Theater Releases for June 20th, 2008

So…this week, we get an epic, a comedy, and an epic comedy. Or something like that.

Mongol

Nominated for the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, this Kazakhstani epic is the first part of a planned trilogy depicting the life of Ghengis Khan. Here’s the kicker, though: it was made for less than $20 million, and it came out looking this good. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say this film looks mind-blowingly awesome and I need to see it right now.

Recommended if you liked 300 or Alexander, but wished they weren’t so…um…stupid

Get Smart
“I learned something today, kid. It ain’t comedy that’s in my blood; it’s selling out.”
…Besides being a quote from Krusty the Klown on The Simpsons, it may as well be the mantra for Mel Brooks, who’s failed to come up with a new idea since 1987’s Spaceballs (unless you want to count 1993’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights, which was basically a remake of his 1975 TV series When Things Were Rotten). Around the turn of the century, he realized he needed more money and began milking his previously-established properties for all they were worth. First we got Broadway musicals based on The Prouducers and Young Frankenstein (and a new film version of the former); now we get a movie based on his TV series Get Smart; and later this year, you can expect – I swear – Spaceballs: The Animated Series. Hopefully, we’ll be spared Life Stinks: The Hip-Hopera, but I’m not betting on it. On the bright side, this new spy comedy looks genuinely funny and has an awesome cast that includes Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson and Alan Arkin. If it’s half as funny as the TV series, it can count on earning my $10.

Recommended if you like movies that couldn’t possibly suck

The Love Guru
Oh…so Mike Myers is a Hindu love guru who has to fix the marriage of a Toronto Maple Leaf? And Jessica Alba plays his love interest? And Justin Timberlake is…um…there? And I’m supposed to care about this…why?

Recommended if you’re infantile enough to think the tagline ( “His karma is huge!”) is actually funny