Welcome, one and all, to the last 02/29 Openings post until 2036. Wish we had better movies to commemorate the occasion.
The Counterfeiters (trailer)
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Inheritors, Anatomy, All the Queen’s Men)
The Acadamey Award winner for Foreign Film this past weekend. The trailer looks OK but fairly standard, and reviews have been pretty solid.
MC/RT: 75/93
Chicago 10 (trailer)
Director: Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture)
Morgen’s film recounts the trials of eight anti-war protestors in the wake of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. I seem to remember this getting a fair amount of hype before last year’s Sundance, which then dissipated somewhat when the film was actually shown. Released by Samuel Goldwyn/Roadside, who seem to specialize in rescuing high-profile festival busts (Goya’s Ghosts, Southland Tales, etc.).
MC/RT: 68/74
City of Men (trailer)
Director: Paulo Morelli
Sequel to the completely awesome City of God, but without director Fernando Meirelles. Hard to know what to think of this one, as it seems bound to suffer in comparison with its predecessor, but at the same time, it could be not nearly as good and still be pretty good. Trailer is underwhelming, for what that’s worth.
MC/RT: 64/81
Semi-Pro (trailer)
Director: Kent Alterman
Farrell’s comedies are interesting things. I always think they look kinda funny, but I’ve yet to actually see one. This is no exception – the idea of a semi-pro basketball team named the “Flint Tropics” made me laugh. But whenever I feel like going to see one of these, there always seems to be something else playing that I want to see just a little bit more.
MC/RT: 45/26
The Other Boleyn Girl (trailer)
Director: Justin Chadwick
Goodness, this seems ridiculously overwrought, doesn’t it? I would have always thought that a movie pairing Portman and Johannson would have a prestige factor through the roof, and I imagine that was the idea here. But it looks like it’s turned out to be some dumb costume drama doomed for a lifetime of repeats on TBS opposite NFL games.
MC/RT: 53/46
Penelope (trailer)
Director: Mark Palansky
The Christina Ricci pig-faced girl movie. This one’s been on the shelf for a long time (it premiered at Toronto in 2006), and has even changed distributors in the process, from IFC Films to the upstart Summit Entertainment. So it seems fair to say it’s a problem movie, but it’s getting a wide release anyway. Go figure.
MC/RT: 47/56
