25 January 2008

Certainly yes us, uh huh sir!

Wide:

Untraceable: The most original thing about it is that it doesn't star Sandra Bullock. Original

Rambo: One of the working titles Rambo IV: In the Cobra's Eye. Trailer appears to involve Stallone punching a man's head off. Not Original.

How She Move: So is the poor grammar in the title part of the formula for the atrocious "urban dance" genre? Is anyone else offended at all? My friends, we've all been served. Original.

Meet the Spartans: This film wants me to create a new category just for it. It isn't just unoriginal, it is metaunoriginal. This is atrocious. Unoriginal.

Limited:

The Air I Breathe: Yes! There's now even less degrees separating Idi Amin from Scooby Doo in six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Ghost Dog costars with Sarah Michelle Gellar who costars with a CG dog (though not, I think, in this movie). Original.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: Romanian period piece about the trials of illegal abortion in the tail end of the mother-worshiping Ceausescu era. Pregnancy is an unusually popular topic in movies recently, but this one doesn't appear to be aiming for laughs. Original.

Shootdown: Documentary about the Cuban military shooting down two American civilians in small planes attempting to aid people crossing to Florida. Original

Alice's House: Brazilian marital strife. Details are hard to find. If I lived anywhere near where this one's playing I'd probably see it just to protest the idea that no one wants to see it. By all accounts there're several good performances here. Original

Elite Squad: Another Brazilian picture. This one is about a street war to clear drugs and gangs out of Rio's slums before a visit from the Pope. For some reason the translated title made me think of 21 Jump Street. Based on a novel by André Batista. Not Original

Lost in Beijing: Romantic and sexual entanglements (not the same as bondage. calm down) in Beijing. The film is banned in China and the filmmakers are prohibited from making another movie for two years. Though it probably shouldn't, that makes me want to see it more. Original.

The Score:

week: 7-3
year: 18-6

Once again the limited releases save the day. The score for this week, if adjusted to represent everything Meet the Spartans "spoofs" would be, as near as I can tell, 7-12.

Topics on the IMDB message board for one of the Spartans directors:
-Goddammit, dude.
-Somebody kill this person
-I DEMAND AN APOLOGY FROM THIS GUY!

EDIT: Roger Ebert has informed me that Mad Money "is actually a remake of a 2001 TV movie... Britain's Granada made it about a team of cleaners who pull the same scam on the Bank of England. Two character first names are the same (Bridget and Jackie), but the last names of the Keaton and Danson characters are changed from Watmore to Cardigan." I am updating the count here and last week.