March 26-28 2010 Weekend Movie Predictions

After being a regular movie goer after the past few years, usually I smell a stinker when it's coming to the big screen. So why keep that knowledge to myself? Here are the movies I think are going to pass or fail as they hit the theaters tomorrow.

PASS

Chloe: Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried. The story of a wife (Moore) who decides to test the loyalty of her husband (Neeson) by having a young woman named Chloe (Seyfried) come into the picture to try and tempt him. The game soon becomes more than she bargained for.

Reasons for a Pass: First off, let's take a look at the cast. Liam Neeson and Julian Moore have proven time and time again they make every role they're given, whereas roughly newcomer Amanda Seyfried has yet to really earn her wings. Nonetheless, in a drama, they're bound to draw the audience in by the heart strings.

Greenberg: Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig and Rhys Ifans. Stiller shows a new side of himself when playing Roger Greenberg, a middle-aged single wanderer who looks after home of his more successful brother. While trying to reconnect with old friends, Greenberg runs into his brother's personal assistant Florence (Gerwig) and realizes they share a common passion for music. With this new friend, Greenberg starts down a new path that may change his life.

Reasons for a Pass: This one's a bit of a gamble, but then again all predictions really are. It's your classic "middle-aged guy tries to get back on his feet scenario", which often leads to a few tears and a few smiles from its viewers. The difference is, to my knowledge, Stiller has never taken on a role like this before. I don't think he's ever done a serious drama before.

How to Train Your Dragon: Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill. In a world where Vikings fight dragons in gladiator-like arenas, one boy named Hiccup (Baruchel) discovers they aren't the fearsome, destructive monsters his people make them out to be. He befriends a young, injured dragon and tries to show his father (Butler) the truth about them before the Vikings decide to attack the beasts and end them once and for all.

Reasons for a Pass: Regardless of critics and parents, this is bound to get TONS of little kids interested. Kids love adventure, cartoons and cuddly little creatures. In fact, forget adventure or cuddly creatures, just saw "cartoon" and they're sold. And the fact that it's also being put on screen in the 3-D, that's just icing on their cupcakes. It will likely serve its purpose and to give us anything more is all the better.

FAIL

The Hot Tub Time Machine: Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke. After a group of friends get drunk in a hot tub, they wake up with more than just a hangover; they wake up back in time! In this new time period, they go through comedic antics in order to set their lives right as well as figure out how to get back to the present.

Reasons for a Fail: John Cusack, WHY?! 2012 was somewhat tolerable, but how could you actually sign up for something like this? We all know that half these "let's get drunk and see what we wake up to" movies just end up getting worse with every try. So to add something like time travel into the plot is just spelling out failure. You can tell from every scene in the trailer, this looks exactly as stupid as it sounds. Then again, every year there's always one movie that seems to give up before the script is even finished. At least we're getting 2010's over early.