The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since 1980 and is recognized globally as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. He's a columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera and Linux Journal and frequently appears in other publications both online and in print. Additionally, Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and GoFahterhood. Based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs, as well as active member of his community and busy single father to three children.

Cool films coming in 2007, and some clunkers

Okay, it's probably easy to sit here and take potshots at multi-million-dollar studio productions, but that's okay, I'll do it anyway. :-) Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star has an amusing article about the movie sequels coming out this year and some of 'em might just be good, while others are going to leave a stench in the theater.

My completely biased, unabashed selection of which is which follows...

First off, the good ones, since I might as well start out positively!

Truth be told, there are a couple that stand out as a slam-dunk to be good films if they follow in their predecessors footsteps:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets -- The first was good fun, a great role for Nick Cage and had terrific production values. It stands up well to multiple viewings and has a nice sort of daVinci-Code-esque feel to it too. It's the film we'll use as the yardstick to measure the next Indiana Jones movie now in production.

Spiderman 3 -- Well, the trailer sure looks good and it's fun to see the evolution of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker and his internal struggles against the, um, "dark side" of superhero powers.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I found the first two movies great fun, even if they're whimsical cartoons without much meaningful storyline, and while Johnny Depp is an accomplished actor, I've never seen him have so much fun with a role in any of his other films.

The Bourne Ultimatum -- Frankly, I thought the first two were very good, very exciting, and really somewhat the thinking man's action film, even with the liability of Matt Damon, who isn't really that good an actor. Even more notable is that I thought the second movie was actually better than the first. Dynamite books too, but Ludlum's always known how to write a great spy thriller!

There are also some films on Villarreal's list that I just know are going to stink, notably including:

Ocean's 13 -- The first was alright (though I have to say that the original Ocean's Eleven with Frank Sinatra and the rat pack was fabulous and a darn hard act to follow. I loved the ending of the original film too), but the second installment was a self-indulgent flop and hard for me to even sit through.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- Oh man, did I miss getting a slice of the special pizza with the magic mushrooms to think that this film won't just be a colossal bomb??

Are We Done Yet -- it's not just the story line of the original film that stunk so badly, it's also the acting and the basic premise that "kids are cute, especially when they're smartass monsters being sadistic to foppish adults". Now we're going to have a second one of these? Didn't they learn from the painful demise of the Home Alone series?

Mr. Bean's Holiday -- Just a second! Truth be told, I really like Rowan Atkinson as a comedian, but the Bean character just can't sustain a film and now we have to suffer through another one? What happened to his much funnier (if equally sophomoric) work in Johnny English, or his brilliant Blackadder series? No, we're going to be forced to see him reprise a role that I never liked from the beginning.

Y'know, a film that I wish was on this list was a sequel to the fun Sahara, starring the ever-popular Matthew McConaughey and a pretty solid lineup of other actors. I mean, it's not like Clive Cussler doesn't have a million books out that they could tap into, but Sahara, like National Treasure, ended up a bit of a sleeper hit in the action/adventure genre. Is there one in the works?

But these are my tastes and there are lots of popular films I just dislike from the get-go, so perhaps you look at the list and have other ones jump out as being likely to be good or bad. Do share...

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