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Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Season of the Witch</em> Vs.<em> Go Go Tales</em>

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 The Sorcerer's Apprentice comes another fantastical feature film Season of the Witch. Not to be confused with the working title of Mean Streets, 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. 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.Reviews have been mediocre to terrible, with Tasha Robinson from The A.V. Club 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. Season Of The Witch 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." — Gothamist

Published Jan 7, 2011

Modified Jan 7, 2011

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Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Season of the Witch, Go Go Tales, Voyager: The Films of Peter Weir, The Time That Remains, Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, Americatown, If I Want to Whistle, I'll Whistle, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.