MCN Weekend Archive for September, 2012
Wilmington on Movies: Arbitrage
Arbitrage is a movie about big money and big crime in America, so naturally it’s set on Wall Street, a district and subculture awash in both. It’s also a picture that demonstrates how we tend to accept people who do bad things s long as they look good. The case in point here is the movie’s main character, financier-in-hot-water Robert Miller—as played by the very good-looking Richard Gere.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The DVD Wrapup: Goats, Where Do We Go Now?, My Trip to Al Qaeda, Loved Ones, Titanic 3D, Nympho Divers, AbFab, Spartacus … More
Goats: Blu-ray In the world of independent filmmaking, a very thin line separates dysfunctional families from those merely offbeat, quirky and unconventional. In “Goats,” director Christopher Neil and writer Mark Poirier straddle that razor-thin barrier for most of its 94 minutes, while also attempting to convince us that a child born into such a family…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Footnote
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW FOOTNOTE (Also Blu-ray) (Four Stars) Israel: Joseph Cedar, 2011 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) One thing I know I will never do is read the Talmud (IA) cover to cover — even in an English translation, much less, God knows, in the original Hebrew. Yet such is the brilliance…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Snow White and the Huntsman; What to Expect When You’re Expecting; The Last of England; More
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.: Rupert Sanders, 2012 (Universal) Snow White and the Huntsman has one of the clunkiest movie titles around, and a lot of the movie is worthy of it. A wildly expensive and lushly produced new look at the Grimm Brothers fairy tale “Snow-White and…
Read the full article »The Weekend Report: Abandon Hope
A couple of new releases hardly made a ripple in weekend movie going that sunk to a level not seen in decades. The Words, a convoluted yarn of authorship, bowed to an estimated $4.8 million that ranked fourth on the leader board while the thriller The Cold Light of Day, a leftover from Summit, bowed with $1.8 million. The latter film has already opened overseas where it already grossed a disappointing $12.5 million.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Cosmopolis
Cronenberg’s movie suggests that if we were in the uppermost echelon, it might be a nightmare, and a deserved one. If we were young billionaire asset managers like Eric Packer, played by Pattinson, we could set out one morning, in a white stretch limousine with our driver, lounge lazily in a luxurious back seat area (all black and blue and silver-chrome trim), relaxing in a limo seat that resembles a small room, and set out, in the middle of a vast midtown Manhattan traffic jam (worsened by the presence of a presidential motorcade, the funeral of a beloved rap star and Occupy-style riots in the street), to get a haircut from our father’s favorite barber.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Wilmington on Movies: The Words
I have a confession to make. I didn’t write this review.I tried, God knows, but after several hours of pecking away at the keyboard of my Toshiba Satellite computer, and then reading back only dull, empty words on a white screen, I realized that I would never be the writer I once dreamed of becoming.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The DVD Wrapup: Quick, My Sucky Teen Romance, High School, Touchback … More
Although the nearly-always hysterical characters in the Korean motorcycle thriller, Quick make Jerry Lewis seem withdrawn, they can be forgiven because someone has planted a bomb in their helmet and is threatening to blow them up.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Pirates! Band of Misfits
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (Also in three-disc DVD/Blu-ray 3D Combo) (Three and a Half Stars) U. K.: Peter Lord, 2012 (Sony Pictures) Pirates! In real-life, most of them were probably scurvy gangs of sea-going psychopaths, but in the irresistible world of Aardman Animations, they’re cute and funny and…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs: The Five Year Engagement; High School; Child’s Play (1972)
THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (Also Blu-ray) (Three Stars) U.S.: Nicholas Stoller, 2012 (Universal) The Five-Year Engagement, latest from the Judd Apatow bunch, is a romantic comedy that would probably be annoyed if you called it a rom-com. Directed and co-written by Nicholas Stoller (who made the very entertaining buddy road comedy Get Him to the Greek), it’s…
Read the full article »The Weekend Report (3-Day)
While tracking clearly put The Possession ahead of Lawless few anticipated that the film dubbed “The Kosher Exorcist” would generate more than $15 million in its opening three days. The Lawless conversely fell short of $10 million-to-$12 million estimates. Polling for Ooogieloves suggested scant interest but its financier insisted youngsters weren’t polled and that it would surprise pundits. The surprise would be a second adventure.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates
The big indies are showing the majors how it’s done this weekend, with Lionsgate doing what it does best, releasing a horror movie and the Weinsteins releasing Oscar bait. These two films should do about the same business as the three new releases in this slot last year. Still, the weekend is missing what it had last Labor Day weekend, a strong holdover like The Help.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Possession; (The Dybbuk)
Starting in The Possession’s very first scene, bad things happen. Minor characters get killed, major characters get threatened, houses are vandalized, moths crawl out of everywhere, and little girls named Emily go crazy and attack their classmates, stab their daddy with a fork, and start talking like Mercedes McCambridge.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: For a Good Time, Call…
Lauren and Katie start off as reunited old enemies who fell out early in early college years over a bad Farrellyesque joke involving a urine sample, and who are bought together now by their mutual friend Jesse the gay comic.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Apparition
THE APPARITION (Also Blu-ray) (One Star) U.S.: Todd Lincoln, 2012 (Warner Bros.) Dull, dreary, pointless and bad, sporting shock scenes that don’t shock, a grisly premise that doesn’t make sense, and a meager cast of mostly uninterested-looking Hollywood lookers (headed by Ashley Greene of Twilight) struggling with a meager, dialogue-challenged script, here is another horror…
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