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The Film Habit #17 - August 19, 2004 Last weekend’s adventure in family bonding wasn’t a complete failure. Thus my abbreviated Film Habit wasn’t totally in vain. The high point was watching AvP with my brother and his new wife. AvP a high point? Yes, actually I thought some of it was rather fun. I think people wanted it to be something that it just never could be. It isn’t Aliens and it isn’t Predator. It isn’t meant to be horror or deliver dark, terrorizing scares. It’s an action movie, an action movie that has Predators battling Aliens. There’s good times to be had there, even if the movie is admittedly pretty bad.
Bad, but somewhat fun, especially compared to the weekend’s low point which involved forced dining at Pancho’s with good friends and their extremely unruly (but lovable) kids. If you’re not familiar with Pancho’s, they serve suspect Mexican food on a discount buffet featuring a table side flag that signals the server to bring you more tacos. The catch is that in fact you do not want more tacos, because the meat is generally extremely expired or filled with rat poison (not sure which, but something special gives it that taste). Either way, be prepared for vomiting if you raise that goddamn flag. I keep mine lowered until they bring around the desert.  Let’s get to the point and talk about what you’ll be watching this weekend. The release schedule is packed so I’ll need some extra space. me to share your Poncho’s stories or to discuss my love of good Tex-Mex (which Poncho’s is not). What to Watch New movies come out each week. I don’t see all of them, but still feel qualified to tell you which movie you should watch. Feed your film habit from my picks. A cavalcade of new releases hit theaters this weekend, including some already limited released indies which are finally going wide. Will you worship the devil or swim with the sharks? Someone has resurrected Benji. But he is not the real Dread Doggie Benji. The original Benji has been retired for years and is living like the king somewhere off the coast of Spain… or something like that. Curly haired dogs who can carry small things in their mouth are a dime a dozen. Strangely enough, so were Benji movies once and if you’re really hot to see something like this just go rent one of those. It’s Benji, you aren’t missing anything by not seeing it. Without a Paddle isn’t that bad. I gave it two stars, but seriously it wasn’t exactly painful. Just cheap, obvious, and sophomoric. If you see it, you won’t walk out in suffering, but there’s so many better ways to properly feed your habit this weekend. Don’t bother. The trailer for Exorcist: The Beginning freaked me out. Not when I watched it on my computer, but later when I saw it again in a theater. It was singularly the most terrifying trailer experience I’ve ever had anywhere. I’m not even sure why. If the movie itself can even deliver half as much freak out, scare the shit right out of you terror, then I’m damned lucky Bill is covering this and I’m not. Good lord I’m a coward. But no matter how good or bad this movie is, there’s something guaranteed to be better. The competition is stiff this week. And you thought the Culkins were all either dead or off defending Michael Jackson! Mean Creek is out to prove you wrong by casting Rory Culkin as a Bully bashing weirdo who is easily egged on by his friends. He lures his bully out into the river, where he either plans to romance him or take him out Cartman style. Rarely have I ever seen a wide release get less promotion. This weekend, let’s all stay Culkin free. Garden State finally opens in wide release this weekend, which means I can finally stop babbling about how I’d like to recommend it but can’t because it isn’t available to see for most of you. Well now your excuses are over, unless you live underneath a cow-patty in Central Texas. I grew up there and can testify to the lack of cinematic culture. I’m not sure they are allowed to show movies with so many Jews in them… unless the Jews are beating Jesus. That’s a shame, because Garden State is a great little movie from a guy who is destined to turn into one helluva filmmaker. In any other weekend I’d be shouting for you all to run out and watch this. In this case there’s just too much competition. If you only see one movie, hold out for the film I drool about next and run out and buy Garden State’s killer soundtrack instead.  The thing NOT to be missed this weekend is Open Water, which is probably best described as a scuba-thriller, but shouldn’t be described as that because well… that isn’t a very interesting description. Instead folks like me keep comparing it to Jaws by saying things like “Jaws on a much more intimate level.” While that’s true, please don’t’ think for a minute that this movie is anything like Jaws. It isn’t horror and it isn’t about real terror generated by some monster. Yes they are in the water and yes there are sharks… but the sharks really aren’t the focus. The thrills and gut punching fear this thing generates is from the characters. It’s real. It’s raw and when bad things happen, good lord does it hurt. It hurts so much that right now Open Water is the only movie I’ve given five stars to this year besides Spider-Man 2. It’s so wrenching that come Oscar time you’ll see me standing on a street corner naked lobbying for a nomination for Blanchard Ryan (the nudity isn’t so much to honor her as it is a comfort thing). You may not love it as much as me and that’s fine. Please don’t get to involved in my hype and go in expecting too much. It’s a simple movie with simple goals. Wipe your mind clear of any preconceived notions and just enjoy it. It toys with you, screws with you, and then spits you out through good, honest, character drama. See it, support it, as it opens in wide release and please don’t compare it to Blair Witch.
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