Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>The Conspirator</em> Vs. <em>Armadillo</em>
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<p>Bobby Redford is back! That blond juggernaut who made your mother swoon all those years ago is depriving her of his good-looks and charming smile by going behind the camera with his newest movie <em>The Conspirator</em>. The film follows one old-timey man Frederick Aiken (great- great-great-grandfather of Clay) who is defending the only woman accused of conspiring to kill Abe Lincoln, one salty lass known as Mary Surratt. Things escalate to the point of screaming in court (giving lawyers the excuse to say "I object!" but not to say "Badgering the witness!") and explosions going off in a period setting. We're sure it'll get your cummerbund in a twist!</p><p></p>Reviews have been mixed, but your grandparents will love it! A particularly negative review comes from Nick Pinkerton at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-04-13/film/the-conspirator-another-dull-history-lesson-from-robert-redford/">The Voice</a> who says: "Showing a government system as it responds to an attack, <em>The Conspirator</em> is Robert Redfordâs first film since the awfulâand similarly themedâ<em>Lions for Lambs</em> (2007). Redford, never the subtlest of dialectic filmmakers, has now become the browbeating professor he played in Lions, dotting rhetorical iâs for the audience in every scene ('In times of war, the law falls silent').<p></p>"<em>The Conspirator</em>, though, fails to blow dust off its period. The historically obscure figure of Aiken is hardly vivified. Courtroom scenes are stagey, with cued-up gasps and canned laughter. Redford shows some flair with assassinations and executions, but the most done to enliven the dialogue is having Aiken and Johnson talk while the latter is using the bathroom."
<p>The first documentary ever chosen to compete in the International Criticsâ Week at Cannes (where it won the grand prize), Janus Metzâs <em>Armadillo</em> follows a platoon of Danish soldiers on a six-month tour of Afghanistan in 2009. <br/><br/>Reviews have been positive, with Eric Hynes at <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1178149/armadillo">Time Out New York</a> who says: "When the U.S. first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, the term embedded reporting suggested an all-access pass to military might. But with last yearâs <em>Restrepo</em> and this astonishing thunderclap of a war doc, proximity puts you flush in the face of an unfolding tragedy. <em>Armadillo</em> follows a group of Danish soldiers for a full tour of duty in the region, where they regularly engage the Taliban in close-range firefights. Director Janus Metz Pedersen has the scruples of a journalist but the sensibility of an artist, using the camera to interpret and complicate his subjects even while doggedly recording them." </p>
<p>This week at <a href="http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/free-radicals-serge-bozon-and-the-new-french-cinema">Lincoln Center</a> they're presenting <em>Free Radicals: Serge Bozon and the New French Cinema</em>. Basically, it's the hippest thing ever, with a bunch of over-educated twenty- and thirty-somethings actually being productive and making films. Unlike their American counterparts who are working retail or waiting tables, these kids write for cinema magazines and then make new-new-wave films that are so theory-heavy they'll make your head explode! In the center of this black hole of creativity is lyricist/filmmaker/musician/writer/DJ Serge Bozon, who has been so prolific that a glance at his Wikipedia page will make you contemplate offing yourself tonight at whatever dive you drown your sorrows in. But! If you'd like to go and pretend you're part of this intellectual glitterati, head to Lincoln Center, fraternize with some Columbia students, and enjoy free beer and wine while you watch films made by some kids who just wanted to make something memorable. It should be a nice night on the town. </p>
<p>If you're a sucker for crazy love triangles (and who isn't!?), then you might want to check out the new film <em>The Princess of Montpensier</em> which is released today. In 16th century France, during that whole Catholic/Protestant to-do, a dame who's already been arranged with some bloke she doesn't like, falls for a hunk she wants, and confides about it with some older gent who wants a piece of her for his own. Delish! And oh yeah, God is involved or something, so we guess it adds more gravity to the situation.</p><p></p>Reviews have been positive, with Nick Pinkerton from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-04-13/film/heat-in-the-bedroom-and-on-the-battlefield-in-princess-of-montpensier/">The Village Voice</a><a></a> saying: "The finest Western youâll see this year is set in aristocratic 16th-century France, in the heat of Counter-Reformation.<p></p>"The action is remarkable also for its revelation of character and moral dimensionâqualities learned from American horse operas by Tavernier, who vigorously jounces painterly posing out of this period material. The setting always serves the performers rather than vice versaâthough the film is also greatly enhanced by the costuming, the rugged French countryside photographed in outdoor-adventure CinemaScope, and Philippe Sardeâs baroque-tribal score, its martial and romantic poles matching a tale of love (corrupted) and war (pointless)."
<p>For those self-respecting adults out there who don't have kids, you might walk by posters like the one for <em>Rio</em> and not even notice them. The adult eye isn't made to hone in on any poster entirely comprised of CG images unless the word Pixar is on it somewhere (and even then you've already read about it in <em>Wired</em> or <em>The Times</em>). And because advertisers have gotten better about targeting audiences with highly specific advertising, you probably haven't even seen a commercial for this movie unless you've been watching <em>Spongebob</em> or <em>iCarly</em>. So here's the breakdown: Blu is a rare macaw who discovers that he isn't actually the last of his kind, as he always thought, but that there's a feisty, sexy, wild, lady macaw out there too. Anyway, he decides he should probably procreate the species a bit (what a guy) and gives winning her over the ol' college try. All of this takes place in the colorful, musical world of Rio de Janeiro, just like <em>City of God</em>!</p><p></p>Reviews have been pretty good actually, with Andy Webster (must be new) from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/movies/rio-animated-comedy-with-jesse-eisenberg-review.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "Maybe it was just a longing for warmer climes and springâs arrival, but Foxâs <em>Rio</em> had a killer opening overseas. Maybe it was because this animated feature effort is a significant step forward from the studioâs <em>Ice Age</em> films, in the richness of its cast, the exuberance of its music and the vibrance of its palette. Or maybe it was because the director, Carlos Saldanha, is from Rio de Janeiro, the principal setting, bringing a wealth of affection to it. Whichever. It works.<p></p>"As kidsâ movies go, <em>Rio</em> brings a lot to the party. "
<p>As far as horror films go, <em>Scream</em> kinda sorta defined the '90s. There were meta-horror films before it, but <em>Scream</em> made it popular. It was a horror movie about horror movies, and a good one at that. The movie spawned countless imitators, names for rap artists, spoofs, and the revitalization of Wes Craven's waning career. If he can make the movie interesting for a generation that doesn't even pick up their cell for unknown numbers ("Do you like scary movies?"), then he might have something. In the latest installment, Craven gets Sidney to return home because she's a successful self-help author (of course!) on a book tour (why would it stop in her town?). Needless to say, "Ghostface" soon returns and questions arise. </p><p></p>Reviews have been mixed, with Nathan Rabin from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/scream-4,54637/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "Sequels are by nature redundant and superfluous. They extend conceits far beyond their logical ending points for commerceâs sake, and recycle ideas until theyâve lost whatever novelty attracted audiences to them in the first place. But itâs rare for a sequel to extensively acknowledge its own pointlessness, let alone make the unnecessary nature of its existence a recurring theme, the way <em>Scream 4</em> does. Then again, the <em>Scream</em> franchise has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to deconstructing itself and the rules of the slasher genre. Fifteen years in, the series now looks more than ever like a Möbius strip that reflects on itself in a perpetual loop. But meta-arbitrary is still arbitrary.<p></p>"<em>Scream 4</em> goes about its bloody business with impersonal, impatient proficiency: a reasonably clever script, game cast, and assured direction make it only as good as it absolutely has to be. <em>Scream 4</em> doesnât justify its existence creatively, but itâs cynical enough to scoff at the notion that it would even need to do so."
<p>The reality of post-colonial Africa, utterly saturated by the wounds of both past and present, is thoughtfully rendered in Mahamet-Saleh Haroun's <em>A Screaming Man</em>, which opened on Wednesday, April 13th in Manhattan. The film follows Adam, a middle-aged man who faces immediate shifts in his own life while his homeland of Chad undergoes its own deep ruptures. Tackling enormous questions of identity, nationhood, and wars both internal and external, <em>A Screaming Man</em> manages to be a timeless portrait of a man caught in the gyre of history. Manohla Dargis of <em>The New York Times</em> <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/movies/mahamat-saleh-haroun-directs-a-screaming-man-review.html?ref=movies">writes</a>: âA Screaming Manâ is a quiet, tender, finally wrenching story of an individual at the intersection of the personal and the political. Itâs a modest film, if only in scale and apparent budget, about some of the greatest questions in life, like the existence of God, our capacity to see beyond our own vanity and the legacies of fathers, both blood and state." </p>
<p>First-time director Zeina Durra merges political and cultural commentary in her curiously-titled film <em>The Imperalists Are Still Alive!</em>, which focuses on American decadence as it is interpreted by one Asya, a Jordanian-Bosnian-Palestinian artist living in New York City. The film looks to be an intelligent (and aesthetically adept) examination of xenophilia, alienation, and the exoticization of radicalism. IndieWire <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/04/15/review_living_in_the_present_the_imperialists_are_still_alive#">published a review</a> upon the film's release at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, saying: "Soon after the premiere in January... critics immediately compared Durraâs vision of privileged New Yorkers to the similarly fashionable bubble of the city-dwelling WASP types in Whit Stillmanâs <em>Metropolitan</em>.The association testified to the movieâs instant old school indie cred, right down to the grainy Super 16mm look. Asya and her well-heedled companions may indeed occupy a version of Stillmanâs posh âurban haute bourgeoisie,â but their lives correlate more specifically with current events. Whereas Stillman vaguely situated his characters in a time ânot too long agoâ at the close of the debutante era, Durra roots her representation of the American other in a topical form of social alienation." </p>
<em>I would have been here right after you called, but I had to shake the weasels.</em><p></p>This weekend at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm">Landmark Sunshine</a>, Sunshine at Midnight presents <em>Who Framed Roger Rabbit?</em>. Some of the most clever special effects ever created for film. Don't Miss!