Friday, June 20, 2008

Now Playing: Traffic Cops, Super Spies, Norwegian Writers

L I M I T E D
Expired
~Crazy talented Samantha Morton and slow burn Jason Patric play traffic cops in this indie romantic comedy of sorts. Morton confesses in the trailer:
I'm one of the most hated people in the world. Nobody likes me. People run from me like the plague, give me the finger, verbally abuse me...
Oh Samantha. This would all change if you stopped stealing your dead boyfriend's novel, murdering children, plotting against Cate Blanchett and rescuing Tom Cruise from certain doom. These are not socially acceptable practices. You bring it on yourself, Samantha!

Brick Lane ~This film got a warm reception with various British film awards bodies last year. It's about a beautiful Bangladeshi woman in a loveless arranged marriage who life is upended when she falls for the young Karim (Christopher Simpson, pictured left). Can you blame her?
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl ~In which Abigail Breslin continues to make bank from her Little Miss Sunshine breakthrough. Based on the popular doll and directed --as Nick reminds me -- by Patricia Rozema who is best known for her erotic lesbian sensibility (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night is Falling). She's talented for sure but it's often such a mystery as to who gets what job in Hollyweird, right? This goes wide for the holiday weekend but the top markets get it today.

S T I L L * O U T * T H E R E * !
Have you seen that super Norwegian flick Reprise yet? It's now in the following markets: NY, PA, CT, MD, MA, WA, CA, NE and OR. You have less of an excuse to miss it. How many times do I gotta tell you to see it?

W I D E
Get Smart ~ In which über competent, beautiful, awesome Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) from CONTROL battles the forces of KAOS. Based on the TV series. P.S. I guess there's a character named "Maxwell Smart" in it, too.
The Love Guru ~ In which Mike Myers brings his wink wink nudge nudge to yet another sketch comedy premise that I assume will drag on for 110-125 minutes. That's how they do these days. I've been receiving daily messages about how offensive this movie is to Hindus and that we should all boycott and yada yada yada... and I have to say I'm very disappointed. See, that Eastern religion always seemed so safe and sane in comparison to all the other super easily offended big religions of the world. The Flick Filosopher, getting the same e-mails as I, explains the idiocy in full detail. Turns out everyone is crazy sensitive and just, well, c-r-a-z-y. The world is doomed...

...have a great weekend !
*

17 comments:

adam k. said...

I wonder whether Hathaway's globe nomination this year will come from Get Smart or Dancing With Shiva? I hope she gets one anyway.

I forgot all about Get Smart...

Robert said...

I was all looking forward to Reprise coming to my area then I heard Roeper and Philips compare it to Run Lola Run (which I disliked and quite frankly just gave me a headache).

Now I'm not so sure. Can Nathaniel (or anyone else) help?

Anonymous said...

Right I'm feeling a bit bored, depressed, vacant. On the basis of this, your A-, and the trailer I just checked out at apple.com, I think it's a good evening as any to go and rent Reprise...

Anonymous said...

P.S. Hathaway ain't getting no Globe noms this year. I like her a lot and wish her well, but neither of her projects this year seem right for awardage.

NATHANIEL R said...

robert --the comparisons to run lola run are more about cinematic confidence than about actual style. Reprise is an energetic movie from a young director (boogie nights is also a good comparison in that it's a young director who is entirely confident about cinematic style and the use of camera and editing for example) but it's not an action piece. it's about two writers (best friends) and their very different reactions to success.

RJ said...

I'm so glad another person has seen 'Reprise'. It's easily the best film I've seen in 2008 so far. The whole segment set in Paris between Anders Danielsen Lie and Viktoria Winge was a beautiful mini-movie in and of itself that I will be thinking about for a long time. It's great to see a director's visual style just kind of erupt on the screen for the very first time. It's the same thing I felt while watching 'How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer'. Reprise is a much better movie, but both films gave us a preview of work I'm sure will be coming in the future from two exciting new directorial talents.

Rob said...

Three quick things about "The Love Guru":

1) It's *thankfully* only 80 minutes, not pushing two hours.

2) I honestly don't see how Hindus could be offended by it other than the fact that Mike Myers is using their religion as a spring board for poop jokes.

3) It's better than you'd expect, though still bad.


And yes, "Reprise" is one of the better things to come down the pike so far this year.

Robert said...

Thank you, my concerns are assuaged.

Anonymous said...

I loved Brick Lane, even if it sucks compared to the novel: http://fataculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/review-brick-lane-2008/

Just saw "Get Smart" today, and posted my review, I didn't like it much.

Expired sounds great.

Brian Darr said...

Nathaniel, did you write a review of Reprise? I did see the film the other day, thanks largely to your recommendation.

As for the Love Guru thing- it looks like the protest is the concoction of one guy with a single-minded agenda. I have to wonder how many people care as much as he does about the movie.

Anonymous said...

Nate, about The Love Guru, have you checked out the rather scathing reviewing by A.O. Scott in today's NY Times. I could just envision Myers sticking the clip up his butt.

But I have to agree with the naysayers; it is a pretty pathetic film and I was offended. And I'm not even Hindu or follow/practice Hinduism.

NATHANIEL R said...

i did not write a review no. But i do have this podcast interview with the director i just never get around to finishing. argh

Anonymous said...

Brick Lane is a beautiful novel! I read it when it first made waves stateside in 2003. Really great stuff. I can't believe I didn't know about the movie. Hope it gets down to Houston...

- Adam

Anonymous said...

I'm not in the least interested in Reprise. And I'm a young writer !

Seriously, the whole "look-at-us-we're-so-sensitive-but-we-want-to-behave-like-real-men-so-we're-ready-to-be-in-a-commited-straight-relationship" is getting old

And the 2 guys look like they're from the bourgeoisie, not bad-ass enough for my tastes

NATHANIEL R said...

your loss. it's terrific.

RJ said...

Give it a chance Hugo! Do it!

Glenn said...

I actually have Reprise on DVD sitting right next to me on top of my tele, but I am too exhausted from my weekend travels to commit to it now.