Weekend Movie Forecast: Harry Potter Vs. Errol Morris
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<p>OMG! OMFG! <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows: Part 2</em> <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/07/14/harry_potter_deathly_hollows_2.php#photo-1">is finally out</a>! People have been waiting for this since some homeless woman in England started this fiasco in 1997 (yeah, it's been that long), and it's finally here! The highest grossing film series of all time is coming to its ridiculously epic end. If you haven't seen it yet you must not be a big fan, but they'll still let you in. It's strange how we've watched these kids literally grow up over the course of this magical shitshow (and watched Emma Watson grow into a beautiful young woman, which makes us feel kinda creepy), but it's all over now. Be on the lookout: nerds will be going buckwild. <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/07/15/photos_costumed_harry_potter_fans.php#photo-1">In costume.</a><br/><br/>Reviews have been very, very positive with Joshua Rothkopf from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1684901/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2">Time Out New York</a> saying: "'I need to talk to the goblin,' the young man says firmly, no longer a boy or even a teen, really. Heâs obeyed instantly. Obviously, weâre still in J.K. Rowlingâs wizardly world, but Daniel Radcliffe steps into this one with a decadeâs conviction: Weâve seen him shuck off cutesiness and wrestle with adolescenceâdirector Alfonso Cuarónâs third installment, The Prisoner of Azkaban, was a standout. But the final Harry Potter movie, above all others, supplies Radcliffe with the gravitas of not just an epic story come to completion, but some real dramatic heft. Not so bad for a Hogwarts dropout.<br/><br/>"And still, Harryâs story is one of embracing destiny and relinquishing power; stewarded by the actorcentric director David Yates and scored by Alexandre Desplatâs supplest orchestral strains, this fleet, triumphant sequel puts people first. Iâd call that growing up." </p>
<p>Other than Ken Burns, Errol Morris is one of the only documentarians that can ride off of their name alone. Every time he releases a documentary or writes a column in a paper, his moniker alone is enough to get plenty of people interested in what he has to say or show. Today the newest Morris doc comes out, <em>Tabloid</em>, and most people who are seeing it don't really care what it's about. We're nice though, so we'll tell you anyway: Miss Wyoming Joyce McKinney was a beauty queen with an IQ of 168 who, in her pursuit for love, got involved with kidnapping, jail time, cloning laboratories, and notoriety. Considering his past subjects, this story is probably extremely interesting and should make a great night at the cinema.<br/><br/>Reviews have been, as per usual for Morris, excellent, with Scott Tobias from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/tabloid,58903/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "A departure, at least superficially, from the somber political inquiry of Morrisâ last two documentaries, <em>The Fog Of War</em> and <em>Standard Operating Procedure</em>, <em>Tabloid</em> spins one hell of a yarn, following the twists and turns of a story that understandably captivated a nation. Like a more fleshed-out version of one of Morrisâ First Person portraits, the film gives McKinney a broad forum to tell her side while also bringing out whatever journalists and co-conspirators are still alive and willing to go on record.<br/><br/>"McKinney may well be a madwoman, but Morris connects so deeply to her obsessions that the filmâs tone never seems exploitative or mocking. Mostly, itâs just endlessly curious in the familiar Morris way: curious about another in his career-long gallery of eccentrics, curious about British tabloid culture, and curious about how radically stories are distorted, both by outlets looking for an angle and by individuals who reserve their greatest deceits for themselves." </p>
<p>In regards to Eeyore: "Well a tail is either there or it isn't there," said Pooh. "And yours isn't... there." You might not have been to Hundred Acre Woods in a while, but it's still there. They tried building a shopping mall there sometime in the late '80s, but Rabbit and that Nerdy owl chained themselves to a tree. Nevertheless, if you have kids or are just a sucker for the aggravatingly zen headcase known as <em>Winnie the Pooh</em>, he's got a new movie out, and thankfully(!), it's not CG or 3D. The story follows a suicidal donkey after he loses his tail and his obnoxiously happy friends who try to help him find it.<br/><br/>Reviews have actually, for a Disney/non-Pixar movie, been very good, with A.O. Scott from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/movies/winnie-the-pooh-from-disney-review.html?ref=movies">The New York Times</a> (heavens to Betsy! The old gray lady loves the yellow bear!) saying: "It is not very long, not very loud and not in 3-D. It has no attention-grabbing celebrity voice work, and the only pop-cultural allusions it makes are to other stories and films about Pooh and his friends. Which is not to say that the movie is obnoxiously self-referential, but rather that it is comfortable with itself and confident in its ability to amuse and beguile young viewers.<br/><br/>"So it is good to see Pooh again, along with Rabbit, Owl and Eeyore (my own Milnean avatar) â and to discover a new path back into the old, classic story. <em>Winnie the Pooh</em> may not be a movie that grown-ups seek out on their own, but it may make some of them jealous of the 4-year-olds who are making the noble bearâs acquaintance for the first time." </p>
<p>This appears to be a nostalgic weekend, other than that happy, fat, yellow face coming back into your life in <em>Winnie the Pooh</em>, we'll also get a visit from the brilliant Jim Henson at the wonderful <a href="http://www.movingimage.us/">Museum of the Moving Image</a> in an elaborate retrospective, <em>Jim Henson's Fantastic World</em>, that opens tomorrow with <em>The Muppet Movie</em>. We don't think we really need to tell you how great that movie (and every other Muppet movie up till '95) was, but we'll remind you...they're the bee's knees. Don't miss! </p>
<p>If you're into quaint indie pictures, <em>The Tree</em> might be up your alley. The film follows an eight-year-old girl whose father has recently died. She develops the belief that he can speak to her through the branches and leaves of a tree. Things get complicated when her mom starts seeing a plumber who plans for the tree's removal, because its roots are wreaking havoc on the plumbing system. Scandal! <br/><br/>Reviews have been alright, with Melissa Anderson from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-07-13/film/good-grief-charlotte-gainsbourg-widowed-in-the-tree/">The Voice</a> saying: "No one grieves onscreen quite like Charlotte Gainsbourg, here playing Dawn, made a widow within the first 10 minutes of <em>The Tree</em>. When not sobbing or sleeping, she expends her depleted energy wrangling her four kids, ranging from toddler to teenager, who scamper around their stilt-built house in Boonah, a tiny, dusty town in Queensland, Australia.<br/><br/>"If the message of 'Let go and move on' is suggested a little too obviously by Bertuccelliâs destructive title character, it at least serves as the arboreal opposite to Terrence Malickâs cosmic mumbo-jumboâThe Tree of Death." </p>
<p>This weekend sees the opening of <em>Snow Flower and the Secret Fan</em>, the film adaptation of popular novelist Lisa See's book. The movie follows two seven-year-old girls, Snow Flower and Lily, in 19th-century China, who are <em>laotong</em>, or "old sames," who communicate with each other via a secret language that they invented, written on the inside flaps of fans. Juxtaposed with that is a story in modern Shanghai, involving two descendants of the <em>laotong</em>, and their struggle to maintain their own childhood friendship. Honestly, it sounds like a novel that was turned into a movie, but we can hope for the best.<br/><br/>Reviews have been pretty "meh," with David Fear from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1684995/snow-flower-and-the-secret-fan">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Though, as this supersoapy adaptation of Lisa Seeâs already-sudsy novel proves, that doesnât mean husbands, mothers-in-law, typhoid epidemics, rebellions and history overall wonât try their damnedest to ruin such deeply estrogenic intimacy.<br/><br/>"Set mostly in modern-day Shanghai and involving two other girlfriends (also Li and Jun), this parallel plot feels less like an attempt to broaden the bookâs horizons than to cash in on Joyâs cross-generational appeal while doubling down on cheap-shot melodrama." </p>
<p>Here's one for the Netflix queue (probably the bottom). <em>Lucky</em> stars Colin Hanks who plays a lottery winner who finally lands his dream girl, only to find out that she's a gold digger who finds out that he's a serial killer. Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Anyway, it doesn't look particularly good, but it's your life.<br/><br/>Reviews have been alright, with Nick Pinkerton from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-07-13/film/so-i-married-a-gold-digger-says-the-murderer-in-lucky/">Village Voice</a> saying: "Also trading on winning tickets are Hanks, the image of father Tom in the skinny years, and Gil Cates Jr., using his Academy Awardsâproducing fatherâs name in lieu of talent.<br/><br/>"Having a killer and a complicit gold-digger for leads will require some deft work to sustain a viewerâs sympathy, but this does not seem to occur to the personnel here, who presume the 'deliciously dark' setup is more than enough." </p>
<p>On paper <em>Salvation Boulevard</em> sounds like it could be a good rental. Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei, and Pierce Brosnan star in a film about an evangelical minister who promises salvation and sweet real estate deals to a small western town. However, according to reviews, something went terribly awry. It's not like it has the biggest stars in the world, but they're nothing to sneeze at either, and the plot seems somewhat topical. But sometimes shit happens.<br/><br/>Like we pointed out earlier, reviews have not been good, with Noel Murray from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/salvation-boulevard,58901/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "George Ratliffâs flip adaptation of Larry Beinhartâs mystery-thriller <em>Salvation Boulevard</em> is a misfire of the first order, starting with the way writer-director Ratliff and co-writer Doug Max Stone turn what couldâve been a provocative, gripping story into an over-the-top yukfest. Framed as a âsatireâ set in the milieu of upper-middle-class suburban mega-churches, <em>Salvation Boulevard</em> doesnât seem to have any higher aspiration than illustrating how religious people can be hypocrites. (Gosh, who knew?)<br/><br/>"Itâs hard to say whatâs worst about <em>Salvation Boulevard</em>: the narrow conception of what a Christian is (or a Deadhead, or a college professor, for that matter), or the excessively muggy performances, which Ratliff fails to bring into any kind of harmony." </p>
<p>Also coming out today is the film <em>Life, Above All</em> which follows 12-year-old Chanda, a girl living in a small village outside of Johannesburg, who finds out (after the death of her newborn sister) that there's a nasty rumor going around about her mother. Her mom ends up fleeing the village and young Chandra goes to find out the truth behind it. Movies like this usually fly under the radar, but it might be an interesting way to spend a summer afternoon.<br/><br/>Reviews have been good, with some criticism coming from Melissa Anderson at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-07-13/film/it-takes-more-than-a-village-side-stepping-south-african-history-in-life-above-all/">The Voice</a> who says: "'AIDS' isnât uttered until well past the halfway mark of Oliver Schmitzâs problematic South Africaâset tale about the fear, gossip, and superstition surrounding the illness in a township 125 miles outside Johannesburg. Bright, stoic 12-year-old Chanda (affecting newcomer Khomotso Manyaka) puts her studies on hold to handle one unbearable situation after another: her infant sisterâs death, her stepfatherâs drunken madness, her orphaned best friendâs truck-stop prostitution, her motherâs gradual withering away.<br/><br/>"But the well-intentioned project, from a director born to German immigrants in Cape Town in 1960, has the odd feeling of being made by a patronizing outsiderâone who wants to assure his audience that theyâre incapable of the backward thinking of his characters. Schmitz never states exactly when <em>Life, Above All</em> is set, but elides some particularly shameful recent South African history by not even alluding to former president Thabo Mbekiâs sympathies with AIDS denialists in the â00s." </p>
<em>You remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of voodoo. Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe.</em><br/><br/>Playing this weekend at midnight at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_Frameset.htm">Landmark Theater</a>, Sunshine Theater proudly presents Jim Henson's epic collaboration with the one and only David Bowie (with some prepubescent J-Con thrown in for good measure) in the film <em>Labyrinth</em>. Baby gone missin', Muppets and Bowie's bulge. You can't 'eff with that shit.