Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Alice Through the Looking Glass (May 2016): Disney’s first Alice reboot movie was absolutely tasteless and horrifying, but made it rain for the Mouse. This sequel, which involves Alice trying to rescue a kidnapped Mad Hatter (groan), again looks to have little to do with the source material. That would not be a problem if they replaced it with an interesting story, but this looks to be another un-magical, dull-witted action/fantasy aimed at kids who don’t know any better. At least Tim Burton is spared the embarrassment of working on this one, as Muppets director James Bobin helms. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, and the head of Helena Bonham Carter all return, and Linda Woolverton, who gave the corpse of Lewis Carrol many restless nights with her blasphemous reimagining of Wonderland, again handles the hack screenwriting duties. This is going to blow monumentally, though of course we’re keeping an open mind. Alice Through the Looking Glass official site.
Kingdom of Shadows (Autumn 2016): We’ve mentioned the new project from Daniel Fawcett and Clara Pais—a a retelling of the Book of Genesis “[i]nspired by dreams and early silent cinema”—before, but we wanted to point you to the first images from the film, incorporated as classic-looking posters. Kingdom of Shadows first images.
Mindörökké [For Ever] (2016?): Taxidermia‘s György Pálfi is back with an adaptation of a post-apocalyptic novel. Little else is known about the project. Palfi is also working on an English-language thriller called The Voice, about a Hungarian journalist searching for his lost father (who may have been abducted by U.S. intelligence). This latter work sounds like it may be more conventional, but Palfi has yet to make a movie aimed at mainstream audiences. Mindörökké article at Ioncinema.
NEW ON DVD:
Entertainment (2015): Read our List Candidate review! A masterpiece of existential anti-comedy as a hack insult comedian embarks on a depressing tour of the Southwest. Buy Entertainment
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972): Six friends raise the dead in this horror/comedy with one of the all-time great titles. From Bob Clark, the single most uneven director in cinema history (with everything from Porky‘s to A Christmas Story to Baby Geniuses on his resumé). It’s in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things [Blu-ray]
Entertainment (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy Entertainment [Blu-ray]
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988): Read our review. Shout! Factory puts out a “Collector’s Edition” of this Haitian voodoo masterpiece featuring a commentary track from star Bill Pullman. Buy The Serpent and the Rainbow [Blu-ray]
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON SNAGFILM:
Medea (1969): Scorned by Jason after she helps him steal the Golden Fleece, the sorceress Medea exacts a terrible revenge. Pier Paolo Pasolini retells the Greek legend in his typically outrageous-yet-quiet style. Watch Medea free on SnagFilm.
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
From Bob Clark, the single most uneven director in cinema history
Bob Clark, it seems to me, is actually one of the biggest geniuses in cinema history. The triumvirate of Black Christmas, Porky’s, and A Christmas Story are essentially responsible for the entire style of the 1980s . Each individually spawned thousands of imitators.
With this in mind I think the fact that Baby Geniuses/Baby Geniuses 2 are considered the worst movies of all time is just further confirmation of his genius. Regardless of ratings and revenue, everything he does becomes notable. Even in failure he becomes legend.