Weekend Movies: Heigh-Ho!

Snow White had her seven dwarfs. Likewise, this week’s biggest new movie is trailed by seven little releases that I’ll blow through in today’s post.

Of course, the only big opener today is ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘, a re-imagining of the well-known fairy tale. Since a good chunk of the filmmakers are unknown and unproven, it may be hard to gauge what to expect from a movie like this. Having seen it, I’ll tell you that it’s leaps and bounds better than Tarsem Singh’s ‘Mirror Mirror’, and that it’s much too dark and violent for children. I’m not saying that it should be rated R, but it definitely earns its PG-13. With a heavy tone and a ‘Lord of the Rings‘ feeling, this fairy tale is worth checking out, no matter your age or gender. Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron and (yes) even Kristen Stewart are great in it, and the movie is visually astonishing.

Opening on 757 screens is something called ‘For Greater Glory‘. From the Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor of ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’ comes a small historical drama about the Cristeros War of Mexico in the 1920s. I know nothing about this war or this movie, but the cast is surprising: Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Eva Longoria, Bruce Greenwood, Peter O’Toole and Nestor Carbonell.

Apparently, teenage dance films are making their way into indie territory. I didn’t know that indie filmgoers were so big into dance flicks, but here’s ‘Battlefield America‘. The sad thing is that ‘Battlefield America’ is opening on more than twice as many screens as ‘Piranha 3DD‘, which wasn’t screened for press in my region (nor is it opening here). I’d rather watch Katrina Bowden, Ving Rhames (who somehow survived ‘Piranha 3D‘), David Koechner, David Hasselhoff, Christopher ‘Doc Brown’ Lloyd, Paul Scheer and Gary Busey fight off a bunch of CG fish than a group of young dancing no-names – but that’s just me.

Because I love to learn about foreign cultures, I’d like to check out the documentary called ‘5 Broken Cameras‘. It follows a Palestinian farmer who has stood up to the Israeli army via non-violence.

Based on the IMDb plot description alone, I wish that the French animated movie ‘A Cat in Paris‘ was opening near me: “In Paris, a cat who lives a secret life as a cat burglar’s aide must come to the rescue of Zoe, the little girl he lives with, after she falls into a gangster’s clutches.” An animated cat + burglary + gangsters = SOLD!

Matt Bush (who also stars in ‘Piranha 3DD’) appears alongside Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, Colin Hanks, Sean Marquette and Curtis Armstong in ‘High School‘, an R-rated comedy about a graduating valedictorian who gets high, fails a drug test, and is determined to get the entire graduating class high too so they all fail the exam.

Finally, we have ‘Like Water‘, a documentary that follows a UFC fighter on the track to success.

What are you seeing this weekend?

19 comments

  1. JM

    The true sequel to ‘Piranha 3D’ is Alexandre Aja’s upcoming ‘Space Adventure Cobra.’

      • JM

        ‘Prometheus’ is at 85% at RT, with 26 reviews.

        I don’t know how embargoes work, but I’m predicting you will give it 3.5 stars…?

        • I suspect it will remain around there too, but you’ll just have to wait for my spoiler-free review to see my rating. As soon as the embargo lifts (which I haven’t been made aware of yet), I’ll post it.

          • JM

            Do you and Aaron disagree on ‘Prometheus’?

            I wonder if it feels small because it was made with half its original budget.

            I hope the 3D-inflated box office allows the sequels to happen.

  2. Hey Luke, if you want to see “A Cat In Paris”, I can send you the Blu-ray! It was released way back in 2010 in Belgium (co-production with France), so it has been available for quite some time. It was even nominated for an Academy Award this year!

  3. Drew

    Julian, I’d love to buy ‘A Cat in Paris’. I just checked Amazon UK, and they only have the DVD. Do you know how I can buy the blu-ray? I’ve got the OPPO BDP-93 with the pro mod kit, so even if it is region locked, I’m good to go. Any suggestions?

    • EM

      Here’s one option: 〈http://www.amazon.fr/Une-chat-Blu-ray-Bernadette-Lafont/dp/B004IT5CE8/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1338594078&sr=1-2〉. (As of this writing, there are only 10 copies left—order soon!)

        • I’ve e-mailed a French guy, asking whether there are any English subs. Play.com only has the DVD, but I’m pretty sure a Blu-ray will be announced shortly. There’s also a Belgian (Dutch language) Blu-ray and I will check today if this disc includes English subs.

  4. Shayne Blakeley

    I was really looking forward to Piranha 3DD, as I loved the first one, but now I’m skeptical. I live in Chicago and it’s only on three theaters (and none in Chicago proper, all in suburbs) and the reviews I’ve seen have been dismal. Not that I’d expect it to be a critical darling, but still, holy shit.

    • yeah its horrible, i watched it on VOD last night, dont waste your money, this should of been on SyFy and not even in the small amount of theaters its in, the Hoff was funny and I always enjoy Christopher Lloyd, but man everything was awful, trying to follow up the amazing climax of the remake is impossible, especially when you have next to no budget and no KNB FX doing the makeup work….really disappointed with this one