Greetings, loyal readers. How is your summer 2011 going? Hot and humid enough for ya? Seek solace this weekend in the icy cold climes of your local multiplex, or even your arthouse, they too have air conditioning! This weekend make it a double feature with a little taste for everyone’s palate. Blockbusters and art cinema go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Which one is the peanut butter and which one is the chocolate? I don’t know! Leave your theories in the comments. For those of you who like your summer movies big and meaty, we’ve got the lens flare fest, excuse me, I mean nostalgic Spielbergian homage “Super 8” from JJ Abrams. If you like your movies more microbudgeted and wry, try the Steve Coogan road trip flick “The Trip.” Maybe you want to catch up with the latest Woody Allen romp, “Midnight in Paris” as it continues its roll out. At any rate, this weekend is a good one for original content. Not a sequel in sight. Yay! Join me now, on this fantastical journey.
So, “Super 8,” I honestly know diddily squat about this joint except that it harkens back to a Spielbergian (that’s a word now) time of hugs and adventure and children in peril. Also, hunky Kyle Chandler! Ok, so here’s the jist: These kids are filming a Super 8 movie when they capture a train wreck on camera. But what did they capture? I will bet you 10 dollars it’s aliens. Our review says, Abrams “delivers an edge-of-your-seat thriller with heart and humor that we predict will have audiences buzzing.” Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Metacritic: 74
Also in wide release is something called “Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.” Ugh, the children and their rhyming. This is why children can’t have nice movies. I refuse. RT: 16% MC: 38
I like my men just how I like my English countryside, lush and foggy. Ok, that was horrible. Please leave me suggestions for better “I like my men” in the comments. Hey, so how’d you like to watch Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon go on my dream vacation, traveling around England on a tour of the country’s finest dining establishments? Fuck those guys, I want to do that! Thankfully, Michael Winterbottom taped it, in this weekend’s “The Trip,” so we can enjoy the bon mots, celebrity impressions, and other entertainments of this adventure. Can you imagine having Michael Winterbottom be the camcorder guy on your next road trip? “Cloverfield 2” would be SO much better. Anyway, this looks hilarious and fun. Our review says the film is “hugely enjoyable and wickedly funny, this is one road trip you’ll be glad you took.” RT: 90% MC: 83
“Blair Troll Project”! “Clovertroll”! That’s right, a bunch of Norwegian kids set out to capture giant trolls on camera in “Trollhunter“! This latest entry in the Found Monster Footage genre takes itself a bit less seriously and is more in on the joke with us, as giant trolls crush everything in their wake. RARRGGGGG (troll sound). Our review says it “succeeds because of its close-to-the-vest humor and the matter-of-fact presentation of the horror.” RT: 74% MC: 63
This week’s WTF award goes to “Guilty Hearts,” an omnibus film of sorts that appears to have been made 5 years ago, which may account for the random-est of random casts ever: Julie Delpy, Kathy Bates, Charlie “Warlock” Sheen, Anna Faris, Eva Mendes, Stellan Skarsgaard, and Imelda Staunton. It says it’s about strangers who must accept their pasts in order to move on… what kinda gambling debts did this motley crew pile up?
Also in theaters: the acclaimed Dutch romantic drama “Bride Flight,” concerning three brides whose lives become intertwined on their flight from Holland to New Zealand to meet up with their husbands. RT: 88% MC: 67 What year is it? Shannyn Sossamon and Dominique Swain star in the noir “Road to Nowhere.” RT: 73% MC: 56 Congolese action thriller “Viva Riva!” Is “Collywood” the hot new ‘ollywood? RT: 81% MC: 68 On the doc watch: circus elephant doc “One Lucky Elephant.” Quick, where’s Rpatz?! RT: 100% MC: 73 Also, Arab stand up comedy doc featuring comedian Ahmed Ahmed, “Just Like Us” RT: 73% MC: 52 Like your mutant tales less “X-Men” and more indie? “Reversion” is the the small art house flick about a human mutant with the inability to perceive time. Dammit! Worst mutant power ever. Even worse than Beast. RT: 50% MC: 46 And, Anthology is showing Uruphong Raksasad‘s Thai rice farming documentary “Agrarian Utopia.” MC: 72 Happy AC hunting!
