Coming Soon

Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

Waa-hooo! This Friday we are officially delivered from the movie release Dead Zone! Let Oscar-bait season begin!

FEATURES

1. Burn After Reading -- New Coen bros. movie this Friday! Does the trailer for this dark spy comedy remind anyone else of the dark stoner/detective comedy The Big Lebowski?

Brad Pitt and John Malkovich are both interviewed about the film on SpoutBlog.

And there's a Recast The Big Lebowski contest you're all welcome to join in the Filmgaming group. The swag we're giving away would go great with a bathrobe.


2. Righteous Kill -- Robert Deniro and Al Pacino do the bad cop/bad cop routine.

This could be...
(a) a supremely awesome, double-espresso shot of testosterone, a la Michael Mann's Heat. Or this could be ...
(b) a blown opportunity on the level of The Score (remember that extremely forgettable movie with Deniro, Marlon Brando, and Ed Norton?)

Unfortunately I'm expecting Righteous Kill to be closer to option (b). Director Jon Avnet is no Michael Mann. His most recent film 88 Minutes starred Al Pacino, was in theaters for about half an hour, and barely got a kind word spoken about it. There's some hope for Avnet, though -- the first film he directed was Fried Green Tomatoes.

3. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys --  Of all Tyler Perry films, this one looks most interesting to me. Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard are long-time friends and the matriarchs of two seemingly different families: Bates' family is wealthy and WASPy, while Woodard's family is working class African American. The families experience similar crises, including extramarital affairs and unethical business practices.

I haven't seen any Tyler Perry movies. Any fans out there that could recommend a film to start with?

4. Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips -- (limited release) This sci-fi flick is the directorial debut of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.

The story: it's Christmastime on Mars. When the community's life support system begins to malfunction, one man on the repair team begins to hallucinate about the birth of a baby. The Lips provide the music  and each band member plays a role.

I'm far from a die-hard Lips fan, but this sounds incredible! The film sounds like a natural (but inspired) progression from creating rock operas like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

I'd enjoy seeing more rock opera movies. Are there any films you guys would recommend? I was disappointed by Tommy, and I haven't seen Pink Floyd: The Wall (I only like about half of the music on The Wall). If you guys haven't watched The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon, I highly recommend it.

Here's the trailer for Christmas on Mars:


5. The Women -- This contemporary remake of feminist comedy drama The Women (1939) stars Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Jada Pinkett Smith, Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, and Debra Messing.

The story begins when the most-envied of the women discovers her husband is having an affair with a shopgirl. With smaller roles played by Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman, and Carrie Fisher, this movie has as many stars as The Thin Red Line.

Has anyone seen the original The Women? The remake is being called gossipy and bitchy-wisecracking; do you have any other bitchy-wisecracking favorites?

DOCUMENTARIES

6. Flow: For Love of Water  -- (limited release) Presents how corporate privatization of water is adversely affecting many around the world.

7. Moving Midway -- (limited release) When Raleigh, NC man Charlie Cheshire decides to relocate the historic buildings of the Midway plantation, white Raleigh residents are outraged at the idea of moving their beloved symbol of the Old South. This is contrasted by the perspective of another branch of the Chesire family--the descendants of the slaves who were owned by the white Cheshires. The two branches of the Cheshire family meet on camera, which would be very interesting to see.

Here's the trailer:

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

Wow, just watched the trailor for FLOW:... I'll have to check that one out. I work in the water treatment industry so, I'm sure I'll have a very bloviated opinion.

Really though, there's only one movie opening this week that matters. Burn After Reading will kick ass. I will be seeing it shortly after my work week ends on Friday and I can't wait.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

I heard Burn After Reading was mediocre (Kevin Kelly's latest blog), but that Brad Pitt's performance as an obnoxious douchebag (is that proper copy?) was outstanding. I honestly feel weird about watching Brad Pitt make a complete idiot out of himself. I look forward to the film regardless simply because I loved O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I think I agree with your take on Righteous Kill as being a potential "score" like Heat (didn't that have De Niro and Pacino in it as well), but ending up as an "epic" failure like that other movie you referenced (The What?).

Anyway, after last week's poor showing with A Disaster Movie we can only go up from here.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

rjsprague:

I honestly feel weird about watching Brad Pitt make a complete idiot out of himself.

Three good movies where people think Brad Pitt's an idiot, but he's actually very shrewd:

True Romance

12 Monkeys

Snatch

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

leeroy711:

Wow, just watched the trailor for FLOW:... I'll have to check that one out. I work in the water treatment industry so, I'm sure I'll have a very bloviated opinion.

 

Wow, 'bloviated,' great word that sounds like what it means. I thought it was water treatment jargon until I saw it in dictionary.com's word-of-the-day archive:

bloviate  intransitive verb:
To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

SkyPilot:

rjsprague:

I honestly feel weird about watching Brad Pitt make a complete idiot out of himself.

Three good movies where people think Brad Pitt's an idiot, but he's actually very shrewd:

True Romance

12 Monkeys

Snatch

I loved his character in True Romance: "Don't............... condecend me mother f$##er.................. I'll f#$ing kill you......"

Also, don't forget Kalifornia. I don't think I would really call him shrewd. But he was somewhat clever.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

SkyPilot:

leeroy711:

Wow, just watched the trailor for FLOW:... I'll have to check that one out. I work in the water treatment industry so, I'm sure I'll have a very bloviated opinion.

 

Wow, 'bloviated,' great word that sounds like what it means. I thought it was water treatment jargon until I saw it in dictionary.com's word-of-the-day archive:

bloviate  intransitive verb:
To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

I want it on my tombstone.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

SkyPilot:

rjsprague:

I honestly feel weird about watching Brad Pitt make a complete idiot out of himself.

Three good movies where people think Brad Pitt's an idiot, but he's actually very shrewd:

True Romance

12 Monkeys

Snatch

While I've not seen True Romance, I have seen both 12 Monkeys and Snatch. I did not think Brad Pitt's character was meant to be, nor came off as, truly idiotic in 12 Monkeys or Snatch. I thought his characters were brilliant, if not naive. In fact those are probably my two favorite movies featuring Brad Pitt. But the image of Pitt as a chachi douchebag with a below average IQ is somehow not appealing to me. Granted he might really make the character shine. I will watch Burn regardless.

Re:Upcoming Movies Week of 9-12

I just had a thought.

Righteous Kill sounds like something out of the 80s, and that it should be appended with the word "Dude".

"Righteous Kill, Dude!"

And Al Pacino and Robert Deniro should have produced and directed it, instead of starring in it.