Pirates! Band of Misfits

2012 at the Movies: biggest disappointments

by
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

1. I haven’t seen Undefeated, the Oscar winning documentary about an underdog high school football team, or the French political thriller The Minister (L’exercice de l’État )   because – as far as I know – they haven’t yet been released in the US.  How can an Oscar winner not get a release?  You can read descriptions and watch trailers of these films as Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

2.  There was also no US release for the hilarious Norwegian curling comedy King Curling or the creepy Slovak voyeur thriller Visible World.  I think that, given a chance, American audiences would have responded to both of them.

3.  Sometimes my favorite filmmakers let me down.  There wasn’t much to Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, which I had been eagerly awaiting for months.

Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona) hadn’t made a film for thirteen years and then came up with Damsels in Distress. With the tedious Greta Gerwig.  Really, Whit?

And I thought that Aardman Studios’ Pirates! Band of Misfits was a bore.

Note: I don’t have a Worst Ten Movie list because, unlike professional critics, I don’t have to see every movie.  I do see over 100 new movies each year, but I try REALLY, REALLY HARD to avoid the bad movies.  So my worst movie going experience is always either 1)  on an airline flight when I see a movie that I normally wouldn’t; 2) a hyped art film that disastrously falls on its face and/or really pisses me off (The White Ribbon); or 3) something I find on cable TV while channel surfing (Paul Blart: Mall Cop).  But usually, the culprit finds its way aboard a long airline flight.  Not this year.

4.  That being said,  the worst film that I saw was probably Dorfman, which would have derailed if it had started out on the rails.

 

Movies to See This Week

by
HEADHUNTERS

For sheer entertainment, I recommend the Norwegian dark comedy Headhunters, with Aksel Hennie as a smug corporate headhunter/art thief who panics when a high tech commando hunts him down.

The must-see movie in theaters now remains Monsieur Lazhar, the story of French-Canadian fifth graders recovering from a traumatic experience with their replacement teacher, an Algerian immigrant. It’s an emotionally compelling film that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Last week’s releases were middling.  The best of the bunch, the romantic comedy The Five-Year Engagement, is intelligent, authentic and leisurely with some chuckles.    The Hunter is a paranoid thriller, starring Willem Dafoe as a professional hunter sent to the primordial forests of Tasmania.  Pirates! Band of Misfits is a merely amusing offering from the masters of claymation, Aardman Studios (Wallace and Gromit); don’t pay extra to see it in 3D.

I haven’t yet seen the very promising The Exotic Marigold Hotel which opens this weekend. You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is War Horse, Steven Spielberg’s World War I epic.

 

Movies to See this Week

by
Aksel Hennie and friend in HEADHUNTERS

For sheer entertainment, I recommend the Norwegian dark comedy Headhunters, with Aksel Hennie as a smug corporate headhunter/art thief who panics when a high tech commando hunts him down.

The must-see in theaters remains Monsieur Lazhar, the story of French-Canadian fifth graders recovering from a traumatic experience with their replacement teacher, an Algerian immigrant. It’s an emotionally compelling film that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Last week’s releases were middling.  The best of the bunch, the romantic comedy The Five-Year Engagement, is intelligent, authentic and leisurely with some chuckles.  The Hunter is a paranoid thriller, starring Willem Dafoe as a professional hunter sent to the primordial forests of Tasmania.  Pirates! Band of Misfits is a merely amusing offering from the masters of claymation, Aardman Studios (Wallace and Gromit); don’t pay extra to see it in 3D.

You can skip Damsels in Distress, Whit Stillman’s misfire of an absurdist campus comedy.

You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is Haywire, Steven Soderbergh’s rockem sockem spy action thriller, introducing the mixed martial arts star Gina Carano.

Pirates! Band of Misfits: merely amusing

by

I’ve always loved the good-hearted and wry Aardman Studio films like Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.  Aardman’s Pirates! Band of Misfits doesn’t quite match up to Aardman’s past work.  The claymation is exquisite and the jokes are smart, but the overall effect is merely amusing and guffaw-free.  Silly pirate stereotypes should have been much richer fodder for the writers.

I saw this in 3D, but I wouldn’t pay the 3D premium if I were taking a bunch of kids to see it.

Movies to See this Week

by
MONSIEUR LAZHAR

My top pick this week is once again Monsieur Lazhar, the story of French-Canadian fifth graders recovering from a traumatic experience with their replacement teacher, an Algerian immigrant. It’s an emotionally compelling film that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

On a lighter note, Goon is a hockey comedy that manages to be violent, raunchy and sweet.

In Footnote, a rising Talmudic scholar sees his career-topping prize accidentally awarded to his grumpy father. This potentially comic situation reveals the characters of the two men.

Then there’s the searing and brilliantly constructed Iranian drama A Separation, which won the Best Foreign Language Oscar, and the Best Picture Oscar-winning The Artist. Both are still still playing in theaters.

You can skip Damsels in Distress, Whit Stillman’s misfire of an absurdist campus comedy.

I have not yet seen Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Five-Year Engagement or The Hunter, all opening this week. You can read descriptions and view trailers of these and other upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is Michele Williams’ dazzling performance in My Week with Marilyn.

movies for late March

by

We begin on March 23 with Israel’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Footnote.  A rising Talmudic scholar sees his career-topping prize accidentally awarded to his grumpy father.  It won the the screenplay award at Cannes.

The Kid with a Bike is the latest from the Belgian Dardennes brothers, two of my favorite film makers (The Son, Rosetta).  A 12-year-old boy wants to find the father who dumped him at a children’s home, but meets a woman who becomes his de facto foster mom.  The Kid with the Bike will be released in the US by Sundance Selects on March 23.

The Salt of the Earth (Gianni e le donne) stars and is written and directed by Gianni Di Gregorio, just like the very fun Mid-August Lunch.  Releases March 30.

You can read descriptions and watch trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

Here’s the trailer for Footnote.