New Releases for April 6rd, or The Burden of the Outside World

I like to think I don't spend all my time sitting in the basement on a chair made of discarded pizza boxes discriminating against films I haven't seen. I go out every once in a while and experience actual human contact. But the other night I was reminded of my hesitation.

My cohort & I were driving down the 110 freeway carefree and happy, when on one side rattled a tremendous tour bus on the part of the road that specifically warns against large vehicles, while on the other, a pick-up truck with ridiculously huge tires and Metallica sticker in the rear window barreled down. We had to break fast before the two cars flattened us like roadside pancakes. At that moment, my fear of the outside world took hold & I vowed to seek safety in the womb-like security of my basement. I encounter less quotidien stress here, free of the burdens of the real world, and may continue to blog the day away.

NEW RELEASES:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans: I should start by saying I hated the original one. It had all the elements of a classic: Harvey Keitel at his prime, excessive drug use, lewd sexual acts, tons of swearing, but something about it didn't work for me. This is more my cup of tea. Not as graphic as the first one, but about a dozen times more fun. Nicholas Cage does a great job at being Klaus Kinski and everyone in the film seems to be missing a chromosome (which is a good thing). Not Herzog's best, but any Herzog is better than a couple of dozen films.

The Blind Side: This film touched me on more levels than you can imagine and I wept like a little girl at the end. If you think Sandra Bullock deserved the Oscar and you like weeping like a little girl, then this will be your bread and butter.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Now not only can you convert your friends to the cult of Wes Anderson, you can convert your children too. Fantastic Mr. Fox is pretty much a WA film without real people: several animals are emotionally insecure, there's a Rolling Stones song somewhere and all the characters are immaculatly dressed. So basically, if you like the guy, I recommend it. If the precious, clever-cleverness of his work gets on your last nerve, then I don't.

Mad Men S.3: If you're like me, your idea of a great show involves scads of cigarettes, martinis, Barbet Schroeder and top-heavy red heads! This show has all of that, but what's keeping it from the pinnacle of perfect TV is the absence of extreme violence à la massive shoot-outs. If you're okay with that, then come for the lusty lives of cutthroat ad men & busty bombshells, and stay for the story.

Taxidermia: Not since "In the Realm of the Senses" or "The Brown Bunny" has there been an art film that gets its point across with more graphic and extreme unsimulated acts. If you love this movie, it means you're a little bit unbalanced and perverse. This means I like you and we should hang out.

OTHER NEW RELEASES:

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Blu-Ray) (To prepare for the doom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvY6DU-uEiw)
The African Queen (On DVD for the first time)
Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Behind Convent Walls
Brothers (Dir. Jim Sheridan with Tobey MacGuire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal)
Days of Heaven (Blu-Ray)
An Education (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Foolish Wives
Girly
Krod Mandood and the Flaming Sword of Fire (Comedy Central)
The Men Who Stare at Goats (George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Eqan McGregor, John Cusack and Goat) (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Remember the Night (Barabara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and written by Preston Sturges)
Sanjuro & Yojimbo (Blu-Ray)
Sherlock Holmes (DVD & Blu-Ray)
The Sister of Ursula
South Park S.13
Story of Fashion
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Vivienne Westwood
We Won't Grow Old Together (Dir. Maurice Pialat)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Bigger Than Life: From the great American subversive, Nicholas Ray, comes a film that's a complete indictment of the idea of the perfect fifties life in suburbia and the mask of the family unit. A bomb when initially released, it was quickly re-evaluated as one of the greatest post-war American films by the pack of New Wavers from Cahiers du Cinema. James Mason headlines this production as a father who is taking an experimental new drug that saves his life, but when he increases his dosage, starts to make him lose touch with reality and revolt against his family and act physically and emotionally erratic. The new Criterion edition brings the film for the first time to the U.S. in both Blu-Ray and DVD editions that have very informative special features including a commentary by critic Geoff Andrew, a conversation with Susan Ray (Nicholas' widow), a seventies archival interview with Ray plus more. Essential cinema in an excellent disc! Highly recommended!

END OF BLOGGING:
For today at least
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This is our cabinet. Can you tell I'm running low on photo inspiration?

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Driving a bus perilously on the 110 is illegal and dangerous. Don't do it!