It’s another busy, end-of-the-year kind of day for me, so here’s a quick breakdown of this week’s new releases:
“Adam’s Wall”: Michael MacKenzie’s low-key drama finds a Jewish teen living in Montreal falling for an Orthodox Christian girl from Lebanon in one of those Romeo-Juliet situations. Rad found it awfully calculating; Damian found a little more to like.
“Confessions of a Porn Addict”: I haven’t really been able to enjoy Spencer Rice’s self-conscious performances ever since he and Kenny Hotz first painted themselves as struggling hucksters in 1997’s “Pitch”. And now he’s playing a compulsive masturbator or something. Andrew and Jason both say it’s okay; I believe them, but I’m still gonna wait for the DVD.
“Down in the Dirt“: I loathed Justin Simms’ posturing tale of a grubby-artist woe at TIFF, and don’t like it any more now. But there are a lot of Bukowski wannabes out there who’ll dismiss my complaints as sour grapes and see it anyway. I just hope they can afford to blow the $13.
“Frost/Nixon“: The screen version of Peter Morgan’s stage play has everything you’d expect from a Ron Howard movie — glossy production values, top-tier casting, and professional construction. It also has that weird neediness that distinguishes most of Howard’s movies — SEE HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS!!! — but Frank Langella and Michael Sheen pull it together in the gripping final act. Langella’s totally gonna land that Oscar nomination this year.
“A Touch of Spice”: The formative childhood experiences of a Greek astronomer (Georges Corraface) are illustrated through flashbacks in Tassos Boulmetis’ … hey, hang on, this movie is five years old! Barrett and Damian find it hasn’t gotten any better with age.
Also opening today: “Punisher: War Zone”, which brings back crazy ol’ Frank Castle for another round of shooting them up, and “Nobel Son”, which appears to be the movie Randall Miller and the cast of “Bottle Shock” made on their off-days. Umm … those DVDs will be out soon, too, right?