Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast
New Releases for 8/26/11
Our Idiot Brother is idiotic, The Guard great black comedy
Our Idiot Brother (R)
Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer
Directed by: Jesse Peretz
Sofas play important roles as the places where slacker-brother Ned spends his days. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer (he sells pot to a uniformed cop), his existence has been a constant source of friction to his three sisters. We are, I guess, supposed to like the lost-puppyness of the guy, and dislike the increasingly selfish sisters, but in reality, you don’t care about any of the characters very much and might want to wait for the video (or just skip it altogether).
1 and 1/2 pieces of the brother as shlub toast
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (R)
Starring: Guy Pierce, Katie Holmes,
Directed by: Troy Nixey
Like some home improvement reality show on steroids, a family restoring an old mansion is beset by millions of evil beasties residing in the cellar, walls, and floors. Instead of calling Ghostbusters, the parents decide to use a do-it-yourself approach to get rid of those pesky homunculi. Good setup disappointing pay-off.
2 pieces of this was written by Guillermo del Toro? toast
The Guard (R)
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham
Directed by: John Michael McDonagh
Think “In Bruges” meets “Hotel Rwanda,” and you get the personality types at the center of a buddy movie with which has a foul-mouthed Irish cop paired with a careful African-American DEA agent. With the director’s literate script, we discover larger than life characters who are much more than what they seem. This film is a dark comedy treasure—a rare gem buried in the hype of all the “big” movies this summer. search this one out and enjoy yourself.
4 pieces of Irish toast
Columbiana (PG-13)
Starring: Zoe Saldana, Michaeo Vartan, Callum Blue, Lennie James
Directed by: Oliver Megaton
Luc Besson is co-writer and producer, and his La Femme Nikita style is front and center as a Bogata-born girl sees her parents killed and grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. Her trade mark is the drawing of an orchid she leaves with her victims. Wearing halter tops and short shorts, Zoe Saldana is overdressed compared to the other females in this film—part of the forumula of sex, guns, and violence that makes this B-movie a guilty pleasure.
3 pieces of B movie toast
The Future (R)
Starring: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky
Directed by: Miranda July
A young woman wrestles against self-inflicted performance anxiety after she vows to create thirty YouTube dancing videos in thirty days. Lost in his own laptop, her boyfriend mumbles platitudes in between e-mails for tech support. Realizing they need something radical in their lives, they adopt a ….cat. Paw-Paw, said cat, narrates part of the story, the boyfriend discovers he has the power to freeze time, and the girl keeps falling further and further out of love. Fans of independent film should love this.
3 pieces of it looks like they plan a sequel toast
NEW ON DVD
Win Win (R)
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Adams, Alex Shaffer, Burt Young
Directed by: Thomas McCarthy
New Jersey attorney Mike Flaherty pockets $1500 extra each month by violating his fiduciary duty to an elderly man. So when the man’s teenaged grandson appears at Mike’s door, he figures its only fair to let the guy move in. Turns out the kid is a whiz of a wrestler, and Mike coaches the high school wrestling team. Victories on the mat go hand in hand with mistakes off the mat as this slice-of-life movie engages us with its low-key humor and heart.
3 pieces of Giamatti is perfect in this toast