Theatrical Releases: The Watch

THE WATCH || July 27th, 2012

	KILLER JOE \|\| Matthew McConaughey takes a dark turn as a hired hitman, in this independent thriller. Emilie Hirsch plays a young man in need of money and to do so, turns to McConaughey to murder his mother for the insurance money. When Hirsch cannot pay the hitman his retainer, he takes Hirsch’s sister, played by the amazing Juno Temple, who sells this movie for me, alone. With Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon, this film is stacked. Now if only it was getting a wider release than New York this week…	THEATER
	RUBY SPARKS \|\| The brilliant Paul Dano plays a celebrated writer with writer’s block. As he begins to create the proverbial perfect woman, who should show up in his life but the woman from his writings. Unable to believe his eyes, and in much the same manner as “Stranger Than Fiction”, “Ruby Sparks” is written by Paul Dano’s real life girlfriend and star of the film, Zoe Kazan, making this film that much more transparent and quirky.	THEATER
	STEP UP: REVOLUTION \|\| We can only hope that someday, someone in Hollywood will decide that making another “Step Up” sequel is not such a good idea. Focusing around the “healing power” of flash mobs, this rendition of “Step Up” looks worse than any of its predecessors. I can only guess that the same people that go see Madea movie after Madea movie are also the same general population that keep funding these films.	PASS
	THE WATCH \|\| Despite its poor reviews, “The Watch” actually is a fairly decent raunchy comedy about four men bonding as a neighborhood watch, all while discovering an alien race and attempting to twart their attempt to take over the world. With the familiar comedy faces of Stiller, Vaughn, and Hill, this film often hits it mark with hilarious moments and interesting characters, including Will Forte as the idiot police chief and Billy Crudup as the creepy next door neighbor.	THEATER

	AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY \|\| Telling the true life story of Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist who defies his nation’s politics by taking a stand against backwards thinking, Weiwei is described as an Asian Andy Warhol with his art and a huge activist for his culture. The documentary appears to be handled well and you are really allowed to rally behind the main figure and support his ideas.	STREAM
	DERANGED \|\| Synopsis: A mutant parasite brainwashes its hosts, ultimately making them jump into bodies of water and to their death in this Korean thriller.	PASS
	FALLING OVERNIGHT \|\| In this raved about little Indie, “Falling Overnight” portrays a young man that finds out he has a brain tumor, followed by falling in love with a gorgeous young woman whom with he starts a relationship. Powerful and romantic, this film hit my radar much like last year’s “Like Crazy”, which became my favorite film of that year (along with “Drive”). Though this lacks a certain star power and film quality, I am still a sucker for these hopeless romantic films.	RENT
	IRON SKY \|\| This is a film that even makes fun of itself. With its premise revolving around Nazis living on the dark side of the moon and invading Earth in spaceships, there is little way to take any of it seriously. Though the visual effects are above par for a film of this stature, the plot and general acting is far from par.	PASS
	KLOWN \|\| If this is the “funniest movie of the year”, I’m not getting it. With none of the trailer really even making much sense, there is no way this could top a film like “Ted” or even “The Watch”. The visuals come off like an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and while the humor seems to match that of the PBS channel series about rednecks, “The Red Green Show”.	PASS
	NUIT #1 \|\| Synopsis: Clara and Nikolaï meet at a rave. They return to Nikolaï’s apartment and make love. Afterwards, instead of parting, the two lovers divulge their deepest secrets to one another. Nicolaï is a beautiful loser. At thirty-one years old, he leads a simple and frugal life. He applies himself to reading the great classics of literature but never finishes a book he has begun. Unable to submit to any schedule, he finds himself unfit for work. He envisions big projects and has large ideas but, inevitably and despite himself, loses sight of them before they are realized. Clara, like Nikolaï, seems not to be made for this world. She leads a double life. By day, she works as a third grade teacher; by night, she is acompulsive party-girl. She goes out every night, gets drunk and high and sleeps with men, women or both at once.	PASS
	PLANET OF SNAIL \|\| As powerful as this may be, the story of a man that doesn’t even let being both blind and deaf get him down, “Planet of Snail” is a little too much on the sentimental side. I do believe, however, that this character study needs to be played for anyone that thinks they have it bad.	PASS
	RITES OF SPRING \|\| Independent horror films can sometimes be rewarding, but this film just does not hit enough marks in its trailer to warrant itself as a good one. Involving men in gas masks kidnapping women and tying them up, beyond that, I have literally no idea what this film is trying to portray. Probably some take on the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, I cannot see myself giving this film the light of day.	PASS
	SACRIFICE \|\| The voice-over narration kills this trailer. Not to mention the story is so labored and recycled that it hard to even get through the trailer for this film, let alone the entire film. Some stories are better left untold, especially when they’ve already been told… to death.	PASS
	SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN \|\| What a great premise for a documentary, about a musician’s whose music became a huge icon in a different country to no knowledge of that musician or his label. Rumored to be dead, the filmmakers venture out to find the musician, whether he is dead or alive, and when they do find him, they ask him to tour in their country. If this film becomes readily available to me, I am definitely interested enough to see it.	STREAM
	THE WHO: QUADROPEHNIA – CAN YOU SEE THE REAL ME? \|\| Synopsis: The documentary takes fans on a riveting ride back to the 1970s when The Who’s creative musical genius was taking the world music stage by storm. Packed with never-before-seen stories, including the well-known onstage collapse of Moon during the tour’s first show, the evening will also feature additional performances of songs from “Quadrophenia” including chart topper, “Love Reign O’er Me.”	PASS