New In The USA: RESOLUTION
Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson got a lot of coverage in these pages as they took their very meta (more so than even The Cabin in the Woods) horror film across the genre festival circuit to rave reviews, awards and a limited theatrical release. If you never managed to catch it there, it has finally arrived here.
A friend helps his meth-addled pal detox in an isolated cabin, on an Indian burial ground, near a mental hospital, with religious crazies wandering about. Strange multimedia objects keep landing in their lap to suggest that they are being watched, recorded, and possibly more nefarious plots. Humour and horror (and drama) are all mixed together into a twisted semiotic pretzel which is an ode to our collective addiction to scary movies.
New In Canada: BROADCAST NEWS
While Peter Finch and Sidney Lumet got all the zeitgeisty credit with "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" in Network 10 years prior, I believe that James L. Brook's take on the changing face of newscasting is actually the better, more thoughtful film.
Holly Hunter is the producer that hires handsome, if slightly vacuous, William Hurt as the news anchor, much to the chagrin of Albert Brooks' hardened news man. Egos clash. But the highlight of the film is Brooks, who, when given the opportunity to finally get in front of the camera, fails so spectacularly that the moment still gives me nightmares. Whip-smart and entertaining, Broadcast News upsets many of the 'truisms' that folks might believe about the mechanics of how TV delivers the latest info, back in the 1980s anyway. Things have changed so much since 1976 and 1987 and now and that is instructive in itself.
New In The UK: THE ENGLISH SURGEON
If graphic onscreen brain surgery isn't your thing, you might want to skip this documentary. But you would be missing out on the compelling doctor at the centre of the story who gathers up old neurosurgery equipment and spare parts and brings them down every couple years to the Ukraine to treat the most desperate patients in an overburdened and broken healthcare system.
There are a few personal stories contained within the overall observation of the film, including a man slowly losing his mind from a hard-to-operate tumor, and a little girl who he failed to save who still haunts him. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis provide the soundtrack.
New In Ireland: THE THREE AMIGOS
"We've pause pruned the hedges pause on many small pause villages..." Many, including myself, have a real soft spot for John Landis' goofy fish-out-of-water comedy, with SNL alums Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin. Many have copied the formula (see Galaxy Quest, for instance) of 'actors' mistaken for the real deal hired by those in desperate need on hope, only with adversity to blossom into the real thing.
All the actors are hamming it up in front of the camera (including a wonderful Alfonso Arau), but it still manages to work. Martin Short's interpretation of the word 'infamous' is marvelous, if flawed, logical leap and the invisible man gag is priceless.
New In Brazil: 12 MONKEYS
At this point little needs to be said about Terry Gilliam's feature-length adaptation of Christ Marker's La Jetee. It is Gilliam's best studio film, and perhaps the only one that went smoothly while making it. Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer and Madeline Stow deliver some of their best performances.
Besides being both a post-apocalypse time travel thriller, it's also a nice history lesson of cinema. Note how Gilliam uses a scene from Vertigo, and you will see just how slyly askew a rabbit hole can go.
New In Mexico: KUNG FU HUSTLE
Steven Chow's axe wielding, CGI-Fu looney-tunes epic might just be the last great film he has made after such a great string of films in the 1990s and early 2000s. It's his Singing in the Rain Suffice it to say that when the big city axe-gang (who do cheoreographed dance-numbers with their axes in 1930's gangster suits) moves in on pig-sty alley, the local residents (mostly retired martial artists) aren't going to take it.
New In Norway: THE TRIP
Director Michael Winterbottom along with actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon travel around the countryside eating at fine restaurants, whilst picking at each others' egos, often via Michael Caine bon mots such as "She was only 16...." and "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" Trust me, give this a whirl if you want to have your fair share of laughs.
New In Sweden: SUBMARINE
Richard Ayoade's sophomore film, The Double, is already getting rave reviews. But the TV guy of The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh fame came into his own as a director of note with this charming debut. Young Oliver Tate attempts to repair his parents ailing marriage while falling into love himself. The whole film has a Wes Anderson vibe, but is its own thing entirely photographed in sepia tones on the coast of Wales.
Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor and in particular a loopy Paddy Considine provide ample support to the quite capable young actors Craig Roberts and Yasmine Paige.