Friday, June 01, 2007

Now Playing (06/01)

L I M I T E D

Day Watch It's a sponsors (sidebar) so click away to learn more. I'm not going to pretend that I totally got Night Watch, the first in this popular Russian franchise but it had enough gonzo visual chutzpah to keep the eye busy while the mind was going 'huh?' -- Anyway, I like vampires
Rise: Blood Hunter Lucy Liu is a a vampire and a vampire assasin. Hmmm, we've seen this before ? I love that the trailer says "from the producer of The Grudge and the writer of Gothika" --these are pluses? But then again... vampires (its a programming theme this week, no?)
I'm Reed Fish If you're still wearing black because Gilmore Girls went bye bye, you can see Alexis Bledel @ the movies. Reed Fish (also the screenwriter's name) is played by Jay Baruchel and the film also features Victor VargasRasuk and Schuyler Fisk
Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman Timothy Spall stars as an executioner in the 40s and 50s as public opinion begins to turn against capital punishment. Also starring Juliet Stevenson (who doesn't work enough --or at least doesn't get enough worthy roles considering how freaking brilliant she was in Truly, Madly Deeply many moons ago)

W I D E

Gracie When I cry in my pillow each night begging for Elisabeth "Sera" Shue to be in more movies... well, this isn't really what I had in mind --Anyone can play the mom. It's another inspirational sports drama. Aren't those supposed to come out in the first quarter of the year? Isn't that their niche slot? Bitching aside, this is apparently a personal Shue family effort. It's inspired by true events from their lives, Elisabeth's husband Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth --and yes it is he who won the Oscar, not Al Gore) is directing. Her brother Andrew (Melrose Place) is co-producing and co-starring. So I wish them well. Although I still really must rebitch: if the whole family is going to rally to make a movie can't Elisabeth Shue get a great lead role instead of playing mom to Carly Schroeder?
Knocked Up I normally don't care that much about box office (too depressing to get invested) but I'm mighty curious as to how well this original comedy will fare in a franchise-overflowing summer. Katherine Heigl stars as the preggers one night stand of Seth Rogen. You knew that already
Mr. Brooks Remember that vampiric theme: For this thriller, they've raised Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, and William Hurt from the dead. As headliners! It's 1987!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kudos to you for your kudos to Juliet Stevenson. I have not seen Truly Madly Deeply (but I've just added it to my must see list); my introduction to her was via the BBC version of Jill Conway Ker's memoir of growing up in Australia "The Road from Coorain". She was brilliant as the strong-willed mother who has to keep her family together - and then her strength turns against her as her children age and she becomes more and more controlling, and at the same time more helpless. It's a characterization that could easily have descending to the usual "monster mother" cliches but Stevenson handles the whole thing with such grace, showing the vunerability, longing and loneliness that underpins the character. I wanted to tear the upholstery off my seat in the theater when I saw how criminally underused she was in Being Julia as the mousey maidservant to Annette Benning. Shame, shame, shame on you, Hollywood, for completely ignoring and wasting the talent of this woman.

RedSatinDoll

Jason Adams said...

WHY CAN'T LUCY LIU GET GOOD WORK??? Ugh, it drives me insane, this crap she does.