Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler July 23-29: Most Wish Lucy Venus in Hercules Fur

In Theaters.

Here’s a week with one terrific art title, one good art title, one unknown quantity indie title, and three really shaky looking mainstream ones. It may not be all skittles and beer, but there’s a certain diversity to it. I guess.

 

polanski-venus-in-fur

 

Let’s start with the cream of the crop — yes, I will say that without having seen four of the other titles. The chances of the others being better than Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur are frankly non-existent. This is the kind of movie you dream about — stylish, witty, perceptive, personal, often very funny, and occasionally a little terrifying. It’s also another shoo-in for the top half of my 2014 Best of list. (For a year that didn’t start out so hot, things are looking up.) It’s a great work by a great filmmaker proving that he’s still got it at 80. It only has two characters — Emmanuelle Seigner (Mrs. Polanski) and Mathieu Amalric — and it only has one setting, but you’ll quickly forget these things as the film sweeps you up in its wicked — and wickedly clever — story. Few movies will get you this high — and do it with such seeming ease. I’ve seen it four times. You can see it for yourself starting Friday at The Carolina.

 

a-most-wanted-man-1

 

Even if it wasn’t up against Venus in Fur, I’d still find Anton Corbijn’s film of John le Carré’s novel A Most Wanted Man to be a good movie that’s trying a little too hard to be a great one. The movie is an attempt to place espionage in our post-9/11 world in terms of a Cold War thriller — and it’s very good at that. For that matter — and despite some half-hearted German accents — its three stars — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, and Willem Dafoe — give strong performances. (Hoffman truly owns the film.) It also manages to be consistently interesting, and by the end it’s even generated a degree of suspense. But don’t go expecting another Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, because it isn’t one. It also starts Friday at The Carolina.

 

wish

 

Now, under normal circumstances, I’d have seen Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here, but this is one of those movies that the distributor opted to send our way too late in the week to get a print here for a press screening. (Just as well from my perspective, since — with special screenings — I was already tussling with 11 movies this past weekend.) As you probably know, this is Braff’s follow-up (of a sort) to his 2004 indie hit Garden State — and it became something of an issue because of its Kickstarter campaign. I have no issue with that. And I have no issue with Braff in general. I liked Garden State, but I’m not morbid about it, nor am I sold on a similar film focused on a 30-something variation on its themes. I’m not particularly swayed either way by its mixed-leaning-negative reviews. I am, however, terrified of the fact that it co-stars Kate Hudson, who I am convinced only continues to make movies because she hates us and is punishing us for something. This also opens at The Carolina on Friday.

 

ASIG_02869.NEF

 

I guess that Rob Reiner’s And So it Goes is mainstream. Reiner at least used to be a mainstream name — though I’ve never quite understood why — and stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton are mostly mainstream. But this is coming to us from the same little releasing company that brought us Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. Considering Reiner’s more recent fare, this may be the best he could manage. Frankly, this aimed-at-the-older-generation rom-com looks for all the world like that Nancy Meyers’ thing, Something’s Gotta Give, that teamed Keaton with Jack Nicholson back in 2003. (Whether it will also look like an Architectural Digest photo spread a la Nancy Meyers remains to be seen.) I’m supposed to be the demographic for this, since it’s about people more or less my age, but I have serious doubts — and they’re being exacerbated by the early reviews.

 

hercules-movie-2014-wallpapers-the-rock-dwayne-johnsons

 

The big hope box office-wise this week is, of course, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in and as Hercules — a Brett Ratner film. While the Ratner factor is alarming on its own, I’m still trying to process the IMDb’s claim that Johnson is “the closest thing Hollywood has to a male movie star.” Just roll that around in your head for a while and see if it doesn’t make you despair for the fate of humanity and movies. The film will undoubtedly do well and be better than January’s The Legend of Hercules, though I’d say that replacing director Renny Harlin with Brett Ratner is, at best, a wash. The presence of Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, and Joseph Fiennes will either help, or merely be embarrassing. All the same, my wife wants to see this, so I’ll be the lucky one reviewing it.

 

lucy-scarlett-johansson-picture

 

Finally, we have Luc Besson’s Lucy — the latest bout of nonsense from the French action director-producer of intensely dumb movies. (Think of him as the French Roland Emmerich.) This one is so dumb that it hinges on that long-refuted nonsense that we only use ten percent of our brains. (Frankly, I know people I’m sure use less than that.) Whether that’s enough to keep folks from wanting to see Scarlett Johansson as a super intelligent, bad ass action star in a movie that dares to go for the full R rating is another matter. I hold out no hope for it being good — despite the presence of Morgan Freeman to make it appear serious — but it could be junky fun. I’m betting it moves faster than Johansson’s Under the Skin, too.

This week we lose Third Person (no shock there) and both Chef and Life Itself are going to split shows, which probably means they’re on the way out. The Carolina is dropping Begin Again, though it’s holding steady at the Fine Arts, while the surprise hit, Snowpiercer, is holding nicely at both theaters.

Special Screenings

 

exmrsb2

 

 

This week the Thursday Horror Picture show celebrates director James Whale’s 125th birthday (Mr. Whale will not be attending) with Bride of Frankenstein (1935) at 8 p.m. on Thu., July 24 in Theater Six at The Carolina. World Cinema is running Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) on Fri., July 25 at 8 p.m. in the Railroad Library in the Phil Mechanic Building. Wedge Brewery is showing local-musician-turned filmmaker Hank Bones’ musical satire The Quitters starting at 15 minutes after sundown on Sat., July 26. The Hendersonville Film Society is running John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) at 2 p.m. on Sun., July 27 in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing in Hendersonville. The Asheville Film Society closes out its July calendar of Tue. screenings with William Powell and Jean Arthur in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936). More on all titles in this week’s Xpress — with full reviews in the online edition.

On DVD

 Forget the fact that it tanked here — mostly for being shown without a review before it opened — Dom Hemingway is the film to seek out on DVD this week. Also up are Blue Ruin, Tyler Perry’s The Single Mom’s Club, and Heaven is for Real. Yep, Dom Hemingway is the way to go.

Notable TV Screenings

 You’re on your own again this week.   

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

13 thoughts on “Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler July 23-29: Most Wish Lucy Venus in Hercules Fur

  1. I hold out no hope for it being good — despite the presence of Morgan Freeman to make appear serious — but it could be junky fun.

    If it’s half as fun as THE TRANSPORTER, it’ll be worth the money.

  2. Ken Hanke

    I’ve seen it, though I don’t remember how or when. I didn’t like it much.

  3. Edwin Arnaudin

    Unless it’s by a favorite director, I try to avoid seeing trailers outside of the theater. I see so many before movies each week that I want them to be as fresh as possible.

    It was bad enough having the one for Unbroken play before all three new releases a few weeks back. Had I sought it out online beforehand, seeing it so many times in so short a span might have made me catatonic.

  4. Ken Hanke

    I see so many trailers that I can scarcely remember what I’ve seen. Thank Clapton, The Carolina only shows three trailers per movie. I have been at theaters where I sat through so many trailers that I had to try to remember what I was there to watch.

  5. Ken Hanke

    Say, anyone else intrigued by the IMDb’s new apparent hold on user reviews until after opening weekend where mainstream releases are concerned? If it’s because the studios complained that it was hurting business (and really what else could have prompted this?), that’s amusing since the studios have been using so-called “user reviews” to shill for their crap for some time now.

  6. mtndancer

    “All the same, my wife wants to see this, so I’ll be the lucky one reviewing it.”
    I always wondered how it worked out. Poor Justin’s wife must have awful taste in movies.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.