After a host of new additions last week this week is a little light on new additions. Most of the changes have to do with listing several films as now being tentative dates, as the next couple of weeks are pretty top heavy with new additions, and some are going to have to be pushed.

But their are two new additions, though they are not listed until December. This first is William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (What a title!) and the second is Broken Embraces, the new Pedro Almodovar film that stars Penelope Cruz’s cleavage and a cast of thousands (or not).

*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change

07/24 500 Days of Summer Uptown
07/24 Betty Blue: The Director’s Cut Edina ***
07/24 Seraphine Edina (tentative)

07/31 In the Loop Uptown
07/31 $9.99 Lagoon ***
07/31 Soul Power Lagoon (tentative)
07/31 Shrink Edina
07/31 The Merry Gentleman Edina (tentative)
07/31 Humpday Lagoon

08/07 The Cove Uptown ***
08/07 The End of the Line Lagoon
08/07 The Answer Man Edina (tentative)

08/14 Not Quite Hollywood Lagoon ***
08/14 Adam Edina
08/14 Ponyo Edina ***
08/14 Spread Lagoon

08/21 Inglorious Bastards Lagoon ***
08/21 Lorna’s Silence Edina

08/28 Cold Souls Uptown ***
08/28 The World’s Greatest Dad Lagoon ***
08/28 Taking Woodstock Lagoon ***
08/28 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Edina

08/29 The Adventures of Robin Hood Edina (One Night Only) ***
08/30 The Bride of Frankenstein Edina (One Night Only) ***
08/30 It Happened One Night Edina (One Night Only) ***

09/04 Thirst Lagoon ***
09/04 Afghan Star Lagoon
09/04 My One and Only Edina

09/09 9 Lagoon ***

09/11 The Baader Meinhof Complex Uptown
09/11 Captain Abu Raed Lagoon

09/18 The Beaches of Agnes Edina
09/18 Burning Plain Edina/Lagoon (tentative)

09/25 Somers Town Lagoon ***
09/25 Paris Edina

10/02 Amreeka Edina

10/09 Earth Days Lagoon
10/09 Damned United Lagoon

10/16 Still Walking Lagoon
10/16 New York, I Love You Lagoon
10/16 Coco Before Chanel Edina

10/23 The Horse Boy Lagoon
10/23 An Education Uptown

12/04 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Lagoon (NEW)

12/25 Broken Embraces Uptown (NEW)

Tags: $9.99, Adam, Afghan Star, almodovar film, Amreeka, An Education, betty blue, bride of frankenstein, Broken Embraces, Burning Plain, Captain Abu Raed, Coco Before Chanel, cold souls, Damned United, disturbing the universe, Earth Days, film, films, Humpday, In the Loop, inglorious bastards, Ink, It Happened One Night, Minneapolis, My One and Only, Not Quite Hollywood, Paris, pedro almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Ponyo, Seraphine, somers town, Soul Power, Spread, Still Walking, Taking Woodstock, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Answer Man, The Baader Meinhof Complex, The Beaches of Agnes, The Cove, The End of the Line, The Horse Boy, The Merry Gentleman, Thirst, william kunstler, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, World's Greatest Dad

Close circuit to The Edina Theatre employees, after months of waiting Elsa and Fred is finally getting released, on DVD. Which makes the fact a print has been lying around waiting to be shown for over three months now even funnier.

As for other other DVD new releases this week there isn’t much to look at. Henry Poole is Here looks passably interesting, but nothing more, and Igor might be ok at best. Really the only thing worth your time and possibly your money is City of Ember, a solid, if unspectacular, steampunk film that is fun for the whole family. While not a great film by any means, Anna and I both enjoyed it when we saw it in the theatre.

As for theatrical releases this is the second week in a row an Oscar hopeful is being re-released to try and garner votes. This week’s entry? Vicky Christina Barcelona, a wholly unremarkable film except for two great performances by Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. While Cruz stands a good chance of garnering a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Vicky Chistina Barcelon’s Golden Globe win for Best Comedy means they think the film might actually get a Best Picture nomination. Which is funny, whereas the actual film is not.

As for true new releases the big release is Defiance, which in the words of a great critic is “Sentimental tacky crap.” Please don’t go see that steaming pile. My Bloody Valentine looks even worse, relying on the cheap gimmick of being in 3-D to try and boost ticket sales. No, the one film that people should try and get out to this weekend in the Twin Cities is playing exclusively at The Uptown Theatre, Che. For one week only you get to see both Part One and Two for a single admission price, so be sure to head over to the theatre to watch the film, and make sure to tell the staff The Star Tribune blows for taking cheap shots at The Uptown and its staff this past weekend.

As always trailers are after the break!

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Going to keep it a bit shorter today, as I am running a bit low on time and material to work with. Not much released on DVD this week besides two vastly overrated/overwatched films in Alvin and the Chipmunks and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I’m sure both will sell umpteen thousand copies this upcoming Tuesday but I’ll be quite content in avoiding both.

The one thing I am very excited about for DVD releases is Terry Jones’ BBC documentary series Medieval Times, a series devoted to dispelling many of the myths of the middle ages. It’s a fascinating show, as BBC documentaries are want to be, and I can’t recommend it enough. Unfortunately, I have no trailer or scenes for it to show you, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

The other DVD release of the week that I find passably interesting is a comedy called The Good Night starring Martin Freeman, Gwenyth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Simon Pegg, and Danny DeVito. It’s about a man (Freeman) who obsessively dreams about a woman (Cruz) he has never met before. Normally I would never dare to recommend any film with Gwenyth Paltrow in it but I must admit I have a deep an unflinching man-crush on Simon Pegg and thus all logic and reason about a film is thrown out the window once his is involved.

Case in point, my first theatrical pick of the weekend is the Simon Pegg vehicle Run, Fatboy Run. Starring Pegg, Thandie Newton, and Hank Azaria is has the ignominious pleasure of being directed by David Schwimmer, yet this is countered by the film being written by Michael Ian Black. Sure it will probably be far less then good, but Pegg is irresistible. That and I am fascinated by the Pegg/Schwimmer/Black trio.

Thankfully I have one last recommendation up my sleeve, which should redeem this entire debacle. That movie is Stephen Chow’s new film CJ7. You may know Chow from Shaolin Soccer, and you should know him from Kung Fu Hustle, and it is my hope that with CJ7 Chow only further entrenches himself within the American mainstream. I barely know what is coming to the multiplexes this weekend, but let me assure you, anything else you see will not be better then CJ7.

As always trailers are after the break. Enjoy!

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