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here for the previous week's New Movies
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here for 2010 OVERVIEW!
NEW
MOVIES! JANUARY 19 - JANUARY 25, 2010
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ACROSS THE HALL (dir: Alex
Merkin, R) – Bad timing on Brittany Murphy's part. If she'd just hung out on this mortal coil a few weeks longer she could have seen the release of this dull straight to DVD thriller. |
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BLOOD CREEK (dir: Joel Schumacher, R) – West Virginia isn't the first place you'd expect to come across a long dormant Nazi plot for world domination but, as a couple of brothers discover, those Nazis will stop at nothing to get at our coal and illiteracy. |
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BROTHERS AT WAR (dir: Jake
Rademacher, R) – I don't think anyone is still getting excited about Iraq war documentaries but this one has a little extra zip. The director embedded with troops, including his brother, to get a realistic portrait of that tedious war. |
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CALL OF THE WILD 3D (dir: Richard
Gabai, PG) – I'm sure when that racist commie Jack London was sitting around on his ranch getting wasted he probably wasn't thinking that someday little kids would get to see an awesome 3-D version of his most famous work. But I bet if he was drunk enough he might have thought the idea was cool. |
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CHEVOLUTION (dir: Luis Lopez / Trisha
Zif, Not Rated) – To herald the snazzy Criterion release of Steven Soderbergh's
CHE, here's a documentary about the history of that famous photo, reputedly the most reproduced in history. |
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DEATH IN LOVE (dir: Boaz Yakin, R) – Josh Lucas and Lukas Haas play emotionally stunted brothers dealing with the legacy of their mother's indiscretions during WWII. To survive the concentration camps she seduced a Nazi officer. She ensured her freedom but began a legacy of shame that carried down to her offspring. |
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FLEXING WITH MONTY (dir: John
Albo, Not Rated) – This little oddity follows two brothers, a narcissistic bodybuilder and a cerebral loner, as their world is thrown into disarray by a strange nun they meet. Even stranger is that this movie started filming in 1994! |
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GAMER (dir: Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor, R) – I heard Gerard Butler described as "potato-faced" recently and it really cracked me up. |
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THE INVENTION OF LYING (dir: Ricky Gervais / Matthew Robinson, PG-13) – Ricky Gervais is undoubtedly one of the funniest, coolest guys on the planet. Last year his first foray into film was the unexpectedly touching GHOST TOWN and now he masks a fairly subversive message about religion into an amusing romantic comedy. Famous fans making appearances include Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner and Jonah Hill. |
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LAILA'S BIRTHDAY (dir: Rashid
Masharawi, Not Rated) – In this simple story about the complexities of daily life, a taxi driver tries to get home in time for his daughter's birthday celebration. This seemingly simple task is complicated by the fact that he lives in occupied Palestine. |
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LOREN CASS (dir: Chris Fuller, Not Rated) – If you thought Larry Clark (KIDS, BULLY) was the last word on depressing movies about teenage scumbags, wait 'til you see this low-budget but well-regarded
indie. |
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*OUTRAGE (dir: Kirby Dick, R) – This documentary makes no bones about its agenda. It's here to expose closeted gay politicians who have been Uncle Tom's in their voting records on gay issues. Many awkward press conferences included. |
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PANDORUM (dir: Christian
Alvart, R) – Is Dennis Quaid broke? I used to think he cared about his career but after this,
G.I. JOE and LEGION I'm started to suspect that he has a gambling problem or something. |
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SMOKIN' ACES 2: ASSASSINS' BALL (dir:
P.J. Pesce, R) – Back in 2006, America fell in love with a little movie called
SMOKIN' ACES. It was only a question of time before fans started baying for a sequel and now it's finally here. Albeit without Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven or Ray
Liotta. But you do get Tom Berenger. |
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^STORM (dir: Hans-Christian
Schmid, Not Rated) – Film Movement starts the year off depressingly with this drama set at a war crimes tribunal in The Hague. What's up with The Hague anyway? Is it like The Situation on JERSEY SHORE? Did it give itself that nickname? |
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WEEDS: SEASON 5 (dir: Jenji Kohan, Not Rated) – Oh goodness. What on Earth is Nancy going to do with that criminal offspring stewing in her womb? |
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WHITEOUT (dir: Dominic
Sena, R) – Kate Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshall investigating a murder at a research center in Antarctica. While she's at it, can she investigate how they made the computer generated shots of Antarctica look so cheap? We're in a post-AVATAR world now. You've got to step it up a notch. |
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YOU, THE LIVING (dir: Roy
Andersson, Not Rated) – In the follow-up to his Cannes winner SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, Swede Roy Andersson uses 50 comic vignettes to illustrate the utter meaninglessness of human existence. |
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= GREG's pick of the week! ^ = Bart's
pick of the week! |
