July 2008 Forecast
By David Mumpower
July 2, 2008
5) The X-Files: I Want to Believe
The title says it all for me. I was a huge fan of the show back when it had so few viewers that Fox was talking about canceling it before it got out of its first season. I relished the years of overwhelming success it experienced (Duane Berry rules!), but my heart was broken when the first X-Files movie came out. It started off wonderfully with the bomb scene, but then it degraded into some convoluted story involving killer bees or something like that. I barely recall the details now, much like the later seasons of the show as cast members gradually ran off and were replaced by former Terminators. The X-Files fell off the charts faster than Sir Mix-a-Lot. So, the news of a fresh Chris Carter story focused upon storytelling rather than a convoluted mythology involving vaccines and aliens...well, it gives me hope. I want to believe that Carter will recapture the magic of Mulder and Scully again, and I strongly suspect a lot of consumers will be with me on this, at least on opening weekend. Whether we are all played for suckers remains to be seen.
6) Step Brothers
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a wonderful, hilarious movie. I never get tired of it, particularly the scenes involving Ricky Bobby's physical (and mental) rehab. The surprise in the film is the marvelous chemistry between Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. And it is this very knowledge that makes me gaze upon the trailer for Step Brothers and wonder what in the blue hell happened to them. This thing is the opposite of funny. It's that stupid type of anti-comedy Tom Green tried to create in Freddy Got Fingered. Perhaps worst of all is the fact that Step Brothers is a movie concept that already failed once recently when Will Arnett and Will Forte co-starred in Brothers Solomon. The only reason I have any box office expectations for this whatsoever is that the folks who fondly remember Talladega Nights (it was only two years ago) may be lured in by hopes of a de facto sequel. This will not end well for them.
7) Mamma Mia!
A musical of ABBA songs? Yeah, I might not be the target audience here. Reviews border on the rapturous, however, and Sex and the City has created a positively reinforced environment for chick flicks this summer. I think Mamma Mia! is poised to surprise and could wind up being a Hairspray-sized hit. Such an achievement would mean I have seriously underrated it on this list, but I'm a guy. As a guy, I feel uncomfortable putting a musical celebrating ABBA songs any higher on my list.
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