THE DARK KNIGHT

When I walked out of Batman Begins in 2005, the first thing I thought was, “I want a sequel, right now.”  If you’ve seen Batman Begins, you know what I mean.  If you haven’t…what’s wrong with you?

The Dark Knight - Theatrical Trailer

(The most amazing trailer I’ve seen in years).

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

Oddly enough, Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights was the movie I was most looking forward to…in 2007.  In Hong Kong, Wong directed a string of masterpieces (2046, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, Happy Together, Ashes of Time…) that have earned him a place among the most important film directors of all time.  My Blueberry Nights, his English-language debut and his first film with a cast recognizable to the average American – Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz – was set to premiere as the prestigious opening night film at last year’s Cannes film festival, and was considered the odds-on favourite to take the Palme d’Or.

And then the movie was actually screened, and the reviews could be charitably described as mixed (“A berry bad movie” said the Toronto Star).

A full nine months after its Cannes premier, the Weinstein Company is scheduled to release My Blueberry Nights in February.  Considering the lackluster reviews, I’m not as excited about it as I was a year ago, but in the past, even lesser Wong Kar-wai has had merit.   When it comes right down to it, whatever Wong Kar-wai makes, I want to see it.

My Blueberry Nights - Trailer

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

In a team-up that brings to mind the legendary Charlie Chaplin/Buster Keaton pairing in Limelight, The Forbidden Kingdom will mark the first on-screen collaboration of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who can be considered the Chaplin and Keaton of modern martial arts movies.

Now, I’m not expecting greatness from this film.  There is much to be concerned about.  It’s an American production (neither Chan nor Li have made any outstanding American films), it’s geared towards families, and, let’s face it, these guys aren’t as young as they once were (how awesome would a Chan-Li teaming have been in 1994, in the glory days of Drunken Master II and Once Upon a Time in China?).  But as far as I’m concerned, the very idea of Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same frame together is a cause for celebration.

And this trailer looks kinda cool:

Forbidden Kingdom Promo

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND

The 2008 release that interests me the most is actually over 30 years old.  Orson Welles filmed The Other Side of the Wind, a semi-autobiographical Hollywood satire about an aging director (John Huston) who has trouble finding work, over a period of six years in the 1970s on a shoestring budget.  He completed filming (it was, indeed, his last feature-length fiction to finish principle photography) and a large portion of the editing, but, as is too often the case with Welles’ body of work, legal difficulties arose that prevented its release.  Welles, in explaining the situation, would often point out that the chief financier was the brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran.

In 2002, the cable network Showtime struck a deal with Peter Bogdanovich, Welles’ long-time supporter and a co-star in the film, to finish editing and release the movie to theatres.  But Welles’ daughter Beatrice threatened legal action, claiming the film was her property (despite the fact that, objectively speaking, it clearly was not).  But in 2007, Bogdanovich stated in a press release that a deal among all the parties involved had been worked out and that The Other Side of the Wind would be edited in time for theatrical release in late 2008.

For those who have been reading about The Other Side of the Wind for years, this comes as exciting news.  But considering that Welles apparently only edited about 40% of the film during his lifetime, would a version of The Other Side of the Wind edited by Peter Bogdanovich really be an Orson Welles film, no matter how closely Bogdanovich attempts to adhere to Welles’ original intentions (especially considering how fragmented and experimental the few scenes released to the public have been)?  Furthermore, is this news simply too good to be true?

If it is indeed released in a “finished” form, The Other Side of the Wind will not necessarily by Orson Welles’ vision, but rather as close an approximation to Welles’ vision as possible.  Still, considering how many films Welles completed in his lifetime (depressingly few) and how many were left unfinished (depressingly many), the prospect of new Welles material is intriguing.  And if the idea of a brand new Orson Welles movie doesn’t make you at least a little bit interested…well, I just don’t know what to say to you.

One of the few clips of the movie that has been released