Let off some steam Bennet

I watch Commando a few weeks ago.  If there is one movie that can sum up the tendencies of most action films from the 80s, I feel that Commando could be that movie.  Excessive violence? Check.  Nudity (breasts) for no reason? Check. Synth heavy score?  Check.  Really terrible one-liners? Check.  Moments out of left field? Check.  The levels of ridiculousness in Commando is kind of beyond belief (in the opening credit Schwarzenegger and Alyssa Milino pet a wild fawn).  But honestly, I'm glad I saw it.  Because the score, by Oscar winner James Horner (he did Glory, Titanic, Apollo 13, and Braveheart), was so amazing.  Commando might be the only action film with a score that feature both steel drums and pan flute.  This movie was bananas but of a kind of good in a so bad it is good kind of way.  The script is terrible with so many bad one-liners delivered by that great thespian Arnold Schwarzenegger.  And the poor main bad guy has a physique like a regular 40-year old man (kind of chunky with a beer gut), and they dress him in leather pants, a chain mail sleeveless shirt, with a leather choker and then make the actor and Schwarzenegger contemporaries/members of the same special forces team (implying that one guy kept up his training and the other let himself go).  Oh and Dan Hedya (who is of Syrian descent) is cast as a wannabe Central American dictator.  Oh the 80s, you were adorable.

And here is part of the score for your listening pleasure:

A more modern musical

I saw Quartet last week and to say that I enjoyed it would be an understatement.  I loved it.  The plot of the film is a number of retired musicians are planning a show to keep their retirement home open.  Three members of a quartet of famous opera singers (that sang a renowned/quintessential version of Rigaletto) and the fourth member comes to the house and is coaxed into performing with them again for the event (I don't think this is giving anything away). It was the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman and I thought he did a great job.  The movie is mostly made up of these small and subtle moments which I think falls in line with that generation of British persons. The film is very quiet but that just makes some of the moments shine.  And the music is fabulous, many beautiful classic and operatic pieces.  All of the members of the retirement home are actual opera singers or musicians so it feels so believable and appropriate when  a cast member starts singing or playing an instrument (for example, I loved the pianist who had some of the best facial reactions throughout the movie).  I would have still enjoyed the movie if Maggie Smith wasn't a member of the quartet, and she gives such a realized and solid performance. I do think of this movie as a musical and unlike most classic musicals, the songs that are sung are not reflecting the emotions of a singer or advancing the plot.  Rather, the songs are more of a necessity of the singer/musician.  You can see that the character has been in a musical state of mind for so long, that it feels completely natural for them to start singing or playing.  I highly recommend it!

You Could, but should you?

I just finished watching Three Days of the Condor and I really enjoyed it.  I love the paranoia tinged movies from the 70s like All the President's Men, The Parallax View, Klute, The Conversation, and The China Syndrome.  And Three Days of the Condor firmly falls into that category as movies that have a heavy influence of paranoia that is an aftershock of the Watergate scandal.  With that in mind as I was watching it, I fell like the current atmosphere of distrust towards the government (warranted or not) right now means it is the perfect time to remake this film.  So I started casting the (non-existent) remake:

Joe Turner (Robert Redford): Kyle Chandler.  I thought about maybe Idris Elba (I love him), but I thought a more low-key actor would be better.  And I think Kyle Chandler is believable as a very cerebral person but with enough of a physical presence that he could be threatening.

Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway): Connie Britton.  I can pass up a chance to reunite a TV couple! But seriously, I do think she would be great in the role.  I think she could balance the strength and vulnerability in the role.   Joe does pose a little bit a physical threat but quickly they learn to trust each other.  I thought about maybe Haley Atwell, who I like a great deal, but I wanted someone closer in age to Kyle Chandler.  

Joubert (Max van Sydow): Jean Dujardin.  Cards on the table, I adore Jean Dujardin.  The character of Joubert is Alsatian, so I think it is important to maintain that characteristic.  Plus, you get the feeling that Joubert can and will do just about anything for a price, but he still respect Joe Turner.  And I think that Jean Dujardin would really have fun with this no-holds barred role.

Higgins (Cliff Robertson): Idris Elba.  The potential for duplicity is key for this role and Idris Elba could clearly pull it off (and the American accent).  If he isn't available, substitute either Mark Ruffalo or Clive Owen.

Wabash (John Houseman): Gene Hackman.  His last movie should not be Welcome to Mooseport.  Bring him out of retirement and put him in the small just scene-stealing role.

Director (Sydney Pollack): Either David Fincher or Tomas Alfredson.  Both of them have worked on films that feature of heavy dose of obsession (Fincher in Zodiac) or paranoia (Alfredson in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) so they could competently make this movie.  And I think they would maintain more of the thriller part of the movie without adding additional physical action scenes.

Thoughts?

Guys and Dolls

And now, the only reason to watch Guys and Dolls (starting at 1:10):

The view of World War I from World War II

In honor of the centennial of World War I, TCM is showing many (many, many) movies set during World War I.  And it is so interesting to see movies about World War I, made during World War II (especially British films).  I watched a movie tonight called British Intelligence (starring Margaret Lindsey and Boris Karlof [with a limp, a facial scar, and a French accent]). There were so many veiled references to Hitler, it was practically a propaganda movie.  There were several mentions of a man thinking he was better than others, and put himself above everyone (as well as lines similar to "it has happened in the past, it is happening now, and it will happen in the future").  Those British Intelligence officers were practically clairvoyant.

As a side note, the other World War I movies I've been watching/planning to watch include Ever in my Heart  (which was unexpectedly depressing) and The Dark Journey (also known as Those Anxious Years).  And all those movies feature women either as spies or dealing with the consequences of being married to a spy.  I really think that women had much more interesting roles back then.  And really, I think the term "a woman's picture" shouldn't be quite so derogatory. Sure, while a lot of those pictures quickly veered in to over-drawn/over-wrought melodrama, some of them were very subtle and often featured women doing what every was necessary to survive (especially during wartime), like Since You Went Away and Mrs. Minever.

Summer Stock

I'm finally getting around to writing about a musical.  And the first I am going to talk about is the MGM film starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, in their final movie together, Summer Stock.  And the movie opens with this:

The plot is not very heavy/difficult, a shade above the classic "let's put on a show" variety.  Judy Garland (Jane) and (my beloved) Marjorie Main (Esme) are attempting to keep a farm afloat.  After the two farm workers quit, Jane procurs financing to get a tractor (which is predicated on her marriage to the son of the bank owner).  Which leads to this sequence:

Jane's younger sister Abigail then arrives with Gene Kelly (and Phil Silvers) and an acting company in tow.  There is several dance numbers and disagreements between Judy and Gene and in exchange for helping around the farm, Jane allows the acting troupe to practice in her barn. Judy and Gene fall in love and really all you need to know about the end of the movie is this:


This film is a little overshadowed by Judy Garland's personal problems.  The movie took six months to shot and during that time, she was being treated for drug dependency and saw a hypnotist and lost about 20lbs before the movie was finished (she is much thinner in the final number).  However, despite that, I think the movie is very enjoyable.  The songs are well-written and well-performed and the choreography is interesting (Gene Kelly choreographed most of his numbers but not Get Happy).  And that last song is so well done.  I always get a little sad watching Judy Garland movies, knowing what happens to her (A Child is Waiting is devastating to watch not only because of the content of the movie, but is it her second to last film role).

Summer Plan

On the heels of seeing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers on the big screen, I have decided that for the summer, I would write blog entries about musicals.  I want to cover both the tentpole musicals and the less-known ones.  And I want to think a little bit how the movie musical has changed over the years.  So here's to a song and dance filled summer!

What I learned...

I saw one of my favorite movies on the big screen (at the AFI Silver naturally): Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  And so naturally, here is a bulleted list of what I learned watching it on the big screen:

• Really, no man should have a beard.  If you must have a beard, you must have a beard, you better maintain that beard and not let it become straggly looking (this was also influenced by seeing a Nationals player with a beard that looked like he did not have a razor, a mirror, or reflective surface). 
• Millie somehow managed to do the work of about 12 women.  She washed the dirty clothing of 6 men in the space probably 2 hours.  And she made them breakfast. 
• The gender politics in this movie are kind of terrible.  The "brides" are kidnapped and treated like objects for a large chunk of the movie.  However, Millie takes no shit from anyone.  
• The shirts Millie makes the brothers are basically amazing.  
• I had a lot of questions of about the supplies availble to Millie when she was up in the mountains.  She must have gone through so much flour and yeast, or if not yeast than baking powder.  She makes a lot of biscuits.  
• The amount of effort that Jeff Richards (Benjamin) put into his dancing, it is like a minus effort because he slide-lined Julie Newmar, who was trained as a ballerina.  
• Finally, after the number of times that I have seen this movie (at least 50), I can confidently tell you the couples.  
• In this scene below, the sound that is made when Epharim, Daniel, Frank, and Caleb slide under the two boards is glorious in surround sound: 
• I super love this movie.  I was smiling for about 80% of the entire movie.  

John Wayne and Howard Keel's facial hair

These two topics are not super related but both are inspired by my watching habits over the past week.  Most of my posts are the result of what movies I've watched on TCM.  And this week has been pretty light because John Wayne is the star of the month for April.  And it culminated with showing mostly John Wayne movies all this week (or at least those are the only movies the popped up on demand on the TCM app). So, I hate John Wayne.  Okay, hate is kind of a strong word, but I definitely dislike John Wayne.  He did mostly Westerns and War movies, two genres I don't particularly care for, unless there is an actor I really enjoy (I'm thinking of Gregory Peck in The Guns of Navarone and The Big Country).  Furthermore, he specialized in the cowboys vs. Native American Westerns, which I like even less. But, I've tried to see John Wayne movies that are outside those two genres.  I saw The Quiet Man (at the AFI Silver around Saint Patrick's Day) and while I enjoyed the movie, both John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara were my least favorite characters in the movie (I really wanted to learn about the widow who ruled the village with an iron fist).  The movie I did watch on TCM this week was the film adaptation of Annie Get Your Gun.  And I could not stop staring at Howard Keel's naked face.  In Seven Brides for Seven Brother he has a beard and then a sensible mustache and in Kiss Me Kate, he has a mustache.  Seeing his naked upper lip was very distracting.  And so was knowing that everyone was so mean to Betty Grable (so much that she kind of stopped acting after that movie, which means I have another reason to like Dan Dailey because the both of them look so happy in pictures I've seen of them from their films together).

The Magic of Gregory Peck

So I learned this week that I love Gregory Peck so much that I would re-watch The Big Country (and I did). This in spite of ultra-creepy Chuck Conners and Burl Ives wearing the eyebrows of ten men.

So we agree to leave science out of it?

I watched the William Powell/Myrna Loy movie I Love You Again a few days a ago.  The plot hinges around William Powell recovering some memories after suffering amnesia.  And how does this happen, you may ask?  Well, through the very sound medical process of being hit on the head.  I love that in most movies, one hit to the head means amnesia and then the second hit to the head means recovering from amnesia.  This is not how amnesia works, by the way.

Beyond John Williams and Bernard Hermann: Film Composers to Know

Film scores have such great power because it can make or break a scene (or movie).  There are, of course, well known composers of great film score, the most famous is probably John Williams.  John Williams has scored most of Steven Spielberg's (and George Lucas) films. And of course no conversation about film composers can leave out Bernard Hermann, who composed the scores for lots of Hitchcock's films, most famously Psycho.   But there are several other really great composers to know (I'll cover both classic and modern film composers):

Elmer Bernstien:
Most Famous Scores: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Magnificent Seven, and The Great Escape
With a catalog that contained over 200 scores,  I love the variety of his music, you would never guess that the same composer wrote both To Kill A Mockingbird and The Magnifiecent Seven (though I can hear the influence of his mentor, Aaron Copeland).




Ennio Morricone
Most Famous Scores: The Untouchables, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (also, awesomely, he scored La Cage aux Folles)
Obviously you know this:


But this is one of my favorite pieces of music ever:


Also, I present music to use in case they send one of yours to the hospital (and you need to send one of theirs to the morgue; the score made me like The Untouchables way more that I thought I would):



Miklos Rozsa
Most Famous Scores: Ben Hur, Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, The Killers, The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers, El Cid, Double Indemnity, The Naked City, Adam's Rib, The Asphalt Jungle, The Thief of Baghdad



Dimitri Tiomkin:
Most Famous Scores: Dial M for Murder, Giant, Strangers on a Train, The Guns of Navarone, High Noon, Thing from Another World, It's A Wonderful Life



Alexandre Desplat:
Most Famous Scores: The King's Speech, The Artist, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, Rise of the Guardians, The Monuments Men



Michael Giacchino
Most Famous Scores: The Incredibles, Alias (TV Series), Lost (TV Series), Ratatouille, Fringe (TV Series with a really great theme!), Super 8, Star Trek (2009 reboot), Star Trek: Into Darkness, Up



Shoutouts to Howard Shore (The Lord of the Ring Trilogy),  Hans Zimmer, and James Horner.

And just because:


Now excuse me while I watch Raiders of the Lost Ark (or Jaws, or Jurassic Park, or Star Wars)

First World Problem

So occasionally, I will watch some more obscure movies or TV shows.  Like an old B-movie or a TV show from another country.  Over the past few years, I've been dipping in and out of Korean dramas (that are produced in South Korea).  I'm not sure what I like about them so much.  I like that fact that there are usually just one long (can be very long, I've seen one that has 33 episodes) so there is a known end.  And I think it allows the writer to slowly unspool the story and flesh out the characters more (although, I have seen my far share of plots that come out of nowhere and are shoehorned in).  Those this prevent a problem in that I can consume the entire series in a very short and intense period.  And then I feel like I should congratulate myself for doing that.  I understand that this is totally ridiculously, and getting through all seventeen episodes of The First Shop of the Coffee Prince in about 4 days is not an accomplishment.

Thoughts on Dan Dailey

I just finished The Girl Next Door which stars Dan Dailey as probably the only cartoonist who is also an accomplished dancer. I've seen a couple of Dan Dailey movies (alas no movies with his best dance partner Betty Grable, how Mother Wore Tights is not a DVD is a mystery to me) and I've always enjoyed him, but I have found something lacking.  He was a very tall dancer (and very handsome) and more on the graceful side than the athletic; so more Fred Astaire than Gene Kelly. Watching The Girl Next Door, I finally figured out my problem.  In the movies that I have seen with him, the costumers did not dress him to show off his dancing.  I'm not suggesting that they should have gone full Gene Kelly in The Pirate and dressed him in skin-tight shorts, but Dan Dailey was often is very loose (and high waisted!)  pants which did not lend themselves to showing off his body movements.  There is one Dailey/Grable movie on DVD (through Netflix anyway) which I might have to move to the top.  As a side note, the other Dan Dailey movie that I have seen was It's Always Fair Weather which I enjoyed mostly because Michael Kidd (the choreographer of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) played on the characters and Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd's dancing was so good (even though Gene Kelly clearly choreographed the dance moves to suit his body and height, Kidd was a very inches shorted than Kelly and Dailey was several inches taller).

Can film save your marriage?

I heard a story on Marketplace this morning about a researcher at the University of Rochester that did a study where couples would watch a movie depicting relationships (focusing on movies that take place after the couple get together) and then have a discussion about it. The goal is to see examples of the ways couple interact (and fight) and how that applies to your relationships.  You can see the researcher talk about the study here.  And then the list of movies they used (and pre-screened or recommend) is here.  While I think some of the movies listed are interesting choices, there are ones that are just really terrible movies. Love Story? Devil's Advocate? The Back-up Plan? The Bounty Hunter? There are a couple of other movies that I think would be more interesting on the list like Parenthood (I am surprised it wasn't on the list), Field of Dreams, Father of the Bride (the Spencer Tracy version, the Steve Martin one is listed), Witness for the Prosecution, and Dark Victory.  There are no film noir movies on there but there are quite a few that might be interesting like Sorry, Wrong Number, Repeat Performance, In a Lonely Place, or The Crime of Passion. Though, those the film noir films would more show what not to do in a relationship (like shoot your husband or arrange the murder of your wife).  Also what is with giving Jack Benny short-shrift? Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House but no George Washington Slept Here?

A Little Goes a Long Way

Occasionally, I will be on the fence on my interest in a movie and then I see a certain actor is in it, and I will give that movie the benefit of the doubt and watch it (for at least 30 mins).  And here a list of the actors:

• Ethel Barrymore (I have said before about a film "And it stars a Barrymore, the best one: Ethel)
• George Saunders (I am a late arrival in the George Saunders fan club having first seen him in Rebecca)
• Gregory Peck
• Joseph Cotten
• Bette Davis (I saw Phone Call From A Stranger and while I didn't love that movie, Bette Davis's scene was worth the 80 minute wait.  I've said it before, but Bette Davis had a way of making her voice break with emotion that gets me every time. That and she was really good at holding tears in her eyes)
• Meryl Streep (She and Bette Davis have a lot in common, both can have emotions play on their faces in such subtle and natural ways)
• Rosalind Russell (I watch part of Errol Flynn movie for her, though I stopped once it looked like their characters were going to end up together)
• Joel McCrea 
• Robert Montegumery 
• Claude Rains
• Herbert Marshall (and with him, I have listed 3 actors that were in Foriegn Correspondent)
• Mary Wickes 
• Charles Coburn
• Ray Milliand
• Paul Hendried
• Jean Arthur (and now the 3 leads from The More the Merrier)
• Myrna Loy
• William Powell
• Thelma Ritter
• Elsa Lanchester
• Jane Wyman
• Mildred Natwick (she was Griselda in the Court Jester, and like Thelma Ritter played a lot of supporting characters that got all the best lines)
• Connie Gilchrist (she played Nora in Auntie Mame, there was a time a few months ago when she popped up in about 4 movies that I watched in the space of a week). 

And one actress that does the complete opposite for me : Katherine Hepburn.  I think Dorthy Parker said it best with she played all the emotions from A to B.  

Turned it around: Leslie Howard

When I was about 14, I saw Gone With the Wind for the first time.  I remembering my mom telling my that my beloved Grandma Diane just adored Leslie Howard.  And all I could think was "Ashley Wilkes?!".  I did not understand how my grandmother could like Leslie Howard, he was such a milquetoast in that movie. Then I made the mistake of seeing Intermezzo with Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman.  And he made me so angry in that movie, with his character being spineless, selfish, and thoughtless (I have seen it billed as Intermezzo: A Love Story, and the only love I have for this movie is that it was Ingrid Bergman's first Hollywood movie).  But then, one movie completely turned me around on Leslie Howard and I understood what my Grandma Diane might have liked about him.  And that movie was the amazing A Free Soul starring Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Leslie Howard, and Clark Gable (Rhett and Ashley in a pre-Gone With the Wind pairing).  This movie was so amazing that Norma Shearer was nominated for an Oscar, Lionel Barrymore won an Oscar (almost solely due to a beautifully crafted and delivered monologue in a 14-minute extended scene at the end of the movie, shot in a single take), and made Clark Gable a star.  And finally, I saw a Leslie Howard that had strong resolve, a loving and forgiving nature, and willingness to act in a selfless manner. There is a scene that I adore between Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer where the staging only shows their eyes and so you can see all the emotions each is feeling but only expressed in their eyes.  Norma Shearer is brilliant in this movie.  I heard gossip (possibly from Robert Osbourne) that Joan Crawford was unkind to Norma Shearer on the set of The Women because Joan thought that Norma's career was due to Norma's marriage to Irving Thalburg which makes me kind of mad because Norma Shearer was a fantastic actress with a great range and ability (which I can't really say about Joan Crawford, I like some of her movies but I never feel like she was completely taken over by the character she was playing).  It also had a modern view of women and their sexuality.  This was a pre-Code film so while it is not shown that Norma Shearer's character has a sexual relationship with Clark Gable, it is generally accepted by all the characters in the film.  There is a interesting side-plot about the father's (played by Lionel Barrymore) alcoholism and the nature of addiction. He loves his daughter (and is proud of her independence) but that cannot overcome his addiction.   I can go on and on about how much a I love A Free Soul, but one of the best things it did for me was make me reconsider Leslie Howard.

Marathon Suggestions

With winter finally exerting its presence for a majority of the country, I thought that I would suggest a few movies marathons to help you though your snow filled days.

#1 Being Twin Sisters is Hard

• The Dark Mirror
• A Stolen Life
• Dead Reckoning 

#2 This is as Manly as Musicals can Get

• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (look the dancing is on the more athletic side and axes are used as props in multiple dances)
• On The Town 
• Oklahoma
• Annie Get Your Gun

#3 You Wish You Knew Women This Awesome

• Auntie Mame (Auntie Mame obvs)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (Muzzie!)
• The Women (pretty much all of them)

#4 Just Go To Reno and Get a Divorce!

• Gaslight
• Repeat Performance
• Suspicion (Johnny is no good!)
• All This, and Heaven Too
• Now, Voyager

#5 Justice in Black and White

• 12 Angry Men
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Anatomy of a Murder
• Crossfire

#6  There are About 8,000 Ways This Plan Could Go Awry

• Guns of Navarone
• Jaws
• The Great Escape
• The Dirty Dozen

#7 Stock up on Kleenex!

• Stella Dallas
• Make Way for Tomorrow
• A Child is Waiting
• All Mine to Give

#8 These People Exist, or Do They?

• So Long at the Fair
• Dangerous Crossing
• The Lady Vanishes
• Bunny Lake is Missing

#9 Alan Ladd is a wee man, but don't mess with him!

• This Gun for Hire
• The Blue Dahlia
• The Glass Key

#10 Light Physical Comedy

• Theodora Goes Wild
• Easy Living
• A Night at the Opera
• Safety First!

Thor: The Dark World

So rather than try to make a coherent and cohesive post about Thor, I'm just going to use the trusty bullet list:

• I love Tom Hiddleston.  I think he is great actor and never takes himself to seriously (which is fun).  And he is clearly having a good time play Loki, which is unsurprising because he gets to be completely bananas in this part. 
• I enjoyed the dichotomy of the uber-muscular Chris Hemworth fighting next to the slight Tom Hiddleston.  
• It is hard to go wrong when you cast Christopher Eccleston as the villain (who I recognized almost immediately by he voice, even though he was speaking an alien language).  
• Apparently, there are no barbers in Asgard, since both Thor and Loki have much longer hair compared to the first Thor movie (maybe they were too busy).  
• They recast one of the minor characters with a more famous actor (Zachary Levi).  I kept looking at the actor and saying, "Is that a different guy? I think so."
• Clearly, the writers realized what they had and expanded the role of Idris Elba.  And made him even more awesome, he takes down a spaceship single-handedly. 
• Like the first Thor movie, there were so many helmets.  

Trailers, Trailers

I saw two movies back to back this weekend (Catching Fire and Thor: The Dark World), and so I saw a lot of trailers.  And here is a quick rundown:

RoboCop: Was this a reboot that someone was asking for? I saw this trailer twice, and both times when they show the classic RoboCop (in silver, the new one is in black), I hoped that Peter Weller was in the suit.  I don't know if they are planning on making a darker and bleaker RoboCop (I haven't seen the original in a long time).  I think it is a result of the success of the Nolan Batman series, and more and more superhero movies are bleak and grim (I think that the success of the Avengers may be partial due to the fact that that movies is lot more fun and lighter).  I hope it is decent (though I have no real desire to see it) because Jennifer Ehle, Gary Oldman, and Joel Kinnamen deserve to be in good movies.

I, Frankenstein:  Should really be called : I, Frankenstein's Monster.  Why is this movie being made? It looks terrible, however there is one cool special effect in which what I assume to be stone gargoyles flap their wings over their bodies and then become human actors.

The Legend of Hercules: (the title may wrong) As much as a collection of myths can be canonical, it bothered me that they are making up a completely off cannon story about Hercules.  If you were going to make a story about Hercules, why not use the 12 Labors?  I think that is a interesting story and there are plenty of action set pieces and interesting special effects that are available. Also, there is something about Kellan Lutz that I cannot take seriously as an action star.

Divergent: Meh, looks kinda of interesting

X-Men Days of Future Past:  So it looks like they doing the tricky thing of bridging the original 3 X-Men movies (so Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Hugh Jackman are in it) and the prequel/reboot from a few years ago (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbinder, and Jennifer Lawerence).  If it was anyone other than Bryan Singer, I might be worried but he clearly cares about these characters and made two really good X-Men movies before Brett Ranter drove that franchise into the ground.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: I am so excited for this movie.  The first Captain America movie is one of my favorites and the story line of Steve Rogers adapting to modern America seems to be an interesting one.  Add the fact that some of it was shot here in the DC area (I love recognizing places that I have been) and it is no wonder that I am excited.  And I only have a wait a few more months!