by Sam Juliano
As the summer races by, with the dog days of August nearly upon us, the movie theatres are undergoing their typical meltdown until September rolls around. Here at Wonders in the Dark the comments keep coming, as Allan’s fantastic countdown moved toward its Thursday conclusion. This past week, the “hottest” discussion took place under Allan’s Godfather II review, where a whopping 61 comments were posted. Several other threads did extremely well. Joel Bocko’s film review series for the Boston Examiner continued with Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
Here’s what I managed to see in the movie theatres this week:
Humpday *½ (Wednesday night; Angelika Film Center)
Orphans *½ (Saturday afternoon; Edgewater multiplex)
In the Loop ****½ (Saturday night; IFC Film Center)
Loren Cass **** (Sunday night; Cinema Village)
HUMPDAY, which was a big hit at Sundance is much to do about nothing. It’s a geek movie about guys talking nonsense, and it’s premise is a tedious conceit. Torture.
ORPHANS Another in the Omen line, it’s a formulaic and nasty story which is as sickening as it is predictable. I will never be able to live down taking the kids to this.
IN THE LOOP One of the great satires of recent years, this BBC production pokes fun at political leaders during the Iraq crisis, that utilizes brilliant one-liners, and a number of superb actors including James Gandolfini. I haven’t laughed this hard in a movie theatre in a very long time.
LOREN CASS A stylish inde about three teenagers trying to sort out the real-life, brutal slaying of Tyrone Lewis, a black motorist gunned down by a white policeman. Not all the filmmaking decisions work, but all in all a striking and riveting debut from Chris Fuller. Wholly original.
So what did YOU see? Hear? Read? Eat?
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