Friday, September 14, 2007

Now Playing: Jodie on "Lockdown" and Viggo in the Showers

Now we're talking. Now it's Fall Movie Season. Last week was just a spaceholder. You can justify a whole weekend sitting in the theater today --look at all the (potentially) yummy stuff.

L I M I T E D
<-- Eastern Promises -Since I haven't yet seen it, this gangster drama with a tattooed naked Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts, vulnerable in a world she doesn't know, I decided to focus on how much I've enjoyed director David Cronenberg's past work. Here's my vote for his 3 best. Agree? Disagree?
Across The Universe Help! Julie Taymor has a way with visual invention but early word on her Beatles musical suggest it might be tomatoes and not strawberries tossed her way
Darkon -a doc on wargaming medieval fantasy cult group
December Boys Daniel Radcliffe, in his first movie outside Harry Potter, plays another orphan in this coming of age tale set in Australia in the 60s
In the Valley of Elah early consensus: Tommy Lee Jones is masterful. The movie: jury still out. A friend of mine told me he can't imagine it not winning the Best Picture nomination though. Here's his review
King of California Michael Douglas is a once institutionalized man and Evan Rachel Wood is his (exasperated?) daughter in this suburban comedy

Moondance Alexander another entry in the ancient dramatic subgenre of 'a girl and her horse'. Be warned: the trailer has that annoying happy trailer voice guy doing the voiceover. A note of interest: Sasha Cohen, ice skating queen, plays the mean girl in the movie. She writes about her new acting career on her site
Moving McAllister indie road comedy
The Rape of Europa a doc on art theft in the Nazi regime
Silk (pictured, right) Keira Knightley's latest attempt at world domination through costume dramas. Were it not for another leading role gifted to Michael Pitt (whose appeal completely escapes me --as leading man or actor in general) I'd be interested. The story, a man sent on a silkworm smuggling mission to Japan where he falls into an adulterous romance with a concubine, sounds involving. It's from the team behind The Red Violin

W I D E
Dragon Wars CGI dragons wreak havoc on our world. I swear it is fall movie season
Mr Woodcock Susan Sarandon is back -- twice! -- in movie theaters this weekend. In addition to that apparently cameo like role in Elah, she stars in this comedy as a woman torn between playing earth mom to her son Seann William Scott and sex goddess to his coach Billy Bob Thornton. What will she do? pssst. Join me in pretending that this movie is all about Susan Sarandon and her bifurcated career when it's obviously and totally about the men

and finally...

<-- The Brave One Jodie Foster on the war path. Handsomely made, mostly well acted, likely to be a very big hit, but it's not as conflicted as it pretends and irresponsible in its thrill-making. My grade basically goes like this: Beginning B, Middle C, Finale F [My Full Review]
*