3.27.2009

the lost weekend- denver premieres for 03/27/09


Hey Fellas, Look! The Booth didn't forget us!


-In an attempt to catch-up on things, here is the post for the theatrical premiers for Friday, March 27, a week late and a dollar short.- (pike)


Monsters vs. Aliens- Following up the success of last year's Kung-Fu Panda, Dreamworks seem to be hitting a stride of sorts with another quirky animated group comedy. This time the premise is a high-concept mash-up of Monsters vs. Aliens. You get the 50-foot Woman, the Blob, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mad Scientist (maybe a Brundle-roach?), and something called Insectasaurus* trying to save the world from an alien invader that resembles a four-eyed, tentacled Mekon from the old Dan Dare comics. The jokes in the trailer are hit-or-miss, but over all it looks enjoyable enough. The film was shot in what is being tauted as stereoscopic 3-D (the same process being used on the upcoming James Cameron flick, Avatar) and is probably best seen in that format. Although I'll admit that Monsters vs. Aliens is a good mash-up idea, my inner-child is still waiting for his dream mash-up: Cowboys and the undead vs. Aliens or as I like to call it, "Invasion of the O.K Corral a.k.a. My Darling's Creeping Spine." Where is it Hollywood! I've been waiting 25 years!

*this movie reference makes Amber happy but I don't want to give it away as it is the big ending reveal.

The Haunting in Connecticut- The acting talents of Elias Koteas, Martin Donovan and Virginia Madsen aside, everything about this movie stinks from a distance. Let's see, first there is the fact that it is a Amityville Horror/Exorcist rehash straight out of the bargain basement. Next is the grating tag-line, "Based on True Events." Oh, really! You mean the part about the folks moving into a new house or that their kid gets cancer, right? Because you can't be seriously talking about the ghost bullshit. Much like God, the invisible hand of the market and an authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza joint in or around the city of Denver, ghosts are myths- they don't exist! But Oh, oh my... the last nail in this rickety shit house has to be the poster art:

What the Fuck! So you want me to believe that ghost are real so that the half-assed scares you put in the movie will somehow affect me more, but then you show me what these ghosts can do and it doesn't amount to anything more than what a hard night of drinking can get you. Fuck you ghosts! I've seen fellow boother Dex do this a couple of times 'round about the witching hour and never, not even for a second, did I fear the reaper.

Of Time and the City- To be honest, I don't know that much about Terence Davies, but the trailer for this documentary looks promising. It starts a one-week run at the Starz FilmCenter and they have this to say about it:

"From the original voice of British auteur Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives) comes a visual poem about the director's life in Liverpool from 1945 to 1973. It is a very personal portrait of Liverpool, beyond its Beatles and its football clubs, the home of the writer's birth, where youth and inspiration weave his own story into the recent history of the city with fascinating found footage and a lyrical soundtrack. The visual poem is played out against a backdrop of densely packed urban living and backbreaking domestic labor. But Davies counterpoints the slums with beautiful, soaring music and lifts us into the world of fantasy and collective emotion which makes the misery of life bearable. For lovers of Davies' previous work many of his themes from his earlier narrative pieces thread through this film—Catholicism, homosexuality, violence, death, loss, the glory of cinema, outsiderness and childhood. Narrated by Davies."

12 Rounds- Oh Renny Harlin, there is really no sport in picking on you. Of all of the low hanging fruit in Hollywood, at least you know your place- directing movies that capitalize on the niche popularity of a WWE wrestler. I just hope you are having a good time playing director, you little scamper you!

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