movies this week: cats and Matts and cigarettes, dude

I’ve been way too busy watching two of the Season Four DVDs from The Simpsons to think about movies very much. Are there movies opening this weekend? Oh, yeah, we saw that trailer with Halle Berry in the leather catsuit, and everyone’s been swooning over Matt Damon. How could I forget?
I started having dreams in Simpsons-like animation so we had to take the DVDs back to the rental store. We still have three movies out from the mail-order rental service, though: Alice Adams (for me), On the Waterfront (for my boyfriend), and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (to watch together this weekend).

New movies in Austin this week:
The Bourne Supremacy—I didn’t see The Bourne Identity, but a lot of people are apparently very happy about this sequel. It’s getting the Good Buzz. I think my boyfriend might want to see it, but I’m not a Matt Damon fan and there are too many other things I’d rather see. You’re on your own, honey. Give Julia Stiles a kiss for me.
Catwoman—And this movie is getting the Very Bad Buzz, which is a shame because I do like action movies with kickass women. If it were playing at Alamo on a cheap night, or a night with cheap beer, I might go. Maybe.
Coffee and Cigarettes—I like Jim Jarmusch a lot so I’m hoping to see this one, whatever the buzz might be. Lots of actors from older Jarmusch films are in there: Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni … and I might be able to drag my boyfriend with me because of Cate Blanchett. Also, I just like the title. Call me shallow.
The Door in the Floor—I don’t understand why someone would take what, to me, was the weakest and least interesting part of John Irving’s novel A Widow of One Year and adapt it into a movie. (Um, Jette? Think of the sequel possibilities.) (Oh. I get it.) I admit I wasn’t that thrilled with the novel myself. Looks like a better role for Jeff Bridges than Seabiscuit, anyway.
Has Kim Basinger ever done a decent acting job in anything? Because if she has, I don’t remember, which makes me wonder why she’s still getting roles like this. Y’all let me know if I forgot something.
Seducing Doctor Lewis—To prove that I don’t automatically disdain small foreign films with lots of whimsy, I will admit that this looks rather amusing and I wouldn’t mind seeing it. It’s not a sex comedy, it’s about a small village that needs a full-time doctor. Sounds sort of Bill Forsyth-ish to me. Might be worth remembering for DVD.
Notable revivals in Austin:
Godzilla—This is the long-awaited director’s cut, instead of the butchered version edited for US release with Raymond Burr and all that. I think I’ll have to call my friend in New Mexico who’s a huge Godzilla fan and see what he says about it. (Probably he’ll be jealous that the movie is showing here and not there.) If you’re a fan of the big green monster, you probably already know everything there is to know about this. I’m not sure if this is something every film geek should watch, or if I can just ignore it like I have done with all the other movies its spawned.
The Manchurian Candidate—The original 1962 movie plays at Alamo Downtown, July 27-29. Also, a special-edition DVD just released. So you have no excuse not to see it. (I’ll wait to bitch about the remake until next week.)
Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction—Friday and Saturday night at Paramount. Get your Tarantino fix, baby. I’ve seen the ear scene from Reservoir Dogs and I swore I didn’t want to see any more of it but I might change my mind. Someday. Probably not this weekend.
Tom Jones—No, not the singer. The really good 1963 movie with the young and surprisingly attractive Albert Finney in the title role. I love this movie, and it’s simply gorgeous in a theater. It’s playing Tuesday night (July 27) at the Paramount.
By the way, in case I haven’t said this a million times already, The Forbidden Zone will be playing at Dobie at midnight on July 30 and 31. And it’ll be released on DVD in late August. I think I need to see it one more time, at which point I will probably realize that the movie about which I am harboring a strange nostalgia is in fact a total piece of bargain-basement garbage. Still, it’s so damned bizarre that it’s worth seeing once. And how often do you get to see Danny Elfman as Satan? (I’m surprised he hasn’t appeared in that role on The Simpsons. Yet.)