New Movie Releases - 3/3

[Tenshin_Xo]

Courtesy of IMDB's releases.

Watchmen

 

Director: Zack Snyder

Stars: Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino (Full Cast)

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

 

The Plot: Set in an alternate vision of the year 1985, the murder of an ex-superhero causes a vigilante named Rorshach (Haley) to look into the matter, an investigation that reunites him with his surviving old colleagues -- all of them former superheroes themselves -- and gradually unveils a conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.

 

THE BUZZ: With this movie and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, comic-book superheroes will continue to dominate the box office in 2009, a year after the genre truly broke as a bankable entity. And in Watchmen's case, never has a storyline been so intricate, with arcs that span from the Cuban Missle Crisis to the Reagan Era, and out to Mars and back again. Is it fit for mass consumption? Surely, especially now that audiences are connecting with anti-heroes (or, in this case, ex-superheroes), and let's not forget how in the 1980s are, too. Already people are talking about director Zack Snyder's page-to-screen take on the graphic novel by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore (the latter of whom is not on board with the project, thank you very much) -- has he copied the look of it too much? Not enough? Or are you, like thousands of other people, reading the book for the first time?

 

 

The Horsemen

The Plot: A recently widowed detective (Quaid) still grieving over his wife's death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

 

THE BUZZ: Jonas Åkerlund's oft-delayed thriller, the music video director's first feature since 2003's Spun, looks like the recent X-Files bore and, call me lazy, but brings Se7en to mind. And despite a promising cast (including Zhang Ziyi going all Audition on us?), the trailer is anemic at best. Rumor has it the reshoots here wiped out Neal McDonough's character entirely, but to me it sounds like he avoided career suicide. (Oh, wait: He's in the new Street Fighter movie!) And though the studio doesn't seem behind this one at all, gore hounds might lap up Åkerlund's limits-pushing scenes of abuse and torture. But I thought this genre was dead?

 

Tokyo!

Director: Joon-ho Bong Leos Carax

Stars: (Full Cast)

Studio: Liberation Entertainment

 

The Plot: Directors Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Joon-ho Bong offer their respective tributes to the Japanese capital city.

 

THE BUZZ: The combined effort of Messrs. Gondry, Carax, and Bong has been met with a collective yawn from the film-festival community, many of whom have indicated it's a triptych that's weird for weirdness' sake. In other words: Paris, je t'aime this is not. Unfortunately, it seems as though you can add Tokyo! to the lengthening list of ho-hum anthologies which includes Three... Extremes and Eros. I liked this review.

 

 

12

Director: Nikita Mikhalkov

Stars: Sergei Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Apti Magamaev (Full Cast)

Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

 

The Plot: Twelve jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager charged with murdering his stepfather.

 

THE BUZZ: Remember last year's Oscars, when writer-director Nikita Mikhalkov's thriller vied for the Foreign Language trophy against the unbeatable Counterfeiters? Hopefully word-of-mouth will keep 12 in theaters for a while, because neither the press nor the studio is paying the film much attention during the busy awards season. However! Russian film is still in the spotlight thanks to Admiral, and Mikhalkov's developing a sequel to his Oscar-winning Burnt by the Sun. See you next year, Nikita?

 

Phoebe in Wonderland

Director: Daniel Barnz

Stars: Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman (Full Cast)

Studio: THINKFilm

 

The Plot: Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl (Fanning) seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher (Clarkson).

 

Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl (Fanning) seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher (Clarkson).

 

THE BUZZ: Phoebe's reviews from Sundance earlier this year ranged from good to great, with nearly every critic agreeing that Elle Fanning is as compelling as her freakishly talented sister. The potential foil here has very little to do with the film itself; will maligned distributor THINKFilm, who couldn't turn their still-in-the-headlines Roman Polanski documentary into a success, also fumble this release?

 

OK, so far all I can guarantee is that anyone who wishes to remain in the good graces of Xo will be seeing Watchmen with us.  Present company excluded except for petels, you're going no matter who invited you.

[Vemynal]

I already have my ticket for the premiere^^

[Daetirion]

Ditto Vemy, Ditto

[Dunbar]

Waaatchmeeeeen

[Emperor]

I plan to go see it as well.  Probably a matinee on Saturday.

[Dunbar]

Ah, got tickets for tomorrow then ^^

[proxious]

thanks for the heads up