celluloidnotes

Missed you last week. We had to go on a short hiatus there while some other things got lined up. But, back to our regular programming. What to see this weekend:

PICK OF THE WEEK:
Adventureland
dir. Greg Mottola
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds

Another creation from the (more-or-less) Apatow factory. This time Mottola (Superbad) is opting for some huge stars with the great Jesse Eisenberg in the lead. We’ll see if it lives up to the recent spat of solid Factory films, but it looks fairly promising.

Fast & Furious
dir. Justin Lin
Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez

The series is back with Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in the lead. Which leads us to believe that people are still paying to see these films for some reason.

Sugar
dir. Anna Boden Ryan Fleck
Stars: Algenis Perez Soto

HBO films biopic of Miguel Santos journey from The Domincan Republic to the US to play minors baseball looks interesting. But will the biopic really stray from the well worn path of most boring biopics that are flooding the cinema?

Gigantic [limited]
dir. Matt Aselton
Stars: Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman

Gigantic looks like a really great film, with a pretty amazing cast. Dano has been in some fantastic films since his great performance in There Will Be Blood, and this doesn’t look like it’ll stray too far from the mark.

Paris 36
dir. Christophe Barratier
Stars: Gérard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad

Paris 36 is the story of the residence of a poor northern Paris neighborhood who decide to put on a musical. Those crazy Parisians. Meh.

Alien Trespass [limited]
dir. R.W. Goodwin
Stars: Eric McCormack, Jenni Baird, Robert Patrick

A mock B-movie (clearly) that looks kind of funny, but you never can tell with a film that is intentionally flaunting itself as a B film.

LAST WEEK’s TOP TEN:
1. Monsters vs. Aliens
2. The Haunting in Connecticut
3. Knowing
4. I Love You Man
5. Duplicity
6. Race To Witch Mountain
7. 12 Rounds
8. Watchmen
9. Taken
10. The Last House on the Left

Actor Ron Silver has passed away. Silver was famous for many reasons including his TONY winning role in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” his famed role in “The West Wing,” and his impressive resume of horror films including Timecop, Shadow Zone: The Undead Express, The Wisher, and The Arrival.

Silver was also an activist for many liberal causes that benefitted greatly from his contributions. After 09/11 he stood with Bush, and even spoke at the Republican National Convention. This act found him somewhat ostracized from Hollywood. He later revoked his support of the war in Iraq, but in a decidedly left leaning industry Silver found work thinning towards the end of his life, in part due to his strong support of ex-President Bush.

Talking on the sad news Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver founded years ago, said, “Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning. He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years.”

PICK OF THE WEEK:
Duplicity
dir. Tony Gilroy
Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen

Going a little mainstream on the pick of the week, and putting some blind faith in tony Gilroy’s ability to deliver in his second directorial adventure. It’s another spy thriller, which is hopefully as surprising as his great Michael Clayton. Like every other spy thriller this year it stars Clive Owen. Meh, I’m going with it.

Knowing
dir. Alex Proyas
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne

Remember when Nicolas Cage used to do films that were at least mildly interesting, I don’t anymore. This film is about Cage’s family and their son who discovers an artifact that predicts natural disasters. Sounds like a snooze-fest that you surely be on next week’s top ten list.

Sin Nombre [limited]
dir. Cary Fukunaga
Stars: Paulina Gaitan

Sin Nombre was second in the running for this weeks PICK OF THE WEEK. It’s a story of two teenagers from Honduras who hop aboard a freight train bound for America. Both are running from their past. The trailer is very enticing.

I Love You, Man
dir. John Hamburg
Stars: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones

Next up from the Apatow factory: I Love You, Man. All of the promo has given very little away about this film, or there is really no plot. Expect a funny first act, a mildly funny second act - with lots of zaniness, and a third act where morality surfaces and everyone learns a little something about themselves.

Lesbian Vampire Killers
dir. Phil Claydon
Starring: James Corden, MyAnna Buring

I don’t know what to say. Only AWESOME comes to mind. (Kind of looks like an Edgar Wright film, no?)

The Great Buck Howard
dir. Sean McGinly
Starring: John Malkovich, Colin Hanks

This honestly looks like it could be a great film, or another semi-boring idea that got watered down by focus groups. Great guest stars (Conan O’Brian, Martha Stewart, Tom Hanks), and Malkovich is always great (we think).

Super Capers
dir. Ray Griggs
Stars: Justin Whalin, Ray Griggs, Danielle Harris

Not sure about this. It almost sounds like it should be thrown in with the Scary Movie lot, but who knows. I’ve got no faith in this and the early signs seem to say I’m right.

Last Week’s Top Ten:
1. Race to Witch Mountain
2. Watchmen
3. Last House on the Left
4. Taken
5. Madea Goes to Jail
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
8. He’s Just Not That Into You
9. Coraline
10. Miss March

Bit by bit we’re learning more and more about Jim Jarmusch’s forthcoming new feature The Limits of Control. You can see the new poster, which was just unveiled, above. Has a nice retro vibe, right? (Anyone else see the Sunn O))) in there?)

The film is the story of a hitman, who adheres to a strict code of conduct, as he wanders across Spain searching for someone or something (nothing released really makes that clear). The brief and elusive synopsis makes it seem more like a Jarmusch film than that first sentence might lead you to believe. “His journey, paradoxically both intently focused and dreamlike, takes him not only across Spain but also through his own consciousness.”

The film features Issach De Bankole as the loner, with support from John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and many other great and unknown stars of international and American cinema. It was shot by Wong Kar-Wai stand-by Christopher Doyle (which basically ensures that it’s going to be a sweeping beautiful film). And it is being scored by a handful of post-rock-minimalist ensembles including Boris (who seems to be at the helm), Sunn O))), and Earth.

The trailer for The Limits of Control is definitely nothing more than a teaser, but it definitely piques our interest. The film is going to be released on May 22. Looking forward to it.

There have been a big pile of trailers released for the summer blockbusters in recent weeks and I’m going to attempt to round some of these up here for your viewing pleasure. If this doesn’t make you a little excited for the summer films it’s quite possible nothing will.

The Star Trek Trailer:

Public Enemies. The new Michael Mann film with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale going to it.

Terminator Salvation, another Christian Bale summer flik.

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince:

There you’ve got it. That’s all for today, but a few intriguing trailers. Lots of great indie pictures coming out right now, but I’m ready for some blockbusters.

It occurred to us that in this week’s installment of “What to See This Weekend” there was no mention of last week’s Top Ten Films. If there were any doubts about what was going to be number one last week we’ll put them to rest. Watchmen beat #2 by nearly $40 million. And there you are.

1. Watchmen - $55.2 million
2. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail - $8.8 million
3. Taken - $7.5 million
4. Slumdog Millionaire - $6.9 million
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $4.2 million
6. He’s Just Not That Into You - $4 million
7. Coraline - $3.3 million
8. Confessions Of A Shopaholic - $3.1 million
9. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience - $2.8 million
10. Fired Up- 2.6 million

It’s, now, been just over ten years since Stanley Kubrick passed away. He is easily one of the most important figures in the history of the cinema and it seems right to be a little tribute to him here, as many others are as well.

The Playlist, and a few other places, remembered the great Charlie Rose episode paying tribute to the late mater. Their Kubrick tribute episode featured many actors, directors, historians, and lovers of his work talking about what Kubrick was like. As in studio guests in this episode (posted below) he had Jane Harlan, a long time Kubrick producer, Kubrick’s widow Christiane, and Martin Scorsese.

Other Kubrick tributes to check out:
Movie City News remembrance by Ray Pride
Variety Movie Blog remembers Kubrick 

We’re also hoping to have Stanley Kubrick as one of the first Cinematic Fakebook installments this week. So, look out for that.  

PICK OF THE WEEK
Sunshine Cleaning [limited]
dir. Christine Jeffs
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin

This was last years Sundance darling. The buzz is still all positive. the film is a quirky sentimental comedy that the studio is hoping is this year’s Little Miss Sunshine. Is there an Arkin connection?

Race to Witch Mountain
dir. Andy Fickman
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb

Dwayne Johnson. Self explanatory.

Last House on the Left
dir. Dennis Iliadis
Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn

A remake of the classic horror film. A sentence that appears on this site weekly. If you don’t know my feeling about this sub-genre: I think it’s crap.

Miss March
dir. Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore
Starring: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi

The kids from Whitest Kids You Know have made a film. One guys goes into a coma and wakes up to discover his high school sweetheart is now a model for Playboy. Hijinx surely ensue.

Brothers at War [limited]
dir. Jake Rademacher
Stars: Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher, Joe Rademacher

Jake Rademacher takes cameras into the war in Iraq to discover what his brothers Issac and Joe are experiencing in the war. This is a slightly lo-fi but engaging film that should be seen (and might be now that the heavy slurry of Iraq films has subsided.

Sex Positive [limited]
dir. Daryl Wein
Starring: Richard Berkowitz

Three Monkeys
dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

This is the newest film from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Becoming known for his plodding nearly ambient films Ceylan is trying a more plot driven approach with this film. A politician kills a man with his car and decides to turn himself in, but the story is much more complicated than he realizes. Ceylan won the Best Director award at last years Cannes festival for this film.

Severed Ways [limited]
dir. Tony Stone
Starring: Gabriella Mary Hoffmann, David Perry

Severed Ways is a film about the Nordic discovery of America. I think there will be a little less Pathfinder in here, and maybe a little bit more Mongol. Dear lord, let’s hope so.

Z [limited]
dir. Costa Gavras
Starring: Yves Montand, Irene Papas

The Z is not for Zombie. The 1969 Oscar winning film is getting a fresh theatrical release in New York on a fresh 35mm print.

This is a historical-political thriller from cinematic master Costa Gravas. This is fantastic. Pray that people go out and see this and that it winds up in your town. In the meantime find more Gavras and watch it.

Edge of Love [limited]
dir. John Maybury
Starring: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller

Edge of Love is a story about two women who were connected by the occasionally philandering poet Dylan Thomas. The film has got a decent buzz, and hopefully isn’t too sentimental, because Thomas never was (except in his love letters, which were often far over the top).

There has been a lot of talk about this and it’s had to be delayed, but, not, for real, the Cinematic Fakebook is going to make it’s inaugural appearance this week. 

PICK OF THE WEEK:
12
dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Stars: Sergei Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Apti Magamaev

Mikhalkov (Burnt By the Sun) twists the classic 12 Angry Men to his own needs in 12. Creating a uniquely Russian version of the classic. This is finally seeing the light of day in America, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2007 Oscars, but not given a theatrical release until now. Only in America.

Watchmen
dir. Zack Snyder
Stars: Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino

This is easily one of the three or so most anticipated films of the spring. This should be number one for a while. The consensus had been it was going to be great, then Zak Snyder was accused of destroying one of the most beloved graphic novels ever, then it was great again, then no one was sure. So, there you have it, movie blog hype. We’ll see what happens when people are finally watching the film.

Horsemen [limited]
dir. Jonas Åkerlund
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ziyi Zhang, Lou Taylor Pucci

Quaid and Zhang, why hadn’t anyone thought of that before. It’s definitely going to become a classic combination. This is the film duo that the world has been waiting for.

Tokyo! [limited]
dir. Michel Gondry, Joon-ho Bong, Leos Carax

The three directors offer their respective tributes to the city, much in the fashion of the recent New York, I Love You and Paris, J’taime. Multi-director tributes to cities, the new D & G? Anyone?

Phoebe in Wonderland
dir. Daniel Barnz
Starring: Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman

Another Fanning for us to love and hold. yay. This was actually a decent week in releases wasn’t it. No letters to god this week. This looks fine, but I’m feeling positive about the first good week of releases since the blogs turned to “Oscar Prediction Mode.” So, I won’t ruin it by hating on this.

Last Week’s Top Ten
1. Madea Goes to Jail
2. Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Taken
5. He’s Just Not That Into You
6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
7. Coraline
8. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
9. Confessions of a Shopaholic
10. Fired Up!