Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Season of the Witch</em> Vs.<em> Go Go Tales</em>
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<p>We've all known for quite some time now that Nicolas Cage lives in a fantasy world. Whether it's playing out his homoerotic idolization of Elvis by marrying his daughter, buying castles overseas only to then import them to Long Beach, or moving into, according to him, the most haunted house in America down in New Orleans, Cage always seems to be living it up in his own little Cage-iverse. Well, apparently this early-onset dementia has begun to affect his career because following his fantasy flop <em>The Sorcerer's Apprentice</em> comes another fantastical feature film <em>Season of the Witch</em>. </p><p></p>Not to be confused with the working title of <em>Mean Streets</em>, the Romero movie of the same name, or that delightful Donovan song (how great would it be if they somehow worked this song into the movie, maybe during a sword fight scene), the film follows Cage as a Crusader returning home after decades of fighting only to find his town destroyed by the Plague. <p></p>What could have possibly caused such rampant sickness and death? Awful living conditions with little to no sanitation which fostered bacteria into disease in the flea and rodent population only to then be transferred to humans through their skin which then works its way into the lymphatic system to wreak havoc on a victim alive when antibiotics aren't around? No. There's a girl in town who didn't get sick, so the church elders are convinced...she's an effin' witch, and in the logic of big Hollywood films it turns out she is. Nevertheless, Cage and his BFF must make their way to some strange monastery, little white girl in hand, and bring her to be exorcised. As you can imagine things probably don't go smoothly and the audience is treated to supernatural sword fights between evil and Nic Cage. We imagine he goes through similar battles every day in his head.<p></p>Reviews have been mediocre to terrible, with Tasha Robinson from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/season-of-the-witch,49726/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "The film looks dispiritingly cheap and, as if in response, most of his cast seems half-committed at best, as if theyâre counting the moments until they can move on to a bigger picture. <em>Season Of The Witch</em> was originally scheduled for a March 2010 release before being delayed and dumped in the January graveyard, but it probably shouldnât have been released at all. No use throwing good money after bad, even if there wasnât much invested to begin with."
<p>There are a lot of us in this fair city that have lived here for less then ten years. This isn't a bad thing, nor should it be a pissing contest for native-status or a means of deterring people from feeling at home. Whether we were still in High School or College, back wherever home is or was, or out of the country, some of us weren't around for "pre-gentrified, pre-Disney" NYC that the old washed out gutter punks who still live on Canal Street are always screaming about. The NYC that probably only really existed in a conglomeration of pictures of Warhol and Time Square Peepshows, the music of Blondie, Talking Heads, and Ramones and films like <em>Downtown 81</em>, <em>Taxi Driver</em> etc... Basically in the collective imagination. </p><p></p>As bad as it was or might have been, so many great artists have come out of seedy NY and have worked their way into the fringes of pop culture. In the world of NYC film, between the mainstream Scorcese, Lee, Allen and the experimental Richard Kern and Nick Zedd, was Abel Ferrara. After the one-two punch of <em>King of New York</em> and <em>Bad Lieutenant</em> in the early '90s, Ferrara had established himself as one of the boldest and most interesting directors working. After a few exploitation movies and Grindhouse throwbacks, Hollywood turned its back on the director and started sending his films straight to video. Finally, after being completed in 2007, <a href="http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/">Anthology Film Archives is showing</a> Ferrara's <em>Go Go Tales</em> and it looks like it's going to be a nice Valentine to Old NYC. The film follows Ray Ruby (Willem Defoe) owner of the financially strapped NYC strip club Paradise Lounge as he faces eviction and a stripper strike. <p></p>Everyone seems to really be getting a kick out of this one, with J. Hoberman from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-05/film/go-go-tales-a-sweet-strip-tease/">The Village Voice opining</a>: "Shtick runs rampant. Sylvia Milesâs foul-mouthed harridan landlady installs herself at the bar and channels Joan Rivers, shrieking about the Bed Bath & Beyond sheâs going to bring in to replace the Paradise at $18,000 per month with a 99-year lease. Midway through, Asia Argentoâthe Queen of I-Donât-Give-a-Shitâcoolly erupts into the proceedings for a show-stopping number that involves the exchange of bodily fluids with her pet Rottweiler. Not to be outdone, Dafoe (so deadpan in his hamming as to function as a one-man <a href="http://gothamist.com/tags/woostergroup">Wooster Group</a>) follows up with a ludicrously sensitive lounge song, delivered amid a phalanx of writhing strippers.<p></p>"When, in the movieâs most passionate scene, the beleaguered Ray Ruby defends his Paradise as a cathedral of free expression, <em>Go Go Tales</em> strips itself bare. No amount of writhing pulchritude or gutter language can conceal this movieâs essential innocence."
<p>This weekend the <a href="http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/weir.html">Film Society of Lincoln Center</a> presents <em>Voyager: The Films of Peter Weir</em>. The Australian director has made some of the great movies of the last three decades and it's nice to see him get some recognition for it. After pioneering the Australian New Wave movement in the '70's with films like <em>The Cars That Ate Paris</em> and <em>The Last Wave</em>, Weir went on to direct some big American films like <em>Witness</em>, <em>Dead Poets Society</em>, <em>Fearless</em> and <em>The Truman Show</em>. Previewing during the showcase is the directors first film since 2003's <em>The Master and Commander</em> entitled <em>The Way Back</em>. Starring Ed Harris and Colin Farrell the film follows the true story of seven prisoners who escaped a Siberian Gulag in 1940 and walked all the way to India. The film won't premiere for a few months so it'll be cool to see a preview of the film before anyone else. Don't miss out. </p>
<p>Also opening today is the semi-autobiographical documentary <em>The Time That Remains</em>. The film is an intimate portrait of Palestinians living as minorities in their own homeland between 1948 and present day. The director Elia Suleiman based most of the film on his father's diary as well as from his own memories about growing up. For people who have trouble grasping major social-political world events, films like this that concentrate on a personal history in order to illustrate a national one are welcome history lessons.</p><p></p>Reviews have been positive, with Joshua Rothkopf from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/662873/the-time-that-remains">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Perhaps the best way to sell <em>The Time That Remains</em> (and Suleimanâs Tati-like sense of visual absurdity) is to cop his episodic style and simply describe one perfect doodle: A hipster Arab paces back and forth on a cell call, enthusing about a new dance tune. Meanwhile, an Israeli tank follows his head with its enormous turret: back, forth, back, forth. Call it overkill, vigilance or a genius editorial.<p></p>"Still, this is a welcome example of kitsch wedded to serious indictment: Who knew that high-school screenings of <em>Spartacus</em> had such insidious purpose?"
<p>The man who legend says was kicked out of Bob Dylan's limousine after being told "You're not a folksinger. You're a journalist," Phil Ochs, is finally getting the proper documentary treatment. Although born in Texas, he spent many years in Far Rockaway, so we should feel free to claim the underrated songwriter as our own. <em>Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune</em> follows the extremely turbulent life and career of one of the country's greatest patriots (it's amazing how tainted that word is now) as he sought both fame and social justice in equal measure. His life and tragic suicide could write a film itself, but the doc seems to try and explore the political side to Ochs's story and how much it still reverberates today. Ochs once scathingly sang about, among other things, the Kittie Genovese murder, saying: "And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends." Let's hope he's wrong.</p><p></p>Reviews have been good, with Stephen Holden from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/movies/05phil.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "Ochsâs involvement with the civil rights and antiwar movements and his presence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention make <em>There but for Fortune</em> not only a biography but also a running history of the periodâs left-wing activism, replete with film clips of that decadeâs tragic events; the assassination of John F. Kennedy hit Ochs especially hard.<p></p>"The story told by Mr. Bowserâs film is complicated and tragic. Once the songs stopped coming, Ochsâs bipolar illness, worsened by alcoholism, led to acute paranoia and eventually to suicide. A contributing factor to his decline was probably his realization after the violent police response to radical demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention that the powers that be, if sufficiently irate, would lash back viciously. "
<p>Also opening today is the strange little film <em>Americatown</em>. Being called a bizarre sort-of-satire, the film takes place in some perfect allegorical American suburb with a population of exactly 1,000 residents where nothing can possibly go wrong...until some klutz spills a cup of coffee and starts a chain of small catastrophes. No one really knows what to make of this 77 minute skit, which might make an interesting instant watch on Netflix.</p><p></p>Critics are confused and underwhelmed, with Jeanette Catsoulis from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/movies/07america.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "The doldrums between the beginning of the year and the Oscars is often a dumping ground for bottom-of-the-barrel movies that should probably have stayed there. <em>Americatown</em> is no exception: this bizarre sort-of satire featuring insane characters doing incomprehensible things might be forgivable if it were even mildly amusing. Itâs not.<p></p>"As the comedy duo the Superkiiids!, Mr. Howard and Mr. Guggenheim have aired their surreal brand of humor in a number of short films and videos, a format more forgiving of their visual ham-fistedness. And, it must be said, infinitely kinder to their viewers."
<p>Opening today at <a href="http://www.filmforum.org/films/whistle.html">Film Forum</a> is the Berlin Film Festival Grand Jury prize winner and Romania's official entry in this year's Oscar Best Foreign Film category <em>If I Want to Whistle, I'll Whistle</em>. The film follows 18 year-old Silviu, who has spent the last two years in a Romanian juvenile delinquent center and is a week away from release when a visit from his family starts a serious mental unraveling. The film sounds like it's filmed in the style of old Italian Neo-Realism, using non-professional child prisoners and a bare-bones documentary style, and could turn out to be a powerful film.</p><p></p>Reviews have been very good, with J. Hoberman from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-05/film/romania-goes-to-juvie-in-if-i-want-to-whistle-i-ll-whistle/">The Voice</a> saying: "Understatement only heightens the sense of smoldering resentment. Self-contained Silviu, often shown in Dardenne-style back-of-the-head close-ups plowing through his confined world, is fatally unable to articulate his situationâa plight emphasized by the pretty young sociology student (Ada Condeescu) who arrives on a mission to interview the inmates. <em>If I Want to Whistle</em> is slack yet tautâtension builds whenever Serban hits the narrative pause button.<p></p>"Even once all hell finally breaks loose, the suspense is enhanced by lengthy stand-offs, real-time delays, and pervasive confusion on how to best handle a situation gone wildly out of control."
<em>Do you have any idea how long it took me to get all the evil exes' contact information so I could form this stupid league? Like, two hours! *Two hours!*</em><p></p> Screening this weekend at midnight <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm">at The Sunshine</a>: Edgar Wright's out of control <em>Scott Pilgrim vs. the World</em>. The film that everyone's favorite husky ginger film critic <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/47938">Harry Knowles</a> called the best film of the year (seriously), follows one geeky 20 something bass player who falls in love with a girl Romona and must defeat her seven evil exes in order to win her over. Say what you will about Michael Cera and the kind of quirky, cuteness of the source material (in which you'd probably be right) but Wright really goes all out on this one and turns the film into visual crack. Making it even more interesting is the fact that Wright structured the film like a musical, using fighting choreography instead of dancing and singing. The visuals and sounds make it a must see in theaters, so if you missed it the first time around and feel like getting giddy with fun, check it out.