Results tagged “jeffbridges”

       

While Disney's A Christmas Carol won the weekend with an underwhelming $31M, the real story at the box-office was Precious. The darling of this year's Sundance Film Festival earned an astonishing $100,000 per theater, breaking the record for the largest opening EVER for a specialty film (A Christmas Carol, by contrast, earned a little over $8400 per venue). Michael Jackson's This Is It had a solid second weekend ($14M | $57.8M), just topping the fantastic The Men Who Stare at Goats ($13.3M) and the weird and phony The Fourth Kind ($12.5M). Not surprisingly, Paranormal Activity continued to print money ($8.6M | $97.4M).

       

If you like movies filled with whimsical, daffy humor (think Wes or Spike or Charlie) then you will probably dig The Men Who Stare at Goats as much as I did. It concerns our military's experimentation with paranormal phenomena as epitomized by the Jedi Warriors of the First Earth Battalion stationed at Fort Bragg, NC (yep!). Best of all, most of it is true. I like that Bob Zemekis is always pushing the boundaries of the technical aspect of filmmaking, but I'm motioned-captured out at this point! I'll see Christmas Carol but with gritted teeth.

                     

Critics are split on Taking Woodstock, but anything from the amazing Ang Lee is worth seeing. He'll never get the credit of other major directors, but check out his filmography and find me someone else who's taken so many successful chances. Audiences will probably avoid The Baader Meinhof Complex (LAist review here) because it makes them uncomfortable (e.g. subtitles, anti-Americanism). What I said about Ang Lee above -- apply the same words to Jeff Bridges. You say DeNiro, Hoffman, Pacino, I say Bridges! I'm not thrilled with the inclusion of Timberlake in The Open Road, but that's not enough to keep me away. World's Greatest Dad marks Robin Williams' return to challenging, difficult material. It will be too dark for many, but I liked it.

It's a very festive time right now. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and there's a lot of copying & pasting in Film Digest land. The Indian Film Festival continues its run at the Arclight, as well as its mixed masala line-up. Joining it are the 10th Annual Polish Film Festival, the 4th Annual Jewish Film Festival & a virtual continuation of last week's Japanese Film Festival at the Egyptian with a series dedicated to controversial auteur Nagisa Oshima. If those aren't exotic enough, you can always make the journey to San Pedro for the L.A. Harbor Film Festival, or trek all the way to Orange County for the Newport Beach Film Festival. Even the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is getting in on the act, with panels dedicated to Hollywood biographers & the adaptation of The Soloist.

Viddy well, Long Beach! This weekend, your humble narrator strongly advises you attend Stanley Kubrick's real horrorshow picture A Clockwork Orange, unspooling at the Art Theatre. Dress as one of those dashing droogs and get in for only $5. Bring your own moloko.

Presaging the imminent arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, ($5M/$5.5M).

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist looks like an ideal date movie for confused and annoying teens. The presence of the awesomely talented Michael Cera, however, insures my aged presence. Beverly Hills Chihuahua looks so awful that it will probably be hilarious. Stoned. I don't much like Bill Maher, but I do like that Bill Maher exists and has a platform on which to vent his spleen. That said, Religulous feels an awful lot like fishing with dynamite. I mean, making fun of the devoutly religious? Is this really cutting edge material?

For the 86 people who didn't see , I once lived underground for 3 years harrassing innocent women from below.

What else can I say about Iron Man that I didn't say in my rave yesterday? According to the great Nikki Finke, it looks like it's going to be a monster hit so I guess I don't need to encourage you to go see it. I'll actually be seeing it again this weekend because I failed to stay through the entire end credit roll and see the rumored Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) cameo at the end. Don't make the same mistake.

I won't keep you in suspense a moment longer: is a rousing start to the summer movie season. It succeeds not only as a visually dazzling popcorn movie, but as a human drama about a man forced to finally consider his former and future place in the world. Great credit must be given to two crucial players in the film: director Jon Favreau and the wildly counterintuitive choice of actor Robert Downey Jr. as the film's hero.

If you absolutely can't wait until 12:01 am on May 2nd to see what's looking to be the summer's first big blockbuster, the Aero Theater in Santa Monica is holding a charity screening of on May 1st at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $20 and proceeds go the Aero Building Fund Donation. If seeing the movie early with a group of passionate fans isn't encouragement enough, director Jon Favreau will also be there for a Q & A following the screening (don't tell Don Murphy). There are also strong rumors that other members of the cast will show as well. Sound good so far? There is one catch. You need to buy your tickets at the Aero box office. They will not be available on-line at Fandango. More details about the movie here.

This weekend fans of "The Big Lebowski" will gather for Lebowski Fest LA and Book Release Party. Followers of the religion Dudeism and of the film can be found wearing bowling shirts, drinking White Russians, and getting a little crazy "Dude" style. Known for his memorable interpretive dance scene in the film, I asked Jack Kehler who played Marty, the Dude's Landlord, about the cult status of this Coen Brother's classic. LAist: The film opened...

The week begins with a John Hayes double feature. In Grave of the Vampire, legendary vampire Kroft awakens and rapes a woman in a graveyard. The resulting child doesn't need milk. He needs… blood! This is paired with Jailbait Babysitter, which stars Therese Pare as a teenager who's turned out by an older prostitute (Lydia Wagner).

Oscar Shorts at the Academy To kick off Oscar Week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present "Shorts!" a program featuring the 10 Academy Award-nominated films in the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories. The program, hosted by director Taylor Hackford, will feature onstage discussions with the nominated filmmakers. Short Film (Animated) The Danish Poet, Torill Kove, director Lifted, Gary Rydstrom, director The Little Matchgirl, Roger Allers, director; Don Hahn, producer...

Not that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez need any free publicity, but you gotta love the 1970s-style color palette and cheeseball film effects of the Grind House trailer -- complete with Josh Brolin looking like a young Jeff Bridges, Danny Trejo as the badass knife-sharpening Machete, Tom Savini as a shotgun-wielding sheriff's deputy and Rose McGowan as an amputee stripper with a machine gun for a shin....

The American Cinematheque presents a double feature of Reese Witherspoon in "Vanity Fair" (2004) and Alexander Payne's "Election" (1999). A discussion with Ms. Witherspoon will take place between films.