July's Most Anticipated Films and DVDs

by Brian Eggert

Theatrical Releases

Easily 2008’s most anticipated month for movies, each July week offers a long-awaited (potential) treasure, including the buzzing-like-mad sequel The Dark Knight. Blockbuster entertainment shows its dark, artistic side this month with a brooding Batman, a wise-cracking demon from Hell, and mysteries galore with Agents Mulder and Scully (welcome back you two, you were missed). Aside from being in nerd heaven, audiences face a potential overload of superheroes. But frankly, I have a feeling the better comic book adaptations of the year will be coming this month…

For the full list of upcoming movies, check out Deep Focus Review’s Calendar.

July 2nd:

Hancock

Click here for the theatrical trailer

From Friday Night Lights to The Kingdom, director Peter Berg is getting better and better with every new film. There’s even rumor that Berg might take the reigns for the new filmic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. But now he’s directing Will Smith in Hancock, the awful-titled story of a down-and-out superhero whose alcoholism and general recklessness demands some improvements. A short but epic-sized action comedy, this 90-minute feature will likely slaughter the July 4th weekend box office, making this the second massive hit for Smith in the last year (the other being I Am Legend). Special-effects heavy action and the film’s humorous approach make this the most general audience-friendly release of July.

July 11th:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

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Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy earned moderate business back in 2004, breaking about even. Subsequent DVD sales and cult fandom, not to mention Del Toro’s brimming artistic and commercial success with Pan’s Labyrinth, secured the visionary filmmaker another go-around with Mike Mignola’s characters. And though Del Toro worked from Mignola’s stories for the first movie’s script, here the director sends Hellboy spinning into new mythologies largely based in Del Toro's own dark, pseudo-storybook fantasy world. Ron Perlman once again dons his red suit with a minimum of CGI augmentation, giving us a tangible character, one substantial for his blue-collar disposition, and one we can virtually reach out and touch. And that’s one of Del Toro’s greatest cares as a director—imparting the fantastic with a hand-crafted quality. The original was one of the best, most underrated comic book movies ever made, and this sequel looks to take every great element of the first and take it another step further. What’s more, if Hellboy II: The Golden Army makes a profit, Del Toro promises a third entry into the franchise before long.

July 18th:

The Dark Knight

Click here for the theatrical trailer

Since we’ve been bombarded with talk about the sequel to Batman Begins for well over a year, we must be careful when approaching The Dark Knight. Expectation is a dangerous thing, as we discovered from the undeserved backlash on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And with writer-director Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige), expecting the unexpected should come standard. Heath Ledger’s performance has been talked about and aggrandized since his unfortunate death; and not that he will be anything but miraculous as the Joker (probably earning him an Oscar nod), but fans may be off-put by the Joker’s non-central role in the movie. Keep in mind that the film is about Batman’s continued growth, not delving into the twisted world of his archnemesis. In the best Batman stories, the Joker’s presence thrashes through Gotham like a storm; lets hope Joker’s origins remain untapped and his character an uncontrollable, unknowable force. Truthfully, I’m more excited to see how Nolan births Harvey Dent’s transformation into Two-Face, a villain whose psychological state is most reflective to Batman himself. What’s more, this character has been conspicuously absent from the trailers. Curious… Anticipation and speculation aside, Nolan will be delivering a film that is 150-some-minutes long, a plump running time to be sure, but with how expert this sequel is likely to be, not long enough!

July 25th:

Step Brothers

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Few can match the stupid enthusiasm of Will Ferrell. His top competition is John C. Reilly, from Walk Hard. Now they’re in a movie together. No one will be safe. While I’m normally not keen on low-brow comedies, something about Step Brothers looks ingenious. Two grown men meet and become siblings when their single parents (Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen) decide to marry. At first, resentment leads to a mutual lust for step-fratricide; but eventually, the two realize their shared love for John Stamos and velociraptors and become best friends. No doubt Ferrell will be naked at some point; and Reilly, he’s just as unpredictable. Point is, expect comedy antics with no limitations.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

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Going off the air after nine seasons, The X-Files ended with a whimper. David Duchovny had all but left; John Doggett was certainly no replacement; episodes seemed contrived and occasionally just silly. But in its prime, there are few television shows that compare to the humor and imagination and thrills contained therein. Between Seasons 5 and 6, The X-Files: Fight the Future hit theaters to strong business and warm reviews, proving Chris Carter’s series had enough clout to make the leap from TV to cinema. And now, seemingly like a dream, as long-promised, Carter brings his pivotal FBI Agents Mulder and Scully back to the big screen, six years after the fact. But there are questions: Is there still an audience after so long? Why has the marketing campaign been so subdued? What the hell is this movie about? In true Carter fashion, everything remains a secret, save for the film’s monster-of-the-week stand-alone story (Sorry—no aliens, folks... Or are there?). With any luck, this won’t be the last case solved by the seminal Agents.

DVD Purchase Recommendations

July 8th:

Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

Order Batman: Gotham Knight

Produced by Warner Bros., Batman: Gotham Knight reportedly bridges the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with six short stories furthering the hero’s development as Gotham City’s crimefighter. Conceived in six varying animation styles to match the individual segments, the film features voicework by none other than Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bats in the great Batman: The Animated Series, the pivotal cartoon that visualized the hero in his most archetypal form. Warner’s animation department—responsible for other DC Comics cartoons like Justice League, Superman, and a direct-to-DVD movie good enough for theaters called Justice League: The New Frontier—puts grand artistry into all their properties, and no doubt this direct-to-DVD feature will be the same.

July 15th:

Trafic (1971) The Criterion Collection

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French master Jacques Tati’s fourth film under his alter ego Monsieur Hulot, the bungling yet gentle innocent haphazardly making his way through the increasingly mechanized world, Trafic sets sights on the automobile industry. Having finally resigned himself to a modern job as a car designer, this doesn’t mean Hulot is any more at home among technology. Indeed, an endless array of problems arise on his road trip to a Holland auto show. Absurd trends of the road are exposed in true Tati fashion—a vast assemblage of visual gags and social commentary. Released by The Criterion Collection, Tati’s Hulot-based oeuvre has already received fantastic editions of M. Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle, and Playtime. Criterion’s 2-disc DVD comes with their usual slew of features, making this a must-buy.

July 22nd:

High and Low (1963) The Criterion Collection Deep Focus Review's DVD of the Month

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Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant diptych film noir High and Low was released in a bare-bones edition by The Criterion Collection back in the late 1990s; now adding an anamorphic transfer, new and improved subtitles, and another disc packed with features, the film finally receives the top-notch Criterion treatment it deserves. The story begins with a kidnapping, the ransom for which will ruin a wealthy executive (Toshiro Mifune). Soon the police, led by Kurosawa favorite Takashi Shimura, track the kidnapper in a gripping police procedural. Split between high drama and fast crime, Kurosawa entertains with thrilling and dramatic turns while portraying a grim description of postwar Japan. Though best known for period adventures like Seven Samurai, Kurosawa’s very best contemporary film is High and Low, earning its place as Deep Focus Review’s “DVD of the Month”.