This week’s new films, plus Eric’s Bad Movies, What’s the Big Deal?, Cinemaligion, Tribeca, and more, all crammed into one tender, juicy blog post.
The remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is fairly bad, mostly in the ways you’d expect: not scary, not funny, not original, not interesting. Its one saving grace is that I missed the screening and had to see it at the first public showing, last night at midnight, and a couple friends went with me, and we sat away from the (very sparse) audience in case we needed to whisper sarcastic things to each other about the movie, and it turns out we did indeed need to do this. Travis noted afterward that the cast consists entirely of people who are “discount beautiful” — almost good-looking, like movie stars, but not quite. BURN. Anyway, if you must see this movie, see it last night at midnight with me and Travis and Martha.
Also opening is “Furry Vengeance,” a family comedy about Brendan Fraser being punched in the nuts by animals. Missed this screening, too, for the same reason as the other one, which reason I haven’t told you yet. And there was no midnight premiere, alas.
In limited release, you’ll find the amusing and sophisticated “Please Give” (review at Cinematical) starring Catherine Keener.
The reason I missed stuff is that I was in New York for a few days for the Tribeca Film Festival. New York is always a blast, of course, but the festival itself doesn’t have much of a personality, and I didn’t see anything that totally blew me away. I didn’t have time (or money) to catch any Broadway shows, either, so it was kind of a strange NYC visit. But Scott Weinberg was there for a couple days, and you can never fail to have a good time when Weinberg’s around, as required by law.
My Cinematical reviews from Tribeca: “Beware the Gonzo,” “Zonad,” “Monogamy,” “The Disappearance of Alice Creed.”
And here’s a brief Tribeca piece for Film.com.
For Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com this week, I tackled “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare,” which obviously was not the final nightmare at all, what with a new one having come out today, and two others in between. Meanwhile, What’s the Big Deal? focused on “Vertigo,” by a portly fellow named Hitchcock.
What? More? You’re insatiable! Here’s my second Cinemaligion column for Cinematical, about “The Blues Brothers.” They’re on a mission from God, you know. (This column is every two weeks, for the time being, not every week, so don’t look for it next week, or you will be disappointed.)
And finally, Jeff Bayer and I had our weekly Internet radio podcasty thing today, Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider, and you can listen to it at the PDX.fm website or subscribe at iTunes. We’re live every Friday at 11 a.m. (Pacific), and starting next week you’ll be able to send us instant messages during the show, which could lead to interaction! It’s the 21st century!
Subscribe to Eric D. Snider’s “In the Dark,” a weekly e-mail bringing you the latest movie reviews, DVD releases, and other pertinent info, here.
