In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther—along with their producer/coherer Steve Shanafelt—discuss current films Senna, Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite and Moneyball, as well as the upcoming LGBT film festival, Asheville Qfest.
What is Qfest? Well, it’s Asheville’s first LGBTQ film festival — and it’s not afraid of frightening the horses. Here’s a brief look-in at the five films I’ve seen.
Here we are with the “special limited two week engagement” of the 3D-ified Lion King entering its third big week and five new films entering the fray. We have three mainstream titles—50/50, Dream House, What’s Your Number?—and one art title—Senna—and one specialized title—Courageous. The mainstream titles appear to open everywhere except the Beaucatcher. Senna opens at The Carolina. And Courageous will be at the Carmike and Regal Biltmore Grande. On top of all this, there’s Qfest—Asheville’s first annual LGBTQ film festival—running from Thursday night through Sunday at the Fine Arts. In short, there is no shortage of cinematic options this week. And it’s going to get more crowded next week when two new art titles open.
In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther are joined by guest host Laura Marie Souther to discuss Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, Drive, I Don’t Know How She Does It, Point Blank, Sarah’s Key and Straw Dogs.
This week it’s four mainstream titles—Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite, Moneyball (opening most places)—up against one lonely art title—Point Blank (opening at The Carolina). There’s little doubt about what’s going to come out on top here. Moneyball seems destined to be the big winner at the box office. Other questions remain. Will Taylor Lautner prove he’s more than a beefy boy with big biceps? Can Morgan Freeman fix an amputee dolphin? Can Brad Pitt make baseball stats interesting? Will Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro become the Groucho, Harpo and Chico of action pictures? All will be revealed over the weekend—depending on how intrepid you are.
In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther discuss Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Contagion, Warrior and The Guard.
Another week of movies is headed our way. This week we get two art titles — Sarah’s Key (The Carolina and Fine Arts) and Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (The Carolina) — and three mainstream ones — Drive, I Don’t Know How She Does It and Straw Dogs. Hopefully, the deserving titles in this set will generate more interest than last week’s did (pleasant weather and the Mountain State Fair did the box office no favors here).
I have a friend who I sometimes think exists mostly to prove—even though he’s a few years my junior—that there are more curmudgeonly folks in the world than I. (Unfortunately, he hasn’t a name that rhymes with anything like “cranky.”) The other day he was celebrating the existence of a highly dubious article on the tanking of summer blockbusters this year (at least five of the films cited were not big-budget flops, just common garden flops). I took issue with this on the basis of factual wobbliness and the fact that a lot of the summer crap is what helps to keep the good stuff viable. The whole thing then escalated into the assertion that it wouldn’t matter to him if they never made another movie, which, of course, served to escalate the argument even more.
Apparently just about everyone in the movie-booking world spent Labor Day roasting weenies—or whatever it is that people who have Labor Day off do—and the result of this is that I’m sitting here trying to put together a “Weekly Reeler” with limited information. I know what’s going on at the Fine Arts and I know what art titles are slated for The Carolina and I know the mainstream titles. I know the Fine Arts is opening The Guard and The Carolina is set to open The Devil’s Double and Terri. The “big” releases are Contagion, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and Warrior. But there are gaps.
There it is, sitting there like a visible conscience. It’s a box. It contains a lot of packing and another box. It’s all on the nice armchair that only gets used by cats—who, I might add, are not pleased with its presence—and the occasional intrepid visitor who doesn’t mind getting up covered in cat hair. Inside the innermost box lies—or so I am told—a 100 percent region-free Blu-ray player. I’m assured it will play any region DVD and any letter code Blu-ray disc. State of the art technology at my fingertips and all that. It’s of the “so simple it operates itself” variety—no tricky settings, just pop those babies in and go. What it is not, however, is “so simple it sets itself up.” Therein lies the reason it’s resting on the chair.
Before going any further, it should be understood that Labor Day weekend is considered to be a movie dumping ground—one of those weekends where movies that studios view with grave misgivings and gloomy foreboding get sent out into the world. The idea is that very few people will notice them and that everyone will be spared as much embarassment as possible. The exception this year is the release of The Debt, which is aimed at an older, less picnic-happy audience—and, of course, art and indie fare like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place (opening at The Carolina) and Another Earth (opening at the Fine Arts) don’t count. Things like Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D, on the other hand, fit the profile perfectly. And then there’s self-releasing Seven Days in Utopia, which fits the four-waller profile more than anything else.
Yeah, I know, it’s really a good while till Halloween, but I want to get an early start on at least one aspect of it this year. I’m sure most of you reading this know that I’m involved with the Thursday Horror Picture Show. In point of fact, the programming of it and just about everything else about it is in the hands—and warped minds—of Justin Souther and myself. It’s very much like the Asheville Film Society, but on Thursdays and with horror movies. It’s also in the hands of the people who come to the movies. Now, nothing says horror pictures like Halloween, so I’d like this Halloween season to be something special.
Another week and another array of choices for our viewing pleasure—or so the ever-hopeful studios would like to believe. Last week absolutely everything got its nose rubbed in the dirt. This week? Well, only time will tell, but the buffet this week includes three mainstream titles—Colmbiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Our Idiot Brother—two art titles—A Better Life (Carolina), Tabloid (Fine Arts)—and something called The Caller (Carolina), which has the distinct aroma of “four-waller” about it.
All manner of things come our way this week—some of them are even movies, and one of them is in smell-o-vision. That seems fair. Lots of movies smell, this one’s honest about it. So what’s on tap? Well, from the mainstream side of the ledger, there’s Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night, One Day and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. The art/indie side finds The Future opening at the Fine Arts and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front at The Carolina.
Lots of titles this week—six of them, in fact. We have four mainstream ones—The Help, 30 Minutes or Less, Final Destination 5 and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie—and two art/indie films—The Last Mountain (Fine Arts) and Snowflower and the Secret Fan (The Carolina). I’ve no earthly idea why The Help opens on Wednesday, but it’s perhaps just as well with this much. Then again, except for movie critics, I don’t see a whole lot of crossover appeal here.
Last week sometime I was approached to be part of a group of critics submitting—for Lubitsch knows what reason—their picks for the 100 greatest or favorite films of all time. Somewhat against my better judgment, I said yes. I probably would not have said yes if that “or favorite” phrase had not been attached. Anyone who believes him or herself actually qualified to categorically name the 100 greatest movies ever made is frankly deluded—for a variety of reasons.
Well, it’s all over but the prize-winner screening—and that’s tonight, Aug. 3 at 9:30 p.m. at Asheville Pizza and Brewing (675 Merrimon Ave.). Once again, Marcianne Miller, James Cassara and I were called in as judges for the 48 Hour Film Project. And once again, after a great deal of discussion—but only one threat of actual violence that I recall—we arrived at a consensus, resulting in the list of categories and films below.
The Smurfs to one side, last week didn’t turn out so badly. So what of this week? Well, let’s see. In the land of the mainstream we have The Change-up and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (both everywhere but the Carmike). And on the art film side of the ledger there’s Project Nim and The Trip (both at The Carolina). Apart from the unintentional connection between two movies involving chimpanzees, it’s at least diverse.
I have an unusually heavy viewing/reviewing load this week (and I really do not remember making a deal with Justin that involved me seeing The Smurfs, but he says I did, so I must have), so this is going to be on the short side. It’s also going to be on the self-serving side, which is to say I’m looking for input on something.
Last week may have been a little slack, but this week brings us three mainstream titles—Cowboys & Aliens (everywhere but the Beaucatcher), Crazy, Stupid, Love (everywhere but the Carmike) and The Smurfs (again, everywhere but the Carmike). Then there’s one art title—Page One: Inside the New York Times (at The Carolina)—and something or other called Assassination Games that promises the return of Jean-Claude Van Damme (also at The Carolina). People in search of something other than Bele Chere—or wanting to get out of the heat of Bele Chere—are not wanting for options.
Ah, that venerable movie critic phrase—“Not for everyone.” It has weathered the years and is still trotted out with no little frequency. I’ve used it myself more than once or twice. Taken at face value, it’s really at least a little idiotic, since it suggests the existence of movies that are for everyone—and let’s face it, your chance of finding even one such movie is slightly less likely than coming across a Carolina Parakeet. Of course, no one using the phrase actually means to suggest the existence of any such thing.
