Weekend Movies: ‘Resident’ In

So this is the lull between the blockbuster summer and the more prestigious fall. Whew. Times are tough. There is basically only one major new release this week, and it’s one that almost all of us could do without. (I didn’t get a chance to see it early because I had other things to do and, oh yeah, it looks terrible.) There aren’t even that many intriguing independents to seek out. Instead, you’ll just have to resign yourself to either not going to the movies, or maybe seeing ‘Inception‘ one last time before the home video release. That works too.

The lone biggie, of course, is ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife,’ the fourth (FOURTH!!) entry in the ‘Resident Evil‘ series – a slick, emotionally dead horror franchise based on a string of popular videogames. This one again stars Milla Jovovich, who seems to be earning a solid living based on the what-if possibility of Daryl Hannah spinning her ‘Blade Runner‘ role into an entire career. It’s the first to be filmed and presented in 3-D (ooooh) and features the return of Paul W.S. Anderson to the director’s chair. Anderson directed the first ‘Resident Evil’ film, as well as wrote and produced all the rest. (He’s also Jovovich’s husband.) Anderson is one of the worst regularly-employed directors in Hollywood (he ranks with Brett Ratner), so I’m sure this will be an absolute shit-show. That said, for one reason or another (like the allure of Russell Mulcahy directing the third), I’ve seen all the other ‘Resident Evil’ movies in theaters. Even though I can’t remember anything about them, I’ll undoubtedly sign up for this go-round too. I’m sure this will feature a whole lot of zombies and other assorted beasts jumping out of the screen, without nuance or wit. ‘Piranha 3D‘ pretty much closed the door on 3-D exploitation, for me at least; but I’m sure I’ll see this regardless. Oh well.

Besides that, well…

There’s the Adam McKay/Will Ferrell-produced indie comedy ‘The Virginity Hit.’ I haven’t seen a trailer for this thing much less been invited to a screening. I’m doubtful about the studio’s confidence in the picture and how big of a release it will be. The last McKay/Ferrell comedy acquisition was Jody Hill’s ‘The Foot Fist Way,’ which barely came out at all and had a weird, staggered video release schedule. I’m not sure what this will be like.

Additionally, there’s ‘Lovely, Still,’ an indie with the nauseating logline: “A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.” (Critics have already trashed it.) ICK! Besides that, there’s an indie comedy called ‘The Romantics,’ which is supposedly just okay, and ‘Bran Nue Dae,’ which sounds about as obnoxious as its title (i.e. very).

Whew, what a week, huh? Considering that I still haven’t seen ‘The American’ yet, maybe this will be a catch-up weekend. Tell us in the comments if there’s anything you’re looking to catch up with.

2 comments

  1. I do like Anderson’s films, I’m a fan of his and I dont care what anyone else says, besides that, this was the worst of the 4, now if you arent a fan you can say whatever you want, but if you are and liked the other 3 this one is still fun but just not near as good as the other ones, it had its moments of awesome, but it also had its moments of complete stupidity (even more so than than Apocalypse and thats saying a lot)

    The 3D was very nice, had many great scenes of depth and detail, of course it also through stuff at you which for me is a complete waste of time unless it revels in it like Piranha 3D did 🙂

    But hey, it made 10 million on Friday alone so I’m guessing this will be another hit for Sony and we will get the 5th film thats definitely coming at some point 🙂 Fine by me though

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