The Return! FISTS RISING LIKE WEEDS! Here, live from the “Cut! No, no, no…” cemetery, be’s the revamped weekly guide to the new and the cinematically interesting for the next week in MelbourneTown.
Go! Go! Go!
IN CINEMAS
New Releases
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is opening wide, as the Apatow ‘farm team’ shows no signs of slowing, however slowly the critical tide seems to be turning.
Old man/thriller ’specialist’ Gregor Hoblit almost made genre-bound twisty old-man thrillers acceptable in the late 90’s, until he made an unacceptable amount of them, anyway. Untraceable is another gimmicky premise, and the word on CineNerd Street is “it may not be explicitly original or meticulously plotted…”.
Ben Affleck’s much-vaunted and Oscar-nominated Gone Baby Gone opens its Boston-representin’ ass all over: Nova, Westgarth, The George, Dendy Brighton, and smattering of Village. Expect blue collars on everything.
Brick Lane (for those of you who don’t know) is a “cool” street in London that is home to some interesting bars and some wonderful art studios. Also, apparently you can buy heroin-filled samosas, but I certainly didn’t see any. Anyway, this uplifting audience-award-winner opens reasonably wide.
The 2008 French Film Festival’s opening night ensemble-piece Paris is the first to get a wide release; Nova, Kino, Dendy. It’s about Paris. Paris, France.
Sure: David Ayer is a nobody, and Kurt Wimmer is kind of dumb, but James Ellroy is a walking deity, and his hand in Street Kings‘ script is a weird enough occurrence that even without Keanu starring in what is allegedly a Jason-Statham-esque actioner it could be interesting.
Not Really New Releases
Time Capsules returns! First night: Gypsies!
The Melbourne Cinematheque begins its Truffaut retrospective this week with the underrated Mississippi Mermaid, a masterpiece of amour fou and a melodramatic triumph of Sirk-ian chicanery. Also screening, some early Truffaut film called Jules & Jim. Never heard of it.
ACMI’s Russian cinema centenary rolls on, with screenings all week.
Huge deal: the John McTiernan Film Festival is conducting – without it even existing - its inaugural event: Predator and motherfucking Die Hard. TOTALLY. Astor, monday night, 7:30. Shit’s insane, right? Maybe the most exciting night of the year?
Ivan Sen’s Beneath Clouds screens at ACMI sat, 2pm. The outback! It’s cultural, yo. Also, Takeshi’s newest – Glory To The Filmmaker! - screens this friday night and next friday night at 10pm at ACMI.
ON DVD
Soderbergh’s fascinating new personal project Bubble is on shelves this week. Is it dull? Yes. Intentionally? Yes. Fascinating? Yes! [More on this later]
Modern Love was released for about twenty minutes earlier this year. Now see the rest of it on fancy DVD.
The Adelaide Film Fest production Boxing Day was one of 2007’s most lauded Australian films. After MIFF and a Nova Q&A screening it arrives on DVD. Will it really be so Dardenne-esque? ‘Ultra-experimental’ even?
Kate Gorman’s Five Moments Of Infidelity appears on shelves – tho you may have trouble finding it -after winning “Best Australian Film at Idaho’s International Film Festival”, an award I don’t believe exists. A synopsis from Gorman herself.
The Last Confederate, which is actually called Strike The Tent (both of which are awful names) is apparently a quasi-interesting slice o’ American Civil War historical revisionism. Fuck a textbook!
Leelee Sobieski stars in Walk All Over Me; according to one IMDB’er: “a very good acted” [sic] black comedy.
