Doesn't it seem like you no sooner put down the fork at the Thanksgiving table and the Christmas themed movies have flooded the theaters? If you're ready to start ho ho hoing your way to the cineplex, the new slapstick family comedy Deck The Halls starring Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick and Kristen Davis is out this weekend. Hopefully all of these jokes about covering your house in light effects makes more sense in the suburbs. Ever get the feeling that you've seen this action film, starring Denzel Washington wherein he save a pretty girl from certain doom, before? It could be the phenomenon of Déjà Vu, or it could be that Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott have just run out of new movie ideas.
It's taken New York director Darren Aronofsky years and years to get his new movie about love across the ages, The Fountain, into theaters. Unfortunately, that time lag hasn't made for a better movie according to critics. What a surprise since trippy visuals, a story about the elixir of life and casting your new wife in the main role sounded like such good ideas. If you like your bombast to be of the rock n' roll variety, then Jack Black and Kyle Gass in Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny could be right up your alley. Though sadly, the buzz is that it has some funny bits but isn't consistently hilarious, so bear that in mind.
Now on to two indies opening this weekend that are worth noting. The Tony-winning, British play The History Boys by Alan Bennett was a huge smash on the West End and had a limited run here on Broadway but if you missed it, the original cast now appears in Nicholas Hytner's film version. Set in 1983 at a boy's school in the North of England, two charismatic teachers vie for the attentions of their whip-smart students and argue about the best way to understand history. While the movie version may not have quite the same energy as the stage, critics are saying the acting is wonderful. An All About Eve for the digital age, the French film Backstage is both creepy and fascinating. A teen girl, Lucie comes home to find her favorite pop star, Lauren (Roman Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seigner) standing in the living room, but her obsession with the platinum blonde singer renders her speechless. So when Lucie follows Lauren to Paris and gloms on to her dysfunctional entourage, the separation between a super fan and her object of affection becomes tenuous at best. Insert any of our own blonde superstars into this bizarre scenario and it wouldn't be hard to see this story coming true.
He was married to one of the most beautiful screen actresses ever (hello? Ingrid Bergman!) and his daughter, Isabella, isn't too shabby on the silver screen either, but director Roberto Rossellini and his work is more than just a few famous relatives. Known for using non-actors as well as professionals, paying special care to human behavior and wanting to "stimulate audience's curiosity," Rossellini's impact on cinema is "inestimable." A special series devoted to his work at the Museum of Modern Art continues this week, and this is a great opportunity to see some of his less well-known works like India Matri Buhmi, a four-part film about life in India, and La Macchina Ammazzacattivi a comedy, both of which play this weekend.
If you're feeling a bit guilty about gorging yourself on turkey and stuffing on Thursday, head down to Anthology Film Archives for a documentary about the agri-business Our Daily Bread. A movie that dispenses with the experts and talking heads in favor of observational photography cataloguing the nuts and bolts of how our food gets to the table, Our Daily Bread also ran earlier this year at the New York Film Festival to great acclaim.
Gothamist Pick:
We raved about that wonderful special collection new prints of classic Janus films which screened during the NYFF this fall. If you missed any of them, you get a second chance to supplement your international cinema repertoire as the IFC Center is screening them on weekends for the next year. The kick-off particularly shouldn't be missed, it's Agnes Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7, a young woman's bird-eye view of '60s Paris. Varda was one of the few chicks in the French New Wave, and she makes lovely movies with her precise photographer's way of looking at the world. It's worth hauling yourself off the couch, and out of your pie-induced food coma to see it.
[Production still from The Fountain starring Hugh Jackman.]
