Enough already with the movies! Thirteen openings last week, twelve this week — surely the studios know we can’t see everything they’re throwing at us. I mean, I do this for a living and I’ve only managed to see a fraction of this week’s releases.
Let’s get to it, then …
“Buried“: Ryan Reynolds spends 95 minutes in a box in Rodrigo Cortes’ stylish, quietly ingenious thriller. Claustrophobes may want to sit all the way at the back of the cinema.
“Case 39”: Social worker Renee Zellweger comes to suspect her latest charge (Jodelle Ferland, of Terry Gilliam’s “Tideland”) is at the center of a supernatural conspiracy, or something. I dunno, nobody’s seen it yet.
“Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie”: Sturla Gunnarsson gives the rightly venerated Canadian icon a loving portrait in this feature documentary patterned after “An Inconvenient Truth”. Glenn notes the one-sidedness of Gunnarsson’s presentation.
“FUBAR II”: Michael Dowse’s 2002 no-budget mockumentary has its admirers, though I’m not one of them — so it was easy enough to let Andrew take the sequel. He found it “funnier and livelier”, so take that under advisement.
“Hatchet II”: Victor Crowley is at it again in the souped-up sequel to Green’s old-school splatter romp. Hey, if “FUBAR” gets a sequel, anything’s possible. No advance screenings, though.
“Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story”: Peter Miller’s workmanlike documentary is basically a chronological list of the sport’s Jewish players. (Did you know that Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax both struggled with the decision to take Yom Kippur off? Gosh!) Susan wasn’t terribly impressed; my reaction to the doc is captured for posterity, weirdly enough, in the National Post.
“Let Me In“: As utterly unnecessary movies go, Matt Reeves’ American remake of the great Swedish vampire thriller “Let the Right One In” is pretty damn great, with strong performances and an unsettling sense of Reagan-era America. Plus, Richard Jenkins atones for “Eat Pray Love” with a tremendous supporting turn.
“The Social Network“: Speaking of atonement, I’m willing to allow David Fincher to make another “Benjamin Button” if it means he delivers something this good as his follow-up — a crackling social comedy with a terrific cast, a throbbing pulse and some of the subtlest and most inventive CG work in a long while. Also, Armie Hammer delivers what may be the line of the year.
“Streetdance 3D”: England challenges America’s dominance of the dance movie by offering up its own 3D extravaganza, featuring Diversity, the troupe that stomped all over Susan Boyle’s yard on “Britain’s Got Talent” back in 2009. Rad says it’s the same old song, story-wise, but the dancing delivers.
“Waiting for ‘Superman’ “: Davis Guggenheim, director of the actual “An Inconvenient Truth”, sets his sights on the sorry state of American education in this TIFF favourite. I missed it at the festival, but Glenn‘s review has me trying to figure out when I can catch up to it.
“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”: Susan likes Woody Allen’s latest — a London roundelay starring the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones, Lucy Punch and Frieda Pinto. I haven’t been able to see it yet, but if it’s as good as she says, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Yes, I know, that’s only eleven films. The twelfth is Bruce McDonald’s “Trigger“, which started a limited run at the Lightbox yesterday. It’s very good, and you should see it. So there.
So… in an “Inception vs. The Social Network” death match, who wins?
What I want to know is why the commercials for Buried say he has 90 minutes of air? That depends on how often he uses his lighter, which burns up precious oxygen. Geez…and movies are usually so scientifically accurate!
@ cc — I made that comparison in an interview with Global National earlier this afternoon, actually; they’re both films about the value of ideas, though each approaches the theme in a radically different way from the other.
@ Chris — That comes from the marketing department. The movie itself never says exactly how much air is in there with him; in fact, at one point he’s told that the battery in his Blackberry is more important than the air in the coffin.