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| Single White Meester |
There isn't much happening this weekend in terms of releases. We have a Single White Female rip-off called The Roommate, a James Cameron produced underwater (shocker) thriller, a Natalie Portman marriage melodrama, and a mystery experiment from director Aaron Katz called Cold Weather.
More after the cut --
Last week, Anthony Hopkins secured his no1 spot in the box office, creeping out the average filmgoer, but leaving a lot critics to desire. The film's Rotten Tomato score is around 17%. I'll have a review for it soon. But, at this point, I'm still anticipating it. No String Attached holds onto the no2 spot, and last week's The Mechanic roles up at no3. The Green Hornet and The King's Speech complete the top5. G-g-go, King, go.
This weekend, though, the only movie that could possibly bump The Rite out of the top spot, and subsequently The King's Speech out of the top5, is The Roommate. A thriller that we've seen a dozen times, and nothing that anyone I know is looking forward to again. But, let's take a closer look at the four -
The Roommate. PG-13.
Early word on the film is... non-existent, at this point. We'll find out what critics have to say tomorrow when the film opens, but no reviews have popped up that I've seen. From the trailer, what I can tell you is this, though - it's going to be The Stepfather with a dash of Sorority Row, while the director - Christian E. Christiansen - plays Vanilla Ice and says that the "dings" set his film apart from Single White Female. But, we all know the truth. Still, ... I'll probably wind up seeing this. I anticipate nothing about the film, except that Leighton Meester is kind of fun. But, outside of that, this is just bad.
Sanctum. R.
Having to tag your award winning producer, or your celebrity producer, to promote a film means one of two things - one, your film is terrible and you think your audience will see it based on the fact that James Cameron or Quentin Tarantino gave it an okay, or two, your movie is so amazing but so small that you have to trick everyone into going to see it. Let's look at two examples from each extreme - Quentin Tarantino presents Wolf Creek, and then Quentin Tarantino presents Hero. See the difference? Here, James Cameron stamped his name unto an underwater cave diver thriller, seemingly similar to 2005's The Descent, but bound to be inferior. Still, I'm seeing it simply because Richard Roxburgh doesn't get enough work.
Also in theaters...
The Other Woman - The destined to be overexposed Natalie Portman stars as a woman who finds love, and then loses everything. She marries her ex-boss, and gains the life of her dreams, then after a tragedy, she must pick the pieces up and start anew. Could be a great performance from Portman, if not a shallow... Lifetime-esque film. But, even so, this is a film from Don Roos, and he's bringing back Lisa Kudrow from their The Opposite of Sex days. I'm in.
Cold Weather - Aaron Katz has crafted a love letter to the detective genre, and gives us an experimental take on "mystery" in film. Audiences at film festivals have been eating this up, and we might have an early Oscar contender on our hands, if the momentum keeps building. Look for lots of tongue-in-cheeck in-jokes and a strong story arch. Two friends use their admiration for detective novels to track down one's missing ex-girlfriend.
We have our options this weekend. Even though I'm down to see all four releases, the only one I'm going to actively seek out is Cold Weather. I'll keep an eye out for the other three, though, definitely. You? What will you be seeing this weekend?
