• Milk trailer released -The much anticipated “Milk” movie trailer has been released. Director Gus Van Sant heads up the project with Sean Penn as gay rights icon Harvey Milk. Milk was an activist and politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in America ( In 1977, he was voted to the city supervisor’s board of San Francisco). In 1978, Milk and San Francisco’s mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by another city supervisor named Dan White. Watch the “Milk” trailer and contemplate how many Oscars you think Penn might receive.
• The U.K has a bone to pick with “Wanted” - The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that movie posters for the Angelina Jolie-James McAvoy thriller “Wanted” glamorize guns and violence and must be banned after receiving somewhere around 17 complaints. “We acknowledged most viewers would understand the posters reflected the content of an action film. However, we considered that because the ads featured a glamorous actress, action poses, several images of, or related to guns and aspirational text, they could be seen to glamorize the use of guns and violence.” the ASA said in a statement.

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Arclight Hollywood:

• Wed 10 at 8.00: Bladerunner (The Final Cut) (1992)

It doesn’t matter so much that Ridley Scott has come up with 500 different versions of his movie, because it’s good enough to bear infinitely repeated viewings. The future looks like someone’s actual present for once, and the photography and set design alone make it a classic. Rutger Hauer’s star-making turn as leader of the replicants renegades is a highlight, Harrison Ford has never been better and even Sean Young is pretty good - one of the tweaks in the “final cut” is softening the tone of her voice, as well as actually reshooting one action scene (crashing through a series of glass doors, one of the female replicants was clearly a stunt man). Essential viewing, especially in the luxury of the Arclight.

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Apparently everyone has run out of films to releases. Big and small. We’ve got two films to pick from. One is about a hitman with Nicolas Cage, Bangkok Dangerous. The catch phrase for this movie is “Nothing is deadlier… than a hitman… that hits back.” I guess what my problem is, is that we’re not seeing anything new. You have the rules, then you break the rules, and the love interest that you shouldn’t have. At least Wanted tried to do something new with the genre, this just looks like I’ve seen it before. Then you have Everybody Wants to Be Italian, where the slogan is quite literally the title. I’ll let you be the judge.

Here are this week’s film releases with cast and crew information, reviews, show times and tickets, and trailers! Enjoy…

• Bangkok Dangerous | Reviews | Showtimes and Tickets
  
• Everybody Wants to Be Italian | Reviews | Showtimes and Tickets

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Difficult to understand at times, yet embodying the fears, anxieties and hopes of perhaps every single person struggling with the ever looming idea of facing life, Momma’s Man manages to touchingly capture an idea that’s so introverted, yet so universal: the fear of growing up.

Directed by Azazel Jacobs (The GoodTimesKid) as a tribute to his parents and childhood, “Momma’s Man” chronicles the saga of Mikey (Matt Boren), a husband and new father who, after stopping off at his parent’s house during a business trip to New York, finds it impossible to leave. With no rhyme or reason attributed to his actions, Mikey begins to make up excuses about why he can’t seem to come home. One day, his flight is delayed, the next, his flight has been canceled, Mikey continues to put off his departure, much to the dismay of his wife Laura, (Dana Varon), who continues to leave him panic-stricken voicemails to no avail.

While his mother (Flo Jacobs) is more than happy to have her son back at home, his father (Ken Jacobs) grows continuously worried about Mikey’s extended vacation from life. As the days pass by, Mikey emotionally and physically creeps back into his childhood.

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One of the greatest romance comedies of our time, 50 First Dates, is my pick for DVD Rental of the Week! Set on the gorgeous Hawaiian Islands, this film features Drew Barrymore as Lucy Whitmore, a sweet girl suffering from a gnarly case of short-term memory loss. Meanwhile Adam Sandler plays womanizer Henry Roth, a man who falls head over heels for Lucy and goes to the greatest of lengths to find a place in her life. Because Lucy is unable to remember Henry’s romantic efforts, he is forced to step up his game a bazillion notches to get the girl. Seriously, homebody really does the cutest, most non-corny romantic shit of all time. Also, the Barrymore-Sandler duo is a hit reminiscent of their dope work together on The Wedding Singer. As usual, this Sandler film is full of laughs, life lessons, and memorable cameos, check it out!

Photo via: Amazon

1. 

   Tropic Thunder | Weekend Gross $11,500,000 | Total Gross $83,834,000

2. Babylon A.D. (New) | Weekend Gross $9,700,000 | Total Gross $9,700,000
3. The Dark Knight | Weekend Gross $8,750,000 | Total Gross $502,421,000
4. The House Bunny | Weekend Gross $8,300,000 | Total Gross $27,851,000
5. Traitor (New) | Weekend Gross $7,900,000 | Total Gross $9,401,327
6. Death Race | Weekend Gross $6,228,335 | Total Gross $23,077,865
7. Disaster Movie (New) | Weekend Gross $6,170,000 | Total Gross $6,170,000
8. Mamma Mia! | Weekend Gross $4,418,160 | Total Gross $131,508,840
9. The Pineapple Express | Weekend Gross $3,500,000 | Total Gross $79,883,000
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Weekend Gross $3,003,000 | Total Gross $12,786,911

On Wednesday, September 3rd, The Aero Theater on Montana will be doing a sneak peak of Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi and Summer Bishi’s new movie, Towelhead. The movie, adapted from Alicia Erian’s novel, was made for the screen and directed by oscar-winning writer Alan Ball (American Beauty and “Six Feet Under”).

The film is dark and shockingly funny story about a 13-year-old, Arab-American girl named Jasira who is finding her way through adolsescnese. If you want to see Aason Echhart play someone two-faced, this is where he really does it. So creepy! Not to mention the amazing actors that are in this cast.

So if you’re like me and can’t wait for September 12th, then come to the screening on September 3rd at 7:30 at the Aero.

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Céline and Julie Go Boating is the best-known film by Cahiers du cinéma alumnus Jacques Rivette, master of slender, ghostly narratives and serious cinematic high-jinks (his best film is 12½ hours long and doesn’t really have a story..) This one does, although it’s unusual to read an introductory title card “Sometimes it begins like this..” We see Julie first, with giant curly red hair and big round spectacles; she’s reading a book on magic on a slow afternoon in the park when as it were a magical gust of wind blows in a gangly sprite, all flowing boa and skirt and scarf trotting by. It’s Céline. She drops a handkerchief and Julie follows. The hunt is on and the games begin, prowling all over Paris and checking each other out like a pair of cats.

Céline is a teller of tall tales it turns out, one of which is having been chased from a house where she worked, on the wonderfully named Rue du Nadir des Pommes. It’s an imposing pile in a bit of acreage, covered in ivy behind a wall, and Julie pays it a visit. Having entered the house, one is ejected sometime later remembering nothing of the visit. Julie finds a boiled sweet on her tongue and replacing it there later, remembers what went on.

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Ever watch a film and wonder what the Director was thinking about that show, what they think about the end result, or how in the hell they made that happen? Directors commentary on a DVD is one thing, having them sit in a room with you where you got to ask them questions is another. Director Nicholas Meyer of Time After Time and Director Jon Favreau of Iron Man will be going just that next Friday and Saturday at the Aero Theater on Montana.

Friday, September 5 - 7:30 PM -Director Nicholas Meyer will comment on the making of Time After Time while it screens.

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• Spider-Man 4 auctions off meet and greet with potential cast - Stand Up To Cancer in partnership with Sony is auctioning off a visit to the set of the future Spider-Man 4, along with a meet and greet with the cast, a walk-on/extra role and designer outfits to be worn at the premiere ( p.s. you get to keep the outfits). The current bid is at $5,100. If you’re interested, it might be time to break your piggy bank.
• Facebook movie? - Aaron Sorkin, creator of “The West Wing” is in negotiations to write an untitled film project about the founders of Facebook, the popular social networking site that we’ve all come to know and love, that Scott Rudin will produce for Columbia. If you think it’s too good to be true, head on over to Sorkin’s newly created Facebook profile. “I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I’ve started this page,” Sorkin said.  “Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she’s been dead for 33 years.”
• Venice Film Festival in full force - The annual festival opened Wednesday night with a first glimpse into “Burn After Reading,” the newest gem from the Coen brothers, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton. The festival, which runs through Sept. 6 will host 21 films from all over the world, including Ethiopia, Turkey and Algeria, which are all vying for the Golden Lion, the festival’s principle award for a best film. [ Read The Full Story -> ]

The Aero:

• Fri 29 at 7.30: Patti Smith: Dream of Life (2008)

Patti Smith is now an American rock institution and so naturally she has a documentary. I feel a bit churlish to have gone off her since she stopped sounding like an androgynous angry young thing (right before the Springsteen collaboration) but even if her songs no longer cut like a rusty razor, she’s still a damned cool high priestess of punk. Made over the last twelve years, this promises to be a revealing portrait of the abiding poet and musician.

Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre:

• Fri 29 at 7.30: Ratcatcher (1999)

A lovely downbeat poem of a film, the first feature from Scottish film-maker Lynne Ramsey, who’s gotten criminally little work since. Once again a Scot shows how to make something captivating and moving from the austere reworking of personal reminiscence, economic deprivation, familial discord and the blighted state of the 1970s nation, all with lovely semi-abstract black and white photography.

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The good thing is last week had so many great releases you could not have seen them all yet! (I’m working on my back-handed compliments, how is it going?) Although this week may look like slim pickings I have a feeling there are goodies that have yet to be exploited.

I would recommend Traitor, it definitely stands out among the rest as a solid film with two amazing actors leading it (featured right). Or maybe you prefer a western for those who love kung foo? Then check out Sukiyaki Western Django. There was no way Tarantino could resist that. Ballet Shoes has Emma Watson (Aka Hermione) and was released in 2007 as a TV film which makes me a bit nervous, but it definitely has potential! As for Babylon A.D., Disaster Movie, and College, I know they have built in audiences that will love them, they’re just not quite my thing.

So here they are, this week’s film releases with cast and crew information, reviews, show times and tickets, and trailers! Enjoy…

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