants. From small jumps to trips around the world, our hero soon discovers that he's not alone and that he's stuck in the middle of a war between "Jumpers" and Muggles that's been raging for centuries.

Why We're Excited: We're half-and-half on this one. The concept is cool, but the previews make us very nervous. As a friend of mine said after seeing the full-length trailer, "This is what Heroes has wrought." The success of that NBC show means we're likely to see dozens of movies about "normal people" with "extraordinary powers," but the first season of Heroes had some brilliant storytelling that might be hard to translate to the big screen. Even so, a big-budget special effects extravaganza in February is rare, so we're excited. We just hope it's not 2008's Ghost Rider.

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
Release Date: February 15th
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Starring: Nick Alachiotis, Matt Birman, Georga Buza, and Joshua Close
Written and Directed by: George A. Romero
Official Site: www.myspace.com/diaryofthedead

Plot: George A. Romero's Land of the Dead didn't exactly set the world on fire, doing well on DVD but pretty much bombing in theaters. That hasn't stopped the King of Zombies, who has made a fifth film in his landmark saga and reportedly has plans for another zombie movie in the works. The latest sequel to Night of the Living Dead finds Romero working with handheld video cameras to tell the story of a group of young film students who get the brain-eating bug while making their own horror movie. It played at last year's Toronto Film Festival to wildly mixed reviews.

Why We're Excited: Um, it's a Romero Dead movie and there hasn't been a bad one yet. The "Blair Zombie Project" concept makes us a little nervous (worked for Cloverfield, though) and it's an idea that seems to have come a little too late, but a few early reviews from the festival circuit have been positive and we're real forgiving of Romero Dead movies. Even if it only introduces new fans to Night, Dawn, Day, and Land, it will be a notable release for the season. But, to be fair, we were excited for this one after only two words - Romero and zombie. It's like "Scorsese and gangster" or "Spielberg and aliens" - we're there without question.

My Blueberry Nights
Release Date: February 15th
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Starring: Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Natalie Portman, and Rachel Weisz
Written by: Wong Kar Wai & Lawrence Block
Directed by: Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood For Love)

Plot: Norah Jones makes her theatrical debut in the long-delayed next project from Wong Kar Wai. The Grammy winner stars in what has been described as an unusual road movie, traveling the country in pursuit of true love. From New York to Route 66, Jones crosses paths with a strange cast of characters and, knowing Wong Kar Wai, gorgeous landscapes. The film marks the celebrated director's first English-language film and received mixed reviews when it debuted at Cannes last year.

Why We're Excited: Wong Kar Wai has made some of the most visually sumptuous films of the last decade, including In the Mood for Love and 2046, and it won't hurt having actresses like Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz for this master's camera to adore. The festival response has been disappointing, but it's still the kind of project that makes us curious, if just to see if Norah Jones can make that very difficult jump from singer to actress.

Be Kind Rewind
Release Date: February 22nd
Studio: New Line
Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Mia Farrow, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Danny Glover
Written and Directed by: Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Official Site: www.bekindmovie.com

Plot: Jack Black stars in this extremely unique comedy from the one-of-a-kind mind of Michel Gondry, who directed the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and wrote and directed the underrated The Science of Sleep. Black plays a loveable loser (doesn't he always?) who unintentionally erases all of the VHS tapes (what are those?) at the video store (they still exist?) where his friend (Mos Def) works. Rather than just upgrade to Blu-Ray, the two work to re-create every movie that their loyal customers decide to rent on home video, starring (of course) the two of them.

Why We're Excited: Yes, the plot sounds like total nonsense, but Eternal Sunshine and Science of Sleep weren't exactly what you could call "sensical" films. But that's not what draws us to Gondry. It's his unique left-of-center way of making films that makes him "one to watch" every single time. Jack Black's recent career choices (he still owes us for the emotional distress of Nacho Libre) actually drag our excitement for this one down a notch, but the way-cool Mos Def balances it back out. We wouldn't be surprised if the unusual concept completely sinks Be Kind Rewind, but that's the risk you take with unique projects like this one.

Vantage Point
Release Date: February 22nd
Studio: Columbia
Starring: Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, and William Hurt
Written by: Barry Levy
Directed by: Pete Travis
Official Site: sonypictures.com/movies/vantagepoint

Plot: Eight well-cast strangers with eight different points of view witness an assassination attempt on the President of the United States (William Hurt). The two secret service agents (Matthew Fox and Dennis Quaid) have very different perspectives on the event than the everyman Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) or the American TV news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver). The previews promise puzzle pieces falling into place, hidden motivations, and a car chase or two, which - in the post 24-world we live in - is the least they can do.

Why We're Excited: Thanks to a pretty gripping trailer, Vantage Point could be one of the few interesting action suspense movies of the season and great counter-programming to the romantic comedies and indie hits in February. In other words, we expect it to be a guilty pleasure. If it's better than that, we'll be pleasantly surprised.

The Signal
Release Date: February 22nd
Studio: Magnolia
Starring: Anessa Ramsey, Scott Poythress, and AJ Bowen
Written and Directed by: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry
Official Site: doyouhavethecrazy.com

Plot: Another horror movie that plays off our modern obsession with technology, The Signal sounds a little like the abysmal Pulse, but its buzz is significantly better. (Not that that’s hard.) In this indie horror flick, a signal is broadcast across the world that inspires people to commit murder, causing the planet to descend into anarchy and leaving only one man to figure out how to stop the signal. (But, as any Serenity fan can tell you, you can’t stop the signal.) Adding even more intrigue is that the film is told in three parts from three different perspectives by three different directors.

Why We're Excited: We've been excited about The Signal for months as it made the festival circuit and is now finally coming out nationwide (we hope) after a series of delays. The project started with an experiment, as one writer/director started a story and then handed it off to another and so on. It's a fascinating way to make a movie, and the concept is strong enough to make this our most anticipated horror flick of 2008’s first quarter.

Semi-Pro
Release Date: February 29th
Studio: New Line
Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, and Maura Tierney
Written by: Scot Armstrong (The Heartbreak Kid)
Directed by: Kent Alterman
Official Site: www.semipromovie.com

Plot: Working his way through every sport on ESPN, Ferrell moves on from NASCAR and figure skating to basketball, playing the owner (and star center) of a 1976 ABA team that's trying to merge with the NBA. Jackie Moon (Ferrell) doesn't take the sport too seriously, preferring to stage wacky promotional events rather than focusing on the sport, but when it becomes clear that only a few teams will make the merge, Jackie and the Flint Tropics (a hilarious team name for anyone who knows the very un-tropical Flint, Michigan) make one last stab at glory. Okay, maybe not glory, but a few wins would be nice.

Why We're Excited: Blades of Glory was funnier than expected and the red-band trailer for Ferrell's latest sports comedy makes it clear that this one might have more edge than some of his recent adventures. We have to admit, however, that part of us is almost rooting for the failure of Semi-Pro just so Ferrell moves out of the sports comedy genre. We really don't want to see a remake of Major League any time soon, and you know that's the inevitable end of this line.

2008 Preview: Top 20 Movies to See This Spring Page 2