9/22/2008 4:40 PM
posted awhile ago
New Movies Week of 9/26: Shia LaBeouf, censorship, disappearing whales
New Movies Week of 9/26
Spout's giving away five Eagle Eye swag packages this week. Each package includes an Eagle Eye zip-up hoodie, t-shirt, and flash drive pen (which is total spy gear: a pen and a flash drive). Find out how to win.
Eagle Eye makes the second Hitchcock-inspired flick from Shia LaBeouf and director D.J. Caruso. Eagle Eye sounds a lot like The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Disturbia (was this good?) is a teen update of Rear Window.
Would you like to see LaBeouf in another Hitchcock update? Would he make a good Norman Bates? I'll say this for the young man--he's starting to pull off being a sex sybol, with or without a crushed hand. (Sorry to hear about that Shia; it'll just make you more impressive, though.) Did anyone out there think he was the best part of Indiana Jones 4? "What is that? Oh, that's just a thing."
Michelle Monaghan was good in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang but the chemistry between Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer stole that show.
It's a shame that Spike Lee's new movie isn't impressing anyone, because I think it looks really interesting. It made me realize I've never seen a WWII movie about an all-black "Buffalo Soldier" unit. Maybe that's because America prefers to think of themselves as the unambiguous good guys during WWII? Thoughts on this?
Also, I haven't seen many Spike Lee movies but I really liked Inside Man.
Diane Lane and Richard Gere in an adaptation from a Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle, The Notebook). I like Diane Lane, she was great in that TV miniseries Lonesome Dove. It also stars Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, and the moral universe of it feels kind of like No Country for Old Men. Richard Gere on the other hand--sure he's good-looking, but otherwise I can't figure out the appeal. The only thing I've liked him in is the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.
- Towelhead is in wide release now. Anyone seen this yet? I'm pretty interested.
LIMITED RELEASE
Wow, this sounds interesting to me: when a sudden plague of blindness strikes a city, the afflicted must band together to survive the cruel conditions of their quarantine. Starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, and Gael Garcia Bernal.
This reminds me of that Stephen King TV miniseries The Stand, which I'm hoping and praying will come to DVD. Anyone remember it? I loved the crap out of it when I was 13, haven't seen it since.
I like Sam Rockwell, who stars in this adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel. (Palahniuk also wrote Fight Club, which led to the rare case of a movie that surpasses the book.) Rockwell's charcter cruises at sex addict meetings and asks for handouts after pretending to choke in restaurants.
Kevin Buist from FilmCouch saw this flick at Toronto and he didn't like it very much. He and Paul will discuss it in FilmCouch #89 (which comes out 9/26.)
When professional rugby player Rick Penning (Sean Faris, who's also in the Fight Club-in-high-school Never Back Down) is put behind bars, the warden (Sean Astin) gives Rick a choice: stay behind bars, or play for his long-time rival, Highland Rugby. Rick chooses the latter, and bonds with his new teammates. When Rick's released from prison and returns to his old team, he's given a difficult choice to make when his team faces Highland in the National Championship.
Okay, it sounds kind of formulaic but I would totally see that.
Kirk Cameron plays a firefighter who can risk his life on the job, but can't save his marriage. This one's receiving heavy promotion from Christian radio station KLOV.
Question for you guys: any good movies about people trying to salvage their marriage, and the marriage works out?
The tag line "Not your everyday fairy tale" seems pretty accurate: Queen Raquela is a Filipina transsexual prostitute searching for her prince on the internet.
Atwater was many things, and different things depending on who you talk to: rogue, political assassin, godfather of American politics (he mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush). This documentary from Stefan Forbes tries to look at all the angles of a complicated, influential guy.
Three troubled Iraqi veterans take a road trip across the US. The vets are Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams (I love you, dream woman!) and Michael Pena.
Julian Lennon produced this documentary on the relationship between whales and a tribe of aborigines. Both the whales and people group are slowly disappearing. Lennon, Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush make appearances.
Documentary on Barney Rosset, the influential publisher who battled censorship (he successfully published Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer after a long legal battle) and introduced American readers to the literature of Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, and Eugene Ionesco, among others. He also owned a porno theater.
An uptight med student bonds with his pot-loving new girlfriend. Interesting cast (including Fairuza Balk and Peter Bogdanovich), so it might be more interesting than it sounds.
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