movies this week: go back to last week

I think I was spoiled by last week’s movies. I cannot muster much enthusiasm for the movies opening in Austin this week. Fortunately, last week’s movies and some other goodies are still in theaters, and since I didn’t get time to see them then, there are plenty of good movies available for me in theaters.

New movies in Austin this week:
The Brown Bunny—I know the same thing about this movie that most of the rest of you do: there’s a controversial bit with Vincent Gallo and a blowjob. Do I need to know anything else? Do I care? Not much.
Hey, Dobie is still showing Garden State. Maybe I could make time to finally see it.
Festival Express—A documentary about a series of Canadian music festivals (like Woodstock) in 1970. Contains a lot of previously unseen footage of the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, etc. This sounds like the best movie opening here this week, but it’s only playing here for a week (damn you, Dobie) so I don’t know if I’ll get to see it.
Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry—I’m not sure I want to sit through a feature-length documentary on the whole Kerry-in-Vietnam thing. How about I watch another one of the debates instead?
Ladder 49—A tribute to firefighters. I will see a firefighter movie when it has female firefighters in it. I am not interested in a movie in which the only women are supportive wives. Yes, I am getting to be in one of those moods again.
A Dirty Shame looks like it has lots of strong female characters in it. Hope I can see that soon.
Shark Tale—DreamWorks’ ripoff-I-mean-answer to Finding Nemo. Jack Black provides one of the voices, which is the only thing I find remotely interesting about this movie.
I’d rather see Sky Captain and the Shade of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Lipstick, which I probably won’t see if I don’t catch it in a theater. It sounds like it would at least be visually entertaining, even if the plot is lame.
She Hate Me—Spike Lee’s latest film is about a guy who is unemployed and broke during the recent economic downfall, and ends up impregnating lesbians for fun and profit. Great cast includes Ellen Barkin, Ossie Davis, Brian Dennehy, and John Turturro. It sounds like it could be either very funny or annoyingly offensive. But does it need to be more than two hours long?
If I wanted to see a long movie I would possibly see the documentary The Corporation, which is still playing at Dobie. Wow, I just realized that I would like to see everything currently playing at Dobie, which hasn’t happened in years.
Zhou Yu’s Train—This is a 2002 film from China about love and desire. That’s nice.
Speaking of romance, I still need to see Shaun of the Dead. We’re renting Night of the Living Dead this weekend (I hope), and we could maybe get Dawn of the Dead next week, so I can wait until next weekend.
Notable events/revivals in Austin:
The Hills Have Eyes—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Monday 10/4. Alamo is showing horror movies all month on Monday for $1 admission, as a tribute to art director Bob Burns. This is one of Wes Craven’s earlier movies and supposedly quite enjoyable. Plus, you know, it’s a dollar.
Lady Terminator—Playing at Alamo Downtown, Thurs. 10/7-10/9 at midnight. I think the title and the time it is playing tell you everything you need to know.
Napoleon Dynamite—Playing all week at Alamo Village. This sounds like a good movie to watch at Alamo. I haven’t seen it yet, so maybe I’ll go. Maybe not.
Stand By Me—Playing at Alamo Village on Sun. 10/10. Wil Wheaton will be attending this screening, and you get in free if you buy his new book, Just a Geek.
I still, still, still have House of Games and The Front at home, and I am sending back one if not both of them on Monday whether I actually see them or not. This is why we are probably going to cancel our Netflix subscription. We’re not watching enough movies to justify the expense, and sometimes the movies take a lot longer than expected to reach us, by which time we figure we should just drive to Encore or Vulcan.
On the other hand, Netflix is the reason why my boyfriend and I no longer have unpleasant disputes in the video store, and it might be worthwhile just for that.
I also need to write reviews for movies I’ve seen in the past few weeks: Dear Pillow, The Bourne Supremacy, and Russ Meyer’s Vixen movies (which I had seen before, but want to write about anyway).