my week at the movies: ‘28 Weeks Later,’ ‘Shrek the Third,’ ‘The Wendell Baker Story,’ ‘Provoked,’ ‘Bug,’ ‘Georgia Rule’
I’m pretty psyched...
Ah, now that the Tribeca Film Festival is over, I can relax: only six films to see this week.
What am I most looking forward to in this particular batch? 28 Weeks Later, of course, which I’ll see Tuesday night. I loved 28 Days Later, and the buzz around town is that this new one is pretty good, even with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo taking over from Danny Boyle. What buzz? Well, this is the one flick lately that, when a critic is overheard in a New York City screening room saying to a pal, Hey, I just came from a screening of 28 Weeks Later, everyone else turns around to ask, So, any good? What’s the scoop? Better than the first? And the answers so far have been thumbs-up all the way. [opens May 11]
On Saturday morning I’ll attend a screening of Shrek the Third, which I’m hoping will follow the tradition the series has followed so far: No. 2 was better than No. 1, which was damn good to start with. *fingers crossed* [opens May 18]
I’m a big fan of the Wilson brothers, so I’m kinda curious to see what Luke Wilson does with his directorial debut, The Wendell Baker Story (he also wrote the screenplay). This one has been kicking around since the 2005 SXSW Film Festival, and it sounds like the kind of black dramedy we’ve come to expect from the Wilsons when they’re in indie mode. This one features Owen as an evil nurse, so how bad can it be? [opens May 18]
Provoked is Bollywood going a bit Hollywood with the based-on-a-true-story tale of an India woman (Aishwarya Rai) who strikes back at her abusive husband (Naveen Andrews). Great cast; incendiary subject. Fair warning: I suspect this one is going to make me angry, not at the movie, but at the continuing ongoing subjugation of half the human race. [opens May 11]
please kill me...
If Hollywood remade Provoked, it might star Ashley Judd... but she’s busy this week entertaining me with Bug, a horror/suspense thingie from Exorcist director William Friedkin and costarring Harry Connick Jr. The movie’s been pushed back pushed back from last November, which isn’t much of a hopeful sign, but the trailer is pretty creepy. “They live in your blood. And they feed on your brain.” Eww. [opens May 25]
Am I dreading, dreading, dreading Georgia Rule? Oh, you know it: it’s from director Garry Marshall, whose idea of who women are -- neurotic overgrown children -- is on plain display in such monstrosities as Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, and Felicity Huffman, this one looks to be about three generations of neurotic overgrown children. I’m already suffering just thinking about it. [opens May 11]
(Technorati tags: 28 Weeks Later, Shrek the Third, Wendell Baker Story, Provoked, Bug, Georgia Rule)
comments
posted by Mohamed (Wed May 09 07, 8:17AM)
* Joins Maryann in crossing fingers for 28 Weeks Later.
posted by BZero (Wed May 09 07, 9:18AM)
Whew. So glad to hear good thing about 28 Weeks Later. I loved the first one, and am going to see the new one this Friday when it opens here (I even have that poster above hanging in my cubicle at work), but after the quiet suspense of the first one (all creepy-quiet, with the not-zombies used as sparingly for maximum effect), I was really worried at the 28 Weeks Later trailer with all the 'splosions. I've been thinking, "Please, please, please don't make this Michael Bay's version of 28 Days Later!" Maybe I can relax a little if you've heard good things. =^)
posted by MaryAnn (Wed May 09 07, 11:48AM)
Well, I've seen *28 Weeks* now, and I can promise you that it's not Michael Bay's anything. The explosions are kept to a minimum. The film is supercreepy, slyly political, and simple excellent.