New CD Release - 2008.01.22

Pick of the week:

Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark




Black Mountain - In The Future
Buzzcocks - 30
Cat Power - Jukebox



Dengue Fever - Venus On Earth



Jazzanova - Computer Incarnations for World Peace



Mahjongg - Kontpab
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular



moe. - Sticks and Stones




North Mississippi Allstars - Hernando




OST - Be Kind Rewind



Times New Viking - Rip It Off



Whigs - Mission Control



John Zorn - Film Works Vol. 19



This probably WOULD be my pick of the week, if I had heard it. Especially considering how great his recent Film Works titles have been.

New DVD Releases - 2008.01.22

Adrift In Manhattan
Confesions of a Superhero



Deep Roots Music, Vol. 2



The Bunny Lee/Black Ark Story. Netflix doesn't have it, apparently.

ER: Season Eight
Eye in the Sky
Fatal Contact
Miss Julie (Criterion Collection)
Sex and Breakfast
The Hunting Party
The Kingdom - Series Two
This Sporting Life (Criterion Collection)

New CD Release - 2008.01.15

MAGNETIC FIELDS - DISTORTION

New DVD Releases - 2008.01.15

I'm REALLY behind here. I've been getting the film festival stuff together, but I should be on track again after this week. In the meantime, in the interest of just having SOMETHING up, I'll just post the lists of new releases.

Pick of the Week:

The Ten



This is a pretty funny collection of short films about the Ten Commandments. They don't all work, but there were a number of deep belly laughs from this.

The District



I totally Netflixed this, but it hasn't come yet.

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
Extras - Xmas Special
Family Guy - Blue Harvest
Good Luck Chuck
He Was A Quiet Man



I've had this recommended to me, and it looks great.

Henry Rollins - Live in the Conversation Pit
It Came From Beneath The Sea
KZ
Lomax The Songhunter



Doc on Alan Lomax sounds great. Unfortunately, it's not at Netflix.

Love Lies Bleeding
Mr. Woodcock
Screamers
She's Gotta Have It
Strays



I've been waiting a long time for this one.

Suburban Girl
Syndromes and a Century



Insanely well reviewed.

The Naked Prey- Criterion
The Ten
Wedding Daze

New Theatrical Releases - 2008.01.11

New Theatrical Releases

January 11, 2008

This is a horrible week for new releases. It's hard for me to think about spending the time to put this together, but oh well. Take note that The Orphanage expands to 500 screens, and Persepolis opens in Chicago this week.

First Sunday




In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale





Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Trailer Park - 2008.01.08

10,000 B.C.

Roland Emmerich's prehistoric action/adventure film.
(2nd trailer).





Chocolate

New film from Prachya Pinkaew, director of ONG BAK and THE PROTECTOR. No subtitles, but who cares?

Clone Wars: The TV Series

George Lucas' 3D Television Show chronicling the Clone Wars

Dreams With Sharp Teeth

Feature documentary on Harlan Ellison. Premiering at SXSW in March.

Speed Racer

Downloadable at the official Speed Racer site.

New CD Release - 2008.01.08

New CD Releases

January 8, 2008




Marah - Angels Of Destruction





Medeski, Martin & Wood - Let's Go Everywhere

Medeski, Martin & Wood have recorded a CD with vocals. For Kids.





Kate Mash - Made Of Bricks





Reverend Horton Heat - Hi-Fi Stereo




Sia - Some People Have Real Problems





Original Soundtrack - Juno

New DVD Releases - 2008.01.08

New DVD Releases

January 8, 2008

Pick of the Week:

Zodiac - The Director's Cut (2-DVD Version)



Hopefully not much has to be said about Zodiac, one of the best films of the year. This 2-disc version only has a few deleted scenes worked into the film, but has all the bonus features missing from the bare bones version released earlier this year.


3:10 To Yuma

James Mangold (Walk The Line, Cop Land) directs this remake. Personally, the Western resurgence in general, and this in specific doesn't do much for me.

Adam's Apples




Big Bang Love, Juvenile A




Casting About



Very interesting documentary. This film is pieced together from various actresses' auditions for a feature film.


Crossing The Line

Christian Slater narrated this documentary about an American soldier that defected to North Korea in 1962.

Death Sentence



I actually enjoyed this revenge flick that has Kevin Bacon taking down a street gang that killed his son.

Dragon Wars



You might think that this film is going to be bad enough to be entertaining. Somehow it is able to be really horrible, yet still not entertaining.

Dreams Of Dust




Eagle Vs. Shark



This New Zealand import stars Flight Of The Conchords' Jemaine Clement. While it may have been a bit overhyped, I found the more entertaining than Napoleon Dynamite, which this is often compared to.


Go West

Golden Door

Charlotte Gainsbourg stars in this romantic drama that played at Toronto and Tribeca.

Joshua



Horror/Thriller stars Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga & played at Sundance.

Klimt

John Malkovich stars as Gustav Klimt in this biopic.

Mammoth

I've seen a lot of giant monster movies pass across my desk, but I'm almost positive that this is the first one I've seen with a Woolly Mammoth.

The Real Dirt On Farmer John

Very interesting and entertaining documentary about John Peterson, a maverick Midwestern farmer who goes against the grain to succeed in an increasingly different business.

Smiley Face

Gregg Araki (Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin) directs this pot comedy. Starring Anna Faris, John Krasinski, John Cho, Danny Trejo and CARROT TOP!

Sunshine

Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) directs this beautiful and dense science fiction film. Like 2001 and Solaris this mixes some slow, experimental segments that have a tendency to polarize audiences.

White Noise 2

Generally I don't watch horror movies, much less their Direct-to-DVD sequels. I won't be tempted here, even though Nathan Fillion is in this.

New Theatrical Releases - 2008.01.04

New Theatrical Releases

January 4, 2008

One Missed Call

This is yet another remake of a Japanese horror film. I'm sure I won't see it, even though it stars the lovely & amazing Shannyn Sossamon.

Trailer Park - 2007.12.31

Most of the film industry is off for the holidays, so the first Trailer Park will have to be a small one.

Downloading Nancy stars Maria Bello, Jason Patric and Rufus Sewell, is directed by first timer Johan Renck and cinematography is handled by the great Christopher Doyle.

The story follows the fate of the unhappy wife Nancy who orders the guy she meets over the Internet to kill her, but the two of them fall in love.

New CD Release - 2008.01.01

NEW CD RELEASES

JANUARY 1, 2008



It is the only CD release of the week worth mentioning, and it's already been
hyped so much, it's not really worth talking about.

New DVD Releases - 2008.01.01

New DVD Releases

Extreme Movie


This film is a complete mystery. There's a small listing on IMDB that details the people involved. The writers/directors are from Not Another Teen Movie & The Comebacks, which isn't encouraging, but it also stars Michael Cera, which is encouraging. Apparently it's going direct-to-DVD from The Weinstein Company.





Originally broadcast on IFC, this series looked at sex in cinema, and features Larry Clark, Atom Egoyan, John Cameron Mitchell and Guinevere Turner.


Jimmy and Judy



This seems like it is a cheap wannabe Natural Born Killers, but Netflix thinks that I will like it.


Resident Evil: Extinction


I highly doubt that I will be suckered into watching a 3rd Resident Evil movie, but you never know.

September Dawn




Big budget story about the origins of Mormonism


Shoot 'Em Up




This film is absolutely my big, dumb guilty pleasure of the year. What 300 was to sword-and-sandals movies, this was for gun-fu. The major difference being that you're supposed to laugh at dialogue in this. Clive Owen, Monica Belluci and Paul Giamarri are all great in this.


Solstice



To be honest, I don't know anything about this film other than the fact that it is directed from one of the directors of The Blair Witch Project, which is enough for me to check it out.

War



There are some things I will never understand. Quantum mechanics. Rich people that get DUIs. The appeal of asparagus. Why Jet Li movies fluctuate so widely between great (Fearless, Danny the Dog, Hero) and as horrible as this film.

Media Obscura Launches.

This is just a test post. Hopefully we'll launch on 1/1.