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Weekend Movie Forecast: Pirates Vs. Parisians

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In certain circles, Cannes' Palme d'or holds a hell of a lot more weight than the best picture Oscar ever could. It's the most prestigious award in arguably the most prestigious film awards ceremony in the world right now. Which is why the past two years have left many film buffs scratching their heads. It seems that when Up opened the fest back in '09, it started a new trend for opening films to be Hollywood blockbusters. Now, we understand why Up was chosen (ahem, Pixar), but the following year the festival was opened by the abysmal failure Robin Hood and this year Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which opens today. In a festival where <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/05/19/video_watch_kirsten_dunst_react_whe.php">directors describe certain kinship they feel with the Nazi party</a> while standing next to Hollywood starlets, it seems like a perverse collision of the international art world and American popcorn movies. Kind of keeps things spicy though. Then again, the film does star some Cannes favorites like Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Rush, and Dame Judi Dench, and is directed by (for the first time in the series not Gore Verbinski) Rob Marshall, who made his name with Chicago and Nine. But then again again, it bombed at the festival. Summary: Jack meets and old flame is brought onto Blackbeard boat in order to find the Fountain of youth. Arrrrrrrrr. Maybe it got bad reviews at Cannes because of all those hoighty toighty French critics hating on Amurrrrica. But it didn't do so well with our critics either. Take Joshua Rothkopf from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1422129/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides">Time Out New York</a>, for one: "On Stranger Tides, the fourth and final migraine, removes franchise director Gore Verbinski (Rango) from the helm, replacing him with Chicagoâs Rob Marshallâas if weâre supposed to forget the hash he made of Bob Fosseâs dance numbers. The new movie is simpler plotwise (a race to the Fountain of Youth), while at the same time being somehow more deadening. "After defying the odds with a now-classic character, Disney has finally arrived at oceanâs bottom: an automated money-minter that hardly requires its audience to stay awake."

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Woody Allen is Hollywood's repressed memory. It'll totally forget about him until a week before he releases a movie (annually) and then will push him to the back of their minds. Most people think it's because he hasn't really been that good since the early '90s, and maybe part of that is true. But probably more than any other Hollywood star since Fatty Arbuckle, scandal has become entwined with his career. We all know the strange story, but it's interesting how it correlates with when people stopped caring about his movies. Husbands and Wives came out in 1992, and people often cite that as being the last truly great Allen film. A few months later everyone would find out about him and Soon-Yi Previn and many wouldn't be able to look at him the same way again. Despite how you feel about the relationship, Allen has indeed made some great films in the later part of his career and it sounds like he's releasing another great one today called Midnight in Paris. The film is a romantic comedy about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple (Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better. Reviews have been great, with A.O. Scott from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/movies/midnight-in-paris-by-woody-allen-with-owen-wilson-review.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "Midnight in Paris, Woody Allenâs charming new film, imagines what would happen if that wish came true. It is marvelously romantic, even though â or precisely because â it acknowledges the disappointment that shadows every genuine expression of romanticism. "Nothing here is exactly new, but why would you expect otherwise in a film so pointedly suspicious of novelty? Very little is stale, either, and Mr. Allen has gracefully evaded the trap built by his grouchy admirers and unkind critics â Iâm not alone in fitting both descriptions â who complain when he repeats himself and also when he experiments. Not for the first time, but for the first time in a while, he has found a credible blend of whimsy and wisdom."

Gothamist

Those who haven't stepped foot into the Nuyorican cafe or Bowery poetry club in a while might be happy to know that slam poetry is still going on. Even if you'd rather sit in a coffee shop thumbing through old editions of the collected Byron or Donne, it's still nice to know that there is another outlet for people who don't know, or don't care to know what meter or rhyme schemes are (by the way, most slam poets do, and are fairly well-versed individuals). Today the documentary Louder Than a Bomb comes out, and it follows four Chicago high school poetry teams as they prepare to go to compete in the largest youth poetry slam. Slam poetry is easy to mock, but when it's done right and good, it can be electric. Reviews have been very good, with a rave from Noel Murray from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/louder-than-a-bomb,56319/">The A.V. Club</a> who says: "High-school life as depicted in movies or TV rarely has anything to do with actual high school; itâs more about some middle-aged writerâs memories of old teensploitation flicks, mixed with an unhealthy dose of wish-fulfillment. The documentary Louder Than A Bomb is a different kind of high-school movie, brimming with life and hope instead of social-climbing, bullying, and furtive first kisses. It should hit home with anyone whose experience of adolescence involved creativity, intellectual exploration, and getting to know and love people outside their immediate social circles. "Louder Than A Bomb deals with a few bigger questionsâlike whether competition gets in the way of art, or whether it inspires the competitors to be betterâbut mostly, itâs about how an amazing program has helped bring the best out of these kids, and how these kids have shown the ability to amaze right back."

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We're pretty intrigued by the new documentary Lost Bohemia, which chronicles the oddball artists, actors, dancers and musicians that inhabit or work in the 165 landmark Studios above Carnegie Hall. Everyone from Monroe to Mailer to Brando has worked in this studio and it has been the residence for some artists for almost 40 years. In 2001, the Carnegie Hall Corporation <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/01/18/carnegie_artist.php">began to systematically evict the artists</a> in order to turn the space into a bunch of offices. Alarmed by the situation, photographer Josef Astor, a resident of the Carnegie Hall Studios for over twenty years, began to film his neighboring artists, the ballet school, drama classes, dancers, singing teachers, sculptors, painters and writers. Over a period of eight years, first-time director Astor filmed several hundred hours of the remaining artist tenants as they fought to preserve the Studios for future generations. This documentary is that time capsule. Anyone with any interest in the arts of NYC or in the dying old world of the city might want to check this out. Reviews have been positive, with A.O. Scott from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/movies/lost-bohemia-review.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "It is staggering to contemplate how much of New Yorkâs cultural history is contained in the square feet Mr. Astor â known to his neighbors as Birdman â surveys. And it is infuriating, though not surprising, to witness how efficiently it is wiped away. Much of the film chronicles the eviction of the last tenants, displaced by a renovation plan intended to replace their homes and workplaces with new studios and offices. "An anonymous, unseen poet who lives above Mr. Astor and leaves him eloquent phone messages observes that studios and the hall below, though commissioned by a plutocrat, 'were built not on power, but on love.' The power of this documentary resides in that proud and fragile sentiment."

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So, it was bound to happen, someone has finally gotten around to making a documentary on Second Life. Called Life 2.0 the film delves into the interesting, albeit creepy world of Second Life and the people who control the avatars that inhabit it. Despite previous speculation that the documentary would be made in Second Life, it's actually being shown in the empirical world outside and therefore does not require an account or password. One can only hope the doc touches on that scandal about the legality of taxing a whorehouse in Second Life. It's a great time to be alive. Reviews have been okay, with Nick Schager from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-05-18/film/inside-the-second-life-universe-with-life-20/">The Village Voice</a> saying: "The shifting boundaries between virtual and flesh-and-blood realities are empathetically investigated by director Jason Spingarn-Koff, who alternates between traditional nonfiction footage and graphical Second Life clips in a manner that reflects the lives of his obsessive subjects. Those include a woman claiming to earn a six-figure salary selling computer-society clothes and mansions, a young man playing as an 11-year-old girl (which he justifies to his understandably chagrined fiancÃ©e with Jungian psychology), and a middle-aged couple having an online affair that soon goes offline. "At once a disturbing vision of escape, a cautious portrait of liberation, and an exploration of authenticity and artificialityâas epitomized by a Second Liferâs fondness for Vegasâs Paris hotel but indifference for the real Parisâitâs a documentary that trades not in absolutes but unsettling ambiguity."

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Funny man and New Orleans resident Harry Shearer releases his first documentary today called The Big Uneasy and it sounds like a funny look at a very unfunny situation. If any city has suffered from the negligence of the country as a whole in post-9/11 America, it's New Orleans. Shearer documents an investigation into what exactly went wrong with the levees by talking with the scientists and engineers who are building levees for the "new" New Orleans, when he begins to see that many of the original flaws are being carried over into the new system. It's refreshing to see C. Montgomery Burns looking out for his fellow man for once. Reviews have been mixed, with Nathan Rabin from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-big-uneasy,56279/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "Shearer's film is charactrized by a paradoxical sense of quiet rage. The experts Shearer talks to about what went wrong with the recovery following Katrina are mad as hell and willing to sit down and talk civilly about it. The Big Uneasy is so sleepy and understated that when John Goodman shows up to yell his way through an angrily sarcastic segment called 'Ask A New Orleanian,' itâs incredibly jarring. "The flagrant mishandling of the Katrina recovery effort burdens Shearer with an enormous amount of information to unpack. He devotes so much time to explaining the situation that he barely affords the audience any time or space for outrage. If anything, The Big Uneasy is over-edifying. Itâs more an op-ed piece than a muckraking exposÃ©, more workmanlike journalism than documentary gold."

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Opening today is the film Cost of a Soul which deals with two friends returning from Iraq to the violence-ridden slums that they joined the army to escape. Both struggle with trying to save the family they left in ruins behind them while trying to keep themselves out of the life of crime they were once enmeshed in. It might be interesting to see how the writer and director use post-traumatic stress and the effects of war on the psyche, but judging from the reviews, they just made a prodigal son crime movie. Reviews have been terrible, with David Fear at <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1422283/cost-of-a-soul"> saying</a>: "Sean Kirkpatrickâs directorial debut quadruples down on its urban-chic crime conventions, leaving noâand we do mean noâindie-grit clichÃ© unmolested. "Performances barely meet a junior-collegiate theater-troupe level, the narration hits maxi-fromage heights ('Mur-dahâ¦it puts your guts in a vise every time!'), and just when you think it canât get any more derivative, out comes a glowing suitcase Ã la Pulp Fiction. Rock bottom has now been firmly established."

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What's your name again? Chrissie. Where are we going? Swimming. And so, that was the beginning of the end for poor Christina "Chrissie" Watkins, but the beginning for everyone else for Summer Blockbusters. Tonight at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm">Landmark Theater</a>, Sunshine at Midnight presents the classic film Jaws! It's easy to dismiss this as just popcorn cinema, but the film is actually incredibly well crafted and one of the best examples of its kind. We don't know anyone who hasn't seen it, but if you haven't, stop being a wimp and give yourself the same healthy fear of sharks that we all have since seeing this film growing up.

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There are few things we nerd out about here at Gothamist, well...maybe a couple of things, but one of those things is definitely Jesus Christ Superstar. There's been some debate though between which production of the play has been the best, whether it was the Broadway recording with Deep Purple's Ian Gillan as Jesus, or the film version with Ted Neeley in the crucifixion role. Although many agree Gillan was more of a rockin' Christ, the Broadway cast had one major flaw...no Carl Anderson. Anderson is without a doubt the best Judas, and his voice was one of the most soulful to ever hit the stage or screen. His recording of "Heaven on Their Minds" is one of the finest vocal performances in a film and lyrically could be the atheist national anthem. Well this Thursday at <a href="http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/jesus-christ-superstar">Walter Reade Theater</a> they are showing Jesus Christ Superstar followed by a Q & A with director Norman Jewison (who also directed the film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof. As famous as Superstar is, it still deserves a wider audience for its rocking songs and very modern take on the crucifixion story. We know people of all walks of life, metalheads, hipsters, theater geeks, classic rock aficionados, who all love this movie. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot, you might actually love it.

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Also this weekend at <a href="http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/elizabeth-the-golden-age">The Walter Reade Theater</a>, the Film Society of Lincoln Center presents the retrospective Elizabeth: The Golden Age, highlighting the amazing career of the late Liz Taylor. The retrospective will be showing classic films such as A Place in the Sun, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Kind of like her BFF's Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando, her eccentricities later in life made it easy to forget how much of a beautiful and talented actress she was. Do yourself a favor and go remind yourself why her death is such a big deal.

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