LONG WEEKEND

I'll be away until Sunday so no new updates until next week. Not sure if I'll be able to make it to the theaters, but if I do, there's plenty of things to pick from.

Happy Turkey Day to everyone!

PG-13?

I haven't read the book, but I am aware of what the plot details are, and none of those plot details sounded PG-13 to me...but something tells me that based on their clout, Spielberg and Jackson will get away with a PG-13 film that's really an R-film. Regardless of the rating, I'm very curious about this one.

DARK TRAVELS

STYLISH

PISSED I CAN'T SEE THIS YET

HOLY SHIT BALLS

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

Once again, nothing of any major interest is opening in my neck of the woods. I have absolutely zero interest in New Moon. Planet 51 looks pretty lame. The one film opening this weekend that I'm foaming at the mouth to see is Werner Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, but it didn't open in my area. Typical. Precious opened in my area, but I'm still not working up a giant head of steam to spend the $12 to see it on a big screen. I might change my mind but not sure if that's the story I want to invest my 2 hours in this weekend. 2012 still holds some appeal due to the crazy looking special effects, but again, as I said last week, I don't want to sit in the theater for 2 hours and 40 minutes watching a sappy, cliched, disaster movie made from parts of every other disaster movie from the last 20 years.

From Netflix I still have the French rom-com Love Etc. sitting around -- need to finally give that a spin.

I've picked up some new Blu Rays recently -- Up, Star Trek, Pelham, The Fifth Element -- I'll likely check some of these out over the weekend too. Last night I watched a few of the behind-the-scenes segments on the Trek Blu Ray and damn were they impressive. What an awesome, gorgeous looking movie.

HERZOG/CAGE

Can't wait for this apparently whacked-out cop film.

MAKE IT SO

The Star Trek Blu Ray launches today. I was a big fan of this film when I saw it in the theaters last summer...really looking forward to seeing how crisp and clean this looks on Blu Ray.

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT BRIDGES

I don't know much about the film or the film's writer/director, but I have been reading a lot of amazing buzz about Jeff Bridge's performance in Crazy Heart, a movie I heard described as The Wrestler but with country music as the background. I'm not a country fan, but I am a giant fan of Bridges. He just did a great variation of his Jeffery Lebowski character in The Men Who Stare at Goats, but to be honest, I've never seen a bad performance from Bridges. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he's one the most versatile, underrated actors of his generation (and easily one of my favorites). Think back to his performances in some of these films: Lebowski, Fearless, The Contender, Arlington Rd., Seabiscuit, Starman, Wild Bill, The Fisher King -- these are just the ones that come immediately to mind. And I don't think (but I could be wrong) that he's ever won an Oscar (for lead or supporting). Which if true...is a serious crime.

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

I want to see the special effects in 2012, but the rest of the movie looks and sounds like a giant turd. It's annoying because I really do want to see the visual effects on the big screen, but I just have no desire to sit through the actual film itself. And to make matters worse -- the film is 2 hours and 40 minutes! I think I'll wait until Blu Ray.

From Netflix I've got the French rom-com Love Etc., and from Blockbuster I've got this summer's critically reviled rom-com The Ugly Truth. It looks like harmless crap, but I'm a fan of Gerry Butler, and even though Heigl is apparently an uber-biatch, she's easy to look at for 90 minutes.

An Education opens up at the one art house in the area, so if I don't see that this weekend, I'll see it sooner than later.

Fantastic Mr. Fox has opened, but only in NY and LA for the moment; it looks like a cute romp. I'll see it when it plays near me.

HEAT BLU

It's on its way from Amazon.com

TRIPPY

I saw the 3-D trailer for this before the spectacular A Christmas Carol (which I'll be reviewing soon). Looks like Tim Burton ate a bunch of 'shrooms and then made a movie. Naturally.

I LOVE THAT THIS IS R-RATED

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

Men Who Stare at Goats on Saturday.

A Christmas Carol 3-D Imax on Sunday.

Nothing from Netflix this weekend...disc is being sent back...watched Food, Inc. last night and I'm now scared to eat a meal.

BOURNE IN IRAQ

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809976147/video

Looks appropriately bad-ass. Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) doesn't mess around. This should be sweet.

WHY SPOIL IT?

Do you really need me to tell you to go and see the new Coen brothers movie A Serious Man (A+)? Does anyone need to tell you? I mean, c'mon, there really is no discussion. I'm not going to spoil the movie by describing all of the hilarious and misanthropic things on display in A Serious Man. I'm not going to over-praise the phenomenal performances from the entire cast. I'm not going to sit here and commend Roger Deakins for yet again gracing the cinema with some of the best, most engrossing cinematography of the year. I'm not going to talk about how the opening sequence of the film, filmed in Yiddish, is one of the most surreal things I've seen in a long time. And I'm not going to talk about the sure-to-be-divisive ending (and final shot) that's been floating in my memory banks for the last few weeks. A Serious Man is one of the best movies of the year, but then again, you already knew that. Or you at least knew that if you knew that the Coen brothers had a movie coming out this year. I mean...what's the deal with these guys? They seem incapable of fucking up. Everything these guys have ever done has been all of a piece, a total vision from start to finish, a work that feels continuous with everything that has come before it, and with everything after it. The Coen's have created a particular type of cinema, and they've developed a narrative and visual short-hand, not only with their frequent on and off screen counterparts, but with audiences, and most importantly, with viewers who enjoy re-watching their work over and over and over again. That's the best part of a Coen brothers film -- rewatchability. Once is enough for the likes of No Country for Old Men, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and The Big Lebowski? No way. You can now add A Serious Man to the list of their absolute finest accomplishments.

DERANGED BRILLIANCE

The King of Comedy is easily one of Martin Scorsese's best films, and easily one of his least seen. It's a film that was ahead of its time; a film that took on the psychological derangement of celebrity-obsessed individuals with a sharp eye for black comedy and social satire. Robert De Niro's performance is nothing less than a tour de force. Playing, yet again, a total nut-job, his Rupert Pupkin (commonly misspelled and mispronounced) is a frightening creation. The screenplay, by film-critic-at-the-time Paul Zimmerman, is layered but at the same time very streamlined, and very economical. And just wait until you see Jerry Lewis -- his performance basically consists of reaction shots and his silent expressions speak more than any words could ever do. I haven't even touched upon the story! De Niro is a wannabe comedian (and gentle psychotic) who in a fit of rage and desperation kidnaps a Johnny Carson-esque TV personality, played by Lewis. Sandra Bernhard is De Niro's accomplice. This is a fascinating, hysterical, dark, and completely perfect little masterpiece that Scorsese unleashed right after the opus that is Raging Bull. His next film after The King of Comedy would be After Hours, another film I'll be re-visiting soon. It's been ages since I've seen that one.

TONY TUESDAY

Loved this flick. It's the kind of genre entertainment that sometimes ends up getting overlooked. Tight script, stylish direction, and juicy performances.

I'M THERE

ONE SENTENCE DVD REVIEWS

A light, airy, piffle of a movie from Woody Allen, Whatever Works (B) can't help but feel like an extended Curb Your Enthusiasm episode given that Larry David is the star, but the film retains a half-misanthropic, half-heart-felt tone thanks to solid performances from the entire cast, and David's ability to be compulsively watchable.

Sin Nombre (A) definitely takes some thematic cues from City of God, but that doesn't stop it from being a powerful, riveting, and gorgeously shot crime drama, which boasts some terrific performances from a novice cast, and establishes young writer/director Cary Funjakara as a major new talent worth keeping an eye on.

Stephen Belber's entertaining and somewhat offbeat romantic comedy Management (B+) makes the most of cute performances from Jennifer Anniston and Steve Zahn as an unlikely couple who can't seem to keep apart, even though the odds of them lasting as a romantic duo are fairly impossible.

An instant stoner/frat-house classic, Brad Silberling's mixed-bag of idiotic lunacy Land of the Lost (B-) is neither a disaster or masterpiece; the film is most definitely not for children, so fans of stars Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, and people who enjoy crude sexual humor and drug-induced flights of fancy will certainly be amused (as I was).

Fun but never truly scary and gloppy but never gratuitously gruesome, Sam Raimi's pseudo throw-back horror-comedy Drag Me To Hell (B) might've benefited from stronger leads in the main roles, but is nonetheless successful, mostly due to the creepy performance of Lorna Raver, and a fantastic final 30 seconds that reminds you that Raimi still has a mean-streak in his Marvel-fied veins.