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here for the previous week's New Movies
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here for 2008 OVERVIEW!
NEW MOVIES!
FEBRUARY 19 - FEBRUARY 25, 2008
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ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (dir: Alfredo De Villa,
Unrated) – Been wondering what Heather Graham has been getting up too? Neither have I. |
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AMERICAN GANGSTER (dir: Ridley Scott, R) – I don’t give a hoot about the alleged historical inaccuracies; AMERICAN GANGSTER is a big, meaty sprawling crime epic that utilizes the dream casting of Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe to great effect. This is everything big Hollywood movies should be. |
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CATACOMBS (dir: Tomm Coker / David Elliot,
Unrated) – Shannyn Sossamon plays a young American lady lost in the underground network of tunnels in Paris. She might not be alone down there, you know? |
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CHAOS (dir: Tony
Giglio, R) – Ryan Phillippe and Jason Statham play detectives trying to track down criminal mastermind Wesley Snipes. They’ll have to navigate their way through their own department’s corruption to get to him, though. |
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DIRTY LAUNDRY (dir: Maurice
Jamal, PG-13) – I don’t know who’s ripping off who, but this movie has the exact same plot of that new Martin Lawrence movie where he plays a city guy who reluctantly returns home to the deep south. |
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ESL: ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (dir: Youssef
Delara, R) – Several young people with connections to Mexico find their lives intersecting in a
CRASH-ish way in this well-received indie. |
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GABRIEL (dir: Shane Abbess, R) – The fate of the world is at stake in this Biblically themed horror film that sees fallen angel Sammael face off against the last of Heaven’s seven archangels, Gabriel. |
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IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (dir: Paul Haggis, R) – Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon star in Paul Haggis’s follow-up to CRASH, a dense mystery involving the fate of a soldier who goes missing after his service in Iraq. |
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LUST, CAUTION (dir: Ang Lee, NC-17) – Ang Lee, always one to switch gears rather dramatically, follows up BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN with this erotic spy saga set in WWII-era Shanghai. |
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*MARGOT AT THE WEDDING (dir: Noah
Baumbach, R) – If you like your comedies to have a similar effect to an acid bath, you’ll love Noah Baumbach’s new film. I, for one, thought it would be impossible to outdo THE SQUID & THE WHALE for icky family dynamics, but this portrait of sisterly rivalry will make you cringe for hours. And Nicole Kidman turns in what might be her best performance ever. |
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MICHAEL CLAYTON (dir: Tony Gilroy, R) – It’s already a heckuva week for new movies, so why not throw this riveting, tightly-coiled 70s-ish legal thriller starring the ever dashing George Clooney into the mix? |
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MOOLAADE (dir: Ousmane
Sembene, Not Rated) – Enjoy your
lady parts? This important film from legendary African director Ousmane Sembene will give you a whole new appreciation for
them. |
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MR. WARMTH: THE DON RICKLES PROJECT (dir: John Landis, Not Rated) – No one at The Explosion has much good to say about Don
Rickles, but Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal do. |
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NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE (dir: Shinya Tsukamoto,
Unrated) – Only the Japanese would think it feasible to create a mash-up of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and deepest, darkest David Lynch. And that’s a compliment. |
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QUIET CITY (dir: Aaron Katz, Not Rated) – Critics have called this, “a Terrence Malick film for the new lost generation,” which to Greg translates as, “a movie about pouty urbanites with no discernible problems, but a high level of angst.” |
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REDACTED (dir: Brian De Palma, R) – Last time Brian De Palma made a messagey war movie we got CASUALTIES OF WAR, which reduced Vietnam to Alex P. Keating fighting with Jeff
Spicoli. Now we get his two cents about the current Iraq war and it’s even worse. |
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RENDITION (dir: Gavin Hood, R) – When will Hollywood learn? When fighting an unwinnable and unpopular war, the last thing America wants is to be reminded of it by celebrities. They want to watch AMERICAN IDOL and forget about it. So, on behalf of all the good people in all those flyover states, I say to Jake
Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep, take this movie and shove it! |
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SAND AND SORROW (dir: Paul Freedman, Not Rated) – Saint George Clooney guides us through the huge bummer that is Darfur in this gripping documentary that Barack might say displays the audacity of hope. |
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SPIRAL (dir: Adam Green / Joel Moore, PG-13) – We love us some Amber Tamblyn after STEPHANIE DALEY. Maybe even enough to check out this Hitchcockian thriller about a disturbed painter trying to unravel his past. |
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^SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (dir: Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, Not Rated) – If you’re looking for oblique, beautiful meditations on… stuff, look no further than the Thai maestro with the longest name in filmdom. |
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THE VIOLIN (dir: Francisco Vargas, Not Rated) – Film Movement treats us this month to a Mexican film shot in stark black and white about the struggles of a humble farming family. |
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WHEN NIETZSCHE WEPT (dir: Pinchas Perry, Not Rated) – If you’re a fan of bad accents, hammy acting and goofy period inaccuracies then enjoy 19th century Europe and Armand Assante as the famed German philosopher. |
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| * = Greg's
pick of the week! ^ =
Bart's pick of the week! |
