august evening Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Appaloosa
Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are unlikely cowboys, Jeremy Irons is an even more unlikely villain, and Renée Zellweger is the least likely "proper widow" the Old West has ever seen. Appaloosa is a fitfully entertaining, post, post-modern Western; Eric D. described it well as "a buddy movie, a rough-and-tumble, no-girls-allowed, steak-and-potatoes romp that happens to be set in the Old West." The DVD includes an audio commentary by Harris (director/co-writer) and Robert Knott (co-writer/producer), four behind the scenes mini-features, and deleted scenes. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Swing Vote
Like Appaloosa, Swing Vote was pretty much ignored during its theatrical run, but deserves to find its audience on home video. Kevin Costner is in his everyman, blue collar mode here, which means the film is immensely likable and funny. He plays a small town loser, with a way too precocious daughter, who must cast the deciding vote in a presidential election. Of course it's contrived and silly and obvious and non-partisan, but I loved the election videos made by the suddenly too-eager-to-please candidates (Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer). The DVD includes an audio commentary with Joshua Michael Stern (director/co-writer) and Jason Richman (co-writer), a "making of" mini-feature, deleted scenes, an extended scene, and a music video. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Tokyo Gore Police
For extreme horror fans only: everything your splatter-loving heart could desire. Buy it.

More new releases: Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach, Mirrors (also on Blu-ray), My Best Friend's Girl (also on Blu-ray), Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, and Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (also on Blu-ray). Plus the great, faux-Kennedy TV mini-series Captains and the Kings, which enthralled me when it first aired way back in the Mesozaic Era (Richard Jordan! Richard Jordan! Richard Jordan!).

Look, I don't want to make it sound like an either/or thing. You can see wide-release films AND art-house indies. I'm just saying that on this particular weekend, the only wide release is something starring Nicolas Cage in a mullet, and it wasn't screened for critics. So if it were an either/or thing, this would be a good time to become an art-house fanatic, and the Indie Spotlight is here to let you know what your options are.
Seven films are opening in limited release today: August Evening, Everybody Wants to Be Italian, Mister Foe, Ping Pong Playa, Save Me, A Secret, and Surfer, Dude. Here's the scoop on each of them.

Everybody Wants to Be Italian
What it is: A romantic comedy about a man and woman who both pretend to be Italian because they think the other is. OK, maybe this doesn't actually sound any better than the Nicolas Cage/mullet thing.
What they're saying: At Rotten Tomatoes, all of the reviews so far are giving it a big ol' kick in the meatballs.
Where it's playing: A few dozen theaters all over New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and ... Salt Lake City? Well, OK.
More info: The official site has a handy list of theaters where it's playing.

Ping Pong Playa
What it is: A light, clean comedy about an Asian-American kid who has to step in when his family's ping pong championship is threatened.
What they're saying: Cinematical's Monika Bartyzel found it simply adorable last year at Toronto, saying it's predictable but charming. The reviews at Rotten Tomatoes are mixed so far -- it's either sweet and likable, or an annoying Napoleon Dynamite retread.
Where it's playing: New York City, plus the California cities of San Francisco, Alhambra, Berkeley, Glendale, Hollywood, Irvine, and San Jose.
More info: The official site has upcoming playdates, too.

Having survived criticism for agreeing to showcase Michael Bay's Transformers and, on the other end of the artistic spectrum, losing the US premiere of a Romanian prize-winner, reportedly due to an anxious distributor, the Los Angeles Film Festival prepares to open on Thursday with the world premiere of Talk to Me. The latest film by Kasi Lemmons, Talk to Me stars Don Cheadle as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., an "underappreciated hero of the civil rights movement." Lemmons is a member of the Board of Directors of Film Independent, the organization behind the festival, but she's also an acclaimed filmmaker in her own right, having made the excellent Eve's Bayou and The Caveman's Valentine, and the trailer for Talk to Me looks great. A rich variety of entertainment -- including live music, filmmaker talks and free outdoor screenings -- has been arranged throughout the festival, which runs from June 21 through July 1.

Still, the heart of any festival is the film programming, and the line-up is stellar. The Narrative Competition includes August Evening, which has the potential to be exceptional; it features lyrical photography and a hypnotic sense of place as an older man faces the dissolution of his family. Owl and the Sparrow also looks promising; from the trailer it appears to be a lively tale of a young girl who runs away to Saigon and gets involved with a flight attendant and a zookeeper. Summer Previews include Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris and Steve Buscemi's Interview, while the International Showcase will screen Ad Lib Night from South Korea ("amazingly powerful," according to one knowledgeable reviewer) and Guilty Pleasures will give audiences the chance to see Flight of the Living Dead; all you need to know is "zombies on a plane." About 40 trailers are available for viewing on the festival's web site; in all, more than 230 features, shorts and music videos will screen before the Closing Night presentation of Danny Boyle's Sunshine.