This is a slack week for one reason: No one is dumb enough to go up against the latest entry in Fast and Furious series.
Screen scene: Local film news
Film news from the Asheville Area Arts Council, the Asheville Art Museum and Gorilla with a Mustache Films, and the premiere of Buskin’ Blues.
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 25-31: It Follows Hard Red Serena Home
In Theaters. Now that Insurgent defied its critics, The Gunman tanked, and Do You Believe? underwhelmed, we’re looking at a week of diminished expectations — at least so far as mainstream releases are concerned. Art titles — one of them anyway — may be another matter. What we have here is a kind of holding […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 4-10: What We Do in the Second Unfinished Chappie Shadows
In Theaters. Four new movies come wafting into town this week. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing mostly remains to be seen. While two of the titles qualify as art/indie, I’ve only seen one of them — and I recommend it. I shall explain. Under normal circumstances, just about anything from […]
Screen scene: Local film news
• The inaugural Montreat Film Festival is accepting submissions from local filmmakers through Monday, April 6. Entries must be shorter than eight minutes in length and reflect this year’s theme of hope. According to Montreat College’s website, the festival’s goal is “to highlight stories that honestly express and explore the human condition through the power of […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 18-24: Believe Insurgent Leviathan Gunman ’71
In Theaters. This was to be a somewhat more interesting week than it turned out to be (I shall explain). As it finally shakes out we have two mainstream titles, two art titles and one…well, specialty title. You see, we were also supposed to get another art title — or maybe art/specialty title would be […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 11-17: Cinderella Walks Home Alone All Night
We only get three movies this week. One of them is seemingly much anticipated. One is more likely to be shunned. And the third…goodness knows what you’ll make of it.
Local film news
Looking to submit a video, watch a film, cheer on a local videographer or get involved in the WNC film scene? Here’s some opportunities to do just that.
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler February 25-March 3: The Lazarus Focus Maps to Mr. Turner
In Theaters. We get four new movies this week. Two of these are of the art title variety — one is pretty terrific and the other is completely terrific. Both are of the “not for everbody” school. On the other hand, there are two mainstream movies. Both of these may well be of the “not […]
The Oscars 2015
I suppose I should feel like I have more of a shouting interest this year’s Oscars. After all, my no. one and no. two films of the year — The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman — are up for Best Picture. And, yes, I will be over the moon if Grand Budapest wins (improbable as […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler February 18-24: Grim, Grimmer and Grimmest
In Theaters. This is one of a mere handful of times where I didn’t use some kind of image from a new movie as the header for this column. The truth is I just can’t bring myself to put up an image for this week’s new movies. It’s just so incredibly underwhelming. We don’t even […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler February 11-17: Fifty Shades of Kingsman Alice
In Theaters. This, of course, is the week that “belongs” to Fifty Shades of Grey — which is expected to pull down $70-75 million this weekend. How you feel about that is something else entirely. It, however, is not the only thing opening this week — which is good news if low-wattage S&M is not […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler February 4-10: Seventh Jupiter Two Days Out of Water
In Theaters. Three mainstream and one art title (complete with Oscar nomination) come our way this week. I’d like to be able to say that there’s nothing as dire — and unintentionally funny — on the slate this week as last week’s The Loft, but I’d have to indulge in a fair amount of prevarication […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler January 28-February 3: Most Violent Black Almanac Loft Shorts
In Theaters. This week we get three art titles (well, sort of three) and three mainstream offerings. It’s certainly a broad mix, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say those mainstream titles have more than a faint aroma of January clinging to them. I think you know what I mean by that, but I […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler January 21-27: Strange Mortdecai Boy Cake
In Theaters. Well, this week is juggernaut-free, which suits me just fine — not that I don’t understand the pull of last week’s newsmaking big winner. I just can’t join in the enthusiasm for it. Probably the most interesting thing this week is the chance to see whether or not Jennifer Aniston was “robbed” […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler January 7-13: Inherent Selma Interview Vice Taken
In Theaters. It is a week of some considerable interest — and one surprise — not to mention the purported final entry (I want that in writing) of a certain wash-rinse-repeat series of Liam Neeson action movies. And after last week’s weak tea of a horror movie, we deserve something tasty. And at least one […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler January 14-20: American Foxcatcher Paddington Ringer in a Blackhat
In Theaters. This week we get five new movies in town — four mainstream and one art title — and it’s nothing if not diverse array. A wide choice of titles does not, of course, guarantee that all of them will be desirable. We shall see. Since we’re more or less just coming […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 31-January 6: January Is Upon Us
In Theaters. It was as inevitable as Dick Clark’s shrinking posthumous billing on New Year’s Rocking Eve that January would arrive bearing slim tidings mixed with the nuggets of expanding Oscar-bait releases that have yet too penetrate the provinces. Well, this week we get none of the latter (next week promises to be better) and […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 24-30: Special Christmas Edition
In Theaters. In a slightly unusual turn of events, this week’s Reeler serves as a pretty decent guide to the Christmas movies since four of the five movies hitting on Christmas Day have been seen and reviewed, so there’s very little crystal gazing involved. Of course, there was supposed to be a sixth movie opening […]
Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 17-23: Wild Hobbit Annie at the Museum
In Theaters. And so it begins. The first flood of Christmasiana — clogging theater screens with Hobbits and Ben Stiller, a trickle of singing tots and one art title. And don’t forget, there’ll be another six titles hitting us on Christmas Day. These are perilous times we live in. Unsurprisingly — especially since […]
Interview with The Babadook’s Writer-Director Jennifer Kent
This Friday, Dec. 12, a most unusual movie opens at The Carolina. It also has a most unusual name — The Babadook — and it has something else: a 98 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (97 positive reviews out of 99). I don’t put much credence in the whole business of review aggregation. For […]