Upcoming Movies

Updated Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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I’ve updated Movies I’m Looking Forward To with Kisses, Dinner for Schmucks, Cairo Time, and The Town.

Kisses is a promising Irish indie about two surburban tweens who run away to Dublin for a very scary night. Stephen Rea appears as a Bob Dylan impersonator.   Kisses releases more widely on August 6.

Ben Affleck proved in Gone Baby Gone that he is a fine director.  Now, in The Town,  he brings us another Boston crime drama about thieves desperately evading the FBI.  Stars Affleck, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper and The Hurt Locker‘s Jeremy Renner.  Releases September 17.

Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner in The Town

 

Lisbeth Salander returns July 9

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Spanish poster for the Stieg Larsson trilogy

 

Noomi Rapace reprises her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second part of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy.  It follows one of my personal favorite films of the year, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Lisbeth Salander is the best new crime drama character since Helen Mirren’s Inspector Jane Tennyson.  And Noomi Rapace creates a Lisbeth Salander who is a lethal mix of damage and drive.  Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth, as a tiny fury of a Goth hacker, is only 90 pounds, so she will lose a fistfight with a man; but she prevails with her smarts, resourcefulness and machine-like  relentlessness.  Lisbeth is always mad AND always gets even.

When Hollywood remakes the film, it will not cast Noomi Rapace in the lead, so you’ll miss the film’s essential performance if you wait for the American version.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo only has about one more week to go in theaters, so you should see it now.

Scandanavian poster for the first film in the Stieg Larsson trilogy

Movies I'm Looking Forward To – Updated

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I’ve updated my Movies I’m Looking Forward To page (also known as The Paula Page).  I’ve included the movie Get Low and trailers or clips from/about Get Low, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Cane Toads: The Conquest, Welcome to the Rileys, Animal Kingdom, Uncle Boonmee  and Carlos.

I’m still the most eager to see Mike Leigh’s Another Year, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Kids Are Alright, Poetry, Certified Copy, Inside Job and Cane Toads.

I had already posted the trailers for The Kids Are Alright and Homewrecker/The Locksmith, plus the teaser for Certified Copy (Copie Conforme).

Other movies featured include The Square, Biutiful, Howl, The American, Blue Valentine, Of Gods and Men (Des Hommes et des Dieu), One Too Many Mornings and Aurora.

Robert Duvall, Lucas Black and Bill Murray in Get Low

Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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Here’s my new Movies I’m Looking Forward To page.  Click to get the buzz on promising films and to see trailers.

If I were programming a theater, I would make sure I had locked up Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right, Another Year and Inside Job.  I would take a flyer on The Certified Copy, Poetry and Uncle Boonmee.  And I would try to track down The Locksmith, Everyone Else, The Square and Cane Toads.

On July 9, I’ll be watching for The Girl Who Played With Fire, which follows my personal favorite film of the year so far, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as the second part of Stieg Larssen’s trilogy.  

This post is for you, Paula.

The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)

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I can’t wait to see The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), which opens today, but I won’t be able to for a couple weeks.  It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture over A Prophet (which I admire) and has a very high Metacritic score of 76.

I have seen one of its stars, Ricardo Darin,  in Nine Queens, an excellent con job flick a la House of Games or The Sting.  Nine Queens is available now on DVD.