6/24 – 6/26 The summer movie season is really pumping along now; forget about all the talk of no one going to the movies. They are, and you should too. This week the competition is fierce, as some of the summer’s smaller blockbusters try to squeeze a few dollars out of you between the lumbering theater juggernauts of Nolan’s Batman Begins and Spielberg’s War of the Worlds which opens this coming Wednesday. Is anyone else a little annoyed by the Wednesday opening? I am, but perhaps that’s a rant better served for next week’s edition when we’re talking War of the Worlds in earnest. On that note however, Herbie opened this week on Wednesday, but that’s a kids movie, so the Wednesday opening is a little more excusable.
Enough with the introduction, here’s a look at what’s opening and what’s worth your time in new release this weekend.
Misc. Limited Releases
(Opening on fewer than 500 screens.)
The thing to pay attention to in limited release this weekend is a documentary called Rize, a look at the horrible world of spasmodic dancing. I think it’s called Krumping, but basically dancers just have seizures on stage to the beat of the music. Some of them do it in clown suits. Someone stick a wallet in that kid’s mouth. It stinks of being one of those films where the director (in this case David LaChapelle… no relation) became so wrapped up in the world he was documenting that he convinces himself it’s a lot more important than it really is. Remember when Rap Battles were supposed to be the new, world changing, wave? What happened to those? I doubt Krumping or Clowning will ever be the annoying cultural revolution this film is pushing it as. Let’s hope not. Skaters are bad enough.
Herbie: Fully Loaded
(Opens in 3,521 theaters.)
Maybe I’m clouded by my love of the original couple of Herbie movies, but I just can’t embrace this Lindsay Lohan version. The fault lies not with Lohan, but in the film’s extremely stock, derivative script and in its tendency to over-CGI little Herbie. Someone sent me an e-mail last night pointing out that Herbie has blinked before, but never like this. The car looks like it has some sort of nervous tick. It whimpers and shakes off water like a Dog. They’ve gone just a little too far, and that’s a shame. Still, I’ve got to admit that more than once I found myself getting caught up in the excitement of simply seeing my childhood hero back up on screen. Perhaps it’s worth taking your kids too simply for that. Make sure you show them the better, original Herbie movies before you go. At least make it a point to show them The Love Bug. Rest in peace Buddy Hackett. You’re missed.
Bewitched
(Opens in 3,174 theaters.)
I like Bewitched a lot more than well… everyone. It’s funny, when the first round of press screenings came and went the thing seemed to be getting resoundingly good reviews. Then, this week when the last group of press came out to see it… the ones who saw it because they had to, the ones who waited until the absolute last minute to be forced to cover it by some heavy-handed editor, it’s gotten nothing but flack. I’ll admit, I had little hope for it going in, but the film surprised the heck out of me. I really like it. It has a certain sort of classy charm that works so well in romantic comedies like this. In way though, this is more comedy than romance, a first for director Nora Ephron famous for movies thick with estrogen pumping love-stories like You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. It’s also one of the few television to screen translations to avoid dipping into annoying parody. What a relief that is. I really dig Bewitched, and if you’ve any interest in seeing it you probably will too.
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead
(Opens in 2,249 theaters.)
Look, I’m not fan of horror movies or zombie movies or rampant pointless splatter, but even I’m a little hyped to check out Romero’s return to the Zombie genre, Land of the Dead. The guy is undisputedly a master, and since he’s the guy who invented the thing in the first place, maybe he can show some of these failed Johnny-come-latelies what’s what. The movie is getting great buzz from all corners, and like the latest Spielberg movie or newest Scorsese flick, anything by Romero, for better or worse is not to be missed. Night of the Living Dead still scares the hell out of me. All signs point to Romero having done it again. Whether or not he has, as a movie fan you owe it to yourself to give Land of the Dead a chance this weekend. It’ll power you up to make it through all the lame, PG-13 horror movies still to come this summer season. See a master doing when he does best.
STILL IN THEATERS AND WORTH YOUR TIME: Batman Begins, Madagascar, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episode III, Cinderella Man, Crash
