It is both an unusually quiet week this week with just five new films opening in the UK, that's the lowest since Robin Hood opened against 4 acclaimed foreign language pics in May. This time we're don't have such an interesting back up to the main event, with two half-arsed Bollywood entries, a ho-hum looking animation and a rotting pile of garbage - more on that later. Film of the week, with no reservations at all though, is The Social Network.
Aakrosh
Solid looking Bollywood police procedural which has clearly learnt from the techniques of the Bourne trilogy whilst developing a cast based investigation wich is truly Indian.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Despicable Me
The minions are clearly the one to watch in this feature length animation from Universal. A Supervillian, played with gusto by Steve Carell, with his army of artificial assistants must recruit three young kids to help with the plan to steal the moon. Looks like silly saccharine stuff, but Julie Andrews plays his mother so I'm giving it a bit of a pass.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Knock Out
It's the Bollywoodversion of Phone Booth, although the trailer promises a little more action outide of the titular location and the hit man get a face (Sanjay Dutt's face no less) to go with the overcooked dialogue.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Social Network
Proving you should never judge a book by it's cover back at the beginning of the year I wasn't anticipating David Fincher's Facebook movie, now the critical reception from the US is deafening all my doubts. Virtually on to the cinema now.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Vampires Suck
I'm not sure how writer directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Setzer keep getting the bugets to make these riseable spoofs of modern pop culture, this time focussing on the Twilight series. You really have to wonder what sort of justice is there in the world where this drivel can take $36m in the US box office (16% more than Scott Pilgrim).
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●○○○○○○○○○
And missing from last weeks release roundup is:
Freight
Cheap and nasty looking British crime film, led by two ex-Eastenders, with a smattering of cage fighting, strip clubs and badly accented Russian mafia types. Too bad for direct to video if you ask me.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Oscar Shortlists for the 97th Academy Awards
12 hours ago
3 comments:
I am not that excited about Facebook, not about the film and I don't even have a profile there, never been there :P
i'm sure Fincher's directing is gonna be fabulous (hey, I've loved EVERYTHING he's done since Alien 3 I guess, including The Game). my problem is with the casting (weird guy with curlish hair, the cute one with big forehead and Timberlake) and with the fact that it feels so targeted, and I'm not among them.
but easily choice of the week.
All of a sudden a small avalanche of films hit theaters, and I am looking for the time to catch them all: The Town, Inside Job (a doc about the troubled economy narrated by Matt Damon), Nowhere Boy (the John Lennon biopic), You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen), Conviction...
And of course The Social Network. I want to see this, even though it is not interesting to me personally.... I wonder if it will encounter the same fate as last year's Up in the Air: a popular take on a topic of immediate interest, that bursts on the scene, wins a few critic's awards, and suffers an Oscar backlash by year's end....Looking forward to your review.
Alex,
Put aside those casting doubts and your ambivalence towards Facebook - this is definitely a film to watch.
Tom,
Sounds like you've got your work ahead of you in the next few days. Wouldn't know where to begin with those choices (although I've seen the Town and Nowhere Boy opened here back in December last year). I should get the review up later this week.
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