Weekend Forecast: 1/11/08
By Craig Kennedy - January 10th, 2008; 12:33 am
Expanding this weekend: Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood.
You probably thought I was kidding when I said I wasn’t going to stop talking
about this movie until you saw it, didn’t you? Well? Believe me now?
It must still be January because the new wide release list is pathetic:
- The Bucket List. This isn’t actually a new release, but it’s going wide this weekend and it has the dubious distinction of being the least obnoxious looking of the lot. When you see what else is playing, you’ll know I don’t mean this as any kind of compliment. Anyway, it’s Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson jumping out of planes and driving cars and whatnot before they, you know, kick the bucket. In the interest of rubbing salt in the wounds of Pete “Blurb Monkey” Hammond upon the occasion of his firing from Maxim magazine, I repeat what I’ve already quoted him saying about The Bucket List: “a winner that ought to top anyone’s own list starting with the words must-see.“ How about that little joke Petey made? I wonder if he knew it would be his last.
- First Sunday. I’m sure Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan have a good reason to be robbing that church and I’m sure they all learn a valuable lesson, but I have no interest in one or the other. My patience for Tracy Morgan just barely stretches across an episode of 30 Rock.
- In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Why would you want to lay siege to a dungeon? My nerd is a little rusty, but I think this is a tactic you employ in order to get a town or city to surrender. People inside of dungeons generally don’t want to be there. I’m pretty sure they’d come out peacefully if you just asked them or maybe tossed them one of those big old skeleton keys. Let it be in the name of the king if you must, but I doubt it would make much difference.
- The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. One would’ve hoped that after the bankruptcy of the company that produced Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie back in 2002 the world would remain safe from computer animated movies about moralizing vegetables. And yet here we are.
Expansions:
- There Will Be Blood. One of the two best movies of the year is supposed to expand from 51 theaters to approximately 125 this weekend. That’s still a tiny amount, but your odds of finding it are getting much better. It’s worth a drive. Seriously. When this thing pulls in like 9 Oscar® nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Score, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costumes), don’t you want to be the cool kid in class who has already seen it? Of course you do. Who wouldn’t?
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I can’t find any concrete information that says this one is expanding from its current run of 57 theaters, but I have it on good authority it’s opening in a few places that it wasn’t playing before so keep an eye out for it. Recommended.
- Atonement is supposed to expand into approximately 950 theaters from 583. Also recommended.
- The Kite Runner is set to expand from 380 to approximately 600 theaters.
- The Orphanage goes from 69 theaters to approximately 500.
In limited release:
- The Business of Being Born. (NY 1/9, LA 1/18) The birthing industry in the United States is a billion dollar concern. When medical decisions are made regarding things like caesarean sections and whether or not to use drugs to cause contractions, do you think hospitals are more concerned about the health of the mother and baby or their own bottom line? Here’s a hint: The United States has the 2nd worst infant mortality rate in the developed world.
- Woman on the Beach. (NY 1/9) Romantic comedy-drama from Korea pulling a 93% Tomato Rating.
- Running with Arnold. Documentary about the rise and rise and rise of Arnold Schwartzenegger. Ok, I admit having him as the governor of my state hasn’t been quite the disaster I imagined it would be, but really the only good part about it is that it means he’s not allowed to be in any bad movies. Unfortunately this doesn’t include documentaries.
- Nanking. This one opened in NY in the middle of December, but I don’t live in NY. It’s opening where I live in LA now so I’m mentioning it again. It’s the documentary about the barbaric Japanese invasion of Nanking, China at the onset of World War II and it features Woody Harrelson, John Getz, Mariel Hemingway, Jürgen Prochnow and others reading letters and diaries.
Filed under: Upcoming
Related Posts: - Weekend Forecast: 1/18/08
- Weekend Forecast: 1/25/08
- Weekend Forecast: 1/4/08
- Weekend Forecast: 10/12/07
- Weekend Forecast: 10/5/07
I suspect that I’m going to wind up seeing ItNotK: ADST. Don’t ask me why.
I’m checking out The Orphanage this weekend. Next weekend will be round 2 with There Will Be Blood. Really looking forward to Diving Bell but that doesn’t seem to be getting near me yet.
Lucky you people who get to see all these now.
PS. I am going to quit the babbling on about my misfortune of living in a film-backward country as of now.
I’m going to be seeing The Orphanage this weekend. And I found a theater that’s still playing Lust, Caution, so I’ll be going to see that.
Looking forward to your Lust, Caution feedback Alison.
I have a busy weekend. Seeing TWBB tomorrow night finally and then probably check into Diving Bell on Saturday. I wish one of those had opened a week earlier because it would be nice to spread these out, but I have no control over how these things are distributed.
Kite Runner, Youth Without Youth, and the Orphanage have all opened here this weekend too, but I only have so much energy for movie theaters in one weekend. Plus I need to post that 10 List for the year to this blog, so there you are.
Sadly, YWY and Orphanage are both going to be fighting for ticket sales with so those other two opening and I have a feeling either one could be gone by next weekend. Maybe I will get lucky and they will end up at the local art house as second run, but I’m not counting my chickens. Hopefully Coppolla and Del Toro producing offers enough endorsement to keep them around a little while.
I forgot the Kite Runner was even coming out. I thought that one opened like two months ago.
And Atonement is still on my Oscarbait-have-to-see list. I hope it’s worth my effort.
joel, I have no idea if Atonement will be to your taste. But IMO it’s WELL WORTH the effort.
It’s my #1 of the year…& I can’t see that changing.
For anything….
Looking forward to hearing the responses to Lust, Caution, the Orphanage and the biggie -> TWbB!
The Orphange left me cold. After all of the buzz I felt like it was just another ghost story. Better than 1408, yes, but in some ways it was less fun. (1408 kind of sputters from its midsection to the end but the beginning is very fun.) I understand The Orphanage isn’t trying to be “fun,” but it seemed like such a “repeat” of so many haunted yarns. So many shots of long hallways, with the star looking terrified as… oh no! Jump out of your seat!
I don’t know, after all the build-up I just couldn’t feel anything but fairly mild disappointment. It’s one of those cases where I wish I hadn’t been given these high expectations via the Internet. As it stands, I find A.O. Scott largely summed up my view on it.
I’ll definitely have to see There Will Be Blood again. It was so much better the second time, so much richer and more precise than I ever thought it was. It’s the kind of film that kind of spins your head around the first time you see it because it’s so big and sprawling at first glance but it’s truly a deep, powerful character study that features all of the vim of a top-flight suspense picture.
It’s truly astonishing, even more so than I thought.
I haven’t been reading reviews or very much on the Internet about The Orphanage, so I’m going in with pretty much no expectations.
Many people here have praised Lust, Caution and I have high hopes for it, but again, other than that I’m going in not completely knowing what to expect.
Out of curiosity Jeff, where do you stand on Uwe Boll?
My problem with seeing the movie is having to say “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” out loud in public. I have a heightened sensitivity to humiliation. The same thing has kept me from ever ordering Chicken McNuggets. I like hunks of processed, deep fried chicken meat as much as the next guy, but I can’t say the word ‘McNugget’ out loud. It’s too ridiculous.
I know. I have issues.
I’m ready to see TWBB for the fourth time. I’ve got some friends to drag to it whether they like it or not.
Other than that, The Orphanage is high on my list.
Nick, don’t worry. In a month or two, we’ll all be sitting here twiddling our thumbs waiting for something good to come along and you’ll be up to your neck in top-shelf entertainment. We won’t even hear from you, you’ll be locked in a movie theater with a big grin on your face.
Alison, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but as I said before I just have this sneaking suspicion you’re going to dig Lust, Caution. If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you lunch if you ever find yourself in LA.
Okay, Craig, you’re on. :-)
I too referenced A.O. Scott’s review to capture my reaction to The Orphanage. But perhaps I was more forgiving of its lack of originality, and my expectations going in weren’t as high. I thought it very accomplished genre film making. Would I go out of my way to see it again? No. But I was nicely entertained by it.
Ok Alison. I recommend Greenblatt’s Deli on Sunset Blvd., but the choice will be yours…assuming of course I’m wrong (which is highly unlikely)
Sartre and Alexander. Clearly you guys didn’t get the memo from Jeff Wells. Orphanage was produced by one of his precious ‘Three Amigos’ and therefore it is AWESOME. Case closed.
What’s funny is watching Wells try to sidestep Hellboy when he’s talking about Guillermo Del Toro. He finally had to acknowledge that the film exists, but he writes it off as a paycheck movie…despite all evidence suggesting it was a bit of a passion project for Del Toro. Wells just can’t wrap his mind around one of his heroes wanting to direct comic book films. It doesn’t fit his narrow world view.
The Hellboy-Del Toro thing isn’t even debatable. Del Toro has said up front, in these words, that he did Blade 2 so he could get his passion project Hellboy through. It’s not a subjective thing at all, and Wells can dance around that however he likes but it won’t change.
I will say this. I love basically everything Del Toro has done EXCEPT Hellboy, and I’m not a snob like Wells. I love Perlman, love the romantic finale, but, sorry, the damn thing is just too unoriginal to sustain my interest, I’m tired of superhero movies. its also slow and has a terribly boring villian. But it is likeable, and the Del Toro charm is impossible to repress. But a second helping, especially after the career best Pan’s Labyrinth, ugh, we’ll see.
I enjoyed Hellboy for what it was.
Wells is a tit. This is also not debatable. He doesn’t have to like Hellboy, but he can’t just deny it like a bastard from a basket.
“Diving Bell” is expanding, but not much. I don’t know the stats, but it’s opening in a nearby boutique theater, and I see it on Saturday.
I look forward to your review Matthew.
“Wells is a tit. This is also not debatable. ”
I dunno. I tend to like tits more than I like Wells.
A rickety old art house in U.Va-town, two hours away from where I live, has announced they’re getting “Blood” on Jan. 18, two days before I take a week off. Hopefully, it will open a bit closer but if it doesn’t, I’m totally going.
As someone who thoroughly enjoyed 70% of “I Am Legend” (and hated 30%) I would love to have been able to see what del Toro did with it.
I like everything Del Toro has done even though some of them have major flaws because there’s such obvious passion from him for each of these projects. Hell, even Mimic has some indication of Del Toro’s passion for the material, even if the studio did its level best to destroy the final product.
I find it amusing that someone like Wells will champion Del Toro but doesn’t have the common sense to get the fact that Del Toro has as much love for Hellboy 1 and 2 or Blade 2 as he does for Pan’s Labyrinth or The Orphanage. That’s some serious denial going on there. It’s like saying that David Lynch didn’t have his heart in Dune or that Bryan Singer did Superman Returns for the paycheck. Please.
Lately Harvey I’ve been spending too much time with the latter and not enough with the former.
You should’ve been there Joel when people were not so gently trying to explain his delusion.
I’m very impressed that you guys still brave that website. I can’t do it.
I can’t not. It’s a sickness.
It’s a quandry. It’s like overhearing someone co-worker who’s generally a prick, and usually takes a really backwards position on everything, but at the same time is also usually weighing in on something about which you have interest and/or an opinion.
And then every know and then he’s outed as a lewd letter writer and you go, “Why the hell was I talking to *that* dude *again*?”
Jesus, my compositional skills today are officially a wreck.
Ahahahah. I still haven’t washed the stench off from that particular incident.
I take it you’re talking about the “letter to James Mangold asking for nude pics of Vinessa Shaw from ‘3:10 to Yuma’” scandal?
The very same.
When Roeper calls you out for being a skeeze … it’s pretty skeezy.
Heh heh, funny Harvey. That whole incident was the last straw for me with Wells. It crossed far too many lines to be easily dismissed.
To my delight and amazement, both Atonement and The Orphanage are playing here this weekend. And I finally got that Once DVD that Netflix screwed up before, so I’m going to sitting my butt in front of screens big and small and letting the big outside world of talent and creatvity and solid filmmaking stream over my little Western Arkansas self. Hooray for good movies and not having to work on deadlines all weekend! I’m truly excited. Filmwatching options. Inconceivable.
Sounds like the perfect weekend Jennybee.
I can’t wait to hear how it all goes over for you. That reminds me, did you have a chance to catch up with Juno? You’d mentioned that last week and I haven’t been around AD much to hear what you thought of it.
Sorry, Craig. Loved Juno. Well, maybe not *loved*, but I’d definitely go with it to Homecoming. Unless say, No Country For Old Men asked me first. If Javier Bardem asked, then I couldn’t exactly say no. Especially if he had that oxygen tank.
But seriously, I thought it was very well done, enjoyable, and smart, with characters that transcended a lot of sterotypes. I think it will age fairly well, but it’s not in the same timeless category as some of the others. To me, it’s really a movie that is about now, 2007, 2008. Every now and then we get movies that reflect rather accurately where we are as a culture through the prism of a character that feels refreshingly inventive. Juno feels like one of those.
The movie worked for me because of Ellen Page. With someone else in the role, I think it would have been too precious and wrapped up in its own hipness. It could have been truly annoying. But we end up realizing that that hipness (is “hip” even a “hip” word anymore? I’m so uncool.) is as immaterial as the dorky track uniforms or dog sweaters Juno’s stepmom wears. Underneath, we’re all just yearning to connect to someone and figure out this crazy world we’re going through.
The script, while entertaining, could easily have fallen flat and that crackling dialogue could have alienated audiences. Most of us don’t talk like that, don’t know people who really do. But the language ended up being another one of those surface trappings to later be flipped on edge the way our expectations of each character are. We think we know who the blue-collar dad, dog-obsessed stepmom, anal and image-obsessed adoptive mom and still-cool adoptive dad are, then we discover we don’t, and maybe they don’t quite, either. I think one of the themes of the film is that there’s more beneath the surface than we usually think. The heartaches and struggles for meaning, maturity, and human connection are universal whatever our subculture, hobby, taste in horror films, clothing, neighborhood, etc. That’s why people connect to the movie, I think. That and that impossibly catch Moldy Peaches song.
So, yeah. Count me among its fans. I think it’s too easily dismissed as a fast-talking teen pregnancy comedy. In a weird way, it reminds me somewhat of The King of Kong. There, too, is a subculture, these arcade gaming extremists obsessed with beating the high score on Donkey Kong, of all things, that seem at first to be utterly unrelatable to my little world, at least. Then, by the end of the movie, you’re on the edge of your seat yelling, “Kick his ass!” at the screen. The commonalities of human experience overcome all those barriers we construct around our identities.
Anyway, I’m rambling now, but I liked it a lot. It’s in my top 10, just not quite sure where yet.
“I’d definitely go with it to Homecoming.” Ahahaha. I have to admit it would look pretty sweet in a powder blue tux with the ruffled collar.
No worries about loving the film Jennybee. I expected as much. I don’t mind being on a lonely old island over here as long as people come to visit once in a while.
This movie obviously struck a chord with a lot of people so it’s clearly done something right. I had a hard time seeing the honesty through the heavy facade…which you have to admit was pretty heavy. It sounds like you and others had no promblem. You saw through the bluff and got at the warm center underneath.
Personally, I just like seeing people jazzed about a movie. It’s a good thing. (that’s my last dated Martha Stewart reference….EVER).
Wow, way to go jennybee. I have no idea what I’ll think of the movie myself. But that is easily the best of the positive reviews I’ve read for this film. A film that inspires such eloquence and thoughtfulness deserves close attention.