Part One: September

Films That Should Satisfy

Director: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor

Film: Gamer

Cast: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Logan Lerman, Ludacris, Kyra Sedgwick

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/g/gamerposter.jpg

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4 September
Gamer

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are the Michael Bay of skaterat sleaze. Never content to deliver the standard action movies to the big screen, they bloat their titles with excess unknown to even the celluloid papa of the already tired Transformers. After leading musky man machine Jason Statham through two installments of the sensational cinematic crack known as Crank, the boys have wandered over into the sci-fi arena with this confounding combination of future shock, video games, and Running Man like social commentary. While few outside the studio have seen the effort (Lionsgate is treating the film like a late Summer blockbuster, though they won’t screen it in advance), what’s clear is that Neveldine and Taylor may have dropped most of their camera crazed gimmickry to deliver a straight ahead bit of thrills. With 300‘s Gerard Butler on hand as the hero, they could very well succeed.

Gamer

 

Director: Mike Judge

Film: Extract

Cast: Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons

MPAA rating: R

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4 September
Extract

Hopefully, the third times the charm for animator/filmmaker Mike Judge. After two less than successful attempts at making his live action efforts as popular as his cartoon titles (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill), he’s back with another satiric slice of life, this time featuring Jason Bateman as a small businessman with a world of problems. His wife won’t sleep with him. His extract plant employees are shiftless and angry. One has been horribly injured in a freak accident, and though he doesn’t plan on suing, a temp girl named Cindy (Mila Kunis) is stirring up trouble. While Office Space and Idiocracy went on to be cult hits on home video, Judge is hoping for a little more mainstream love this time around. With his Coen Brothers Lite approach, he might just get it.

Extract

Films That May Leave You Starving

Director: Àlex Pastor &David Pastor

Film: Carriers

Cast: Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Christopher Meloni

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/c/carriersposter.jpg

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4 September
Carriers

Alex and David Pastor are a couple of Spanish filmmakers making their American feature film debut with this tale about a deadly virus, a group of traveling young people, and the moral dilemmas they face when they realize there’s no avoiding the oncoming pandemic. Designed as a pre-Halloween fright film but clearly imbued with a strong sense of character and conscience, many have hailed it as a clever complement to Danny Boyle’s brilliant 28 Days Later. With Star Trek‘s Chris Pine as one of the leads and some favorable festival buzz, this could be a genre-specific sleeper. It could also be the kind of well meaning movie that gets lost in the post-Summer stumble to refocus the industry landscape.

Carriers

 

Director: Phil Traill

Film: All About Steve

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, Ken Jeong, DJ Qualls

MPAA rating: PG-13

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/a/allaboutsteveposter.jpg

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4 September
All About Steve

Sandra Bullock remains an amiable acting enigma. She seems to excel at Romantic Comedies, delivering laughs and heartfelt fun with such titles as The Proposal, Two Weeks Notice, and Miss Congeniality. But she’s really known for her more accomplished work with turns in that ‘other’ Truman Capote film Infamous, Oscar winner Crash, and chick flicks like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Now comes what is perhaps the most bizarre performance of her entire career. Playing pseudo-psycho dorkette Mary Horowitz, self-proclaimed crossword freak and puzzle creator, Ms. Bullock drops all pretty girl pretense to play blatantly awkward, ditzy, and dense. Paired up with The Hangover‘s Bradley Cooper, the results are a surreal satire in which stalking becomes an excuse for possible soulmates. It will be interesting to see if the same audience that embraces her wistful side buys a more farcical façade.

All About Steve

The Ala Carte Menu

Director: Jeremy Davidson

Film: Tickling Leo

Cast: Eli Wallach, Annie Parisse, Lawrence Pressman, Ronald Guttman Victoria Clark

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/t/ticklingleo.jpg

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4 September
Tickling Leo

It’s Holocaust time again, about 10 months too late. Last year, the Cineplex was swarming with stories based in and around Hitler’s heinous Final Solution. Now filmmaker Jeremy Davidson wants to focus on a footnote to said genocide – the tale of Hungarian Rudolph Kasztner’s collusion with Adolph Eichmann to save several hundred Jews in exchange for his silence and support. Tying it to a modern story featuring Eli Wallach as an old man suffering from dementia, and the troubled family that uncovers the truth about their dad’s involvement with Kasztner, Davidson hopes the horrors of such a revelation will lead to a more universal sense of understanding and healing. Some critics believe his film succeeds. Others believe it’s an important facet of history homogenized by an unnecessary update.

Tickling Leo

11 September

Films That Should Satisfy

Director: Shane Acker

Film: 9

Cast: Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau

MPAA rating: PG

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/9/9poster.jpg

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11 September
9

Tim Burton and Wanted ace Timur Bekmambetov were apparently so taken with Shane Acker’s original short about animated dolls living in a post-Apocalyptic wasteland that they decided to produce a big screen version. Now comes the result – a sprawling, sophisticated story that uses brilliant design work and equally effective CG techniques to tell…well, frankly, to tell a story sold a dozen times before. The basic idea here is that these tiny beings, carrying the “soul” of their creator around with them, are mankind’s only salvation. They must rid the desolate Earth of the machine gods who rule with a pig iron fist, destroying the intellectual manufacturing robot who created the deadly devices in the first place. Technology gone wild? The end of the world connected to our need for progress? Sounds very familiar, doesn’t it. Sadly, some say it’s what undermines an otherwise noble effort.

9

 

Director: Dominic Sena

Film: Whiteout

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Columbus Short, Tom Skerritt

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/w/whiteoutposter.jpg

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11 September
Whiteout

How did the refined and attractive Kate Beckinsale turn from possible period piece ingénue to action thriller butt kicker? Who thought it was a good idea to match her confirmed good looks with an always unpredictable genre career arc. She should be a huge female superstar, not some mechanical plot cog, and yet here she is again in yet another pistol packing role. In this film, she’s a US Marshall investigating a death on the frozen continent of Antarctica. With only three days until the horrific winter begins, she has no time for trouble. When she crosses paths with a UN officer pursing the same case, she ends up uncovering more than just a killer. Based on a well received graphic novel and directed by Dominic Sena (Swordfish, Gone in 60 Seconds), this has potential. It could also be yet another stumble in what should be a stellar non-stunt oriented career.

Whiteout

Films That May Leave You Starving

Director: Tyler Perry

Film: I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodriguez, Brian J. White, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, Tyler Perry

MPAA rating: PG

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/i/icandobadallbymyselfposter.jpg

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11 September
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry just keeps cranking them out. After threatening to “kill off” his infamous gun-slinging grandma character with ‘her’ last starring role (in the hit Madea Goes to Jail), the playwright turned cultural phenom has brought her back again for this story of some juvenile delinquents and the aunt who must decide how best to live her life. As usual, Perry places his melodramatic events within a context of upscale urban culture, a place where all manner of minority symbols sit around and preach. Then, just to make sure everyone goes home happy, he tosses in some of Madea’s drag hag humor to give a counter-punch to all the complications. Oddly enough, when Perry is on, he is very effective. When he’s off, though, he can be grating. It will be interesting to see what he delivers this time out.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself

 

Director: Peter Hyams

Film: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Cast: Michael Douglas, Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Orlando Jones, Joel Moore

MPAA rating: PG-13

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/b/beyondareasonabledoubtposter.jpg

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11 September
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Michael Douglas has been oddly absent from the big screen as of late. In 2003, he delivered that misguided remake of The In-Laws. In 2006, he made The Sentinel and played a bit part in You, Me, and Dupree. Then it was another three years before he came back as part of the Matthew McConaughey comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Now he’s around for another update – this time of a 1956 noir classic. Helmed by Peter Hyams, who last delivered the Ray Bradbury future shock turd A Sound of Thunder, this project has the potential to be another major disaster. Outside of Douglas, the cast is less than stellar, and the plot involves the Oscar winner taking on a young upstart journalist who wants to expose the less than ethical decisions made by Douglas’ DA. Sounds like a real snooze fest.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

 

Director: Stewart Hendler

Film: Sorority Row

Cast: Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Jamie Chung, Rumer Willis, Margo Harshman

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/s/sororityrowposter.jpg

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11 September
Sorority Row

When your main selling points are Audrina Patridge from The Hills and Rumor Willis from the loins of Bruce and Demi, is there really any reason to expect something good. A remake of The House on Sorority Row could be some goofy grindhouse fun, the slasher film sexed up to sell a few tickets. But in this case, the results look more like a lost episode of the OC than an effective fright film. While his first full length effort, Whisper, was met with some manner of enthusiasm, director Stewart Hendler really has no track record to speak of, and when you factor in the rather mundane movie plotting at work (“accidental” death leads to a hooded killer’s revenge) there’s really little here to be happy about. Summit must be hoping for some end of the Summer blowback before bailing to DVD.

Sorority Row

The Ala Carte Menu

Director: R.J. Cutler

Film: The September Issue

Cast: Anna Wintour

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/s/septemberissueposter.jpg

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11 September
The September Issue

Vogue – it’s a magazine, it’s an image, it’s a well-known brand. And for the last 11 years, it’s been the exclusive editorial domain of Anna Wintour. As she prepares for the premiere fall fashion issue – always oversized and loaded with content, documentarian R. J. Cutler gains unusually intimate access with her process. Often cited as the “inspiration” for the mean-spirited strumpet in the book and film versions of The Devil Wears Prada, audiences are promised a no holds barred profile of the cutthroat worlds of haute couture and high end publishing. It could be a bit too “insider” for the typical mainstream moviegoer.

The September Issue

18 September

Films That Should Satisfy

Director: Karyn Kusama

Film: Jennifer’s Body

Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/j/jennifersbodyposter.jpg

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18 September
Jennifer’s Body

When Megan Fox looks back on her fabled rise to semi-superstardom, here’s hoping she remembers how much of it was based on her ability to get adolescent males nice and moist. Otherwise, she offers little in the way of polished performance acumen. All of that could change with this Diablo Cody delight, a post-modern smirk scary movie which sees our presold sexpot becoming a literal maneater. With acclaimed director Karyn Kusama back from Aeon Flux exile, a cast including J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Amanda Seyfried, and a rock and roll backdrop for the shivers, this could be one of Fall 2009’s biggest surprises. As long as Juno’s momma brings the same burlesque queen hipster spiel that won her Academy gold, things should be very interesting indeed.

Jennifer’s Body

 

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Film: The Informant!

Cast: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey

MPAA rating: R

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18 September
The Informant!

After the brilliant, if oblique The Girlfriend Experience, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is back in big budget mode with this Matt Damon vehicle. The artist often known as Jason Bourne plays Dr. Mark Whitacre, a valuable employee of Archer Daniel Midlands who turns whistle-blower when he discovers some irregularities regarding the company’s pricing. What makes this particular tale of corporate greed and scandal so special is that Damon’s character, based on a real individual, suffers from a bipolar disorder. This lends itself to an entire subplot revolving around Whitacre’s bizarre behavior and its effect on the FBI’s investigation. With Damon slowly developing a brilliant set of starring roles, and Soderbergh happy to play within the mainstream arena again, we could end up with a darkly comic gem.

The Informant

Films That May Leave You Starving

Director: Phil Lord & Chris Miller

Film: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Bruce Campbell, James Caan, Bobb’e, J. Thompson, Andy Samberg, Mr. T

MPAA rating: PG

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18 September
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

As Pixar proved once again this year, CG can be much more than a collection of pop culture references and regurgitated sight gags. Apparently, that message has yet to get over to the people at Sony. They’ve decided to take the popular children’s book and turn it into some kind of homage to dopey disaster films like Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence Day. One look at the trailer and you can tell where this tale of an absent-minded inventor and his water to food conversion machine is headed. A tower ends up a toothpick for a massive BLT. An airborne pizza turns into several attack ‘slice’ ships. A huge pancake engulfs an entire school. Granted, the combination of cartoony design and 3D depth looks really interesting, but one imagines the script is far less inventive than the overall look.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

 

Director: Christian Alvart

Film: Pandorum

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Eddie Rouse

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/p/pandorumposter.jpg

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18 September
Pandorum

It sounds like the standard sci-fi horror set-up: a group of astronauts wake up on their ship, suffering from memory loss and wondering where the rest of the crew went. Eventually, they find more people – and an evil presence they didn’t anticipate. With Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster in the cast, as well as German filmmaker Christian Alvart behind the lens, many see the film as a more journeyman take on producer Paul W.S. Anderson’s own Event Horizon. The posters suggest something more along the lines of Alien’s biomechanical menace. However it turns out, audiences will be left wondering how a movie so clearly geared toward a specific dread loving demographic would end up in the cinematic no man’s land of mid-September. It couldn’t have anything to do with the quality of the final product now, could it?

Pandorum

 

Director: Brandon Camp

Film: Love Happens

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Martin Sheen, Judy Greer, Dan Fogler

MPAA rating: PG

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18 September
Love Happens

Who continues to give Jennifer Aniston work? Why is she cast in movie after movie when all she has to show for her talents is the tail end of her success as part of Friends‘ fading ensemble? It’s bad enough that her overly tanned tepidness ruins otherwise interesting titles like Bruce Almighty and The Break-Up, but she seems predestined to date every one of her co-stars, denying said status until the tabloids call her out. Some how, Aaron Eckhart managed to elude her challenged charms, coming out fairly unscathed from this drecky-looking drama. She’s unlucky in love. He’s a self-help guru getting over his wife’s death. Together they discover how little chemistry two Hollywood actors can generate. Sounds like a real weeper. Unfortunately, said tears will probably come from how depressed you are over having paid to see this slop.

Love Happens

The Ala Carte Menu

Director: Guillermo Arriaga

Film: The Burning Plain

Cast: Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Basinger

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/b/burningplainposter.jpg

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18 September
The Burning Plain

Upon the release of Babel, and the typical pre-Oscars media hype, screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga felt it was time to set the record straight. Instead of continuing his collaboration with acclaimed Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu, he was suggesting that it was he, not said director, who was the true artist behind such celebrated films as 21 Grams and Amores Perros. Their falling out resulted in a filmmaking feud of sorts, and Arriaga is the first to strike. Sadly, the debut of his film at last year’s Toronto Film Festival resulted in more jeers than cheers. While some praised it as a masterpiece, others have suggested it shows how ridiculous Arriaga’s claims really are. With a fractured narrative interweaving several stories and a cast that includes Academy babes Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, it should be good. This may be a case however of ego overriding ambition, and effectiveness.

The Burning Plain

 

Director: Steve Jacobs

Film: Disgrace

Cast: Eriq Ebouaney, Jessica Haines, John Malkovich

MPAA rating: PG

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/d/disgraceposter.jpg

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18 September
Disgrace

When you read the plot synopsis of this film – filled with illicit affairs, rape, and attempted familial reconciliation, you start to wonder what exactly director Steve Jacobs had in mind. Granted, any plot point taken out of context defies easy categorization, but the actor turned auteur clearly has some contradictory cinematic motives. He is naturally limited by the source material (a novel by South Africa Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee), but that doesn’t mean the movie has to be so oblique. The main narrative follows John Malkovich as a middle-aged college professor caught having a liaison with a student. Disciplined, he heads out into the country to be with his lesbian daughter. From there, things take some unexpected, and unappetizing, turns. Here’s betting few in the filmgoing audience will be lining up to see this come its proposed September release.

Disgrace

 

Director: Vincenzo Natali

Film: Splice

Cast: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, David Hewlett

MPAA rating: R

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18 September
Splice

Vincenzo Natali, director of the cult classic Cube, is back with a strange genre effort that invokes images of Species interwoven with The Island of Dr. Moreau. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play genetic engineers who have successfully melded human and animal DNA. The resulting creature, known as a chimera, becomes very attached to her makers. Then things turn deadly. Unless the special effects really sell the subject matter, we could be looking at something very silly. So far, advance word is not very convincing. But Natali managed to make his story of some people trapped in a maze meaningful. Perhaps he can do the same here.

Splice

25 September

Films That Should Satisfy

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Film: Surrogates

Cast: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames

MPAA rating: PG-13

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/s/surrogatesposter.jpg

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25 September
Surrogates

It sounds an awful lot like James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar, only set within a sprawling futuristic metropolis. This Bruce Willis actioner focuses on a society where people remain homebound, living life instead through surrogate robotic doubles. For some reason, our hero FBI agent must leave his isolation and actually go out into the real world, investigating the murder of the genius who came up with the automaton concept. Jonathan Mostow, last seen struggling to make Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines a worthy entry into said franchise, is back behind the lens, using everything he learned in the last six years to deliver the speculative spectacle goods. Willis is usually very dependable in this kind of role and the trailer looks promising indeed. Of course, just like the title invention, looks can be deceiving.

Surrogates

 

Director: Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson

Film: The Invention of Lying

Cast: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor

MPAA rating: PG-13

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/i/inventionoflyingposter.jpg

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25 September
The Invention of Lying

Ricky Gervais should really be a much bigger star. Granted, he has created one of the most durable sitcom legacies in the history of television. His Office franchise currently has versions playing in the US, France, Germany, Canada, Brazil, and Chile. He’s also a well established and liked stand-up, though his routine is far more observational and dry than straight-up joke oriented. No, film is the one arena the talented UK comic has yet to conquer, even with a minor masterpiece known as Ghost Town under his belt. For his feature film debut as a director (with mate Matthew Robinson along for cinematic support), Gervais is offering a satiric take on a society where no one has ever lied…ever. He also plays the writer who learns how to take advantage of a little occasional fibbing. All signs point to a hilarious and irreverent romp.

The Invention of Lying

Films That May Leave You Starving

Director: Kevin Tancharoen

Film: Fame

Cast: Asher Book, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Paul Iacono, Debbie Allen, Kelsey Grammar

MPAA rating: PG-13

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/f/fameposter1.jpg

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25 September
Fame

Apparently, the original is NOT going to live forever. Seeing a High School Musical primed demographic eager to throw away more of their disposable income, remake fever has hit the New York School of the Performing Arts. Here’s betting this group of celebrity wannabes won’t be headed for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or grapple with their sexual identity this time around. Indeed, MGM is keeping rather mum on the plot specifics, emphasizing the song and dance aspect of the production. And since this is 2009, not 1980, look for a lot more hip hop and rap “flava”. At least the soundtrack has a call back to the original. Supposedly, the ballad “Out Here On My Own” will be included in the narrative, as well as a take on the title track. Still, don’t be surprised if Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens come off looking like Tommy Tune and Patti LuPone after this one.

Fame

 

Director: Jane Campion

Film: Bright Star

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox, Thomas Sangster

MPAA rating: R

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25 September
Bright Star

Jane Campion started out her career making marvelous characters studies like Sweetie and An Angel at My Table. While they had cinematic sweep and scope, she rarely strayed from the most important part of the story – the people. But somewhere around the hoopla for The Piano, she lost her way. The Portrait of a Lady was a lost cause, and both Holy Smoke! and In the Cut failed to find an audience. Now she’s returning to her roots, so to speak, concentrating on the last three years of famed British poet John Keats. With I’m Not There‘s Ben Wishlaw as the famed writer, and Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne, his lover and inspiration. Naturally, tragedy pulls them apart. For some, Campion is still emphasizing style over substance. But there are hints here of the old artist, a woman in tune with the tempos inherent in humans.

Bright Star

The Ala Carte Menu

Director: John Krasinski

Film: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Cast: Julianne Nicholson, Ben Shenkman, Timothy Hutton, Michael Cerveris, Corey Stoll

MPAA rating:

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25 September
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

The suicide of celebrated author David Foster Wallace makes the release of this independent effort from The Office‘s John Krasinski all the more melancholy. As the title suggests, the short story collection offers “interviews” with various subjects, each owning a repulsive physical characteristic that apparently defines their life. While a few of the stories were adapted into a stage play, Krasinski saw the inherent cinematic qualities in the tales. That Wallace died before seeing this version of his own vision come to life must be awfully painful for everyone involved. Still, it will be interesting to see if his darkly comic exploration of human frailty translates from the page to the motion picture screen – and if first timer Krasinski can live up to the material.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

 

Director: Bob Gosse

Film: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

Cast: Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults, Keri Lynn Pratt, Marika Dominczyk

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/b/beerinhellposter.jpg

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25 September
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

Tucker Max. Recognize the name? He’s best known as a blogger, reporting on his often drunken escapes on the website that carries his name. Said entries ended up forming the main narrative for the book that carries this film’s title. Now we get the big screen adaptation of same, and from the sound of it, many are hoping for a Hangover like hit. Early word, however, is that this is a sad substitute for the Summer smash. With the similar set-up, a friend’s bachelor party, and a lot of inebriated idiocy, there may be an audience for this indie attempt. But one imagines that, just like the Internet boom from a few years back, the big bubble bust is just a few weeks away – as in when this film finally hits theaters.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

 

Director: Anne Fontaine

Film: Coco Before Chanel

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola

MPAA rating: R

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/blog_art/c/cocobeforechanelposter.jpg

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25 September
Coco Before Chanel

The title says it all. This French biopic intends to focus on the life and hard knock struggles of Gabrielle Chanel – from her time in an orphanage to her work as a seamstress for noted singers and nightclub performers. Amélie‘s Audrey Tautou plays the famed fashion name in her younger days, delivering what many believe is a career defining turn. Some have even cited writer/director Anne Fontaine’s sure hand with this material (adapted from a book by Edmonde Charles-Roux). Unfortunately, others have also called her manipulative and overly melodramatic. Apparently, we’ll have to wait until the movie makes its way over to these shores (it’s been playing in Europe for a few months now).

Coco Before Chanel