Upcoming Movies

I'm seeing The Incredible Hulk tomorrow, but in the process of finding a time I discovered a bunch of movies coming over the next 24 months that I'd forgotten were on their way.

Persepolis, an animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel about her childhood in Iran. Satrapi apparently is the director. Definitely not a film I ever expected to get green-lit. Actually this came out in 2007 and got nominated for an Oscar that year, but it's only just now making its way to Australia.

Australia, the next film from director Baz Luhrman. This is the man who did Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge, and while by all accounts this is really honest-to-Jeebers a sweeping outback period drama, I'm not going to be able to watch the thing without expecting a disco ball to descend from the heavens and the cast to break out in a campy jukebox musical number. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star. November 2008.

Ashecliffe, directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the book Shutter Island. It's a thriller based around an isolated insane asylum, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo star. Scorsese's last attempt at a psychological thriller was his Cape Fear remake, which was damn near unwatchable, but I hold out hope that everyone conerned has learned from their mistakes. October 2009.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated film that looks visually similar to Genndy Tartakovsky's 2003 series but is otherwise unrelated. Obi-Wan and Anakin set out on a quest to rescure Jabba the Hutt's son, for some reason. It's really hard to stuff up a trailer for a Star Wars movie but the publicity completely fails to excite me. The thing is supposed to lead into a new animated series so the whole mess is probably going to be even more kiddy-friendly than the already bland prequel trilogy. August 2008.

Zombie Strippers aims to be "so bad it's good" although probably it will fall short and end up in the "just bad" pile. When stripper Kat (Jenna Jameson) is bitten by a zombie and becomes one of the living dead, she unexpectedly becomes better at her job and more popular with customers. One by one her colleagues also become zombies, driven by the urge to compete. Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund stars as the strip club manager. Already been and gone in the US but coming to Australia in August.