New In The USA: APOCALYPSE NOW: REDUX
Cinephiles are somewhat split on what is the definitive version of Francis Ford Coppola's 'War is Hell.' The REDUX version is 49 longer, looser in terms of extended scenes and dialogue, and (for me) adds some surreal balance to the initial farcical hoopla and the crazy cattle-killing finale.
The added stops along the way (Including a lengthy oasis at an isolated French plantation) certainly amplifies the sense of 'endless futility' on the trip into the heart of darkness. If you've not had a chance to see this 2001 version of the film, now is your chance.
New In Canada: HERE COMES THE DEVIL
What is more disturbing? Your kids walking in on you and your spouse having sex, or you and your spouse walking in on your children having sex -with each other. Ostensibly a possession horror, but this Mexican film has far more morally reprehensible acts on its twisted little brain. The simple gesture of holding hands has never been so delectably icky.
New In The UK/Ireland: Lots of Mid-Tier Woody Allen
Because the Wood-man puts out a film per year, and has been doing this for decades, there are a lot of Woody Allen films out there. While Manhattan, Annie Hall, Crimes & Misdemeanors and Hannah & Her Sisters get all the love, and Scoop, Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Anything Else get all the hate, there is a solid middle that are still worth checking out.
Note that a few of these titles above may or may not be available to those of you in the British Isles already, but to the point: Netflix has added Deconstructing Harry, Mighty Aphrodite, and Everyone Says I Love You (If you must, there is also Celebrity, but proceed with caution on the last one.)
New In Brazil/Mexico: BACK TO THE FUTURE
Some consider this the best american film of 1985, others consider it the best film of the 1980s. I'm not one to get to hyperbolic about such things, a movie about an time travelling high school student who has to prevent his mother from fucking him, and get with his young dad instead is an impressive achievement in blockbuster high-concept.
Also, note that next year, if Marty McFly got in the DeLorean (albeit, if this thing was made now, it'd be a Tesla) and went back, he could go into a cinema and catch the original film playing on the big screen.
New In Scandinavia: PACIFIC RIM
There is not much more we can say about Guillermo del Toro's Kaiju-Battle film in these parts. You love it or hate it or were disappointed in it, but you were never unaware of it.
The result was impressively big budget mayhem with lots of pretty colours, lots of smashing robots and aliens, a Japanese girl with agency with her boring American companion, and more important than either of them is Ron Perlman in some pretty impressive footwear. Have at it again.
New In The Netherlands: BERNIE
Richard Linklater's mock-documentary is loosely based on the true story of a mortician who dates a much older rich lady, kills her, and hides that she is dead for a very long time before he is caught and punished by a crusading lawyer.
The story offers fertile ground for a trio of performances from Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey, all of whom offer caricature and pathos at the same time, it is a delicate balance that doomed this film to un-marketability and its eventual tiny limited theatrical release.
It is a gem worth discovering if you have not already. If nothing else, the opening scene of Black's mortician pontificating on the grooming of a corpse is a perfect figurative, literal and decidedly excellent encapsulation of the entire film: "We cannot have grief, tragically become a comedy."
