Weekend Forecast: 3/21/08
By Craig Kennedy - March 20th, 2008; 12:01 am
Clotilde Hesme, Ludivine Sagnier and Louis Garrel star in the French
musical/romance Love Songs, but only if you live in New York
Wow, this is a dismal slate of new releases:
- Drillbit Taylor. Produced by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up). Co-written by Seth Rogen (Knocked Up). Starring Owen Wilson (Well hell, you know who he is). Directed by Steven Brill, the guy who did Little Nicky and Mr. Deeds. Screen story co-written by John Hughes and… OK… no. I lost interest right after “the guy who did Little Nicky and Mr. Deeds.” Owen Wilson is a bottom shelf soldier of fortune (please tell me none of the ad copy refers to him as a soldier of misfortune) hired by a couple of freshman dorks to protect them from a bully. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but I’ve already grown weary. Please enjoy the trailer, medically approved to cure laughter in 27 states.
- Shutter. They’ve run out of Japanese horror movies to remake so they’ve moved on to Thailand. This one’s got the little dope from Dawson’s Creek in it. Not the one with the enormous noggin, the other one… Joshua Jackson. Or wait… is that one of the spawn from Home Improvement? No. That’s right. Dawson’s Creek. Anyway, he’s a photographer on assignment in Japan with his girlfriend. They clobber a creepy looking Japanese lady with their car and after that, ghostly people-shaped blurs begin showing up in his photographs. Once the weird crap starts hitting the weird fan, they hire a low-rent soldier of fortune and…ok no, not really.
- Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. Wake me up when Tyler Perry’s Career Meets an Untimely Death. I wonder if I should change the name of this blog to Craig Kennedy’s Living in Cinema.
This week’s limited release aren’t much more promising than the wide releases:
- The Grand. Mockumentary with Woody Harrelson as a professional poker player out to save his grandfather’s casino from the evil maw of a developer. Also with David Cross, Dennis Farina, Werner Herzog, Cheryl Hines Richard Kind, Chris Parnell and Ray Romano. No, I’m not really buying it either, yet I’ve heard good things. Directed by Zak Penn (Incident at Loch Ness).
- The Hammer. Adam Carolla plays an underachieving ex-amateur boxer who works as a handyman/suburban boxing instructor. At age 40, he steps into the ring to spar with an up and coming professional for $100. When he knocks the guy out, his quest for Olympic gold begins. I have a low tolerance for Adam Carolla. Your results may vary.
- Planet B-Boy. Documentary about breakdancing.
Finally, for those of you living in New York:
- Boarding Gate (LA 3/28). Erotic thriller from Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) staring Asia Argento as an ex-prostitute who rekindles her relationship with former pimp Michael Madsen. I’m guessing nothing good will come of that.
- Irina Palm. (LA 3/28) So your grandson needs lifesaving surgery and you’ve got no money. Why not get a job at a sex club and turn yourself into the handjob queen of London’s red-light district? Marianne Faithful gives it a shot. No pun intended. Well, maybe a little.
- Love Songs. Ménage à trois in Paris: The Musical. Directed by Chrisophe Honore (Dans Paris). Starring Ludivine Sagnier (The Swimming Pool), Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) and Clotilde Hesme (Regular Lovers).
- Under the Same Moon (Wed. 3/19). The story of a 9-year-old raised by his grandmother in Mexico while his mother works as a maid in the United States. When the grandmother dies, the boy sneaks across the border to search for his mother. Received a standing ovation when it premiered at Sundance in 2007.
- Shelter (LA 3/28). Romantic drama about an art school dropout/surfer who falls for his best friend’s older brother and he’s also got a father who is too ill to work and sister who’s a bad mom. Oh the drama.
Filed under: Upcoming
Related Posts: - Movies You May Have Missed: 1/4/09
- Weekend Forecast: 7/25/08
- Weekend Forecast: 6/5/08
- Review: Jindabyne (2007) *** 1/2
- Weekend Forecast: 11/30/07
I LOVE Marianne Faithful. She’s still gorgeous and she’s a fantastic singer. But I haven’t seen enough of her acting yet to make any solid conclusions on that particular front. Unfortunately, I don’t live in the Golden City. YET. But give me time.
Craig, I think it would be an excellent idea for you to put your name in your blog title. Some people do and I hear it works out rather well for them.
I saw Love Songs at Toronto this year. It was pretty mediocre, I thought, although Sagnier was irresistable as ever.
Also, the director of The Grand and Incident at Loch Ness is Zak Penn. Zach Helm is the crap merchant who wrote and directed Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and wrote Stranger Than Fiction.
Paul’s position notwithstanding, LOVE SONGS has received excellent reviews, especially from the critics who are traditionally the most difficult-to-please. It is definitely the film to see this weekend by a long-shot, New York or anywhere in this admittedly lame line-up. Even the musical-hating Ed Gonzalez of Slant magazine has praised it through the roof.
The proof will be in the pudding, as I have tickets to see the film at the IFC on Saturday night.
I say “why not” put your name in there? The work you do here is extensive and extraordinary, and identification does make it more personal. I say do it.
Took my three boys (but left teh girls home) to see 10,000 BC last night at our local multiplex. They “kind of” liked it a bit, but I found it tedious and awful in every conceivable way. But any fool would come to that conclusion.
Needless to say (as a follow-up of my above submission) Paul may be right about LOVE SONGS. Until I actually see the film I can’t assume anything. It may be mediocre or even less than that. The majority of the critics have issued favorable notices, but there are some negative ones there as well.
I am “hedging my bets” so to speak.
Wow, Adam Carolla is still alive and getting paid to do “entertainment”? Didn’t he have some radio show in LA a couple years ago? Ugh.
Nothing more to say about Planet B-Boy? I thought it looked kinda kewl, although Rize from a couple of years ago left me underwhelmed. I guess I just expect B-Boy to be more substantive than Step Up 2 Tha Streetz or whatever it was called, but I’ve been wrong many times before.
I get Paranoid Park, Snow Angels, Married Life and Sleepwalking this weekend, but chances are I’ll only make time for the first two based on what I’ve heard and briefly read here.
Haha, “crap merchant”…
I saw Incident at Loch Ness and it wasn’t bad, although it was pretty silly. The Grand has a ton of folks doing cameos in it, so that alone should be something. But just saying that makes it sound like the Cannonball Run of mockumentaries and I think (hope) it will be better than that. Zak Penn also cowrote the screenplay to Xmen 2, but before anyone gets too excited about that I should also mention he wrote/cowrote the screenplays to Elektra, Fantastic Four, Xmen 3, Inspector Gadget, and Behind Enemy Lines.
The trailer for Under the Same Moon looks like a movie from the Spanish language version of the Lifetime network, but maybe those Sundance folks know what they’re standing and ovating over. I don’t know, the whole thing doesn’t really appeal to me much.
We finally get Paranoid Park here this weekend but I will be off taking care of family-related Easter duties, so I doubt I will get to it. It’s a Gus Van Sant film set in Portland, so I’m betting I’ll have some room to see this one. No Snow Angels though. Maybe next week.
UNDER THE SAME MOON has received terrible reviews across the board.
I was really hoping to see The Grand but alas, it isn’t opening in Boston yet. I really liked Incident At Loch Ness and I think it just looks great. Especially with Herzog and those rabbits.
We don’t get too much in Boston this week. Snow Angels, CJ7, and Chicago 10. I remember hearing a lot about Chicago 10 a while back but I can’t remember if it was good or bad. I also thought CJ7 might have some potential. It’s certainly weirder than Chow’s previous movies. I’ll probably be skipping them, though. My theater just got The Bank Job so if I have time to kill, I might check that out.
Saw Doomsday last week. Very enjoyable. I wrote a little about it here, if you’re interested.
Joel, I agree about the trailer for Moon, though some personal experiences and an NYT article last week might convince me. Didn’t know about the reviews, though, Sam. We’ll see…
Justin, what are your favorite theaters in Boston? Just curious as I spent lots of time during my college days frequenting the cinemas. I reviewed Chi 10 earlier this week if you’re looking for an update. It’s probably a matter of taste, same with Doomsday. You liked it, Chuck was so-so and Craig didn’t (I think?). The Bank Job isn’t one you’ll regret, but it probably won’t stay with you for very long either.
What’s the story behind CJ7, anybody know? I saw Shaolin Soccer but this looks totally different and I haven’t heard many mentions of it.
Daniel, normally a film like MOON is a sure thing with critics, but the reaction has been scathing with many saying it is frivilous and formula without an ounce of originality. It just doesn’t look good–all three of the New York newspapers dismissed it (Times, News, Post) Rarely does a film that is panned by all three turn out to be worthwhile. But again, I know, I am getting ahead of myself here.
Check out RT.
Thanks for the correction Paul. I was going to type out an excuse to make myself look better, but who are we kidding?
Names. I think the byline on each article is sufficient for me.
I’m sold on Love Songs. I know it will probably be fruity and a disappointment, but Paul accidently sealed the deal with “Sagnier was irresistable as always”. The last time I went to a fruity, maligned musical it was Romance and Cigarettes and I quite liked it, messy as it was.
The Grand…I don’t know, there’s a voice in my head that keeps screaming “Poker in movies is boring” and yet…
CJ7. I haven’t heard much great about it, but that doesn’t mean anyhting.
Doomsday. Yeah, positive opinions of that are cropping up all over the place making me think I saw a bad, 80s direct to VHS post-apocalyptic thriller instead of Doomsday because that’s exactly how bad it was. I’m not sure what these other folks saw. If you want to see poorly done versions of Escape from New York, Mad Max (2 and 3) and Gladiator all squeezed together with a little King Arthur action thrown in, go forth in peace and enjoy.
Hey, don’t be ashamed of Ludivine’s presence encouraging you to see Love Songs. After all, that was the primary reason I saw it as well. However, the whole thing feels sort of noncommittal- never quite a musical or a melodrama or a pansexual romantic roundelay or anything, really. Hard to believe that the director of Ma Mère would make such a wishy-washy movie, but there you go.
Also, I really enjoyed Romance and Cigarettes. At least that movie was committed to its strangeness.
Committed is a wonderful word for Romance and Cigarettes. Made it easy to forgive some of its flaws. Plus, come on, Chris Walken singing along to Delilah plus every scene Kate Winslet was in.
That movie was robbed.
Daniel, as for favorite theaters in Boston, I generally go to Kendall and Brattle. Occasionally I’ll go to Coolidge, but they stopped doing midnight shows so I haven’t been there in a while. Most of the time though, since I live in Salem (not Boston), I go to Cinema Salem, Hollywood Hits in Danvers, or Cabot Cinemas in Beverly.
Not much to say about what is coming out except a grunt of “ugh.”
I was somewhat coerced into seeing The Other Boleyn Girl. It wasn’t the torture I feared it would be. Somewhat painless, quite bland, it’s more forgettable than tough to sit through. Natalie Portman is rather solid, actually, as a bitchy and conniving Anne Boleyn. Eric Bana does all he can with the poorly-written role of Henry VIII. Scarlett Johansson, however, gives a very banal, almost cellophane performance as the “good girl,” partly not her fault, but, man, she’s still miscast. It’s kind of a soap opera but sometimes history does resemble a soap opera. That said, it has tons of historical inaccuracies and the writing, by Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen, is frequently on the sophomoric side, which is very disappointing.
I think the acting in the Queen helped elevate that movie above the script, which was at times a little weak. As for Scarlett Johansson, I’m becoming more and more convinced that any promise she showed earlier in her career seems to be evaporating the further she is absorbed into Hollywood’s celebrity miasma. All the same, I think her doing period pieces is a huge mistake to begin with. Her acting style doesn’t seem to have that sort of range…she’s much better suited to more modern roles.
LOVED the Coolidge, Justin, and definitely frequented Kendall a lot. Never made it to the Brattle, but did Harvard Square a number of times. For the big ones I enjoyed the Loews Boston Common and I was there for about a year after they opened the AMC Fenway, from which I lived about two blocks away, so that was nice. I think I made it out to Cleveland Circle once, but otherwise not really out of the city to your haunts. Are you familiar with the Nickelodeon? It was a Loews I think, but it closed in 2000 or 2001 and it was behind the BU dorms on Comm. Ave. Dirty little theater, but charming, and I had a few lectures taught in there. Apparently Kevin Spacey showed up for the premiere of American Beauty. That was as special as it got. Plus I saw a test screening of The Bone Collector there. Terrible movie. Anyway, miss those Boston theaters!
I agree, joel, that the acting helped elevate The Queen. The script is serviceable but nothing to become very excited about. Nonetheless, The Other Boleyn Girl is certainly a step down for Morgan and it’s all the more exposed because the acting and direction isn’t in the same league as The Queen.
Johansson, I think, needs to follow the track of the more conventional “movie stars” of the past: develop an onscreen persona and then continue to plug away at it. It’s fairly clear at this point that her range is limited, and some of her previous “highs” (I’m thinking, strangely enough, of her period piece performance in The Girl With a Pearl Earring, which I liked a great deal) have come because of certain actualities beyond her acting capabilities (in The Girl With A Pearl Earring, she barely speaks and the director really carved out a great, almost silent movie star performance from her there).
Interesting thoughts on that movie. I thought she looked the part, but the movie just didn’t draw me in. I felt like her performance in Pearl Earring just didn’t go anywhere for me.
I agree though. She’s being pegged as a more of a classic mainstream bombshell by Hollywood. I don’t hold it against her if she wants to try other things, but she’d do well to focus on that niche that’s been carved out for her. Marilyn Monroe wasn’t just a pretty face.
I’ve heard good things about Girl With a Pearl.
Boleyn Girl was on my sneak-in list for 3 weekends in a row, but I just never made it.
The fine acting of Helen Mirren and solid efforts of the rest of the cast notwithstanding, I thought The Queen was cinematically bland and the story easily forgettable.
I find Johansson very uneven as a performer. I thought her work in Ghost World, Lost in Translation, and Girl with a Pearl Earring was excellent, but otherwise nothing much else seemed notable.
Yeah, she was very good in Lost in Translation and Ghost World, sartre (although Ghost World was definitely a supporting role).
Ghost World was a supporting role, but one in which she needed to be just right for the excellent Thora Birch to successfully play off against.
Joel, I appreciate that her performance didn’t work for you in Pearl but in an extremely difficult role - given how much she had to convey through expression and body work alone - I felt she gave me precise and plausible information about her character’s inner life. I really admired how the story presented a microcosm of what many women endured in such societies and times.
I agree; in fact, I’d go so far as say I think her best all-around performance is Girl With A Pearl Earring, though Ghost World (which, as you two point out, is a supporting turn) is a close #2.
I go back and forth on The Queen. On one hand, I remember being surprised that I liked it so much when I saw it (with films like these, it’s easy to feel more caution than eagerness from all of the hype). Upon reflection, however, all I remember is Helen Mirren giving a great performance with some terrific supporting work by a couple of others. Stephen Frears made it the way he wanted to, as a docu-drama, but that stylistic approach typically leads to a theatrical film looking like a television movie and such was the case with The Queen.
Johansson almost had me convinced after the first half of Match Point that she could play a seductress/femme fatale type character very well but then Woody Allen somewhat sabotaged her by having her play a needy, whiny woman (though her points to the Jonathan Rhys-Meyers character were all more or less on target) and her attempt to be seductive in The Black Dahlia elicited more chuckles than much else.
You both make good points about Pearl Earring. I like what you’re getting at, I just felt like her interior performance didn’t really grab me but I’ll give you the benefit of a competing opinion!
I also liked her in A Love Song for Bobby Long, which wasn’t a great film but gave her something interesting to do.
She was pretty bad in Black Dahlia as well as the Prestige. Both roles seemed hand-crafted to take advantage of her sexuality but that just didn’t come across much at all. She actually seemed awkward in both movies. I liked her somewhat in Match Point, but I agree that movie rides more heavily on Rhys-Meyers than her.
I can’t blame her for The Island. Let’s just say she didn’t help the movie at all.
I’ve parsed this entire conversation and I keep coming back to one thing: “Yeahbut, she’s hot.”
Entire acting careers are built on nothing more or less.
“Entire acting careers are built on nothing more or less.”
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ms. Jessica Alba.
“Both roles seemed hand-crafted to take advantage of her sexuality but that just didn’t come across much at all. She actually seemed awkward in both movies.”
I had the same impressions. I hope she doesn’t typecast herself in the vamp role. She’s far more convincing in more naturalistic ones. Johansson struck me as such a mature performer at a young age. Yet in the more recent vamp roles she seems like a girl trying to play a woman.
That is so damn true Paul, so freaking true.
(round of applause)
EXACTLY what I was thinking.
“…she seems like a girl trying to play a woman.”
sartre receives the gold star of the day for hitting the proverbial nail on its head!
Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and again.