The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

In Theaters: 'The Green Hornet,' 'The Dilemma,' 'Barney's Version,' 'Ong Bak 3'

By Katie Walsh
|
January 14, 2011 5:31 AM
|
0 Comments

Screw Serious Cinema, It's Time for Some Laffs 'n Action Ah January, what a curious moviegoing month you are. You're the dumping ground for the studio dreck (long live Nic Cage's Festival of Wigs) because it's a time of AWARDS fever, with noms and screeners and Hollywood Foreign Press luncheons (and YOU get a Blu-Ray player, and YOU get a Blu-ray player!) up the wazoo. Hence the highly mixed bag of new releases we get every week. Some of these may benefit from the relative lack of competition, but it's pretty much a giant risk! The wide releases gambling this weekend are two comedies for those fans who are just SO tired of serious movies about heartbreak and family problems 'n shit. Seth Rogen's action comedy "The Green Hornet" hits screens after much speculation, skepticism, and a revolving door of talent (Cage's Jamaican accent NEVER FORGET), while Vince Vaughn and Kevin James bring the pain (and offensive jokes!) in the Ron Howard comedy, "The Dilemma." More serious minded comedy fans can catch "Barney's Version" in limited release and the true actionheads can geek out over Tony Jaa's sick moves in "Ong Bak 3."

By Christopher Bell
|
January 14, 2011 3:45 AM
|
2 Comments

Since 1996, Chinese director Zhao Liang has been documenting a large community of petitioners, ones that have been wronged by their local government and have camped outside of the law office to debate their troubles. These commoners are then forced to fill out paper work and await a hearing for seemingly as long as this office see fit, with most either given the run-around or forced out by thugs ("retrievers") that intercept these complaints and threaten with murder. The make-shift neighborhood consist of people who won't stop until they get the justice they so rightly deserve, whether that takes a few days or a decade is none of their concern. Food is found on the ground, shelter ranges from the interiors of a train station to the bottom area of a bridge.