My fun little blog detailing all things pop culture...well, the interesting bits. I'll be covering music, television, film, and other similar areas of interest. I'll try to post at least once a day. Look for about 50% information, 50% opinion...but this is NOT a gossip blog. I am not Perez Hilton!

Friday, September 12, 2008

What’s new in theaters this week: 9/12/08

Good morning; here's what's new in theaters this week:

Opening in Wide release:
  • "Burn After Reading" - Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovich star in the Coen Brothers' comedy about a C.I.A. disc that falls into the wrong hands.  This is a about as far away as you can get from the Coens' last film, multiple Oscar winner "No Country For Old Men."  Don't look for this one to be picking up any awards, but it looks like it could a fun little diversion.  Rated R.
  • "Righteous Kill" - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer.  Ever since the two worked together in Michael Mann's classic crime thriller "Heat," people have been waiting anxiously for these two heavyweight actors to share the screen again.  That being said, neither De Niro or Pacino are as popular as they once were, and this film doesn't appear to be on the level of their best work.  Oh, and 50 Cent's in the film too.  Yeah...  Rated R.
  • "Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys" - Two families, one upper-crust and the other working-class, are linked by scandal that threatens to unravel the lives of all involved.  This film looks a lot different than Tyler Perry's other work; more like a straight-ahead thriller than the life-lesson movies he's known for.  I just hope the movie is better than the clunky title.  Rated PG-13.
  • "The Women" - Meg Ryan is a career woman who seems to be living the perfect life, until she discovers that her husband is cheating on her.  This is a remake of George Cukor's classic film of the same name; both are notable for not featuring any men in the entire picture (the rest of the cast includes Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes, and Jada Pinkett-Smith).  The audiences who went to see "Sex & The City" and "Mamma Mia!" should flock to this film, and if it does well, perhaps Hollywood will finally pick up on the fact that women will go see movies if you provide something they actually want to see.  Rated PG-13.
Opening in Selected release:
  • "Towelhead" - A 13-year-old Arab-American girl navigates an overbearing father, the confusing path of adolescence and her own sexual awakening.  This looks to be very similar in tone to "American Beauty," which isn't a huge surprise considering the film is by AB writer Alan Ball (he also created the HBO television series "Six Feet Under" and "True Blood").  Worth seeing if you're comfortable dealing with some very dark content.  Rated R.
  • "Flow" - A documentary that ruminates on the World Water Crisis: the possibility that the Earth's supply of fresh water is dwindling.  It also is very critical of the bottled water industry, which the movie seems to argue is stealing water from people who need it but can't afford to buy it.  This looks like a very important movie for people to see.  I hope "Flow" gets as much attention as "An Inconvenient Truth" did... and I hope people don't dismiss this film as "liberal propaganda" either.  Not rated, and doesn't appear to contain anything objectionable.