La Mission (and Other New Releases)

In the first reel of Peter Bratt's LA MISSION we follow Che Rivera (picture left, embodied by Benjamin Bratt) through his typical day as a bus driver, lowrider enthusiast, recovering alcoholic, tough guy and respected man on the street in San Francisco's Mission district. Just when you begin to worry that the film is way too marinated in macho sweat -- you'll lose track of the number of "bros" uttered, fists bumped -- we're introduced to Che's teenage son Jes (Jeremy Ray Valdez) who happens to be secretly shacked up with rich white boy Jordan (Max Rosenak). The upcoming conflict is clear. How will the macho ex-con father ever deal once he finds out about his one and only son?

read the rest @ my weekly Towleroad column ...

...for my take on La Mission, Date Night and the tense Australian crime film The Square. I'll have a few more things to say about Christina Ricci's latest feature After.Life as soon as I can get to it.

In other theatrical news, apparently The Runaways is expanding back to its opening weekend size again. Which wasn't very big to begin with. I haven't a clue why that film (a rock biopic with two big stars) opened with such a small theatrical count or why they let the theater count drop for two weeks before re-expanding to opening weekend size. What is going on with that films release, Apparition? This is not as arthouse as Control. Why treat it like it wouldn't have mass appeal? If you haven't seen it yet it's definitely worth a look. It's at least on par if not better than its Oscar nominated blood relations (Ray, Walk the Line) though it's too youthful and edgy to incite similar golden showers. Wait! That came out wrong. Golden Showers. haha. Well, in my defence, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) does pee on a guitar.
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Mel Gibson Likes Beavers

When I read the news I wondered if we have time travelled back to April 1st. But no, it's still July 10th and Mel Gibson really is going to portray a homeless man (believable) who feels comfort from wearing a beaver hand puppet (er...) in the movie called The Beaver. Don't ask me. For a split second I was wondering if The Beaver Trilogy ( ♥ ) was about to become a quadrilogy. Wouldn't that be something?

a visualization to haunt your dreams

Mel's Maverick co-star and fellow beaver fan Jodie Foster will direct (goodbye Flora Plum... Get thee back to the attic of unfulfilled dreams!) Jodie will also play his wife. Apparently this was once a Steve Carell project so we're assuming comedy. And given that Jodie's previous comedic directorial effort was Home For the Holidays (I'm a big fan) I suppose I should be excited. I'm halfway there. I'm totally A-OK with hand puppets but... Mel Gibson???
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She's very discreet... but she will haunt your dreams

My favorite celebrity photo of the week [source] is below. Here we see crazy-ass Sharon Stone speaking at some event while Jane Lynch (from Christopher Guest's mockumentaries) looks on in admiration.


Jane always crack me up and here I imagine that she's about to sing Sharon a few bars of that Guatamalan ditty that she delivered to Steve Carell with such lustful comic zeal in The 40 Year-Old Virgin, practically groping him with her voice. Jane can sing to me any time she likes even if the lyrics are as nonsensical as they supposedly were there

Whenever they clean my room, I can't find anything/Where are you going with such haste?/To a football game [src]

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Now Playing: Before the Devil Knows You're Dan in Real Life

L I M I T E D
Before 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 E
Dan 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?