Friday, July 15, 2011

Oh the Possibilities!


Earlier this week I thought, "Hmmm, there are so many movies we're looking into that I should really pick one or two to blog about..." but then I got stuck trying to pick one and ended up, as with many things in life, just sort of letting the thought drift out of my head without acting on it. However today I realized that it wasn't necessary to pick just one or two; the exciting thing about having a ton of great movies we're looking into is that there are a ton of them & they're great.


Here are a few of them (there are plenty more good ones that I'll cover later, don't worry!):


Newcomer J.C. Chandor's financial thriller "Margin Call" staring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany & Jeremy Irons is on our radar. Financial thrillers are close to home for many of us at the moment as we continue to feel the effect of the economy's roller coaster lurch a few years ago. This film captures that moment when the financial institutions were on the cusp of that lurch.

Another film is Jeff Nichols's psycho drama "Take Shelter" about a father who is either going crazy or predicting a devastating storm. The film stars Michael Shannon who does crazy eyes like nobody's business & seems to be reprising his role in the Herzog/Lynch film "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done."

We're also keeping our eyes on David Cronenberg's new film, "A Dangerous Method" staring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender & Keira Knightley about the relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and psychiatry in the early days of psychiatry. Sounds cerebral & potentially boring but go ahead & Watch the Trailer Here... Oh wait, it also has hot kinky sex between hot people in period costumes? Awesome! Sign me up!

In a similar vein, we're also intrigued by Pedro Almodóvar's new film "The Skin I Live In", staring Antonio Banderas, about a plastic surgeon who works mad scientist style to create an impenetrable skin after his wife was badly burned. There appears to be plenty more twisted sexy sexness as well as a good dose of classic twisted Almodóvar. Watch the trailer here

Then there's Steve James's (Hoop Dreams) well reviewed documentary "The Interrupters" about the struggle of a small group of ex-offenders who work to protect their community from violence. It's a courageous project & the reviews are excellent.

For the life crisis that is somewhere between
early & mid, there's Miranda July's (Me and You and Everyone We Know) new film "The Future" about a couple whose decision to adopt a cat forces them to think about the future. It's getting good reviews & looks great.

There's also Jacob Tierney's film "Good Neighbors" which I will absolutely never ever watch because I value my ability to sleep at
night, however, I know there are several intrepid movie goers who frequent Cinema 16:9 who don't suffer from that worry. This is a film for them.

There's Rob Minkoff's "Flypaper" staring Patrick Dempsey & Ashley Judd which is a new twist on the classic light-hearted bank-robing farce. It's about two gangs who accidentally attempt to rob the same bank. Looks like fun. Maybe not high art, but fun and I'm all for fun.

Then there are some wild cards like Sheldon Larry's "Leave it On the Floor" & Mathew Bate's "Shut Up Little Man." "Leave it On the Floor" is about a newcomer who stumbles into Los Angeles ball culture. (For those like me who had to look it up, here's what wikipedia has to
say about Ball culture) A niche film for sure, but check out all the great dancing! "Shut Up Little Man" is a part of a burgeoning new documentary sub-genre; the cursing middle aged man whose rants were captured by a now outdated recording device & distributed virally before viral was cool & then resurrected for a chance to gaze deep into the navel of viral character assassination through a lens of nostalgia. (Check out last summer's "Winnebago Man" for another example.)




Do any of these look good? Great? Awesome Dull? Lame? What else should we be looking into?

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