You know how January is. It’s a time of quiet contemplation and naked Oscar-baiting, when a Kevin James movie can lay waste to the box-office like the Cloverfield monster. And “Wendy and Lucy” just got bumped again, dammit.
So what’s opening? Not a hell of a lot.
“Know Your Mushrooms”: In which Ron Mann continues in his inexhaustible bid to canonize every last aspect of hippie culture, and good for him! Susan liked it; Jason did too, with a few reservations.
“New in Town”: Efficiency expert Renee Zellweger gets all Northern Exposure-y when she’s dispatched to deepest Minnesota to close down a branch, or something. Neither Susan nor Kate Carraway are particularly impressed.
“Taken”: In a nice twist on the Givemebackmyfamily!!! popularized by Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson back in the ’90s, former covert operative Liam Neeson goes on a rampage through Paris when his daughter is abducted. Neeson’s blunt, potent competence, aided by a straightforward script and efficient direction from Pierre Morel, makes for a much better actioner than the ad campaign would have you believe. Barrett thinks so, too.
“The Uninvited”: David Straithairn and Elizabeth Banks in an American remake of “A Tale of Two Sisters” that turns Kim Jee-Woon’s fragmented Korean nightmare into a linear horror film with a really big twist at the end? Um, okay. Didn’t see it, but word coming out of the preview screening has not been good.
Also opening this week: Lee Demarbre’s documentary “Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero” screens tonight and tomorrow at the Royal , and Terence Davies’ Liverpool oratorio “Of Time and the City” rolls into the Bloor on Sunday after its limited Cinematheque engagement. You know, if you’re into the whole reality thing.
Montreal? Really?
I eagerly typed Wendy and Lucy into Tribute’s search engine to find out where it was playing, prepared, for once, to cross my fingers and patiently wait for it to move from downtown to Scarborough, only to find it’s only in Montreal. THAT’s way too far!
Any idea when it comes to Toronto?
It’s currently slated to open here next week — although it was previously slated to open here last week, and then for a while it was supposed to be opening today.
I did see a poster for it at the Varsity this morning, so that’s an encouraging sign. Until they take it down, of course …
I managed the posters at the Varsity for a few years late last decade.
There was, at the time, little-to-no correlation between what went up on the walls and what eventually played. Your cynicism is entirely valid.
I meant to catch _Wendy_ at the Festival, but didn’t get around to it. _Tokoyo Sonata_ and _Chocolate_ were a fair consolation prize. And _Martyrs_, I guess…