MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

I'm not sure when/if I'll get to the theaters this weekend, but a ton of stuff I haven't seen yet either opened or got re-released around my area. An Education, Crazy Heart, A Single Man, and Precious are all up for potential viewing.

From Netflix I've got the indie drama Down to the Bone, starring Vera Farmiga. I saw it once about five years ago but want to give it a re-watch.

I still have to do a write up on the gloriously entertaining (if a bit deranged) The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. This Cage/Herzog match-up delivered on its promise for something unique.

My latest Blu Ray shipment from Amazon just arrived yesterday; The Aviator, Domino, Jesse James, 12 Monkeys, Boogie Nights, and L.A. Confidential are a few of my new grabs.

BIGELOW BRILLIANCE

With The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow is basically a lock for a Best Director nomination (which would only be the fourth time -- I think -- that a woman has been nominated). I really hope she gets the nomination and wins; the work she displayed in The Hurt Locker was nothing less than a tour de force of direction. And speaking of tour de forces, does anyone remember the opening sequence of her brilliant sci-fi film Strange Days? This movie really needs to get the Blu Ray treatment. This is a raw, tough, amazing piece of filmmaking/storytelling, a film that got short-shrift from audiences upon initial release, but has now rightfully found a cult following. It's still her most ambitious effort, and one of the movies that really opened my mind to the cinematic experience.

BOOGIE BLU

Should be arriving any day now...

I'LL BE SEEING THIS

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

I'll be getting the chance to see Werner Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans on Saturday night, thanks to the good folks at Cinestudio/Trinity College. I am extremely excited.

Nothing from Netflix as I just sent back my recent rental this morning -- Big Fan. AWESOME movie. Writer/director Robert Siegel, who also wrote The Wrestler, is a major talent. It's an extremely dark comedy with a terrific lead performance from Patton Oswalt. Definitely check it out.

I picked up Fargo on Blu Ray for $10 at Best Buy. Gonna give that a watch this weekend at some point. Haven't seen it in quite some time.

THIS ONE SOUNDS NASTY

DECADE FAVORITES: THE NEW WORLD

For some, the cinema of Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven, Badlands) is enough to put them to sleep. Not me. I eat it up. I had the fortune of viewing The New World (2005) 4 times theatrically. The first time was that ultra-private 2 hour and 50 minute cut that he released in the last week of December, in order to qualify for the Oscars (at which he was disgustingly snubbed). After one week in roughly 5 theaters, Malick, ever the perfectionist, asked theaters owners to pull the film, so that he could re-edit it. What was then released was a 2 hour and 30 minute version, which I greedily lapped up three times. I own both cuts on standard DVD and have recently purchased the extended cut on Blu Ray. The New World is a beguiling movie, a film that transcends beauty, a film that is both at one with nature and at one with the soul of cinema. I just love experiencing the world through Malick’s eyes; his understanding of light, texture, and atmosphere is second to none, and the pairing of him with genius cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezeki (Children of Men, Ali) was a match made in heaven. Utilizing only natural/available light, and shooting entirely on location, The New World has a gorgeous yet realistic visual style that is positively transfixing; never overly stylized, Malick relies on the beauty of the natural world to fill the frame. The performances by Colin Farrell and Q’orianka Kilcher are extremely affecting, as is Malick’s dreamy screenplay, which is rife with internal monologue narration which adds to the tone- poem quality of the narrative. This is a bold, quietly moving masterwork from a filmmaker shrouded in privacy who should be celebrated every time that he decides to unleash one of his works on the public.