A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Loren Cass (2006): Merely going off the film’s own press release, it’s difficult to discern what this movie is, although we learn a lot about how difficult it was to bring to the screen. More research reveals it to be an experimental angry teen drama about the 1996 race riots in St. Petersburg, Florida, with poetry interludes (featuring spoken word contributions by Charles Bukowski and other underground figures) and mondo-style documentary footage of a televised suicide added for shock value. Jacob Reynolds (the “weird-looking kid” from Gummo) has a role as “The Suicide Kid”. The few reviews are good, describing it basically as raw but intense. Opening this week in New York, with a short limited release across the rest of the U.S. to follow before it seeks out its core audience on DVD. Loren Cass official site.
NEW ON DVD:
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1966): A movie about a middle-class housewife prostituting herself on the side; but director Jean-Luc Godard breaks the fourth wall and philosophizes about consumerism and the Vietnam war while telling his story. The movie was shot at the same time as Made in U.S.A. (see below) and both films are receiving Criterion Collection editions this week. Buy from Amazon
Coraline (2009): From our March review: “a welcome dark fantasy for children, although its themes of evil Doppelgänger moms, frightening buttons, and implied eye-gouging are too scary for very little ones… Though there’s nothing really weird to be found here, Coraline, in the best children’s movie tradition, is worth a trip even for adult fans of fantasy and pure escapism.” Available in a single disc version including 2D and 3D versions (with 4 pairs of glasses) (buy
Made in U.S.A. (1966): Jean-Luc Godard’s avant-garde, Pop Art remake 0f Howard Hawk’s The Big Sleep, with a female detective and an even more convoluted plot, gets the Criterion Collection treatment. Shot at the same time as 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her. Buy from Amazon
Visioneers (2008): An absurdist black comedy about a mysterious epidemic that is causing people to explode. It sounds promising; hopefully the presence of Zach Galifianakis (who scored a mainstream hit with his role as the slob in Hangover) will help this independent corporate satire do well in the rental market. Buy from Amazon
Watchmen (2009): From our April review: ‘The setting is so original that the film has the power to relocate you into it’s own peculiar universe, which is what escapist entertainment is supposed to do.” Available in a single disc theatrical cut DVD (buy
IN PRODUCTION:
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Alice in Wonderland has long been a source of weird movie inspirations, and offbeat fantasist Tim Burton has the pitch-perfect voice to make a live-action Alice. Despite the fact that it’s way too soon to get excited about this, Disney released a teaser trailer today: enjoy!
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.