Six weeks late. Ah well. After the cut, reactions to The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, This Film is Not Yet Rated and several books I read for school.
Category: Film Page 92 of 101
I realize that I am basically video-blogging at this point. This is because I am currently in a schoolwork lull, which means my neurons are going to sleep. In other news, could the studios release SOMETHING I want to watch in a city near me? kthxbye.
Are We Done Yet?
Eh. This could look worse than it does. It was originally supposed to be a remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, I think, but then sort of got mashed up as a sequel to Are We There Yet? But it looks fitfully amusing, if you like slapstick family comedies. Plus, it’s got the attending doctor from Scrubs, and I love him. Most reviewers are saying it’s crap, though, and I’m not planning to see it at all, so there you have it.
The Reaping
Oh, Hilary Swank, what are you doing with your career? Horror films like this are a dime a dozen. Not to mention the brain trust that decided that mixing those cool Exodus plagues up with the creepy child subgenre. That’ll be a winner. Not.
Firehouse Dog
“Now, a dog who needs a home and a kid who needs a friend are about to find each other.” And they do. And now you don’t have to see the movie. At least the dog doesn’t talk. Apparently. Needy dog/kid movies are also a dime a dozen.
Grindhouse
Okay. This is critic’s darling this week, even prompting Ryan at Cinematical to bust a gut over its lackluster opening day performance. Personally, I’m not surprised that America isn’t ready for Grindhouse. I’m not. I mean, I like both Tarantino and Rodriguez. I like the things they’ve done to make these films look like 1970s exploitation films, as far as the film grain and low-budget look. And yet, I have no desire to see 1970s exploitation films revived, and I have no desire to see a homage to them. So leave me out of it.
The Hoax
This is the teaser trailer, because I liked it better than the full trailer. As is so often the case. And when the teaser trailer is better than the full trailer, it always makes me worried about the whole movie. Although this has gotten some good press, I’m not sure how the premise can sustain itself for a whole film. Plus, I dislike Richard Gere. On the good side, I LOVE the font used in the teaser. What is that font? Anyone? Anyone? Opening in limited release.
Black Book
Paul Verhoeven, director of such classics as Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, and RoboCop, turns classy. Heh. I’m kidding. Actually, Starship Troopers is really quite good. I haven’t seen the others. And also, I hear that besides the political intrigue obvious in the trailer, there’s also a dash of sexual intrigue, Basic Instinct-style. In any case, it’s being hailed as an extremely well-done film from Verhoeven, back in his native Holland. The plot looks interesting enough to make me Netflix it. Opening in New York and LA.
The TV Set
I would really like for this to be good. It looks to be right up my alley. But I hear that it’s not as good as it looks, and somewhat miscast. :( On the other hand, Judy Greer is amazing in everything that I’ve seen her in, so it might be worth checking out just for her. Opening in limited release.
I watched the French action film District B-13 last weekend, and though I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, it was extremely entertaining eye candy. The story is basically that a futuristic Paris has been divided into different districts, with varying levels of lawlessness. District B-13 is the worst, to the point where what’s left of the government builds a huge wall around it and keeps anyone from entering or leaving it. Inside, it’s run by a vicious crime lord and his gang. Then a cop who wants to try to clean up the district teams up with a B-13 resident currently in jail on the outside. And it goes on from there. But yeah. Story shmory. The action set pieces are totally worth the rental, if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s my favorite, which I just had to share. This is pretty much the first sequence in the film, where the B-13 insider is trying to escape the crime lord’s thugs, and does a dazzling bit of parkour. (Parkour is basically city-running, and it’s awesome. There’s also a good parkour sequence at the beginning of Casino Royale.) The dialogue here is in English, because when I encoded the video, it took the English language track instead of the French one. Watch out for that, too, if you rent it…it defaults to English, but you want to switch it to French with English subtitles. It’s much better, trust me. Also, coarse language warning at about 1:17.
This is the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. Okay, it’s the most awesome thing I’ve seen today. The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the more famous medieval artworks, depicting the Norman Invasion of England. This video animates it and adds appropriate music.
Meant to post this Thursday. Forgot. That’s what I get for writing it early and leaving it in draft status…ah well.
This week’s trailers. My pick for one I’d go see: The Lookout. My pick for top box office of this group: Blades of Glory. The art film of the week is Denmark’s After the Wedding, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, but it’s only in New York and LA. I looked up the theatre listings for New York the other day just for kicks, and almost packed up my belongings to move there that instant. But then I reminded myself that by the time I paid the rent, I wouldn’t be able to afford the movie tickets. Or the parking. Or the cab fare. Or food. So I decided to wait for more opportune circumstances to avail myself of the incredible New York filmgoing scene.
Trailers and commentary after the jump.