[Local Trailers] DRY BONES

Fiercely independent local filmmaker Greg Lamberson returns with Dry Bones, selected to screen at the  Pollygrind Underground Film Festival in Vegas and opening in Amherst for a week at The Screening Room on October 18th, his latest horror comedy looks like one of those movies you should just go along with. Staring Michael O'Hear as a grown man who returns to his childhood home after years of being psychologically terrorized by a monster under his bed (Dry Bones, I recon from the trailer). The trailer has plenty of odd, funny looking moments - it looks like its having an awful lot of fun on what I imagine to be a slim budget.

Screening: October 18th-25th at The Screening Room

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OPENING THIS WEEK: 9/13/2013

Indeed it's a happy Friday the 13th with six new movies gracing Buffalo screens including Insidious: Chapter II (because a horror film is a requirement) - it doesn't have quite the same buzz as James Wan's previous feature The Conjuring (which arrives at discount theatres while continuing its first run release at a few screens). On the special screenings side there's much to see - including The Rep - at the Screening Room, about a Toronto reparatory house (if you're recovering from TIFF), Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity at the Buffalo Film Seminars, and Squeaky Wheel's West Side Stories, a series of local documentaries about Buffalo's West Side by youth filmmakers (1:30PM on Sunday at the Burchfield Penny). Also of note - at the art house we have three very different new features - all directed by women - - and One Direction: This is Us allegedly getting a re-release in a "extended fan cut". Oh boy.

Here's what arrives this week:

at the Art House

Austenland - a comedy from the wife of Napoleon Dynamite, Jerusha Hess has Keri Russell as a Jane Austin fan going on a retreat to an Austen-inspired ranch.

Screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

Blackfish - The chilling story of Tilikum, a killer whale that lives up to his name and the aftermath. Intimate and chilling this film has gotten an awful lot of buzz - and protest from Sea World.

Screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

In A World - actress Lake Bell writes, directs and stars as a struggling voice over artist, daughter of the voice over king in this Sundance award winning comedy.

Screening: Dipson Amherst

at the Multiplex

The Family -Bobbie De Niro stars as a Mafia boss forced to uproot his family to France in this action comedy directed by Luc Besson and co-staring Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. This looks fun.

Screening: Regal Elmwood, Dipson Flix, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Transit Road, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Quaker Crossing, Transit Drive In

Insidious: Chapter 2 - The cast (Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson) is back in this sequel which sees this poor family experiencing even more misfortune, poor folks.

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Hollywood 12, AMC Maple Ridge, Transit Drive In, Regal Quaker Crossing

The Ultimate Life - a faith-based drama staring Lee Meriweather, Peter Fonda and Bill Cobbs about a young man who heads to a mission trip to Haiti after a nasty family lawsuit.

Screening: Regal Transit Center 18

in the Cheap Seats

Red 2 (7/10)

Monsters University (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

White House Down (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

The Way Way Back (8/10)

Continuing

Lee Daniel's The Butler (8/10)

Blue Jasmine (8/10)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

Elysium (7/10)

Fruitvale Station (7/10)
Instructions Not Included (7/10)

The Grandmaster (7/10)

We're The Millers (6/10)

Kick-Ass 2 (4/10)

The Spectacular Now (8/10)
You're Next (7/10)

The World's End (7/10)
The Spectacular Now (8/10)

[Review: IN THEATRES] INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED (7/10)

A charming comedy from Mexico, Instructions Not Included is a fable wrapped in a sitcom with an awful lot of heart (and a little raunchy). This PG-13 rated comedy I think appeals to all – perhaps at times it tries a little too hard but I had a smile on my face the whole time. Staring and directed by Eugenio Derbez, Instructions Not Included is the story of an Acapulco playboy Valentine (Derbez). Conditioned by his father to be brave from a young age, he’s lead the life of a player – bedding beautiful women every night of the week – sometimes two at once. Eventually this life catches up with him, he’s bored and then Julie (Jessica Lindsey) drops off little Maggie, his “daughter”.

It takes a village but Valentine has not time for that – he finds a photograph of Julie taken in LA and sets off to return Maggie to her. When Maggie edges too close to a pool Valentine jumps in to save her, luckily in front of a Hollywood producer, Frank Ryan (Daniel Raymont) and he’s quickly offered a job as a stuntman. Eight years passes and Maggie has grown into an extraordinary bi-lingual young lady, played by Loreto Peralta in a star-making role. A wonderful, tender portrait of this little family, we see the sacrifices Valentine makes for Maggie including jumping from 13 stories to save face (in a messy translation/negotiation situation). Julie ultimately comes back into the picture, now a successful lawyer in New York City, in a domestic partnership with Renee (Alessandra Rosaldo). The film touches upon multiple issues including the US-Mexico border (although this film makes it easier to cross than the US-Canada border - - it speeds past realism) and same sex parents who are accepted even if Julie isn’t from the get go the most likable.

The film progress beyond what you think it is, deeper if not emotionally manipulative like a fable. From the title sequence you know what you are getting. The direction is high energy, employing a lot of tricks I’ve seen used in Bollywood (more than Hollywood) but the film is delightfully upbeat and spirited throughout, given what we know once all the clues come together. Effective and likable, it’s no wonder this movie has been a big box office hit – cracking the top 5 on less than 400 screens, it’s expanded to Regal Elmwood (it was number 3 last weekend). Worth seeking out if you’re in the mood for an entertaining, light sitcom and aren’t afraid of subtitles.

Screening: Regal Elmwood

[Review: IN THEATRES] THE GRANDMASTER (7/10)

Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster is less a straightforward marshal arts film and more a Wong Kar-Wai film. Including many of his hallmarks, above all the film is about love and loss – an art house movie that is curiously playing at the wrong mall (Walden Galleria and not Eastern Hills). That shouldn’t stop you: the film first opens in the past with a great action sequence in the rain (it’s prominently featured in the trailers).

The structure is dense: much has been made of the “American cut” – 30 minutes shorter than the Chinese Cut, I’m not sure what’s been altered but I imagine the American cut includes archival footage which plugs in a few holes a western audience may have (trust me, the more clues here, the better). Ip Man (Tony Leung) of the south is threatened by the arrival of Gong Yutian from the North. There is a conflict that leads into a signature Wong Kar-Wai romance between Gong Er (who can kick some ass) and Ip Man, leading to correspondence and heartbreak. These emotions are a the core of Wai’s film: this is essentially In The Mood for Love with the occasional action sequence.

The Grandmaster is a glorious experience, one that’s quite hard to describe. Even as I was disoriented I was intrigued: the film is a little puzzle, often putting beautiful images ahead of their context which can be a little frustrating (in fact I witnessed four walk-outs) but is neither the less quite rewarding.

Screening: Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Transit, Dipson Flix

[Local Trailers] GIVE & TAKE

Local comedy Give & Take, directed by Scott Andrew Kurchak, and produced by Arlington Place Pictures, ND Studios and Dramatic Solutions is set to bow tomorrow evening (Saturday, September 7th at 7PM at the Dipson Amherst Theater). Per the filmmakers tomorrow's screening is still a test run, last month they tested the film at the Cinefamily in LA - and I'd encourage you all to check it out. Films need an audience - and filmmakers need open minded audiences to find their way through the dark of post-production - this is triple-true for comedy!

Locally produced last summer, Give & Take has released its first trailer - on first glance the performances look a tad theatrical, an interesting choice: the story is about the world of theater. My experience is theatre folks, so trained in their craft have a hard time turning it off in reality - I hope the film has fun with that. The cast includes a virtual whose who in the Buffalo theater scene including local legend Vincent O'Neill. Bonnie Jean Taylor plays Elle - and looks at home in the role, as a young married women who agrees to move back to Buffalo (the Give & Take of the title I assume) and Kevin Craig as Mitchell, her husband. Seeking out the theatre scene she finds herself making new friends - written by Gail Golden, if anything is evident from this trailer is that film knows Buffalo's theatre scene well - I'm looking forward to an insider's perspective (although I hope its not too inside-jokey).

Here's the trailer:

From the film's Facebook page:

Ellie is an idealistic, young actress living in The City. She’s a very giving person, so when her husband, Mitchell, gets a job offer back home in Buffalo, Ellie reluctantly agrees to the move.

Mitchell loves Buffalo, so Ellie looks for happiness there, too. She joins GLOBE--Gladys’ Lackawanna Off Broadway Entertainment. The producer, Gladys, is a diva who emits lesbian vibes. Although Gladys flirts with Ellie, Ellie winds up emotionally involved with the charming African American director, James. Ellie just keeps on giving and others keep on taking! 

James casts Ellie in a theme park show and tells her it will be lots of fun, and she’ll get to do it eight times a day! He neglects to mention the grueling physical challenges involved. The show finally put Ellie over the edge and, at last, she learns to take care of herself. She returns to Mitchell but on her own terms this time.

Tickets for tomorrow's screening are available in advance, online (at DipsonTheaters.com) or in person. 

OPENING THIS WEEK: 9/6/2013

Not everyone has the time to head up to the Toronto Film Festival - sadly those that can't are being punished (at least in Buffalo this weekend) with only one new movie in wide release and one "new" to Buffalo movie, Instructions Not Included - a Spanish-language smash hit which cracked the top 5 last weekend in limited release. It bows at Regal Elmwood - along with a new Bollywood comedy. This summer's This is The End returns as well - I enjoyed it, but if you've seen it once....

The Amherst is also running two special screenings - Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie (on Friday night and Saturday afternoon) and Give & Take - a locally produced comedy (showing Saturday at 7PM). Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion (which had a brief run at Eastern Hills two years ago) returns as this week's selection at Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian's Buffalo Film Seminars. Here's the official rundown....

@ The Multiplex

Riddick - Vin Diesel is back, reprising his role from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, I feel as if this is another sequel no one has asked for. 

Screening: Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Transit, AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix

Instructions Not Included - Expanding from 347 theaters to Regal Elmwood, this Spanish-language hit had an amazing opening ($10 Million+ - cracking the top five). Guillermo Rios plays an aspiring actor who has a kid dropped off on his doorstep, six years later his baby-moms comes knocking. It looks like it's a sitcom like mix of emotions, but its got us interested....

Screening: Regal Elmwood

Bollywood in Buffawood

Random Desi Romance - This sounds like a bland name for a Bollywood film - maybe too honest since very few lately have been memorable (when a Bollywood film works, it works, when it doesn't - - you're stuck for 3 hours). This title gives me a little hope, however....

Screening: Regal Elmwood

in the Cheap Seats

Red 2 (7/10)

Monsters University (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

White House Down (7/10)

Continuing

Lee Daniel's The Butler (8/10)

Blue Jasmine (8/10)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

Elysium (7/10)

Fruitvale Station (7/10)

Paranoia (6/10)

We're The Millers (6/10)

Kick-Ass 2 (4/10)

The Way Way Back (8/10)

The World's End (7/10)
The Spectacular Now (8/10)

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