Some very interesting movies out this week, such as ZOMBIELAND, a comedy about a few people struggling to survive the zombie’s that have taken over the earth – can you relate!!?? Starring Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin.Also out this week is AMELIA, the fictobiopic about the iconic pilot, Amelia Earhart starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor.
COLD SOULS is the story of Paul Giamatti (played by Paul Giamatti) an actor who decides to have his soul extracted to deal with the anxiety of opening a new play. His plans to re-install the thing are thrown into turmoil when his soul is hijacked and sent to Russia to be put in a crummy soap opera actress.
A couple foreign films of note this week are AS IT IS IN HEAVEN a Swedish film about a conductor retiring to his hometown, VANISHED EMPIRE – a tale of 70’s era Moscow and ONG BAK 2, a Thai martial arts film featuring Tony Jaa. Jaa, I said Jaa.
In the back at SUCCULENCE we are planning a big Grand Opening party on Saturday, Feb 13th from 4pm until we are ready to call it quits. That whole weekend from Friday-Monday will be a 10% Opening weekend sale on everything from plants to planters and household supplies including solar lighting and gorgeous metal art, so come and get a jump on your spring garden at Bernal’s newest arthouse nursery. We will have food and music and beverages and best of all, it will all be free to you! Hope to see you there!
Alrighty then, see you down at the store.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
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............//NEW RELEASES//............
AMELIA.****ALSO ON BD****
Drama/Suspense.
Hilary Swank/Richard Gere/Ewan McGregor.
Directed by Mira Nair.
* Hilary never looks quite as good as Amy Adams did while playing Amelia in NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2, and her blond hair never really sat right with me, yet I did believe the story of this woman, this eventual icon, who was driven by her own deep desires to fly high, up in the clouds, amongst the birds and the thunderstorms, over mountains, and ravines and eventually oceans, with few passengers or none. This telling of her story focuses a bit on her marriage to George Putnam (Gere, a little challenging to look at in his later years), her financing sugar daddy, and her affair with Gene Vidal (McGregor – do you realize how much like Jason Bateman he can look?), and it shows how she became one of the preeminent pitch people in the 30’s, hawking product after product in a rush to gather money to finance her flights. The tale is slow, but the air scenes are excellent and the drive of this pilot is visceral. Would she have become as iconic if she had lived? Maybe not, but it’s hard to say, after all, if she had lived, her star would have shined brighter than ever.
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
Drama/Music/Romance/Foreign (Swedish/English/Italian).
Michael Nyqvist/Frida Hallgren/Helen Sjoholm.
Directed by Kay Pollack.
* An internationally acclaimed musical conductor retires abruptly back to his hometown in Sweden, where his childhood was miserable and isolated. There, he is asked to become the church choir director, and his musical genius causes the choir to bloom. Nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2005.
COLD SOULS.
Comedy/Drama.
Paul Giamatti/Emily Watson/Lauren Ambrose.
Directed by Sophie Barthes.
* The somewhat true story of Paul Giamatti (Paul Giamatti) follows the actor through an anxious and neurotic period preparing for the opening of a play. Being Paul Giamatti proves challenging, so challenging in fact, that when Paul (Paul) here’s about a new procedure of extracting and storing souls, he signs up, thinking that he will reinstall the thing after the performance. Oh, but Paul doesn’t know yet that his soul has been stolen and soon he has delved into the seedy world of soul-trafficking as he tracks his very soul to Russia, St. Petersburg to be exact, where his soul is ticketed for a soap opera actress. This dark and moody comedy was nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 2009.
THE EVELYN WAUGH COLLECTION.
Drama/Romance/Comedy/Disintegration.
Kristin Scott Thomas/Angelica Huston/Judi Dench.
Directed by Charles Sturridge and Gavin Millar.
* This collection features two films made from Evelyn Waugh books, A HANDFUL OF DUST and SCOOP. Waugh’s particularly desolate brand of humor and cynicism is bleak and hysterical, and his stories often show a few minor mishaps become full blown disasters.
LOVE HAPPENS.
Drama/Romance.
Jennifer Aniston/Aaron Eckhart/Dan Fogler/Judy Greer.
Directed by Brandon Camp.
* This sentimental film is about grief, and coming to terms with loss. Eckhart plays a man who has become somewhat famous after writing a book about getting over his wife’s death. When Eloise (Aniston) comes into his life, though he feels the attraction, he also realizes that now he must face the true pain at the root of his heart.
MR. RIGHT.
Comedy/Romance.
James Lance/Luke de Woolfson
Directed by David Morris and Jacqui Morris.
* A glance at a community of men looking to find love and companionship and something more than Mr. Right Now.
NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Natalie Portman/Shia LaBeouf/Bradley Cooper/Orlando Bloom/Christina Ricci/Robin Wright Penn/Hayden Christensen/Anton Yelchin/John Hurt/James Caan/Ethan Hawke/Drea de Matteo/Chris Cooper/Andy Garcia/Julie Christie/You/Olivia Thirlby/Cloris Leachman.
Directed by Fatih Akin/Wen Jiang/Brett Ratner/Mira Nair/Allen Hughes/Natalie Portman/Etc.
* This anthology film next in line after PARIS, JE T’AIME features a bunch of vignettes filmed by different directors set in the gorgeous and love-inspiring city of New York.
ONG BAK 2.****ALSO ON BD****
Action/Martial Arts/Foreign (Thai).
Tony Jaa.
Directed by Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai.
* This follow up to the popular 2003 film ONG BAK, is not really a sequel, but it is a Thai martial arts film in the vein of Conan the Barbarian, you know, boy loses parents in vicious attack by King, grows up super tough with serious street cred, eventually risks his life to get revenge on big daddy. If period piece stylized martial arts fighting is your thing, then you will love this film.
PLANET HULK.
Animation/Action/Sci-Fi.
Directed by Sam Liu.
* How many Hulks does it take to screw in a light bulb?
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION.****ALSO ON BD*****
Action.
JCVD/Dolph Lundgren.
Directed by John Hyams.
* I think this is like Universal Soldier 5, but it might be 6, either way, some serious explosives are detonated during this film.
VANISHED EMPIRE.
Drama/Foreign (Russian).
Aleksandr Lyapin/Other Russians.
Directed by Karen Shakhnazarov.
* The scope of this film is large, but the tale is provincial…It is Moscow in the 1970’s, and the final decade of the Soviet Union, and the dissolution of the empire is experienced through the eyes of three people as they grow up and face their own personal successes and failures .
ZOMBIELAND.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy/Horror/Gorefest/Zombedy.
Woody Harrelson/Jessie Eisenberg/Abigail Breslin/Bill Murray.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer.
* Some families you are born into, and some you find while fighting zombies together. That’s just nature’s way. I think at the core of this zombedy is the notion that sometimes if you stop searching for what you are after, you’ll find what you need has been there the whole time. In fact, if it weren’t for the uber gorefest, the outrageous scenarios, Bill Murray disguised as a zombie, and assorted other wild and supernatural setups, this might have been an after school special; the funniest, sickest and most demented after school special ever!
............//DOCUMENTARY/............
MAYBE GOD IS ILL.
Documentary/Foreign (Italian).
Directed by Franco Brogi Taviani.
* From Amazon: Award winning writer, Walter Veltroni takes us on a stirring, unforgettable journey across the vast continent of Africa to witness controversial stories of tragedy, turmoil and hope. Everyone knows Africa is going through a very difficult transition, but who really understands the depths of the wars, hunger and diseases that make up its everyday catastrophes? Are these problems close to being resolved or are they just the beginning of a spiraling pandemic of worldwide crises? Find out as Veltroni takes us on a very personal tour and never-before-seen look at the people of Mozambique, Angola, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda and South Africa.
............//TELEVISION//............
DR. WHO: THE COMPLETE SPECIALS.
Sci-Fi.
* Pretty self explanatory, but here is much more info from Amazon: This stunning collection of Doctor Who specials – The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, Part One & Two – is a must own for all Doctor Who fans. The four imaginative, action-packed specials are the farewell to star David Tennant, and Russell T Davies, the mastermind behind the rebirth of the modern Doctor Who. The specials culminate in the dramatic regeneration of the Doctor, giving fans their first glimpse of the Doctor as played by Matt Smith. The specials are packed with a terrific lineup of guest stars including Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman), David Morrissey (State of Play, Sense and Sensibility), Lindsay Duncan (Alice in Wonderland (2010), Rome, Under the Tuscan Sun) and many more that we can’t reveal just yet!
A MIND TO KILL: SERIES ONE.
Detective.
* Tense and taut detective series about DCI Noel Bain (Philip Madoc) who is based in Wales.
............//KIDS//............
AIR BUD: GOLDEN RETRIEVER.
ELMO’S WORLD: LET’S PLAY MUSIC.
SCRUFF: A BRAND NEW SEASON.
............//NEW ON BLU//............
MYSTIC RIVER.
* Clint Eastwood’s classic starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne
****
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