Release Dates Oct 04 2008 @ 12:41 am
Theater Releases for October 3rd, 2008
So many releases, so little time to write about them all. I miss summer…
Blindness
Based on the novel by Jose Saramago, this thriller follows the collapse of society after an epidemic renders everyone blind. Specifically, it focuses on a handful of people trapped in a prison and the woman who is immune to the disease and becomes their de facto leader. The trailer makes it look pretty good.
Recommended if you liked Children of Men, Doomsday or 28 Days Later
Flash of Genius
In 1963, Robert Kearns invented the first intermittent windshield wiper. (You probably take them for granted — they’re the sort that you don’t have to keep turning on and off when it’s not pouring.) He tried to sell them to the Ford Motor Company, who turned him down — and then ripped off his idea and never paid him a cent. Then Chrysler turned around and did the exact same thing. Yeah, it sounds like the set up for a bad joke, unless you know that it’s completely true. And while Kearns eventually won the lawsuits against the two corporations, it took him 30 years and $10 million in legal costs. This is the story of the little guy standing up to the Man…and winning a minor victory.
Recommended if you liked Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Seabiscuit, or October Sky
Appaloosa
Half a century ago, the western genre was Hollywood’s bread and butter, with every entry guaranteed to make the big bucks. It was a commercial product, like the silly musical of the 1930’s or the muscle-bound action movie of the 1980’s. Then it died completely (thank you, Heaven’s Gate), and then it came back about ten years ago, reborn as a genre for prestige pictures. Weird, right? But anyway, here’s the latest horse opera Oscar bait (or is it still too early in the year to call things that?), starring Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons and Renee Zellweger.
Recommended if you liked The Departed, 3:10 to Yuma, or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
More after the jump. (Kriss Kross’ll make ya…)
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Don’t you just love Wikipedia? Nothing like having too many chefs around to make the best broth ever (or however that saying goes). Here’s a direct quote from their article on this film, emphasis mine: “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a comedy film based upon British writer Toby Young’s 2001 memoir of the same name. The film will follow a similar storyline, about his five year struggle to make it in the United States after employment at Vanity Fair magazine — though the names of the magazine and people Young came into contact with during the time were changed for the film adaptation. The film version is a highly fictionalized account, and differs greatly from the work it was built upon.” Okay. I’m glad we got that one figured out.
Recommended if you’ve been wishing the Farrelly brothers would read a book
An American Carol
On paper, it sounds like the worst idea ever for a movie: Chris Farley’s kid brother plays a Michael Moore rip-off (they’ve cleverly changed his last name to “Malone”) who’s determined to abolish Independence Day. Then on Independence Day Eve (is there such a thing?), he’s visited by the spirits of George Washington, George Patton, and John Kennedy, who change his cold, cold, heart. Or something. No thanks, right? I watched the trailer, though, and it looks like it might be a bit funnier than it deserves to be. Don’t quote me on that or anything, but it just might be the best David Zucker film since The Naked Gun 2½. Not that that’s saying anything, but still.
Recommended if you think that what the world desperately needs is yet another rip-off of Charles Dickens
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – 
A couple of music-loving kids stay up all night, swapping tunes, trying to find a drunk friend, and falling in love. I really can’t recommend this one much, unless you’re too young to realize that your music collection isn’t mankind’s greatest achievement to date. The teenaged crowd I saw it with totally ate it up, though, so I guess it works for some people. Proceed with caution.
Recommended if your absolute favorite memory is the day you discovered Secret Machines
Religulous
Anyone want to pay ten bucks to find out why Bill Maher doesn’t like religion? Yeah, me neither. Moving on.
Recommended if you liked Disturbia or Gigli (a couple of other films with titles that consist of made-up words that aren’t worth figuring out how to pronounce)
Beverly Hill Chihuahua
Generic, recycled plot + talking animals + the only PG rating currently in theaters = pure box office gold. Do parents know that the MPAA is playing them for saps? It’s possible, but I guess there’s something to be said for anything that shuts your four-year-old up for a couple of hours, even if it is actively making him stupider the whole time. The only thing good you can say about this film? They’ve come up with some great taglines for it. (Stuff like “I, chihuahua” and “The greatest chihuahua movie ever!”)
Recommended if you really, seriously, didn’t see anything at all appealing about the last seven movies I mentioned. Come on, guys.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 9:21 am 1. Sam Juliano said …
I saw BLINDNESS last night, and I sorry to say that it cheapened the celebrated literary work with narrative convolutions. It was an alltogether tedious and off-putting film to sit through.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 9:25 am 2. Sam Juliano said …
Oh and, I did see BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAWA with Lucille and the kids in the afternoon, and it was absoultely awful. Am I being a prig? Well in the this instance, the kids were indifferent (a bad sign)although my wife thought is was “cute.” Talking animals have never been as lame and unimaginative as they were here.
I know I am sounding like the Grim Reaper, but it’s pretty easy when you have the likes of BLINDNESS and BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAWA.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 11:29 am 3. Evan Derrick said …
Your comments on Blindness only seem to support what I’ve been hearing in other circles, Sam. Everyone praises the novel – people seem to be lukewarm to the film.
And really, no need to apologize for dumping on that Chihuahua flick – if that’s not the bottom of the barrel, then it’s only a few inches above it.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 3:43 pm 4. Sam Juliano said …
LOL!!! That is funny what you say there about the doggy flick, but true Evan!
And I concur with BLINDNESS, the book is one of the great works in modern literature, yet the film flubs the ball.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 7:07 pm 5. G said …
Disturbia was awesome.
That is all.
on Oct 04 2008 @ 7:23 pm 6. Luke Harrington said …
I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard really mixed things. I guess you either love it or you hate it.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 10:00 am 7. G said …
If I’d had high expectations for it, it wouldn’t have seemed like anything special, but it was a really great reworking of Rear Window for 21st century teens. Shia Lebeouf is funny – I’m still expecting great things from him – and David Morse is creepy as hell. That guy should get better roles.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 10:29 am 8. Film-Book dot Com said …
Sad to read those comments on Blindness. I might pick up the book though.
Looking forward to Appaloosa.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 2:17 pm 9. Josh Ickes said …
I was hoping that Chihuahua would be more along the lines of the Incredible Journey/Homeward Bound type flicks, maybe something I could enjoy with my kids. It’s probably good that my hopes weren’t very high.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 2:41 pm 10. Evan Derrick said …
I just wanna know how those films get greenlit. I mean, did the pitch sound as stupid as I think it did? Has this been in production since those Taco Bell commercials from the late 90s?
Of course, big shocker, the thing did a cool $29 million this weekend, easily taking the #1 slot. Why does America reward stupidity like this? Why I ask you?
on Oct 05 2008 @ 5:25 pm 11. G said …
Evan, the second half of your post answers your question. But it’s not America rewarding stupidity; this is about kids not being very discriminating. And that’s not gonna change.
I get despairing at the success of Adam Sandler movies – teens and adults buy tickets to those. This is just a craven cynical grab at the attention of children. It’s sad that it gets rewarded, but it doesn’t reflect poor judgment. No 4 year old is gonna be able to judge the superiority of Happy Feet to this movie.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 5:28 pm 12. Evan Derrick said …
Yeah, but their parents should be able to.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 9:06 pm 13. G said …
Oh, I’m sure their parents can. But how many are likely to take a stand on this issue?
“Yes little Johnny, the trailer for that movie has planted a song in your head so catchy that you are constantly possessed with an overpowering desire to see the movie. And all of your friends have seen it, and talk about it all day at preschool, and love their new Beverly Hills Chihuahua backpacks. But, as a cinephile, I have higher cinematic standards than you, and therefore deny you the right to see this movie, on the grounds that it is no good, even though you are too young to tell that. Just stay home with me and watch Criterion DVDs instead. You’ll love Persona!”
I’m sure that conversation would go great.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 9:22 pm 14. Evan Derrick said …
Ok, so maybe you have a point… maybe. But goshdarnit, MY kids are watching Persona whether they like it or not.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 9:31 pm 15. G said …
Well, sure, they can watch Persona once they turn 8.
Seriously, though, there are tons and tons of great movies that kids an appreciate: classic Disney, Pixar, Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd, Miyazaki, the original Star Wars trilogy, classic musicals, the Muppets, etc (Andrew O’Hehir, a deity among indie critics, put together a pretty great list: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/07/12/akvp/index.html )
But those movies are going to be supplemental; you can’t replace your kids’ desire to see crap like this. You can maybe enjoy this specific movie, but you can’t beat crap in general. Not until they’re older.
Anyway, this is all academic for me, as I am still living as God clearly intended us all to live: without children. You, on the other hand…good luck.
on Oct 05 2008 @ 10:11 pm 16. Evan Derrick said …
So should I stop strapping my child to the chair and forcing her to watch Aguirre: The Wrath of God? Is that a parenting no-no?
That is an awesome list. I concur whole heartedly, and can’t wait till my little girl is old enough to start exposing her to stuff like that. I will say that I have won the battle in one respect: she is constantly asking to watch “Speefracer,” which is her way of saying Speed Racer. Naturally, we watch it all the time now, and I am absolutely fine with that.