1 February 2008

Belly up to the buzzsaw.

Wide:

Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert: Generally I think concert films count as documentaries and documentaries count as original, but in this case I'm willing to make an exception. TV show inspired concerts are out. Also, I recommend that if a local theater actually displays the entire title of this film on the marquee you should never go to that theater again. Not Original

The Eye: Remake of Hong Kong's Jian Gui. Also, it stars Jessica Alba as a concert violinist who sees dead people (or something). If Jessica Alba or derivative horror remakes do it for you, by all means check this out. If, however, the concert violinist angle piques your interest, you should probably steer clear of this one. Not Original

Strange Wilderness: Happy Madison has produced the following films which do not star Adam Sandler: Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Animal, Joe Dirt, Master of Disguise, The Hot Chick, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Grandma's Boy, The Benchwarmers, and Strange Wilderness. You've been warned. Original

Over Her Dead Body: Remember Ghost or Just Like Heaven or even Hello Again? The writer of this picture probably does, and, according to summaries and reviews, you will too if you watch Over Her Dead Body. Grudgingly Original

Limited:

Caramel: Sex and the City in Beirut? That comment should be considered alongside the several comparisons being drawn between this film and those of Pedro Almodovar. Lebanon's official selection for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Original

The Witnesses: The War on Aids? As much as America loves to declare war on things, this is a French picture. By all accounts, it's a good and important one, so it's no surprise that I won't be able to see it until a DVD release. Original

Praying With Lior: Lior is an oddly named young man with Downs Syndrome who is touted as having a close connection to God. This is a documentary about Lior and those around him as he moves toward his bar mitzvah. Original

Vivere: From IMDB: "On Christmas Eve, Francesca sets out for Rotterdam in order to find her little sister, who has run off with her musician boyfriend. On the way, she picks up Gerlinde, a heartbroken older woman at the end of her rope." Original

The Silence Before Bach: This sucker is tough to categorize or really think about without seeing it, but since it is at least nominally a Bach biopic (as near as I can tell) it gets the unoriginal label.

Build a Ship, Sail to Sadness: Scottish musical travelogue about a mobile disco. Super-8 pseudo-documentary. Original

The Score:

total:
week: 7-3
year: 25-9

wide:
week: 2-2
year: 8-7

Since the originality of films receiving only limited release keeps the ratio high, I thought I would start keeping track of the originality of wide release films throughout the year. This is both to more accurately represent the films that most of us actually get a chance to see in theaters and to make my hypothesis about how many unoriginal things come out look stronger.