L I M I T E DBefore the Devil Knows You're Dead -Director Sidney Lumet (Network) is gunning for a sixth Oscar nomination for directing. Remarkably he's never won. His not so secret weapon this time? Returning to the heist gone wrong crime subgenre which served him so well in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). The new film stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as desperate brothers robbing a jewelry store (a word on them) and Marisa Tomei the wife and sister-in-law (more on her). The poster, pictured left, is cute but entirely misleading. This is no comedy but a rapid descent into multiple personal hells.
Bella A romantic drama that won the People's Choice @ the Toronto International Film Festival last year (just now making it to US screens. Strike while the iron is...cold. I know it's probably not the film's fault but I am sick to death about the general media perception that festival success doesn't translate to real success. How can we know? Maybe it would if films came out when they were being talked about rather than 6 to 18 months later)
Lynch A documentary on Lynch's creative process on INLAND EMPIRE.
Music Within Ron Livingston stars as hearing impaired Vietnam vet Richard Pimentel, who finds new purpose in fighting for Americans with disabilities.
Rails & Ties Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden star in this drama
Slipstream Anthony Hopkins wrote and starred in his own directorial debut
W I D EDan in Real Life An advice columnist (Steve Carrel) falls for a woman (Juliette Binoche) who is dating his brother (Dane Cook) --oops. I love Steve Carrel but I love pancakes more so the poster image (right) always makes me crazy. Don't waste the pancakes Steve!
Saw IV I've never seen one of these movies and I'm quite pleased to have gone without.
P L U S
Two precious films get the biggest expansions: Ryan Gosling's sex doll loving in Lars and the Real Girl adds a number of screens and Wes Anderson's passage to India The Darjeeling Limited is now in wide release. The Expansion of Jesse James By The Unsupportive Warner Bros seems to have ended though ---argh. Why aren't they pushing this harder? How do you spend the money on Brad Pitt (!) and not take the film wide?
