A Kid, a Schmuck, and a Sorcerer walk into a bar…

Yay, it looks like The Kids are Alright is finally going into wider release and I plan to see it this weekend.  Stay tuned for my review.  I also plan to see Despicable Me soon.  I’m undecided about Dinner for Schmucks. 

I have also been thinking about seeing The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but after seeing Inception, I have a hard time going to see movies that I believe are going to be mediocre.  I know, I know – I need to keep an open mind.  I’m working on it…

Double Negative Visual Effects

Inception is opening July 16, 2010 and one of the reasons I want to see it is because the special effects look amazing.  This company called Double Negative was involved in creating the effects for Inception and they also worked on the effects for such movies as Iron Man 2, Angels & Demons, Cloverfield, and Sherlock Holmes.

I just watched Sherlock Holmes and I thought the effects were amazing (remember that explosion? Wow!), and the visuals in the previews for Inception look pretty incredible, too.  Double Negative also worked on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which also starts this week.

They create some pretty incredible stuff.  Here is Double Negative’s full project list and here’s a showreel of some of Double Negative’s best work. Pretty cool stuff.

Movie Game: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel is set to be released on Wednesday, July 14.  In the meantime, you can play the online game, Fiery Frenzy, at the official movie site.

You can enter the phrase MERLIN10 at any time to unlock game cheat codes, which will cause your life force to slowly regenerate as you play, but it’s not really necessary to use it.

There are eight Training levels that include opponents such as an eagle, spiders, and a dragon.  Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your character back and forth and hold the space bar to shoot the weapons.  The opponents gradually become more difficult to beat but overall they’re pretty easy to defeat.  Only the last creature in the training level, the mummy, is difficult to beat; it took me about five tries. After you beat all opponents at the training level, you have to beat your final opponent, Balthazar.

If you want more of a challenge, you can play the Sorcerer’s Apprentice Nintendo DS game.

10 Upcoming Movies

Here are 10 movies that will be released in the next couple months. I don’t necessarily plan on seeing all the movies on this list {cough Twilight Eclipse cough}, but I do plan on seeing most.

1. Wednesday, June 23 – Knight and Day; Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz; Action/Comedy/Thriller; PG-13
   ~ An everyday woman gets mixed up in the life of secret agent who is trying to avoid being captured.
2. Friday, June 25 – Grown Ups; Adam Sandler, Salma Hayak, Kevin James; Comedy; PG-13
   ~ Five high school friends reunite on July 4th after their old basketball coach dies.
3. Wednesday, June 30 – Twilight Saga: Eclipse; Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattison; Fantasy/Romance/Thriller; PG-13
   ~ Continuation of the saga in which Bella must choose between Edward and Jacob.
4. Thursday, July 1 – The Last Airbender; Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz; Action/Family/Fantasy; Not yet rated
   ~ The young Avatar, who is the only master of all four elements, has been called upon to help restore harmony.
5. Friday, July 9 – The Kids are Alright; Annette Bening, Julianne Moore; Comedy; R
   ~ Two siblings of a lesbian couple want to bring their sperm-donor father into their lives.
6. Wednesday, July 14 – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Nicolas Cage, Jay Barachel; Fantasy/Comedy; PG
   ~ A master sorcerer recruits a seemingly average guy to train to help fight the evildoers.
7. Friday, July 16 – Inception; Leonardo DiCaprio, Kan Watanabe; Action/SciFi; PG-13
   ~ A thief has the ability to steal ideas by entering others’ dreams.
8. Friday, July 23 – Salt; Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber; Action/Thriller; PG-13
   ~ A CIA agent is accused of being a Russian spy who is going to attempt to kill the U.S. president.
9. Friday, July 30 – Twelve; Emma Roberts, Chace Crawford; Drama/Thriller; R
   ~ A drug dealing dropout’s cousin is killed and his best friend is arrested for the crime.
10. Friday, August 13 – Eat, Pray, Love; Julia Roberts, Javier Barden; Drama; PG-13
    ~ A recently divorced woman embarks on a round-the-world journey of self discovery.