A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):
Season of the Witch (2010): Two medieval warriors (Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman) encounter supernatural obstacles as they escort an accused witch to her date with the Inquisition. A weak-looking entertainment choice that has an outside shot at attaining so-bad-it’s-weird status; the usually perceptive Andrew O’Hehir says it should “claim a place in the top five all-time bizarre and pointless homages to art cinema.” Season of the Witch official site.
SCREENINGS (Brooklyn, NY):
Americatown (2009)/Lightning Salad Moving Picture (2008): If nothing else, Americatown boasts the weirdest press release of the new year: “For their second feature, the Superkiiids! took just two thousand bone-doggies, four folks and a minivan to explore and exploit the fruited plains, purple mountains, mythology and culture (pop and otherwise) of the United States of America, vision-questing into existence its microcosmic, hyper-realistic stepbrother heretofore known as Americatown! Land of the free-radicools, home of the bad-to-the-bone…” Also screening is the Superkiiids! first feature, Lightning Salad, about the Wilmington, NC comedy troupe’s farcical commission to make Back to the Future 4. Americatown/Lightning Salad Moving Picture at ReRun Gastropub Theater.
NEW ON DVD:
Machete (2010): Robert Rodriquez‘s tongue-in-cheek exploitationer about an illegal Mexican immigrant chopping his way through a vast right-wing conspiracy isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s good, silly, bloody fun. Buy Machete.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Coraline (2009): Read our capsule review. This animated fantasy about a lonely (and bratty) kid’s discovery of an alternate world where her “other mother” is willing to pander to her every childish desire is creepy, and even a little bit weird—for a kid’s movie. This set covers all the format bases, contains both 3D and “flat” Blu-ray versions of the film, plus a DVD and a digital copy. Buy Coraline (Two-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy).
Machete (2010): See entry in DVD above. Buy Machete [Blu-ray].
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.