Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending August 15th
I’m a tad under the weather today so I’ll keep the newsletter concise and to the point. Here goes…It’s not the best week in the history of cinema for releases this week. There seems to be a leaning towards comedies. You like comedies, right? Good, we have some.
I also have to mention that there’s some sort of big street party this Saturday on and around Cambie street. Bands, food, other stuff. Drop on by. There’s a poster thingy at the bottom of the newsletter with more details.
New Releases for Tuesday August 9th, 2011
Mars Needs Moms – Creepy looking animated thing that reportedly cost 150 million friggin’ dollars to make! Really? And then it tanked at the box office. I can think of a few better ways to spend/waste that kind of coin than on a sub par story about aliens who come and abduct some kid’s mom and take her to Mars. (Aww just what the kids like – abduction stories).
Outside the Law – No it’s not the latest three-word-title Steven Segal masterpiece, but an outstanding French historical thriller about Algeria’s fight for independence from France. Kind of a sequel to the great Days of Glory from a few years back.
Paul – Pretty good comedy about a couple of British sci-fi geeks (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who attend Comic-Con to nerd out and then hit the road in an RV to check out famous UFO sites around America including Roswell and Area 51 (I’ve been to both on my own nerd UFO quest 15 years ago). What didn’t happen to us on our trip was we didn’t pick up an actual alien voiced by Seth Rogan who was being chased by evil government agents. I was hoping for more out of this comedy as the laughs are scattered about and the ending is pretty lame and weak but there was enough fun sci-fi references and the alien, Paul, is great, to keep the interest. Worth a look, especially if you’re a bit of a geek. And really, isn’t there a little geek in all of us? Also on the Blu Ray.
Repeaters – Locally shot Canadian film (well duh) about three twenty-somethings who, for some reason, are forced to repeat the same horrible day over and over again. Kind of like an unfunny, gritty Canadian Groundhog Day.
Super – This is a . Didn’t know what to expect when I threw this on the other night. I think I may have been expecting a comedy in the vein of Kick-Ass as it’s about a dude who takes on a super-hero persona to fight crime and to get his wife back after she is abducted by Kevin Bacon. What I got was a sort of weird and creepy Taxi Driverish super-hero comedy thing. Dwight Shcrute from The Office can’t quite carry the film and is a bit dense and annoying at times as the Crimson Bolt and Ellen Page is bat-shit crazy as his sidekick Boltie. Kevin Bacon rules the film though as a sleazy drug dealer who kidnaps Liv Tyler (still hard to buy Liv Tyler being married to Rainn Wilson). It’s quite violent as our hero bludgeons “criminals” with his monkey wrench, people get blown up, stabbed and other stuff. Worth a look for sure as it’s something out of the ordinary. “Shut up, Crime!” Also on the Blu Ray.
Your Highness – Stoner comedy from David Gordon Green (why is he doing films like this? Get back to the stuff that made you good – George Washington, Undertow) and stars the likes of Danny McBride, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman who romp around the countryside back in the days of yore (well back when there were knights and wizards and shit). I’ve heard middling things about this but it’s a stoner comedy so do what you need to do. Also on the Blu Ray.
Coming Next Week
Priest
Something Borrowed
Dexter Season 5
Hoodwinked Too!
Jane Eyre
West is West
The Bang Bang Club
The Killing
David Suzuki: Force of Nature
Recently Viewed and Recommended
Paul
Super
Limitless
Source Code
Winter in Wartime
Children’s Hospital
Hobo with a Shotgun
The Adjustment Bureau
Great Job, Internets!
Speaking of unlikely screen couples, here’s a recent post in the Onion discussing that very subject…http://www.avclub.com/articles/least-likely-screen-couples,59992/
Speaking of comedy and laughing and shit, check out this great compilation of tragic auto-correct submissions from people’s Iphone things (warning some of them are quite rude) http://damnyouautocorrect.com/10484/the-top-15-most-popular-dyac-texts-of-all-time/
Speaking of street parties, here’s the poster I wuz tellin’ ya’ll about…
That’s it for this week folks, go to the beach, enjoy the sun, drink something cold, get frisky and remember, keep watching!
Black Dog Video