I’m assuming you’ve already seen “Nostalgia for the Light“, and are looking for something else to watch this weekend. Because if you haven’t seen “Nostalgia for the Light”, there’s no reason to bother with anything else until you catch up to it … and it’s not like the week’s studio pictures deserve your patronage.
“Another Year”: Mike Leigh’s latest feels like a spiritual sequel to “High Hopes”, dropping in on a selection of Londoners as they slide unsteadily through middle age. Lesley Manville’s not-so-quietly desperate performance is designed to get all the attention, but I was most impressed by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen, who layer their happily married characters with the possibility that their happiness depends largely on feeling superior to their pathetic friends. Rad liked it, too.
“Breathless“: The Korean actor Yang Ik-joon delivers one hell of a directorial debut with this study of the tentative friendship between a brutal gangster (Yang, who also wrote the perceptive script) and a rebellious schoolgirl (Kim Kot-bi). Grim stuff, but it doesn’t play that way — in fact, it’s often downright thrilling.
“The Dilemma“: Okay, “The Da Vinci Code” was bad, but Ron Howard’s latest film — after the upturn of “Frost/Nixon” and “Angels & Demons” — is absolutely dreadful. A haphazard Vince Vaughn comedy with delusions of social relevance and dramatic tension, it’s almost unwatchable. Actually, scratch the “almost”. I don’t know why this movie exists.
“The Green Hornet“: Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry try to launch their own “Iron Man” franchise with this update of the 1930s radio character. This will not happen, though the opening scene, where Christoph Waltz and James Franco square off in a nightclub, is a perfect little short film. Consumer advisory: The post-conversion 3D on this one is particuarly terrible. See it flat, or bring a vial of Advil.
Seriously, just go see “Nostalgia for the Light”. Send a message.
I will never fully understand how movies are marketed! I get that Seth Rogen is the “draw” for Green Hornet *shudder*, but seeing one commercial with Christoph freakin’ Waltz as the villain at least made me think about putting it on my “renter” list. The guy who won an Oscar playing someone evil! I never saw that commercial again. Did that commercial somehow put off the Rogen fans? No marketing plan to try to broaden the movie’s appeal? Doesn’t who plays the villain have potential to sell the movie?
Don’t mind me. The only actual target demographic I seem to be in is “chick flicks for middle-aged women,” which usually range from crap-to-just passable.