Weekend Forecast: Staring at the Precious Evening Sun

Opening in wide release:

• The Men Who Stare at Goats. Mixed festival reviews and a tepid trailer that looked like Coen light cooled my interest in this otherwise promising sounding comedy about real US military experiments in psychic warfare, but the most recent trailer was something of an improvement. Even without it, the cast including George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey is something to stop and take notice of.

• Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens’ story is a classic worthy of revisiting year in and year out, but I’d rather just read the thing or watch the old movie with Alastair Sim as Scrooge than take another ride on Robert Zemeckis’ 3D motion capture express. A bunch of pixels made to look like Jim Carrey star as Scrooge. The talents of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes are similarly wasted.
• The Box. Richard Kelly gets one more chance to prove the cult success of Donnie Darko wasn’t a fluke. Southland Tales didn’t get the job done, but will this glorified Twilight Zone episode? Cameron Diaz and James Marsden are an ordinary married couple who are presented with a mysterious box by a disfigured stranger (Frank Langella). He tells them that pressing a button inside the box will earn them 1 million dollars while simultaneously causing the death of someone they don’t know.
• The Fourth Kind. Beware of any movie that would have you believe it’s true in order to make it more scary. This one is an alien abduction story that purports to contain recordings of actual therapy sessions with people in Nome, Alaska – a town known for a disproportionate number of missing persons cases. In a climate where the line between news and entertainment has been obliterated and we’re inundated with Balloon Boy and Octomom, don’t you think a rash of alien abductions would be all over the TV if they were even possibly true? Seriously. News departments all over LA get a collective boner when it so much as rains here.

Opening in limited release:

• Precious. This story of an overweight, illiterate, abused and pregnant Harlem teenager has been crammed down our throats as the indie darling awards favorite of the year since it debuted to raves and awards at Sundance in January. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not, but I’m guessing the hype isn’t going to do it any favors. Either way, I’m officially done referring to it by its pretentious long title. If Ponyo doesn’t get a full title, neither does Precious.
• Endgame. This political thriller about the secret talks that led to the end of Apartheid in South Africa already played on PBS so I don’t know what it’s doing in theaters. On the other hand Chiwetel Ejiofor and William Hurt star so maybe it’s worth a look if you neglected to Tivo it.

Opening in New York:

• Collapse. From Chris Smith, the director of The Yes Men and American Movie, comes this portrait of a former Los Angeles police officer turned journalist who predicts no less than the downfall of our current industrial civilization. Scary.
• That Evening Sun. This low key SXSW Film Festival award winner stars Hal Holbrook as a widowed Tennessee farmer who escapes his nursing home only to find the family farm being leased to the son of an old enemy. Holbrook is terrific, but Ray McKinnon should not be overlooked as the abusive alcoholic determined to keep control of Holbrook’s farm. The ending left a little to be desired, but the solid performances and a depiction of the rural South that avoids the usual stereotypes make this one well worth seeing. Recommended.

This week’s musical sponsor marks Sesame Street’s Wednesday birthday. The show I grew up with was born only 4 months after I was. Happy 40th Sesame Street.

Filed under: Weekend Forecast