Movies This Weekend
Competing against the mysterious and monstrous Cloverfield are 27 Dresses and Mad Money. Check out my interview with Mad Money director: Callie Khouri
Honestly, I enjoyed both films. Mad Money is different because, well, it's about money and how a group of women steal from the government. I love seeing Diane Keaton acting funny rather than clingy as she was in last year's Because I Said So, and Queen Latifah has become an actress with great range. The weakest link is Katie Holmes whose acting chops are a bit stiff. She needs to get back to acting since she had promise in her earlier roles like Pieces of April.
27 Dresses is a much more typical chick flick. Katherine Heigl (who they tried to make look less pretty than she is for some bizarre reason) plays Jane, always the bridesmaid, never the bride for 27 friends. (Does anyone have 27 people that they could be in a bridal party for?) She works as an assistant to Ed Burns' George, an environmentally correct mogul and has pined for him for years. Judy Greer plays her best friend and has the best lines in the film. (Will someone please write this woman a movie?)
Then in a whirlwind comes Jane's gorgeous, blonde sister Tess, who Jane helped raise (of course her mom is dead -- hasn't there been a spate of dead mom movies recently) and took care of and she proceeds to seduce George much to Jane's chagrin. On a night when she is literally flying between weddings in two boroughs Jane meets a cynical wedding columnist (James Marsden) who wants desperately off the wedding beat. They meet, fight, get stuck in a rainstorm, get drunk and perform Benny and the Jets (the classic song sing-along has become a standard of late) in front of a bar of strangers, and fall in love. There are some cute lines, but if you're not the wedding type (there are lots of weddings), it might make you angry.
If I had to tell you which one to go see I would say Mad Money because it needs our help more than 27 Dresses. Mad Money will be on 2400 hundred screen vs the 3,000 for 27 Dresses. It's released by a smaller studio, it's in less theatres and it puts women in less typical roles which we need to support. The LA Times and other media are pitting it as a battle of the sexes at the box office this weekend. Beauty vs. Beast at the Box Office (LA Times)
Other releases this week
Teeth - limited release
Still in Theatres
The Business of Being Born
Juno
Atonement
August Rush
The Savages
Persepolis
P.S. I Love You
Enchanted
The Orphanage
The Golden Compass
Margot at the Wedding
Opening January 25
How She Move
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
Charlize Theron on Celebrity and the Roles She Plays
In the Valley of Elah is opening in England and Theron was interviewed about the lack of glamorous roles ie pretty roles she's played. Her response:
It's not like I've been [offered] any great glamorous roles that had great conflict and great story-telling," Theron retorted, clearly irked. "But I'm not going to be picky, because they're hard to come by. If I sit around waiting for a good, glamorous story to come around, I'm probably never going to work"
"So if you don't consider my character [in In the Valley of Elah] beautiful, I'm sorry, but that's really me. That's my natural hair colour. That's me with very little make-up. There's no prosthetics. That's what I look like."My Looks Are the Last Thing I Think About The Telegraph
Variety Picks 10 Directors to Watch -- 2 Are Women, none are American
Nadine Labaki- her first feature Caramel about 5 women who work in a beauty parlor in Beirut opens later this month.
Nadine Labaki
Anna Melikyan- her film Mermaids is playing at this year's Sundance.
Anna Melikyan
AARP Awards
Tamara Jenkins “The Savages,” has won best movie and Julie Christie (“Away From Her”) won best actress. (Hollywood Reporter)
Jess Weixler the star of Teeth has developed a cult following of women on campuses (the men are scared to talk to her). Read about the film: Teeth Review
Jess Weixler
