Daily Loaf

[Ed. note: Each week I'll be breaking down the big summer blockbuster movie releases. If you're curious about what's coming out in future weeks, be sure to check out the Summer Movie Preview. For more info on this week's releases, please check out my full length review of Public Enemies or visit our movie site for all things film-related.]

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1ST
Box office gold: Public Enemies
Worth seeing? Absolutely! Enemies is the latest project from director Michael Mann, the creative force behind Miami Vice (both the TV and film versions), the original Hannibal Lecter flick Manhunter, and the Pacino/Deniro face-off opus Heat. Mann excels at stories of crooks and criminals, and Enemies — the story of bank robber John Dillinger’s populist rabble-rousing reign of terror — is right in his wheelhouse. It also doesn’t hurt to have to have Johnny Depp playing Dillinger, Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover and Christian Bale as FBI top-cop Melvin Purvis. Mann’s ambitions can sometimes weigh down his kinetic shooting style (I mean, Heat’s great, but 3 hours? Really?), but there is no doubt that all the 1930s period details, car chases and shoot-outs will be startlingly rendered. Public Enemies is the best movie of the summer (so far).
Counter-programming: A period piece about violent gangsters not appropriate for your family’s weekend outing? Never fear, everyone’s favorite prehistoric explorers are back for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Picking up where the original left off, Dawn of the Dinos follows the continued adventures of Manny, Scrat and the rest of the thawed-out critters. The famous voices behind the scenes include Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah and Ray Romano. In addition, two higher-brow flicks hit this weekend: Larry David takes a stab at “the Woody Allen role” in Allen’s latest, Whatever Works; and Michelle Pfeiffer re-teams with Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears for another period piece, Cheri.

Previews for all the movies after the jump …

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For more news on the summer’s biggest releases, please check out CL’s Movies & Television site.

You have to hand it to the producers of Public Enemies; their timing is impeccable. After months of watching the banks loot the nation’s treasury of billions under the guise of the TARP bailout, the public is bound to be receptive to heartthrob Johnny Depp as charismatic bank robber John Dillinger. It helps that Depp is stellar here, his Dillinger a smooth cat who’s quick to give a lady his coat or his word. As directed by Michael Mann (The Insider, Heat), Public Enemies is a gripping gangster flick that works both as a Depression-era period piece and a throwback to the films of that era.

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Note: This is our first Tournament of Summer Movie Blockbuster. In case you missed it, here’s the skinny on the tourney and a full list of competing films. And for news and reviews of this summer’s blockbusters, be sure and check CL’s Movies & TV site.

In Wednesday’s poll results, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial squeaked by Transformers to move on to round two. (Sorry Murray Jr. and offspring!). This weekend, the polls are open for our final Round 1 battle involving a #1 seed, as #1 The Dark Knight takes on #8 Armageddon.

Details on the films and your chance to vote are after the break.

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I normally don’t like trashing games because of gameplay length. I think if a game is fun and well-made and sucks you in, it almost doesn’t matter how long it takes to play it through. I love my scores of hours spent on Fallout 3, but I also love the condensed fun of a well-constructed shooter or action game like Call of Duty (not a perfect analogy, as Call of Duty has all that great multi-player action, but I would have bought Call of Duty 4 just for that single player campaign; it was that good).  So I’m no short game hater. But Terminator Salvation? Come the hell on! This isn’t a game, that is 1/3rd of a game. That is DLC. This is a demo.

This isn’t a game … This is a demo.

The game is a prequel to the new movie, which still makes it a sequel to the older movies and the TV show. You play as a young adult John Conner, who hasn’t yet taken on leadership in the Resistance against Skynet. I kind of thought the whole point was that John Conner would start the Resistance, but whatever, fine. In this game you’re just one of the guys, out in the wilds of post Judgement Day Los Angeles, blowing up robots. When you get a distress call from some fellow Resistance fighters, your commanding officer won’t risk the lives of the many to save a stranded and doomed few. But you’re John Conner damnit, and you’ll leave no human life behind to those machines. The rest of the game is about traversing Terminator-controlled L.A. and saving those stranded but apparently well-ensconced soldiers from certain mechanized doom.

(Gameplay video after the jump)

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What better way to end this week than with a Colbert clip where Stephen sends up the Christian Bale meltdown with a little help from fellow Stephen, Steve Martin? Have a good weekend!

• Obama shoots back at the Republicans; says time is of the essence on stimulus bill.
• But can they pass it today?

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Admit it: the first time you heard the Christian Bale on-set freakout you thought to yourself, “If only someone would cut this together with Bill “Fuck it! I’ll do it live!” O’Reilly’s Inside Edition rant, we might have something here.” Good news folks, if you can dream it, the Internet can do it. Enjoy!

For those who wondered if the professional, serious journalists here at CL could resist jumping on the Christian Bale Rant bandwagon, here’s your answer: Hell no.

I’ll have what he’s having.

• Eric Holder confirmed as Attorney General. Let’s hope a memory test was part of the vetting process.
• And the new Speaker of the Florida House is …

It gets a little dark after the break folks. You’ve been warned …

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As today is my last here at the Loaf, (you can reach me at anthonyjohn71@yahoo.com) this may well be my final Reel Projections (I know, boo fucking hoo, the end of an era). But rather than cry in my beer (which I really don’t like to drink these days, anyway, and after Benjamin Button, I’ve pretty much dried out my tear ducts), I’ll go out with the shiny, happy enthusiasm that made men admire me and women want me.

So let’s get this might-be-a-farewell party started with the hands-down best trailer I saw last night before the screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (did I mention you should bring your hankies?). OK, that’s not saying much, since most of the other 29 trailers were, how do you say, fucking horrible. But The Proposal, yet another rom-com starring the rom-commiest of actresses, Sandra Bullock, was a breath of fresh, frothy air. See if you agree:

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