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here for the previous week's New Movies
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here for 2010 OVERVIEW!
NEW
MOVIES! JANUARY 12 - JANUARY 18, 2010
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A L'AVENTURE (dir: Jean-Claude
Brisseau, Not Rated) – Noted French pervert Jean-Claude Brisseau continues his controversial trilogy on female sexuality. The first two chapters, SECRET THINGS and THE EXTERMINATING ANGELS, landed him a suspended prison sentence for the sexual harassment of his actresses so it’s anyone’s guess what shenanigans he gets up to here. |
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AMREEKA (dir: Cherien
Dabis, PG-13) – This charming comedy follows a mother and her teenage son as they move from the high tension world of the West Bank to a small town in Illinois. The son finds American high school more treacherous than Israeli checkpoints but the mom really gets into the groove working at White Castle. |
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THE APPEARED (dir: Paco
Cabezas, Not Rated) – An estranged brother and sister in Argentina uncover a family legacy that involves a certain military dictatorship, 30,000 “disappeared” dissidents and their vengeful ghosts. |
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*BIG FAN (dir: Robert D. Siegel, R) – Patton
Oswalt, most famous for voicing a rodent in RATATOUILLE, plays a schlub who lives with his Mom, works as a parking lot attendant and lives solely for his beloved New York Giants. When a chance encounter with his favorite player ends very badly, his switch gets flipped and he makes a very serious leap from fan to fanatic. |
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BREAKING POINT (dir: Jeff
Celentano, R) – Apparently washed up actors and washed up rappers end up in the same direct to dvd action-thrillers. Just ask Tom
Berenger, Busta Rhymes, Armand Assante and Sticky Fingaz. |
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THE BURNING PLAIN (dir: Guillermo
Arriaga, R) – Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, two vapid blondes who won Oscars by fleetingly seeming to be less vapid than originally thought, star in this intense new drama from Guillermo
Arriaga, the writer of BABEL and 21 GRAMS. |
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BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA (dir: Amy Rice / Alicia
Sams, Not Rated) – Man, that 2008 election seems like a million years ago. Remember how
it seemed like we postponed the coming apocalypse for a couple of weeks? Relive those happy days with this nice documentary about Barack Obama’s ascendancy and forget about all those talk radio meanies that are trying to spoil the good vibes. |
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DEPARTURES (dir: Yojiro
Takita, PG-13) – Here’s a nice Japanese movie about a man who returns to his small hometown and learns what life is all about. This won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film which I think is great because anytime the Japanese make a movie that doesn’t involve tentacled demons violating ladies it’s a step in the right direction. |
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DOWNLOADING NANCY (dir: Johan
Renck, Unrated) – Maria Bello turns in another brave performance as a lady who ditches her husband for an online romance with Jason
Patric, who teaches her about the exciting world of S&M. |
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FAME (dir: Kevin
Tancharoen, PG) – America has gone dance crazy. This is a fact. So there’s certainly no better time than now for a remake of the 80s classic. This DVD is even the “extended dance edition,” whatever that means. |
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GOLIATH (dir: David
Zellner, Not Rated) – This comedy may or may not be mumblecore. I mean, I don’t even know what that means. How can you even label art like that? Anyway, this movie is about some guy and his cat. |
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HALLOWEEN II (dir: Rob Zombie, Unrated) – Rob Zombie is an interesting guy. Hopefully he’ll get back to original stuff like THE DEVIL’S REJECTS soon and leave these dopey remakes behind. |
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*THE HURT LOCKER (dir: Kathryn Bigelow, R) – Did you ever think it would be possible that the director of POINT BREAK would make the best film of any given year? Well, she did. Kathryn Bigelow’s tale of a soldier in Iraq who gets to like disarming bombs a little too much is startling, entertaining and stands to be one of the defining movies of our time. Look, I know you guys avoid Iraq war movies like a sneezy kid with Swine Flu but don’t miss this one. You’ll regret it. |
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I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF (dir: Tyler Perry, PG-13) – Tyler Perry never sleeps. Which explains why he puts out 8 movies a year and why none of them are very good. |
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^IN THE LOOP (dir: Armando
Iannucci, Not Rated) – Political satires don’t come much sharper than this British film about bureaucratic miscommunication on both sides of the Atlantic. From the co-creator of the absolutely brilliant I’M ALAN PARTRIDGE series. Steve Coogan himself even makes an appearance. |
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LIKE STARS ON EARTH (TAARE ZAMEEN PAR) (dir: Aamir Khan, PG) – In this Bollywood smash, a unique little kid is sent off to boarding school by his frustrated parents. Between high-spirited musical numbers a novice art teacher takes the little goofball under his wing and encourages him to be himself. |
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THE MINISTERS (dir: Franc. Reyes, R) – John Leguizamo and Harvey Keitel, welcome to
straight-to-dvd thriller oblivion! Go ahead and solve your silly DA VINCI
CODE-ish mystery. Nobody cares. |
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^MOON (dir: Duncan Jones, R) – The child of David Bowie makes his directorial debut and, appropriately enough, it’s about a space voyage. Sam Rockwell turns in a bravura performance as an astronaut with a little too much time on his hands. |
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PASSING STRANGE: THE MOVIE (dir: Spike Lee, Not Rated) – Spike Lee loved this 2008 hit Broadway rock musical so much he decided to film the last performance and release it as a movie for future generations to enjoy. The children of the future thank you, Spike! |
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POST GRAD (dir: Vicky Jenson, PG-13) – Alexis Bledel from THE GILMORE GIRLS stars as a recent college grad forced to move back in with her eccentric family when her career prospects don’t turn out as rosy as she had hoped. Eccentric family members include Jane Lynch, Carol Burnett and Michael
Keaton. |
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TRU LOVED (dir: Stewart Wade, R) – When her lesbian moms move the family from San Francisco to a conservative suburban town, teenager Tru fears the worst. But she quickly acclimates herself to her new school and even snags a football player boyfriend, who may or may not be a closet case. |
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= GREG's
pickS of the week! ^ = Bart's
pickS of the week! |
