There are four wide releases this weekend, including two sequels and something starring Keanu Reeves. So we’re definitely looking at a quantity-vs.-quality thing here.
(Interesting note: Three of the four new films have the increasingly uncommon rating of PG.)
I’ve been in Vegas all week for the CineVegas Film Festival, and thus missed the press screenings for “Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties” and “The Lake House.” I’ll catch the latter this weekend, for sure; I can’t promise I’ll take any strong action in regards to “Garfield” anytime soon.
The other two, “Nacho Libre” and “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” I saw in Vegas. Vegas, baby! Everything’s better here!
A disappointingly under-programmed CineVegas left me with my Monday evening free, and as it happens, “Fast and the Furious” was screening in the same multiplex inhabited by the film festival. I politely asked the studio rep if I, a wayward visiting film critic, could attend her screening, and she graciously admitted me. That’s Vegas hospitality, baby!
I did have to shush an old man during the screening. Like most old men in Vegas, he was gigantically round and wore shorts. He liked to say things out loud that most of us leave in our brains (“That’s his girlfriend” “They sure are driving fast” “Look at that car”), and since he’s an old Vegas man, he’s not used to being told what to do. So when I shushed him, he looked very surprised. He was quiet for the rest of the screening, though I did notice him look over at me a couple times, perhaps sizing me up to see if he could take me in a fight.
“Nacho Libre” actually screened last night as part of CineVegas, even though it was opening today anyway. Jared Hess’ last film, “Napoleon Dynamite,” played here to great acclaim in 2004, so I assume the inclusion of “Nacho Libre” was either Hess doing CineVegas a favor or CineVegas doing Hess a favor. Random unneeded favors are also very Vegas.
Both new releases, along with write-ups for a few other, smaller releases, can be found in this week’s “In the Dark.” If you’re not already a subscriber, I urge you to remedy that at once. It’s free and exceptionally useful.
