The Other Boleyn Girl: Yet another adaptation of a book that I have seen everyone in the world reading while on the subway, The Other Boleyn Girl is about two sisters competing for the love of Henry VIII. Between this and the Showtime series The Tudors, Hank has been getting a lot of play lately. Now when I picture Henry VIII, I see a fat guy drinking mead and eating a rack of lamb while decapitating people. I don’t picture Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Eric Bana. I suppose this film wouldn’t be as popular if it starred John Goodman. But it would he historically accurate. Plus, John Goodman already has experience playing an English king. It’s playing at the Park Slope Pavilion and Cobble Hill Cinemas.
Penelope: I saw the trailer for this a century ago, and then it got buried for a long time. That is probably not a good sign. Christina Ricci plays a girl with a weird nose. She was cursed and the only thing that can break the curse is true love. This is director Mark Palansky’s first feature length film, and he has put together quite a cast also including James McAvoy, Catherine O’Hara, Reese Witherspoon and Peter Dinklage. I’d wait for reviews before going to see this one. This is playing at the AMC Loew’s Village 7.
Semi Pro: Will Ferrell is starting to bore the shit out of me. He seems to be remaking the same comedy over and over again. Interestingly enough, his newest poster art suggests that he’s going to start ripping off other people too. When will Will Ferrell stop playing a loud, over-sized man-boy in ridiculous costumes for laughs? When they stop making shitloads of money I suppose. In this one, he plays basketball. And I think it takes place in the seventies. If it’s sold out you can either see something else or act out your own version by picking a random sport, putting on a costume that accentuates the awkwardness of your body, shout loud non-sequitors and overreact to everything that happens to you. This is playing at the United Artists on Court Street and the Pavilion.
Chicago 10: This is my pick of the week. It’s part animated and also a documentary about the 1968 Democratic Convention anti-war protests and the trial that followed. You can see the trailer here. The animation looks fantastic and reminiscent of Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. Also interesting is the voiceover work for the film, which features such actors as Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte and the late Roy Schneider. It’s playing at the Landmark Sunshine.
City of Men: A sequel to City of God seems superfluous to me, but this is getting decent advanced reviews thus far. From what I can tell, it abandons the characters from the first movie and tells the story of two friends who are drawn to opposite sides of a gang war. Which…is the exact same plot as the first one. So if you liked City of God, but really wanted to see the exact same movie performed by different people, this is for you. If this turns into a franchise, I’m excited for City of Dragons. This is playing at the Angelika.
Also, Paranoid Park is playing tomorrow night at BAM. It hasn’t been released wide yet. This is Gus Van Sant’s latest film. Tickets still seem to be available. Scarface is the midnight movie tomorrow night at the Sunshine, and there’s a midnight screening of Sixteen Candles at the IFC Center tomorrow night.
at first i read “rob schneider” instead of “roy schneider” and thought that that was some bold casting.
i am stoked on chicago 10.