Confessions of a Pop Fan

Thursday, October 09, 2008

THE PUBLIC IMAGE

THIS WEEK IN THEATRES...

* Happy-Go-Lucky, the new Mike Leigh dramedy with a stellar performance from Sally Hawkins as the eternal clown.

Incidentally, this is the movie that sought permission to use art from Love the Way You Love. As far as I could see, Tristan and Isobel did not make the final cut.

* Rachel Getting Married, Jonathan Demme's unbalanced movie about family nearly stifles great turns from Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt as sisters trying to deal with their past as they move into the future.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

This week's reviews written specifically for the site are:

* The Haunted Strangler, the first of my weekly horror reviews leading us to Halloween features Boris Karloff as a killer possessed by a cursed knife.

* Le deuxiéme souffle, a mid-60s masterpiece of aging criminals by Jean-Pierre Melville.

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Bright Lights, Big City: Special Edition, a lowlight of Michael J. Fox's big career.

* The Picture of Dorian Gray, the chilled 1940s adaptation of the Oscar Wilde classic. Directed by Albert Lewin.

* Touch of Evil: 50th Anniversary Edition, a two-disc examination of Orson Welles' troubled noir classic.

* The Unforeseen, a dreamy, soulful documentary about urban sprawl and its effect on Austin, Texas. Co-produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick.

* Warner Home Video Western Classics Collection, collecting six cowboy movies from the Warner Bros. vaults, only two of which--the Rod Serling-penned Saddle the Wind and the Gregory Peck-vehicle The Stalking Moon--are really worth it. Also features Anthony Mann's Cimarron, William Holden in Escape from Fort Bravo, and Richard Widmark as another charismatic bad guy in The Law & Jake Wade.