The movies opening in Austin this week are at extremes. At one end of the spectrum, we have a typical summer blockbuster film, complete with Will Smith and explosions and maybe even plummeting, and a twee bit of fluff aimed solely at giggly teen girls. At the other end, we have obscure art films that sound like they can transform 90 minutes into days. Days without end. Days populated with heartrending children and animals. I suppose I should like one type or the other, but instead I’ll probably stay home and watch early Katharine Hepburn films. Or early George Clooney films.
New movies this week:
A Cinderella Story—Now I personally like a good Cinderella-based movie now and then. One of my favorite movies is Midnight, a charming 1939 film in which Claudette Colbert is the Cinderella figure and John Barrymore is the fairy-godmother equivalent. I also like Ever After, a more blatant Cinderella tale with Drew Barrymore as the grubby heroine and Anjelica Huston as her stepmother. In fact, Ever After is so good that I don’t quite understand why we need another Cinderella film right now. Oh. It’s a vehicle for Hilary Duff. (My boyfriend had to tell me who Hilary Duff was. I’m getting old. It is sad.)
De-Lovely—I like Kevin Kline, although it occurs to me I haven’t seen any of his movies since Dave. The rest of the cast looks, er, delightful (except maybe Ashley Judd). I like Cole Porter music. One of my gym instructors has been playing the soundtrack to this movie while we stretch. The music is, er, well, de-lovely. So why I am so lukewarm about this bio of Cole Porter? (I was going to say “de-lukewarm” but that can lead to Film Reviewer Sound Byte Syndrome. I must be careful.)
Also, I am not sure that anyone can film “Let’s Do It” better than Tank Girl.
I, Robot—Will Smith. Robots. Explosions. Blockbuster. Asimov. Ew, Asimov. I thought all robot blockbusters were supposed to be based on Phillip K. Dick novellas. (Or stolen from Harlan Ellison.) What I would call a “get out of the hot sun and into the nice movie-theater air conditioning” movie.
The Story of the Weeping Camel—I’m not in film school and I’m not a paid film critic and therefore I don’t have to watch slow-paced films about camel-tending families if I don’t want to. So there.
Valentín—A heartwarming Argentinean movie about an eight-year-old matchmaker. No thanks, I can just watch Matilda again.
Notable revivals in Austin:
Days of Heaven—Showing at the Paramount on Monday at 7:15 pm. I haven’t ever seen a Terence Malick movie so I figure this is a great opportunity. Definitely looks like something to see in a theater.
Giant—Showing at the Paramount on Sunday. My boyfriend really wants to see it, and I haven’t seen it and should (I overdosed on Fifties melodrama in grad school), so I think we’re going.
Tim Burton double-feature—The Paramount is showing Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands on Friday and Saturday night.
Besides Giant, I think we might finally see Spider-Man 2 this weekend. At home, I currently have Out of Sight (I read the book last month) and Alice Adams to watch on DVD. No camels, no robots, no Hilary Duff.
One last note: America’s Heart and Soul left the Arbor Great Hills theater after one week. However, Fahrenheit 9/11 is playing there now. Heh.
I see the name Hilary Duff and I think the former First Lady is now hawking suds on The Simpsons.
Speaking of Terence Malick, I’ve been watching The Thin Red Line dvd in bits and spurts of late. A visually stunning movie whose plot resembles one of those oft-repeated Family Circus comics where the dotted line meanders all over the place – you never know where it is going sometimes.