Hollywood Releases Preview – April, 2011
by HELEN GEIB
Hollywood’s offerings for April bear the now-familiar stamp of unoriginality. It’s the new multiplex rhyme: sequel, remake, adaptation, dramatization, parody. Strictly speaking some of the films are original stories, but even there the stories will look pretty familiar to the frequent moviegoer.
However, that doesn’t mean nothing on the list looks worthwhile. Not all sequels et seq. are born equal.
My weekend picks (full releases list at the end): Read more 
DVD of the Week – Review of Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
Mesrine is a biopic of notorious French criminal Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979), infamous for bank robberies, kidnappings, murders, and daring prison escapes. Sub-parts Killer Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1, originally released in France a month apart, divide Mesrine’s 20-odd year criminal career roughly in half, beginning with his return from Algeria after his compulsory military service and ending with his death. The two films are unmistakably two halves of a whole that was split down the middle presumably as a concession to the realities of film distribution and exhibition (the total running time of both parts put together is a shade over four hours). Public Enemy No. 1 comes out on DVD today, following last month’s release of Killer Instinct; back to back is the best way to watch them. Read more
Movie Review – Sucker Punch (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
It’s often said that Hollywood movie-making is all about the numbers. Allow me to break down Sucker Punch by the numbers.
Watching Sucker Punch is like watching somebody else play a video game for two hours. A video game that sprang fully formed from the mind of a 14-year old boy. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (March 25, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
A long-delayed film finally opens in Indianapolis (a mere five months or so behind schedule), while another movie heads straight to a second-run theater in the state capital while simultaneously opening in Mishawaka- and these are but a few of the many odd aspects of film distribution in the modern era. For more on what’s going on with limited-release films (holdovers, special screenings, festivals and more) and related events in the state of Indiana this week, read on below. Read more
Movie Review – Beastly (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
The “beast” of Beastly, a re-telling of the “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale set in modern day New York City, is a selfish, egocentric high school student. Kyle (Alex Pettyfer, I Am Number Four) is the quintessential popular kid of teen movies: rich, handsome, intelligent, ripped, and vain. Everything changes when his astonishing obnoxiousness ticks off the school’s resident witch Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) and she puts him under a curse. He is transformed into a contemporary version of hideous ugliness; instead of fur and fangs, he gets horrible scars and piercings on his face, prominent tattoos all over, and the skinhead look, all of which together makes him unrecognizable to everyone he knows. He also gets one year to find true love, or he’ll live under the curse forever. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (March 18, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Our one new limited release movie in the state this week is actually a movie, rather than a filmed stage presentation. Imagine that…. And a long-anticipated film (well, long anticipated by me, at least) finally makes its way to Indianapolis next week. For all of the limited release movie news I know about this week- and the complete-as-far-as-I-know schedule of limited release films in non-theatrical venues, film festivals, and so on for the week- keep reading below. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of The Fighter (2010)
by NIR SHALEV
Director David O. Russell had cast Mark Wahlberg in his movies Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, and The Fighter. In Three Kings, Wahlberg plays one of four American soldiers that went off the reservation in search of Saddam’s gold during the First Gulf War; in I Heart Huckabees, he plays a firefighter; and in The Fighter, he plays “Irish” Micky Ward, a small time boxer with large aspirations. Read more
Movie Review – Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
The audience for a movie like Battle: Los Angeles is self-selecting. This is a movie that doesn’t need critics to draw people’s attention to it or correct mistaken impressions. It’s been heavily advertised and the advertising shows just what kind of movie it is. If it looks like a movie you’d enjoy, then you should see it because you’ll almost certainly be proved correct. It looked that way to me and I was. Conversely, if the advertising didn’t make you want to see it, I have no intention of trying to convince you otherwise.
Having said all that, I’m still going to write a review. Read on if you’d like to compare your assessment to mine, or confirm your disinclination. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (March 11, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
It’s another dull, dry, dusty week for limited release films in Indiana theaters this week- we get only one new title, and that’s at the end of the week… and theatrical holdovers are at or near an all-time low point. There are lots of interesting movies in non-theatrical venues throughout the state this week, however, and some relief from the theatrical monotony looms on the horizon- but this is at least the second week in a row of limited choices (and almost nothing new), theatrically speaking. For what you can see, and where, read on below…. Read more
DVD of the Week – Disc Commentary Track for Chinatown (1974)
by NIR SHALEV
By reading my review for The Ghost Writer, one would notice that I am a great fan of Roman Polanski’s films. Chinatown, being his grand opus, is also one of the greatest film noirs of all time and its screenplay, arguably, is the best that was ever written. Trust me, this is not an exaggeration. Read more