It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.
Q: How can a movie fan tell when the new year has arrived?
Q: How can a movie fan tell when the new year has arrived?
A: There's only one new release on the first weekend of said new year.
No, that's not a joke. Not in the slightest, as it's not only not funny, it's just plain sad. The bright side, however, is that, unless you are one of the blessed that lives in NYC or LA, there's still a slate of '08 leftovers headed your way. As I'm wont to do in this space, I'm here to complain about the weak crop of films showing in the Phoenix area. Gran Torino is on a whopping two screens in the entire city, and The Wrestler is nowhere to be found at all. Luckily, IMDb is here to grant me showtimes to the nearest theater playing the Darren Arroodfocdododsky drama...oops, it's in Irvine, California. Perhaps I'll go to Bef*ckingthesda, Maryland, instead.
All this is a long way of saying that the Blog Cabins' End of Year Spectacular is being put on hold until I see, at the very least:
The Wrestler
Gran Torino
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
...and possibly The Reader and Waltz with Bashir. The former is indeed currently playing in town - I'm just not interested; the latter isn't, though I don't see it coming here anytime soon. The Wrestler better arrive next week, though, or else I'm crackin' skulls.
On to this crappy week:
Defiance
Couldn't the brothers from Defiance have gotten together with the soldiers from Valkyrie and saved a whole lot of time and possible deaths? And they might have both succeeded! Personally, I kind of wish the filmmakers of both had gotten together and made just one film instead of the both of them - after all, if there's one thing we don't need more of, it's World War II films. I'm pretty sure that, at this point, if you had a film festival where you showed all of them back-to-back-to-back, etc, the running time would be longer than that of the war. Meh.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 7%
DefianceCouldn't the brothers from Defiance have gotten together with the soldiers from Valkyrie and saved a whole lot of time and possible deaths? And they might have both succeeded! Personally, I kind of wish the filmmakers of both had gotten together and made just one film instead of the both of them - after all, if there's one thing we don't need more of, it's World War II films. I'm pretty sure that, at this point, if you had a film festival where you showed all of them back-to-back-to-back, etc, the running time would be longer than that of the war. Meh.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 7%
By the way, I don't even think this lone new release is opening up anywhere in Phoenix this week...
...checking...
...nope. Two screens, one in New York, one in Los Angeles. Brilliant move, Hollywood. Let's release 152 movies between 12/19 and 12/26, then none at all the next week. Whatever.
6 people have chosen wisely: on "TGITDNMAR (1/2/09)"
Don't be talkin' shit about Bethesda! That's where I go see movies, get piercings and buy flannel.
Sounds like a rip-snortin' good time! Do you by chance do all three at the same time?
The middle one is independent; they don't let you in the piercing parlor if you're drunk.
By-the-way, pick Benjamin Button. I haven't seen the other two (right now I've only got access to megaplexes... megapli?) but I don't think either could be as enjoyable as Button ( I shorten it more every time I name it)
Good news for you - you saw Gran Torino before me! It's written by a Minnesotan and supposed to be set in Minnesota but we don't get it until Friday. Go figure.
I'm also holding off on my "best of" list for some time. I'm stubborn like that, I suppose.
I'm shocked...shocked! Well, maybe the fact that they changed the setting to Michigan pissed off the local theater owners and they vowed not to show it until it had been out for a few weeks...
Solidarity in stubbornness, brother.
Bizarre, we had one release here in Toronto as well but it was a different film: Revolutionary Road.
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