Friday film roundup: Build Me A Comedy! Thus saith the Lord
Lots of new movies hitting theaters this week–so here’s the weekly film roundup from Past the Popcorn:
Yes, Evan Almighty — the follow up to 2003’s Bruce Almighty, has arrived, complete with ark and biblical robes, sans unmarried couples and blasphemous stand-ins for God. Yes, whatever might have offended you in Bruce has been stripped clean from Evan — even 20 minutes or so of running time. So if efficiently clean comedy is what your family needs, you’re in big, big luck. Director Tom Shadyac is here to save the day. “Is the humor enough to warrant a recommendation?” asks Past the Popcorn Managing Editor Greg Wright. “Probably,” he says, “for most audiences… Just don’t be surprised when animals bite things they shouldn’t — and don’t expect Jesus to come up.”
There’s also a small raft of other releases this week.
If good-old-fashioned horror (you know, like Disney’s Haunted House ride) is your thing, John Cusack does his average Joe thing pretty well in 1408. Says Jeff Walls, the film wants to “take us for a ride that scares us, humors us, and has us leaving with a smile on our faces. Mission accomplished.”
Eagle vs Shark, which continues the tradition of Napoleon Dynamite, “appears to have all of the right ingredients,” says Mike Brunk: “quirky characters with solid acting and a twisted story that seems ripe for laughs. And yet I often found myself glancing at my watch and fidgeting in my seat. It felt much longer than the roughly hour-and-a-half running time.”
In the arthouses, you might enjoy Angel-A, says Greg Wright — if you don’t mind the idea of angels with “potty-mouth, lingerie, gams, and sexual urges.”
Mike Smith, meanwhile, finds La Vie en Rose to be a powerhouse portrayal of Edith Piaf — who, like Mike, you may never have heard of. “So U.S. moviegoers, if most of them are like me,” says Mike, “may be a bit reluctant to come out for this film. That would be a shame — because little Edith was one of a kind, and so is this film.”
But Mike prefers Golden Door, a tale of Italian immigrants coming through Ellis Island in 1910. “Golden Door’s cramped feeling is contagious and palpable,” he says. “The camera work often prevents us from seeing much more than just beyond our noses — all while avoiding overuse of first-person POV shots. It is an unusual and sobering effect, not enjoyable but marvelous, shadowing the entire film with a cloud of foreboding.”
Also out this week: Day Watch.
