(P)reviews of Movies We Haven't Seen
Although we know you like to boogey and we know you like to booze, sometimes a nice night at the movies is the perfect cure for what ails you. With that said, there are five new movies being released in Austin theatres this weekend and a host of first-runs worth checking out if you have not already taken our advice. But if you see one movie all weekend, go see Broken Flowers.
*Broken Flowers
Bill Murray at his dramedic best. Read our review.
Showtimes
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
We wish we were friends with Adam Sandler. Do you have any idea how many quasi-talented actors/writers/directors that he has turned into millionaires, all just because they are his boys? It really is a cottage industry. We are assuming that this installment of the Deuce series will include the following stereotypical Euro jokes: British people have bad teeth, eat bland food and say ‘lift’ instead of ‘elevator;’ Irish people drink too much; French people smell and are rude; Germans are serious and precise and give us an uneasy reminder of Nazis; Dutch people get high, eat cheese, ride bicycles everywhere, use too much hair product and bang hookers; Italians treat life like an opera, chain smoke cigarettes and talk on their cell phones to their mammas while sitting on their motorinos in line for gelato; Belgians are some weird race of people who are not quite French and not quite Dutch and for some strange reason are known for the gastronomical delights of mussels and chocolate-covered pretzels; former Eastern Bloc countries eat sausage products and the women have too much hair on their bodies; etc., etc. Oh, and lots of low-brow sex jokes…obviously. With that said, at least it is rated-R, which should allow for a few more successful jokes than the general schlock of this ilk.
Showtimes
Four Brothers
John Singleton is hot again. He produced the sleeper hit Hustle & Flow and is back in the director’s chair for this one. The new film from the USC grad looks to be the best since his debut film, Boyz n the Hood (which isn’t saying much). Mark Wahlberg, Andre 3000, Tyrese and Garrett Hedlund play four brothers from other mothers who were raised by an altruistic elderly white woman in a hard scrabble neighborhood of Boston. After robbers tragically kill their ‘mom’ during a botched stick-up (or was it?), the boys come home to burry their 'mom'...and her killer. Boo-yea! What ensues is more or less urban action farce, but still entertaining, the way Kid Rock's music sucks but it will get your foot a-tappin'. Highlight: Terrence Howard plays a cop in the film. And ever since Crash we are fully on board the T. Howard bandwagon, and Hustle & Flow confirmed our newfound love (about which we will speak/write at greater lengths very soon).
Showtimes
The Skeleton Key
Any time you hear a movie advertisement comparing it to a bunch of other movies that were better than the one being advertised (in this case Rosemary’s Baby, Twelve Monkeys and The Ring), well, that’s a red flag. Then again, a haunted house, voodoo, Gena Rowlands and Kate Hudson? Cheap thrills for anyone of you high schoolers looking for a date movie that will ensure having your ‘significant’ other clutched to your arm for 92 minutes.
Showtimes
The Great Raid
Well, we haven’t had a good war movie in months; so if you’ve been jonesing for one, relax, your time has come. This war-thriller is set in the Philippines in 1945 and chronicles the daring rescue of more than 500 American POW’s from the Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp. And, ladies, Benjamin Bratt….grrrwwlll.
Showtimes
*Austinist Recommends
Austinist also recommends the following first-runs:
Hustle & Flow, Happy Endings, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Me & You & Everyone We Know, Crash, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Wedding Crashers
