HAcked By Lazmania61HAcked By Lazmania61

Long, Long Ago...

So normally this space is reserved for my What Should You See This Weekend feature, but since the only wide release is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, a movie I disliked almost as much as the second one, and there's nothing else new worth seeing in theaters apart from Once and maybe Waitress, I decided instead to follow the herd and post a quick entry about Star Wars, which made its debut exactly thirty years ago this weekend. Now I know a lot of you out there are probably sick of movie geeks talking over and over again about Star Wars. Personally, I sometimes have to resist the urge to roll my eyes when the subject comes up as well. But for better or worse, George Lucas' original trilogy are the defining films of my generation of movie buffs and critics. In many cases, they are the first movies we remember seeing in theaters and certainly the select few that we went back to see over and over again. They were also those rare movies that became more than just movies. If you had seen Star Wars, chances are you also owned a bunch of the action figures, several posters, the John Williams score, the bedsheets and, if you were really lucky, the R2-D2 cookie jar.

I was a year too late to see the first Star Wars film in theaters. The fact that I was born overseas and didn't move back to the U.S. until 1980 meant that my first viewing would have almost certainly been on VHS. I couldn't tell you about that experience though, because the honest truth is that I don't remember it. I do, however, have a vivid memory of going to see The Empire Strikes Back at a theater close by my then-home in Springfield, Virginia and already knowing who all the characters were, so clearly I had seen the first film a couple of times before that. Much of that first viewing of Empire is a blur (I think we came in late as well) but I definitely recall being entranced during the scene where Luke first meets Yoda on Dagobah. By the time Return of the Jedi was released three years later, we were overseas again so I had to watch that one on VHS as well. Again, I couldn't tell you what my first viewing of it was like, a flaw I blame more on the film than my own memory. (It is the least memorable of the three, let's be honest.) In fact, growing up, Jedi was the only installment in the trilogy we did not have in our own personal video library. I eventually rectified that in my early teens when I ordered it through the video club I belonged to. By the way in my free time I go on (Favorite Game Site Free Online Games) The truth is, I was happy just to watch Star Wars and Empire over and over. If I wanted to revisit Jedi, I just read the comic-book adaptation that we owned.

By the time I got around to purchasing my VHS copy of Jedi, I had more or less gotten over my Star Wars fix. I still liked the movies, but the need to see them over and over again had faded. I moved onto other directors--Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Sam Raimi etc. etc.--and other movies. In fact, I don't think I watched the first Star Wars again until 1997 when it was re-released in theaters as part of that Special Edition nonsense. I went with a bunch of college pals to see the film on its second Opening Night and you know what? I was disappointed. The first hour moved at a glacial pace and all the new bells and whistles that Lucas added hurt the magic more than helped it. Reminds me also check out Bangin Videos for good videos. I disliked the experience so much that I skipped the re-releases of Empire and Jedi so I wouldn't have to put up with additional tweaks. (I have seen the Special Editions of both titles since and stand by my initial decision.) Not long after that came The Phantom Menace, the movie that opened up a whole new can of worms about the durability of the Star Wars franchise.

But that's a whole separate discussion. Really, this weekend is all about celebrating the first film, which I've had a chance to rewatch since my disastrous '97 screening and was happy to find myself enjoying it all over again. (Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that I was coming off a double bill of Menace and Attack of the Clones.) There are still so many things to love about it: the lightsabers, the final assault on the Death Star, Darth Vader's first entrance. There's an innocence and earnestness present in that movie that's missing from a lot of today's more sophisticated, but soulless blockbuster spectacles. No wonder Star Wars continues to be a gateway drug for kids into the magic movies. It entertains and engages young viewers without talking down to them. Most of you that read this site already know this, but my wife and I are expecting our first child in a little under two weeks and I can't wait to show him Star Wars for the first time a couple of years from now. Ideally, his first viewing would be in a theater, but since the only film prints Lucasfilm leases out now are the Special Editions, it'll most likely be at home on our TV. Fortunately, I went out and purchased the two-disc DVD editions that were released late last year that contains the original theatrical versions of all three movies. That means no extra Jabba sequence in A New Hope and Sebastian Shaw is still standing next to Yoda and Alec Guinness at the end of Jedi rather than Hayden Christensen. If I can't experience it as a kid again myself, at least I can live vicariously through him.

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: It's a classic David and Goliath story at movie theaters this week as the latest installment in the soulless Shrek franchise storms into multiplexes as the winning Irish musical Once slowly makes its way into art-houses around the country. Unfortunately given the economics of the movie business, there's no way this scruffy David could hope vanquish the green Goliath, but boy wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if it did? I've been very vocal about my dislike of the Shrek films in the past, so I understand if my negative review of Shrek the Third (which will go live on Premiere.com later today) causes some of you out there to roll your eyes and proclaim me an ogre-hater or something. But even if I did regard the first two installments as animated masterpieces, I think I'd still be let down by the third movie, which is just about as lazy and uninspired as blockbuster filmmaking gets. Simply put, there's no energy or creative drive to Shrek the Third, just more of what you've seen before only less amusing. I only saw it three days ago, but I'm having trouble remembering anything that happens in the movie except for an unpleasant dream sequence where Shrek nearly drowns in a tidal wave of infant ogres. I know Shrek the Third is poised to make a bundle this weekend, but I really hope that the families that turn out in droves to see it realize what a letdown it is and refuse to give it any repeat business. C'mon people! There's still a chance to derail Shrek 4 before its 2010 release date.

The next two weekends are light on wide releases thanks to the release of Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, but the limited release market is finally heating up after a bit of a lull. As I indicated above, Once is the movie that everyone should really be seeking out. It's a sweet, simple story shot on the streets of Dublin about the relationship between an Eastern European cleaning woman and a street-corner musician/vacuum-cleaner repairman. What makes the movie special is its soundtrack, which is filled with stellar folk/rock tunes that are a specialty of the two stars, real-life musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. If the movie has a flaw it's that these performers are better singers than they are actors--they're not entirely comfortable in some of the film's more dramatic scenes. But that's made up for by the many musical sequences, most notably an early scene in a music shop that's so achingly beautiful, you almost want it to go on forever. Fair warning: after you come out of Once, the first thing you'll want to do is run out and buy the soundtrack as soon as possible so you can listen to the track "Falling Slowly" over and over again. If Fox Searchlight is smart, they'll make the album available in the theater lobby--they'd make a mint. Also debuting in limited release this week is the Luke Wilson-directed comedy The Wendell Baker Story, which has been sitting around for two years, the horror comedy Severance, the gambling drama Even Money and Fay Grim, Hal Hartley's follow-up to his 1997 cult oddity Henry Fool. Summer is here people! Prepare yourselves.

On DVD: Pan's Labyrinth, my favorite film of last year and a surprise box-office success here in America, hit DVD on Tuesday in an extras-laden two-disc special edition. That Guillermo Del Toro--he knows how to do DVD right! Also out is Darren Aronofsky's space oddity The Fountain, a movie I have a measured respect for even if I didn't like it all that much. Mainly I'm just happy Aronofsky finally got it out of his system after living with it for six years so he can move on to more creatively successful endeavors. Speaking of oddball movies, the hallucinatory Western Seraphim Falls was out for about a day in theaters back in January, but there's a good chance it will find a wider audience on DVD. It's by no means a perfect film, but it is a consistently interesting and engaging one and the pairing of Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan is fairly inspired. Finally, Criterion Collection releases the long-awaited DVD of Melville's World War II-era drama Army of Shadows, which received its first American theatrical release last May to thunderous acclaim. Personally, I prefer Melville's crime pictures, but there's plenty to admire in Army of Shadows and the bleak ending is devastating and perfect at the same time.

28 Weeks Later review

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: With Spider-Man 3 racking up the bucks last weekend, the stage is set for a record-breaking summer. But you'll have to wait until next week for the next big blockbuster, Shrek the Third. In the meantime, 28 Weeks Later charges into theaters and while this sequel to Danny Boyle's chilling 28 Days Later cost at least ten times more than its predecessor, it was still made for a fraction of the cost of Spidey, Shrek and those blasted Pirates. As someone who was very skeptical about continuing the story of Days, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Weeks is an above-average action movie, even though its predecessor remains the superior film overall. The movie's larger scope is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. As cool as all the gory zombie action is, there's no sequence here that's as inspired as the now-classic opening of Boyle's movie and the new characters aren't as well-defined as the four survivors we met last time around. Still, for a movie that didn't need to exist, 28 Weeks Later is a solid effort. It's certainly better than the messy comedy The Ex, which arrives in theaters this week two years after it was shot. You can tell that the studio has been hacking away at it too, because the pacing is clunky and disjointed and there are a number of scenes that were obviously filmed much later and attached to the finished print with crazy glue. It's a shame because I like all of the actors involved in this movie and there are some funny moments, but The Ex should have just gone direct-to-video if it had to be released at all. Rounding out the week's wide releases is the Larry the Cable Guy war comedy Delta Farce, which didn't screen for critics and Georgia Rule with Lindsay Lohan and Jane Fonda, which did, but I skipped to go see 28 Weeks Later instead. Based on the largely negative reviews, it sounds like I made the right call. Among limited releases, the one that interests me the most is the documentary ShowBusiness, which takes a behind-the-curtain look at the 2004 Broadway season, spotlighting four shows in particular, Avenue Q, Wicked, Caroline or Change and Taboo. I'm a sucker for these kinds of backstage documentaries and only a few have been made about the world of Broadway. ShowBusiness is unfortunately playing in extremely limited release (i.e., one theater in New York) but it should be out on DVD soon enough for the rest of the country to see. Also opening in a handful of theaters is Day Night Day Night, which follows a suicide bomber as she wanders the streets of New York on the way to her target. Filmed guerilla-style in Times Square, the movie sounds like a domestic version of 28 Days Later…minus the zombies of course.

On DVD: It was overlooked last fall, but here's hoping The Painted Veil finds a larger audience on DVD. This handsomely-mounted, exceedingly well-acted period piece is adapted from a novel by W. Somerset Maugham and casts Edward Norton and Naomi Watts as a feuding married couple who travel to rural China to help stem a cholera epidemic. The trailer may have made this film look like B-grade Merchant/Ivory, but trust me, it's a much more involving--and entertaining--film than that. Do yourself a favor and avoid the week's other new releases, the Diane Keaton rom-com Because I Said So and the dull-as-dishwater Jennifer Garner melodrama Catch and Release. Elsewhere, a bunch of older titles get the special edition treatment, including a new version of Hitchock's To Catch a Thief, a director's cut of the Tom Hanks hit Big and an extended cut of the great Johnny Depp/Al Pacino crime picture Donnie Brasco. Speaking of Depp, if you thought he was the first person to don a pirate suit, pick up the The Pirates of the Golden Age Movie Collection, which collects some of the classic pirate movies of yesteryear in a handy two-disc set.

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: A little movie called Spider-Man 3 swings into theaters today, officially kicking off the 2007 summer movie season. Having missed out on the limited press screenings here in New York, I've bought my tickets for a Sunday night show, when hopefully the crowds will have died down somewhat (yeah right). Interestingly, most of the reviews on the third adventure have been lukewarm, with many commenting that it doesn't live up to the standard of the previous film, which was routinely described as "the best comic-book movie ever made." As someone who disagreed with that assessment, I'm hoping that I'll feel more kindly towards Spider-Man 3. The honest truth is that I think the first two movies suffer from many of the same strengths and flaws. The strengths include a wonderful sense of wit, fluid action sequences and great villains. The weaknesses include choppy plotting, uneven performances (I normally like Kirsten Dunst, but man is she a boring Mary Jane) and dialogue that's a little too on the nose for comfort. I have a hard time believing that Spidey 3 will ultimately differ that much from the first two movies in terms of its flaws and assets, but the X-factor here of course is the fact that director Sam Raimi has upped the number of villains from one to three, which could be too many for one film to handle. We'll find out on Sunday. For those of you that get to Spider-Man 3 before me and are looking for something else to watch, the only other title going into wide release is Curtis Hanson's poker flick Lucky You, a movie I'm actually extremely curious to see thanks to Hanson's involvement and the cast. The studio behind the movie clearly has no confidence in it, having shifted it around its release schedule several times already and pitting it against a film that's destined to be one of the summer's biggest hits. And advance word on it doesn't lead me to believe it will be a lost classic. But Hanson is too much of a pro to turn out an unwatchable piece of garbage. Even some of his weaker efforts--Wonder Boys and In Her Shoes come to mind--aren't flat-out bad movies. Like with Spider-Man 3, I'd like to think that Lucky You is better than its being made out to be. Meanwhile, over on the limited release line-up, moviegoers can choose between Sarah Polley's directorial debut Away From Her, the anthology movie Paris je t'aime and the Sundance flick Waitress. Haven't seen any of those unfortunately, so you're on your own. My own personal preference would lean towards Paris je t'aime, but I've heard very good things about Away From Her and decent takes on Waitress. All depends on whether you're in the mood for a heavy drama or a lighter comedy. At least with Paris je t'aime you get all of those in one.

On DVD: Dreamgirls aka The Little Best Picture Contender That Wasn't arrived on DVD this week in single-disc and double-disc editions. Although I was never a huge supporter of the movie, I did feel that it was unfairly ripped to shreds after it failed to qualify for the Big Show. It was as if people were being nice to it until they were informed that they didn't have to be anymore. The fact is, it's a solid movie musical and a damn sight better than Chicago, which managed to walk away with the Best Picture trophy a couple of years ago. And I still say it's a shame that Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar over Eddie Murphy. Also out this week is the teen crime picture Alpha Dog, which is neither as good or as bad as the wildly mixed reviews might have led you to believe. You've also got one of my picks for 2006's most overrated movies, Todd Field's awkward, stumbling suburban satire Little Children. Finally, in preparation for the return of The 4400, the USA Network releases the show's third season on DVD. While it will never be confused with a superior sci-fi show like Battlestar Galactica or even Heroes, The 4400 makes for a diverting summertime series.

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: It's an ugly weekend at the multiplexes as the studios burn off a bunch of their second, third and fourth-tier flicks before Spider-Man 3 kicks the summer movie season off next Friday. I haven't seen any of this week's wide releases and I don't plan on checking them out. The only one I'd be remotely interested in sitting through is the Nic Cage sci-fi thriller Next and that's only to see if Mr. Cage is up to any of his Wicker Man theatrics. The film itself looks awful--loosely based on a Philip K. Dick story, Next casts Cage as a man whose power to see into the future gets him recruited to help the FBI stop a terrorist attack. Word on the web is that the studio that produced the movie (Sony) sold it off to another studio (Paramount), after they got a look at the finished produced. Before the film's release, I was certain that it wouldn't even be screened for critics, but apparently Paramount decided to let critics tear it to shreds anyway. That's not the case with three other of this week's titles, the teen thriller The Invisible, the teen horror picture Wind Chill and the teen comedy Kickin' It Old Skool, all of which you can expect to see playing on HBO next month. Surprisingly, Lionsgate did let reviewers see the WWE-produced action flick The Condemned after declining to do the same for The Marine last fall. Reviews were predictably awful, although the presence of wrestling star Stone Cold Steve Austin might attract some business. As for the limited release market, the cupboard is pretty bare. The small-town drama Diggers is sweet, but much too slight (see it on DVD if at all), the Aussie import Jindabyne features some good performances but is otherwise unsatisfying and I haven't heard great things about Snow Cake despite the presence of beloved character actors Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver. The good news is that Hot Fuzz gathers more theaters this weekend, so if you haven't already seen it, get out there already. And if you've seen it once, it's just as good (if not better) the second time. But overall, everyone from the studios to the moviegoing public seems to be waiting on ol' Spidey to come to the rescue one more time.

On DVD: As bad as it is in theaters, it's worse at the video store. Among new releases you can choose from Deja Vu, Codename: The Cleaner and Night at the Museum and the only "classics" are special editions of '80s flicks like Parenthood, Harry and the Hendersons and Willow. You know what ‘80s staple really deserves a special edition? Adventures in Babysitting! Reunite the whole cast to record a commentary track (bonus points if they get Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Thor) and you’d make all of us children of the ‘80s very happy.

In the Land of Women review

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: Two words. Hot. Fuzz. Need to hear that again? Hot. Fuzz. Even if you never saw Shaun of the Dead trust me when I say you don't want to miss the latest film from those brilliant British comedians Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Although it's primarily being advertised as a hilarious spoof of and loving homage to brain-dead Hollywood action spectacles like Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys, the film actually covers much more ground than that, referencing everything from the Bond movies, to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet to The Wicker Man. By all rights Hot Fuzz should be a complete mess, but it's actually a beautifully constructed film that's able to repeatedly shift its tone without ever breaking its spell. The movie gets even better on repeat viewings when you piece together how cleverly it's been put together. There are dozens of jokes set up in the first half-hour that pay off when you reach the final act. Speaking of that final act, it's a glorious bit of cinematic mayhem that, as far as I'm concerned, outdoes anything in Grindhouse. Along with The Lives of Others, Hot Fuzz is one of my very favorite films so far this year. Welcome to the big time guys--here's hoping Hollywood opens its doors to you after this one.

Even though Hot Fuzz is the only movie you should be thinking about seeing this weekend, I suppose it's only fair to do an overview of the other titles going into wide release as well. They include the awful romantic drama In the Land of Women, starring Meg Ryan and Adam Brody; the horror picture Vacancy with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale; and the courtroom thriller Fracture in which Ryan Gosling matches wits with Anthony Hopkins. To my surprise, both Fracture and Vacancy have been getting decent reviews, so if your a fan of either genre, they might be worth your time. I can tell you in no uncertain terms to stay far away from Women and you can read the above review for more detail. Limited releases this weekend include the French farce The Valet and David Arquette's directorial debut The Tripper, which is apparently a spoof of slasher pictures. One can only wonder why it didn't go straight to DVD, but rest assured it will be showing up there soon enough.

On DVD: It went overlooked by critics and awards groups last fall, but I don't mind saying that I loved the movie version of Alan Bennett's acclaimed play The History Boys. Although seeing the film made me retroactively wish I had seen the play, thinking about it, I'm glad I was able to go in somewhat fresh. From what I understand, the play and the movie differ in some significant ways and I have a feeling that I would have been too distracted counting the differences between the two versions to really give the film a fair shake. I actually have a published version of the play sitting on my bookshelf that I've flipped through, but have yet to read in its entirety. The most obvious change I can see is that the film streamlines the story into a straightforward narrative, doing away with all of the play's asides and personal monologues. What remains unchanged onscreen is Bennett's richly detailed depiction of how learning happens. I've said this before, but most films about education involve students being lectured at by some omnipotent do-gooder. But in The History Boys, education is shown as the active exchange of ideas between teacher and pupil. And if for no other reason, the film deserved to be made so that the performances of the play's expert ensemble cast could be preserved for all those viewers who never got a chance to see the show in London or New York. Speaking of great performances, Forest Whitaker won a well-deserved Oscar playing Idi Amin in the otherwise mezzo-mezzo Last King of Scotland, out today on DVD. Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench received nominations for their strong work in Notes on a Scandal, a disappointing adaptation of a great novel. Finally, Joe Carnahan's shoot-em-up thriller Smokin' Aces arrives in video stores a scant three months after its theatrical release and the film version of Robert Cormier's novel The Chocolate War (a book I was obsessed with growing up) arrives on DVD. I have only vague memories of the movie, but I do remember being horrified that they changed deliberately downbeat ending to something far more marketable. These days, of course, I'm used to those kind of wholesale changes, but at the time I recall leaving the theater feeling betrayed. Wonder if Cormier himself ever bothered to see the movie...

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters review

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: Bit of a slow weekend this week as the world prepares itself for the arrival of Hot Fuzz on April 20th. (Okay, not really, but I can hope.) The only title I've seen out of this weekend's batch of wide releases is the Aqua Teen Hunger Force feature and if that name doesn't ring a bell, don't bother seeing the movie. For those of you who are still curious, Aqua Teen is a cult cartoon series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up that's (somewhat) famous for a surreal sense of humor that you have to be under the influence of certain substances to enjoy fully. I've been lukewarm on the show myself, but I actually had a lot of fun with the movie without having to get an artificial high beforehand. Sure it can be tedious and yes many of the jokes are beyond stupid--but for every dumb gag, there's a great one just around the corner. Again, I'm not giving this movie a blanket recommendation, but if you've seen the series or enjoy aggressively bizarre comedies, Aqua Teen will keep you entertained for its brief 79-minute running time. And personally, I doubt that ATHF could be anywhere near as stupid as the big-budget thriller Perfect Stranger, which opened today to noxious reviews. I remember seeing the trailers for this disposable programmer a few months ago and even then it looked like one of the most generic movies ever made. I also wasn't impressed by the ads for Disturbia, a Rear Window knock-off starring Shia LaBeouf, an actor I've liked in other movies. I skipped all the screenings of this particular film, but I'll have many opportunities to see LaBeouf again this summer as he's also starring in the Transformers movie and does the lead voice for the animated comedy Surf's Up about surfing penguins. Also sneaking into theaters this weekend is Pathfinder, which was supposed to be released last year, but had its release date changed repeatedly. I remember seeing a presentation at Comic-Con last July and if you can't even get a room of fanboys excited for your movie, you know you're in trouble. Limited releases include the not-bad Mike White comedy Year of the Dog with Molly Shannon and the ensemble period piece Lonely Hearts, which is based on a true-crime story and stars John Travolta, James Gandolfini and Salma Hayek. So my recommendation? Block out time for either Grindhouse or Black Book or just sit tight until the year's funniest movie Hot Fuzz blows your mind next Friday.

On DVD: Calling all Shanghai Surprise lovers! That's right...all four of you. The legendarily awful Sean Penn/Madonna romantic comedy (yes, you read that right) gets a special edition release that comes complete with a commentary track from people who claim to worship the movie. It's hard for me to fathom that, but then again, I loved Brian DePalma's Mission to Mars so what do I know? Speaking of movies that other people love for some reason, I'm still shocked that there are critics out there that actually gave a pass to Emilio Estevez's sloppy, rambling Bobby, one of the least authentic period pieces I've seen in some time. And Ashton Kutcher's brief appearance as a drugged-out hippie is bad enough to earn him a lifetime ban from acting. The other new releases are similarly uninspiring, so continue working on those titles I told you about last week--Bedazzled, Royal Flash and All That Jazz. Those should carry you through til Tuesday when we get one of my favorite movies of last year--and another one that others didn't seem to really embrace--The History Boys.

Grindhouse review

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: 2007's first fanboy epic 300 was released last month to mixed reviews and stellar box office. The second, Grindhouse is debuting to more positive press, but its commercial success is shrouded in more mystery. Opening weekend is bound to be sizeable--but is this a movie people will go back to again and again? And, more importantly, will general audiences care? For me, the answers to both questions would seem to be no. Not that I'm rooting for the film to fail. While I'm not as high on Grindhouse as some critics, I ultimately had a good time with this loony nostalgia trip through the exploitation cinema of yesteryear. There's an energy and love for the genre that carries the entire enterprise through its many rough spots. Interestingly, I think that the movie's biggest selling point--i.e. Quentin Tarantino's name--may be the very thing that winds up hurting it. His half of the double bill Death Proof is a very different creature than Robert Rodriguez's more crowd-pleasing bloodbath Planet Terror. Let's just say that there's a reason why most of the trailers emphasize Rose McGowan and her machine-gun leg, rather than Kurt Russell and his killer car. Rodriguez delivers an over-the-top cartoon filled with gross-out gags and gallons of fake blood. Tarantino's film, on the other hand, moves at a speed that can generously be described as "deliberate." I've been a fan of Tarantino's talk-a-thons in the past, but in this case, I found myself growing impatient during some of the more extended conversations. I'm not entirely sold on the idea that these characters are interesting enough to hear ramble one for hours. The writer/director pulls it together in the end to deliver a truly memorable finale, but the first hour is rather inconsistent. Nevertheless, I'd be much more interested in seeing Death Proof again than Planet Terror. The latter provides plenty of fun the first time around, but it isn't likely to hold up well to repeat viewings. Death Proof on the other hand is just off-center enough to make a second viewing a necessity. Too bad theaters aren't giving moviegoers the chance to see only one-half of this double bill at a reduced price...

Moving away from Grindhouse, Easter weekend also sees the release of family-friendly comedies Are We Done Yet? and Firehouse Dog, both of which have direct-to-video fodder written all over them. Same goes for the Hilary Swank horror vehicle The Reaping, which has been sitting on the shelf for well over a year and probably should have just stayed there. In the hopes of attracting adults who aren't interested in machine-gun legs, Miramax releases The Hoax, which purports to tell the true story of how author Clifford Irving wrote a fake autobiography about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. Walking punchline Richard Gere actually turns in a very good performance as Irving and Alfred Molina is a ton of fun as his partner-in-crime. But the movie itself never really gels; I think the problem lies in the way director Lasse Hallstrom applies the tone of a '70s-era paranoid thriller to material that can't support it. That extra layer of artifice renders the whole thing unsatisfying. Instead of The Hoax, my recommendation would be to look for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller Black Book instead, which is opening in select cities this weekend. A Perils of Pauline-style serial set in Nazi-occupied Holland, the film follows a young Jewish woman who leaps from one adventure to another. The film rockets along at a lightning-fast pace, which is good because it keeps you from thinking too much about some of the more unlikely story points. And while Verhoeven's penchant for heaping abuse upon his female characters is still very much in force, Carice van Houten, who plays the intrepid heroine, never comes across as a victim. If Grindhouse is this weekend's exploitation flick for film geeks, Black Book is a slice of schlocky pulp fiction for the history buff set.

On DVD: Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd and Gary Winick's Charlotte's Web all hit DVD this past week, but the most interesting releases are a trio of older films, two I've seen and one I'm dying to check out. First up is the wonderful 1967 English comedy Bedazzled, which casts Dudley Moore as a nerdy Brit and Peter Cook as a smooth-talking devil. This is the first time the movie has been released on DVD and it's a must-have for fans of Moore and Cook and of British comedy in general. Next is Bob Fosse's wholly unique film musical All That Jazz, an incredibly personal roman-a-clef about a Broadway choreographer with a tangled personal and professional life. The final production number is the most breathtakingly narcissistic musical sequence ever captured on film. The release I haven't seen is Richard Lester's Royal Flash, based on the George McDonald Fraser book of the same title. Royal Flash was an early entry in the author's Flashman series, about a 19th century British soldier who manages to become a respected and decorated war hero despite being a thorough coward and scalawag. Lester helmed this film on the heels of his Musketeers pictures, which offered a similar mix of comedy and old-fashioned adventure. I've enjoyed the handful of Flashman novels I've read and the Musketeers movies are a blast as well, so I've always wanted to see Royal Flash despite its decidedly mixed critical reputation. So thanks for putting it out there Fox--now when can we expect a release of Lester's anti-war satire The Bed-Sitting Room?

Blades of Glory review

What Should You See This Weekend?

In Theaters: Having just gotten back from seeing Grindhouse this evening, I must admit that it's a little hard to focus on this weekend's releases. Not because Grindhouse is such a mind-blowing cinematic achievement you understand. I don't want to talk about it too much, as I'll be writing up a review for Film Journal, but for all its flaws (and there are many) it's a far more interesting movie to think and talk about than any of the three wide releases coming out this weekend. The first of these is Blades of Glory, the skating comedy with Will Ferrell that will probably top the box office come Monday. At heart, this is really just a feature-length sitcom that offers a few solid laughs amidst a lot of tedium. Most of these laughs come courtesy of Farrell and co-stars Jenna Fischer, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, who do their damndest to find the humor in this severely underwritten movie. Less successful at this is Jon Heder, who has all but exhausted whatever goodwill he earned by playing Napoleon Dynamite. This is the kind of performance that leads casting directors to misplace your phone number--it's that awkward and downright sad to watch. Competing with Blades of Glory for moviegoers' eyeballs is the latest Disney adventure Meet the Robinsons, which can basically be summarized as the animated version of Back to the Future II. When his latest invention is sabotaged by a dastardly villain known only as Bowler Hat Guy, pint-sized inventor Lewis embarks on an epic adventure that takes him into the near future. The movie has some good ideas and characters lurking about the edges, but it's hard to focus on any of that because the story zips along like a runaway freight train. Supposedly Pixar chief John Lasseter had a big hand in reshaping the movie, which is odd because he's normally a director who likes to slow things down and give his stories room to breath. But Robinsons is constantly on the go, as if it's afraid that if it pauses even for a second, the audience will tune out. In doing so though, it ends up losing our attention anyway. The week's final wide release is a solid B-grade noir called The Lookout, written and directed by screenwriter Scott Frank and starring a talented trio of actors that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels and Matthew Goode. The film is at its best in the first and second acts when we are introduced to the main character--a brain damaged former jock named Chris Pratt--and the bleak world he inhabits. Looking for a way out, he agrees to help an old classmate rob the bank where he works as a night janitor. Frank lays the groundwork for the third act fireworks very well, but when the climax arrives, the air slowly leaks out of the movie. Still, there's a lot to like about The Lookout and overall it's a much better way to spend your time than Blades of Glory or Meet the Robinsons. For those moviegoers in New York and L.A., bypass each of these movies and seek out the Danish drama After the Wedding instead. Nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar at this year's Academy Awards, After the Wedding was seen in some circles as the movie that robbed Pedro Almodovar's Volver of a nod. I certainly didn't expect much going in, but damned if I wasn't blown away by the film's intense emotional power. I'm not familiar with Suzanne Bier's other work, but I'll be making a point of paying close attention to her career from here on out. After the Wedding presents a portrait of a family that's at once both sprawling and incredibly intimate. I was also struck by the Bier's technique, which owes a lot to the Dogma school of filmmaking without being quite so Spartan. For example, she never once uses an establishing shot. Much of the action is framed in tight close-up and the actors always dominate their environment, not the other way around. All in all, it's just a great movie and another example of how much better the Foreign Language nominees were this year than the Best Picture candidates.

On DVD: Speaking of the Oscars, I still haven't gotten over the fact that Alfonso Cuaron wasn't nominated for his brilliant direction in Children of Men. The movie arrives on DVD this week, which gives all those people who skipped it in theaters a chance to be dazzled by it in the comfort of their own home. Sadly, the DVD itself is rather bare-bones. There's no commentary track, only a handful of dull deleted scenes, a too-short featurette about some of the movie's most impressive long takes and a half-hour documentary overseen by Cuaron himself about the ideas raised by the movie. The latter is interesting, the rest...not so much. Here's hoping Universal decides to put out a double disc of this brilliant film somewhere down the road. Also on DVD this week is Zhang Yimou's criminally undervalued martial arts spectacle Curse of the Golden Flower (my number four film of 2006), last year's Best Animated Feature winner Happy Feet, the better-than-you'd-expect Will Smith drama The Pursuit of Happyness, the horror travelogue Turistas and Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj. In the classics section, Criterion continues to uplift film culture by offering a box-set of early Bergman films and Errol Flynn and Shirley Temple get their own box-set treatment.