We just had the most expensive Bollywood Sci-Fi film of all time, Robot, kicked loose to the big screen this past weekend. I have to wait until I go off call before I get to see it (that bit about turning off your cell phone in the movie theater means I have to wait until I can turn mine off), but there is another film that will be coming out on 5Nov10 I need to mention: Action Replay. Depending on who’s reviews you read and believe, this flic should be somewhere between Back To The Future and Hot Tub Time Machine, which were each variants on the same theme anyways. I do appreciate how each of these movies have the Grandfather Paradox at their core, bringing the concept out to the public in a format that makes sense to them. Once Upon A Time In Mumbai has some of the same flavor to it.
This one looks like it will be fun! The new trailer from Skyline, the first kick-ass invasion film since Independence Day. It hits the big screen November 12th.
Sadly, the best bet this weekend is an American remake of a movie that was perfect to start with. Let Me In can only have been made for people who can not read, because the films being in Swedish and therefore needing subtitles was the only drawback to Let The Right One In for English speakers. I expect the US remake to be very disappointing, since the original was brilliant and riveting even with the subtitles; you might as well try to remake the first film in that other world-class Swedish film trilogy Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Oh, wait, I think they are…
Howl will be in limited release this weekend, and while it might be hard to find a theater it is in, it will be worth it. Also in limited release, Enter the Void was inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and is every bit as strange as that implies. In wide release, the animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole brings Kathryn Lasky’s wonderful books to life in 3D. The animation looks amazing, and believe me when I say I will be in the 3D showing.
As I have previously commented here, they have found the missing 25 minutes of Metropolis in an obscure museum (virtually a private collection) in South America, restored them, and released them to the public. Being a 85 year old movie you wouldn’t expect it to get a major distribution deal, and it didn’t, but the places you can go see it are all over. One of the best is the Austin Cinema Drafthouse presentation, shown (and original score performed live in) an Art Deco Powerhouse, so the setting for watching the movie is a match for the setting in the movie. To see it on the big screen my best option is to go for the next time around at the AFI Silver, one of my favorite movie hangouts, and the place where I just finally got to see the original Day The Earth Stood Still on a screen large enough to contain it.
I can’t get terribly excited about Devil, a film about some people trapped in an elevator who decide that a demon is in the metal box with them scheduled to come out Friday. I think the currently playing Resident Evil: Afterlife would be a lot more fun and certainly a lot more action. Perhaps a good Klingon Opera might do the trick instead. There is some footage of it on the BBC News, and it looks like a lot of fun.