Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans</em> or <em>Broken Embraces</em>
14 photos
<p>As parodic of cop movies as <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/badlieutenant2009">the Metacritic summary </a>makes it sound ("Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugsâwhile playing fast and loose with the law."), <em>Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans</em> has been getting decent reviews across the board. Set in Post Katrina New Orleans, Cage runs a corrupt city while dealing with a tumultuous affair with a prostitute. J.R. Jones at <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans-review/Content?oid=1236513">the Chicago Reader</a> says that director <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/06/17/werner_herzog_director.php">Werner Herzog</a> "deserves the lion's share of the credit for the movie's quality, but <em>Port of Call New Orleans</em> is also a comeback for Cage." Bonus points of course for any movie with Xzibit in it. </p>
<p>Pedro Almodóvarâs new film <em>Broken Embraces</em> is the story of screenwriter, Harry Caine, who has lost his sight. Through the course of the movie, we eventually find out how that has happened, and watch Caine deal with some incredibly repressed issues. Of course, this is all second to what seems to be the focus of the film: naked Penelope Cruz. Though she is seen only in flashbacks, she is the focal point of a movie that <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/11/23/091123crci_cinema_lane#ixzz0XKrpLZOR">Anthony Lane</a> calls "seems a touch too long, too airless, and too content with its own contrivances to stir the heart." Though in a movie focused on one man's love and loss, what did you expect?</p>
<p>Starring New Yorker <a href="http://gothamist.com/2009/11/19/olivia_wilde_actress.php">Olivia Wilde,</a> <em>Fix</em> is a pseudo-documentary, directed by Wilde's husband, based on a one day journey picking someone up at jail and dropping them off at rehab. Shot with a handheld camera, the actors fully acknowledge they are on film, adding even more drama to the tense day. Sarah Sluis of the <a href="http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/reviews/specialty-releases/e3idaa6fa5c7cf9caac9db606f862b2904a">Film Review Journal</a> says "Andrews and Wilde are compelling both for what they give to the camera as well as how they convey their unseen interior lives...Fix aims to be a cultural touchstone it canât quite achieve, but at least it has the nerve to try." </p>
<p>In what's looking to be more and more like a Sandra Bullock Oscar vehicle, <em>The Blind Side</em> is getting just above average reviews across the board. Based on the book by Michael Lewis about the importance of a good left tackle in football, the film focuses on the storyline of Michael Oher, the current right tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, and his upbringings. Though Entertainment Weekly called it a "feel good movie," Melissa Anderson of <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-17/film/saintly-white-people-do-the-saving-in-the-blind-side/">the Village Voice</a> says it "peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them." Yeah, and Bullock's accent is <em>way</em> over the top.</p>
<p>Sundance premiered <em>Missing Person</em> is a modern day film noir, packed with dark glances, sexy trains and mysterious identities. Starring Michael Shannon, the film seems more concerned with creating the noir image than keeping up a decent storyline. Nicholas Rapold of <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/80770/the-missing-person-film-review">Time Out New York</a> says "Though Ryan Samulâs textured cinematography makes the stubble and shadows seem nearly 3-D, the story chokes on a dull twist from Rosowâs [Shannon] past." </p>
<p>Also opening this week is Lukas Moodysson's <em>Mammoth</em> starring indie favorites Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal. The film follows the young couple (Bernal and Williams) as they both drift apart into their respective jobs, leaving each other and their daughter behind. The movie has been getting fair reviews, with most critics applauding the performances but not much else. Noel Murray from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/mammoth,35579/">The Onion's A.V. Club</a> says "<em>Mammoth</em> is about a group of people pushed by economic necessity to tend to people other than their actual loved ones, and Moodysson has a keen eye for how such a depressing situation looks, whether heâs showing Bernal leaving a seductive Williams behind in their cozy bed or showing Bernal spending good money to live like a pauper on a Thailand beach.</p><p></p>"But while <em>Mammoth</em> is frequently poignant and beautifully actedâespecially by Williams, whoâs so lost and lonely that she becomes casually cruelâthe movie lacks the personal touch thatâs distinguished even Moodyssonâs 'difficult' films."
<p>Considering the awesome voice cast (Dwayne Johnson, Justin Long, Gary Oldman and John Cleese, to name a few), it's too bad that <em>Planet 51</em> isn't getting better reviews. Then again, when you watch the trailer, it all makes sense. The PG, 3-D flick tells the story of an astronaut who lands on an "alien" planet, only to find out he is the alien. A predictable, zany plotline ensues that will probably enthrall five year olds and not many others. <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/movie/story/0664F9866DA370DE86257672006ACD3B?OpenDocument">The St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> says "it speaks in the international language of lightweight comedy."</p>
<p>Fans and well-wishers of New York's forgotten borough, lovingly referred to as Shaolin by its native sons, might be interested in seeing it materialized as the film <em>Staten Island</em>. The movie follows a mobster, a butcher, and a blue-collar worker (played by Vincent D'Onofrio, Seymour Cassel, and Ethan Hawke, respectively) as they plot, murder, and betray one another throughout the island. Nicolas Rapold from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/80772/staten-island-film-review">Time Out New York</a> in a particularly brutal review says: "Give filmmaker and native son of Princeâs Bay James DeMonaco some credit; he puts all his heart into this absurd rob-the-mob yarn.</p><p></p>"That the plot suddenly shuffles the chronologyâpart of a post-Tarantino eye for flamboyant detail thatâs played for comedy and pathosâmakes it feel like a new, worse movie starts halfway through. <em>Staten Island</em> is not without surprisesânor is it any good."
<p>Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir wants to shake up your weekend with his documentary <em>Defamation</em>. The film explores the questions: What is anti-Semitism today? Does it pose an immediate and dangerous threat or is it just a scare tactic to discredit critics? Well one critic, a certain Neil Genzlinger from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/movies/20defamation.html?ref=movies">The Times</a>, has an opinionânot so much on the question, but on the documentaryâsaying: "In his disorganized and somewhat annoying <em>Defamation</em>; Yoav Shamir, an Israeli filmmaker, tries to stir up a tempest with the notions that âanti-Semiticâ has become an all-purpose label for anyone who dares criticize Israel and that some Jewsâ preoccupation with the past â i.e., the Holocaust â is preventing progress in the here and now.</p><p></p>"These ideas deserve a thorough, dispassionate discussion, but what they get here is an imitation-Michael Moore treatment, with Mr. Shamir trying to catch his subjects in unguarded moments. Not helping is that some of those subjects, at least for an American audience, are overexposed. Presumably Mr. Shamirâs film plays differently in Israel. In the United States, it feels like just another day on the Op-Ed page."
<p>The 13-year-old girl inside us is hyperventilating: "So ohmigod, <em>New Moon</em> is out! I am like, so excited. But there is no <em>way</em> that Jacob is hotter than Edward, right? I mean, Edward is a vampire. I could like, melt into those golden eyes. Jacob is what, like, a werewolf? Ew. Who thinks a werewolf is sexy? I mean, he's all hairy and stuff. Though he does have a nice six-pack when he takes off his shirt. But Bella and Edward are supposed to be together 4ever! Whatever, this movie is going to totally rock. Everyone who hates it is totally jealous. Like Kyle Smith from the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/over_bite_9rWhbK6GVrdRAxGpGNoSDO">New York Post</a>, who says, like '<em>New Moon</em> is supposed to be an exciting love story plus monster action. So whereâs the excitement? Whereâs the action?' He's just like jealous because he's not as hot as Edward. I'll be your Bella, Edward!"</p>
<p>The Hitchcock classic <em>Psycho</em> (and world's best advertisement for clear shower curtains) will be playing at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_Frameset.htm">Landmark Sunshine</a> cinema this weekend, because what better way to end a night out than to watch this still terrifying thriller at midnight? Starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.</p>
<p>After the midnight showings of <em>Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</em> and all the <em>Monty Python</em> movies this month, you still might feel the need to get yet another midnight fix of Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin. Well, you're in luck! This weekend at the <a href="http://www.ifccenter.com/films/jabberwocky/">IFC Center</a> they will be showing Terry Gilliam's directorial debut <em>Jabberwocky</em>, based on Lewis Carrol's poem, and starring Michael Palin. It should hold you over till <em>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus</em> comes out.</p>
<p>Directed by John Woo, this Chinese epic based on the Battle of Red Cliff at the end of the Han Dynasty will be opening at Landmark Sunshine cinema this weekend. <em>Red Cliff</em> was apparently the most expensive Asian film production of all time, and blends history and action seamlessly. Scott Tobias of the<a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/red-cliff,35582/"> AV Club</a> says "The film is both traditional and modern: austere in its engagement with history, and insistent in its showy action beats."</p>
<p>This Saturday at the <a href="http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=1644">BAM Rose Cinema</a> is the New York premiere of Helena TÅeÅ¡tÃková's documentary <em>Rene'</em>. "This raw documentary tells the story of a man whose life has been captured on camera since he was seventeen. TÅeÅ¡tÃková followed his hopeless journey between stints in prison and brief periods outside the prison walls." A part of the BAMcinematek series New Czech Films and Winner of the Prix Arte from the European Film Academy, the film will be followed by a Q & A with director TÅeÅ¡tÃková. </p>