Soft release week with only 6 new titles hitting screens over the weekend, and oddly only two (maybe three) are horror movies even though Hallowe'en is upon us. I fully expect one of the scarier options to take the box office champ status but the film of the week has to be Lisa Cholodenko's modern family drama The Kids are All Right.
Burke and Hare
In spite of having a stellar cast of British comedic talent, led by Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Tom Wilkinson, John Landis' horror comedy about the eponymous serial killers suppling the medical trade with cadavers looks awfully short on laughs.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Hunter
Iranian cinema continues with it's mini renaissance with this revenge drama set against the Tehran riots of 2009. When a devoted father (and part-time hunter) loses his wife and daughter in a gun battle he turns against all police in a quest for vengeance.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Involuntary
Swedish hyperlink drama which involves drunk teens on a night out, firework lighting pensioners and a coach driver who refuses to leave a layby until someone admits to damaging the upholstery. Bizarre and mesmerising - not sure what it is leading up to.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Kids are All Right
Somewhat ambiguous title (all right, not alright) indicates what sort of family drama about the children of a lesbian couple (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) who contact their sperm donating father (Mark Ruffalo). Superb performances all round and almost certain t pick up some acting nominations come Oscar time.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Saw VII 3D
And the Saw series continues with Jigsaw creating ever more bizarre methods for killing not quite innocent civilians. I still haven't watched any of these but I'm giving this a 4 blob rating as it promises to be the last.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Spiderhole
Brit horror that takes the old cliche of teenagers breaking into an abandoned house only to find a malevolent presence inside. Noe of the cast appear even slightly likeable so the killer is welcome to them.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
And in the excitement of last week I missed the following three films - none of which come close to challenging the film of the week.
Cehennam 3D
Turkey gets an early entry in the 3D horror sub-genre with this gorefest. Probably a little less scary than most Turkish comedies.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Hisss
Jennifer Lynch (daughter of David) has made another frightful mess with this US/Bollywood collaboration about a high priestess able to commune with serpents and
change her form. Seemingly partly inspired by the Sigourney Weaver Orange ad.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Jhootha Hi Sahi
Bollywood romance mainly set in a London bookshop. Has had some positive notices, even if it has nothing close to originality.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Oscar Shortlists for the 97th Academy Awards
12 hours ago
3 comments:
Hi Ben, I am really excited to hear your reaction of The Kids Are Alright. I saw this (and posted a review) back in July.
By the way (and I'm sorry if I missed your post somehow) did you see or hear about "Nowhere Boy"? I saw it last weekend and really liked it.
Seeing TKAA tomorrow, oh my god I'm excited. Annette, Juliane GAH.
This is my foaming at the mouth. (I would totally marry Annette Bening, I don't give a crap about the thirty year difference.)
Tom,
Nowhere Boy opened in the UK way back in December 2009. The reviews over here were kind but nothing special and given it was opening around the same time as Avatar and Nine I had to make a tough decision. Would you suggest I catch up on it?
Andrew,
Enjoy it - I'm probably going to catch it later in the week if I can find someone to go with.
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