Since a group of post-pubescent wizards will certainly overshadow all box-office reports this weekend, I feel obliged to weigh in on the decade long cultural phenom known as Harry Potter. Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it. It’s our culture now. I also want to promote some smaller screenings this week.
New Releases:
Harry Potter: ten years and eight movies in the making
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, directed by David Yates (who also directed the last 3 Potter films) starring Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. How can a movie already be breaking box office records when it hasn’t even opened? It’s true–the final Harry Potter managed to do it. No other film has seen as much ticket pre-sale activity. It means watch out, the midnight screenings are going to be nutso. To avoid angering any of the wizards in line, just follow these rules: Avoid tripping on someone’s broom–you might interrupt an impromptu Quiditch match, never touch another wizard’s wand unless you get express permission, and don’t mix up your Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws–or else you’ll get outed as a Muggle. (Wide Release)
Winnie the Pooh, directed by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall (both Disney animators). Disney brings back Pooh and gang with a new movie based on the original stories by A.A. Milne. It looks like Disney is doing a lot of things right with this new foray in hand drawn animation–no obnoxious celebrity cameos, no gratuitous pop-culture references (see Shrek) and no casual racial stereotypes. Cute! I’m glad to see Disney hasn’t abandoned hand drawn animation completely. Now let’s see if Pooh makes any money. (Wide Release)
Seattle Screenings:
Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick, aspiring class president
Election (1999), directed by Alexander Payne, starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. High School elections can be pretty brutal, often no more than popularity contests for the over achieving set–high schoolers drunk with power or else just looking to boost their college applications. Witherspoon plays Tracy Flick perfectly as the villain in this dark comedy with a mix of brown-nosing, snobbery and ruthless ambition. (It makes me sad that Reese is so freaking boring now.) Broderick plays the teacher who alone realizes he must stop this monster. (Central Cinema, all week)
Hobo With a Shotgun (2011), directed by Jason Eisener, starring Rutger Hauer. The premise: a man experiencing homelessness has been pushed over the edge by drug dealing gangs that control the city. He takes matters into his own hands, quite literally with a shotgun, to clean out the criminals in power. This is the latest in young directors in the nouveau Grind House mold. Director Eisener collaborated on Tarantino’s Grindhouse from 2007. As much as I love all the Grind House spin-offs (see Machete), I can’t help but wondering if this one is simply trying to hard (see Robo Geisha). There’s a really fine line between finding humor in a cheesy action movie and just making a spoof film. As Bad Movie Art’s Jason Miller says: I’d rather see Homo With a Shotgun. Hell, we should make that movie. (Central Cinema, all week)
Don't you love movie posters that illustrate all of the actors in the film?
American Graffiti (1973) directed by George Lucas, starring Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus, and Cindy Williams. The 1970s interpretation of the 1950s/early 1960s was so fabulous and interesting, and this film did it first. It’s a glossy unbridled nostalgia for a time that never was. Made a year before Happy Days, which then spun off Laverne & Shirley, this film also certainly influenced the bizarre fantasy world that is Grease. In the film a group of high school friends on the verge of leaving for college learn life lessons while cruising for burgers and chicks in your typical American small town. It’s super cheesy and espouses a ridiculous conservative view of small town values, but it’s saved by an awesome soundtrack, Del Shannon, the Platters, the Flamingos, Bill Haley and the Comets. Those are the best 2 minute songs ever written. (Grand Ilussion, all week)
Quadrophenia (1979) starring Phil Daniels & Sting. With a soundtrack by the Who this rock movie recounts the Brighton Beach riots between mods and rockers in the mid 1960s. Sting plays the king of the mods. I think he’s king because he has the most mirrors on his moped. It’s confusing. (Egyptian, Friday & Saturday, midnight)
Pia Zadora as Gerilee Randall, used and abused in Hollywood
The Lonely Lady (1983), directed by Peter Sasdy, starring Pia Zadora. Bad Movie Art presents one of the worst of the worst this Monday. Based on Harold Robbin’s best selling trash novel, The Lonely Lady tells the tawdry tale of a young woman’s journey through the seedy underbelly of Hollywood as she navigates a screen writing career. In no short order she endures garden hose rape, further threats of garden hose rape, infidelity, drug abuse, prostitution, and the final straw–a lesbian affair. Utter trash. You will feel icky and unclean. When you go home you may need to shower with all your clothes on. You have been warned. Look for my interview with Jason Miller of Bad Movie Art to appear tomorrow. (Central Cinema, Monday, 7 p.m.)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) The boys made a stink that every Central Cinema Pajama Party was for the girls (Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Teen Witch, Dirty Dancing, Troop Beverly Hills). They wanted a Boys Pajama Party. The lesson of this story is be careful what you wish for. TMNT is not a pretty movie. (Central Cinema, Thursday, 8 p.m.)
Ryan Hicks is Development Manager for Three Dollar Bill Cinema, a film fan and contributor to Seattle Gay Scene.
