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MOVIES! DECEMBER 30, 2008 - JANUARY 5, 2009 |
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^BAGHEAD (dir: Jay Duplass / Mark Duplass, R) – Youngsters love mumblecore, so it makes sense that
the Duplass Brothers, whose THE PUFFY CHAIR made this type of
neo-realist indie comedy popular, created the first horror film for this peculiar
subgenre. |
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DAPHNE (dir: Clare Beavan, Not Rated) – Afred Hitchcock fave Daphne Du Maurier had quite an interesting secret life. And this classy production from British television barely dips its toes into the
sleazepool. |
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DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG (dir: Joss Whedon, Not Rated) – Neil Patrick Harris teams up with
BUFFY creator Joss Whedon for this interweb sensation that was so beloved that it got a big-time DVD release. |
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THE DUCHESS (dir: Saul Dibb, PG-13) –
Keira Knightley. That little British skeletor doesn’t really need that corset, does she? |
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EAGLE EYE (dir: D.J. Caruso, PG-13) – Shia Lebouf apparently is America ’s favorite action star. I still think Steven Seagal would win in a fight, but whatever. |
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THE ELDER SON (dir: Marius Balchunas, R) – A bunch of uninteresting people like Leelee Sobieski and Eric Balfour star in this indie drama about a young hoodlum trying to pass himself off as the kid of a Russian clarinetist. |
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*GHOST TOWN (dir: David Koepp, PG-13) – Ricky Gervais, England’s genius creator and star of THE OFFICE and EXTRAS, makes his debut as a leading man with this witty romantic comedy co-starring Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear. Although
its supernatural premise seems a tad goofy in these serious times, they pull off more of a TOPPER than a GHOST DAD. |
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RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION (dir: Makoto Kamiya, R) – The video game series that spawned three hit movies has now become a CGI straight-to-DVD cartoon. I don’t really know what that means but I find it vaguely troubling. |
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SIX FIGURES (dir: David Christensen, Not Rated) – Life moves a little slower over in Calgary . Which might explain the glacial pacing of this “thriller” about a guy who may have just reached his breaking point. |
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SURFER, DUDE (dir: S.R. Bindler, R) – Matthew McConaughey expands his repertoire by playing a shirtless beach bum. Keep on striving, Mateo! |
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TOWELHEAD (dir: Alan Ball, R) – A young Arab-American girl has a series of creepy encounters in the suburbs in this edgy drama from SIX FEET UNDER creator Alan Ball. |
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A WALK INTO THE SEA (dir: Esther Robinson, Not Rated) – Find out whatever happened to Danny Williams, onetime Andy Warhol lover/artistic collaborator after he disappeared without a trace in 1965. |
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= GREG's
pick of the week! ^ =
Bart's pick of the week! |
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THE
BLUE ANGEL (dir: Josef von Sternberg,
Not Rated) – Bart says, "Sternberg's first of
eight team-ups with his muse Marlene Dietrich is also his best. It's
got all the exotic, elaborate set designs and destructive,
smoldering sexuality of the later films, but it doesn't get weighed
down in over-the-top melodrama. It's the simple story of a
respectable old teacher who becomes obsessed with a sexy showgirl
who treats him cruelly. Abject humiliation never looked so good!
Plus, it gets my vote as the first absolute masterpiece of the sound
era." |
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POINT
BLANK (dir: John
Boorman, Not Rated) – Bart
says, "With the
influence of French New Wave and a lowering of moral standards,
there's no denying that American movies reached their pinnacle of
awesomeness in the Seventies. But I have a theory that cinema's
coolest decade actually began in 1967 with BONNIE & CLYDE and
this stylish Lee Marvin tour-de-force where he plays a p.o.'d thug
who gets his revenge on the criminals who double-crossed him. Crazy
camera angles, disorienting editing, disturbing violence - this film
sparked an era of daring and exciting filmmaking. Sadly, it all
ended in 1976 with invention of the Summer Blockbuster, somewhere
between the releases of JAWS and STAR WARS." |
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DAZED
AND CONFUSED (dir: Richard Linklater, R) – Greg says, "Man, growing up in the
70s looks awesome! You get to be beat up by Ben Affleck, hit on by an inappropriately older Matthew McConaughey and generally just spend every free second of the day smoking as much marijuana as possible before falling over. The reality was, by most accounts, much bleaker. But who cares? Any movie that easily convinces you that it’d be a blast to stay up all night and then go wait in line for Aerosmith tickets has something going for it."
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NEW (BUT NOT NEW) MOVIES THIS WEEK!
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NEW FAMILY TIME THIS WEEK!
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