Even though their a re a ton of new DVD releases that are worth owning that will be released this upcoming Tuesday, my selection was a fairly easy one. Though, to be fair, I have not yet watched Up the Yangtze, which I have heard from numerous people to be a fantastic film. And even though I loved WALL-E and Tropic Thunder, and even with an under seen Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson, and even my latest copy of Wholphin being shipped my choice was an easy one. Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World is simply one of the best films I have seen this year, and and it continues his recent string of outstanding films that he has made the past few years. I will be adding it to my collection, and hopefully you will add it to yours.

As for theatrical releases, that was yet another easy choice. While I have mild interest in the latest Bond film, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas might be interesting, my choice is a film I recommended several weeks ago, as it is finally getting released here in Minneapolis. Fears of the Dark is now playing at the Lagoon Cinema, and most likely only for a one week run, so please get out and see this film while you have the chance.

As always trailers are after the break!

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Finally a week in which I have plenty of options to choose from! The last several have left me grasping at straws in order to supply even a halfway decent recommendation, both DVD releases and theatrical releases are giving me a few options to pass on.

In theaters this week is the latest work of genius from Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York, which I’m sure will leave everyone scratching their heads while simultaneously praising it. So you know, a typical Charlie Kaufman film, only this time on a far grander scale.

As for DVD releases I had a bit more of a struggle in trying to choose which film to recommend. As you can probably imagine Hellboy II: The Golden Army was calling to me, but while I loved Hellboy II, I have instead decided to go in another direction and select a film I haven’t seen yet, and no one else has either. This particular film has taken seven years to make, and is just beginning to make a run as a midnight movie here in the US, and for those of you living in the Minneapolis metro area, you will be able to see it at The Uptown Theatre on November 22nd. It should be a great midnight show, so hopefully you will be in attendance. But for those of you who can’t wait, The Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars will be released on DVD this Tuesday.

As always trailers are after the break!

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This is going to be a quick post as my router has been incredibly passive aggressive with me all day, cutting in and out whenever it is most inconvenient, causing me to lose the hundreds, nay, thousands of hours of work I did this morning. And now as we speak the network has completely vanished, leaving me to run off the overloaded connection being dispersed by the local library.

So yes, even though it is evidently Liv Tyler week (The Incredible Hulk, The Strangers) when it comes to new DVD releases, I am going with something completely different. Primarily because The Strangers was stupid and The Incredible Hulk looks stupid. So, in honor of on screen stupidity I am picking a Paul Walker flick, The Lazarus Project. Surely it can’t be any dumber then the previous films mentioned.

As for theatrical releases, even though W is being released and Rachel Getting Married is garnering some rather surprising critical acclaim, my selection this week is The Pool. From director Chris Smith, best know for the amazing documentary American Movie, comes his first fiction film about a poor boy living in India who becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in one of the richest neighborhoods in his city.

As always trailers are after the break!

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Forgive me if my mind is somewhere else today. It is difficult to select new releases to recommend when I have recently received word that Bruce Campbell, The Chin himself, will be coming to the Twin Cities for the opening of My Name is Bruce. Which means I will get to meet him. This, along with meeting the Coen Brothers a few weeks ago, really makes me so much cooler then any of you. In my mind.

Anyways, it is slim pickings once again for DVD releases on Tuesday. I’m tempted to pick The Happening, which I actually did enjoy, but decided I’d pick a film I wanted to see but only had a split-second release in theaters. That movie being Boy A.

For theatrical releases it seems as if somewhere close to two dozen films are being released this weekend. While Flash of Genius, Appaloosa, Religulous and A Girl Cut in Two all look interesting enough for me to watch at some point, this week I am recommending a movie that I have already seen, enjoyed quite a bit and am quite confident most people will not like at all because nothing really happens in it. This movie is better known as Blindness.

As always trailers are after the break!

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Easy week for recommendations, as there is a plainly obvious one for both new theatrical releases and DVD releases, despite both actually offering up some decent content after several weeks of crapitude.

My DVD pick for next Tuesday is The Rape of Europa, a documentary on World War II that is quite unlike any other documentary on World War II. It focuses on the priceless artworks and artifacts that the Nazi’s stole during the course of WWII and how the Allied powers attempted to reclaim them. It also offers an interesting perspective on how the Allied forces attempted to fight battles in cities that were literally priceless works of art themselves. It is a fascinating documentary, and well worth watching even for those who hate “war films”.

My recommendation for theatrical releases today is also an easy pick, the Coen brothers newest comedic offering, Burn After Reading. I had the pleasure of seeing a screening of it last week and I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. It is a fairly dark comedy, and word of warning it has several moments of graphic violence, and it fits in perfectly well with the Coen’s other comedy films. It’s not quite The Big Lebowski, but it isn’t far off either.

As always trailers are after the break!

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Welcome to our Olympic coverage of Rummaging through the Old Maids! Sure this doesn’t involve anything more then me posting via tape delay (Note to the audience: I have no idea what that means) but it is the thought that counts. Right?

While the amount of DVD releases this week are relatively thin, their are two pretty damn good ones especially worth noting. First is the Criterion release of Brand Upon the Brain, Guy Maddin’s oustanding pseudo-documentary science fiction/horror film on his growing up on a remote island with a mother who eats children to maintain her youth. It is a fantastic film and being released by Criterion inevitably means the transfer will be outstanding.

The other big release is CJ7, which took its sweet time coming to DVD even though it had a theatrical release last summer. Coupling Stephen Chow’s Looney Tunes styled direction with the most adorable alien ever created, CJ7 is a ridiculously cute and fun children’s film that appeals to adults as well.

Coming to theaters this week is the new film by Mumblecore vets Jay and Mark Duplass, Baghead, about a group of filmmakers that head up to a cabin to try and write their next movie. Only to discover that the movie they envision might be coming true. I don’t know too much about the movie outside of the trailer, but I enjoyed The Puffy Chair and I think the movie looks pretty interesting.

But the movie I am most excited for is Man on Wire, a documentary on tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring and incredibly stupid attempt to walk on a tightrope that spans between the newly built Twin Towers in New York City. It is a stunning documentary that should be a must see for everyone. Word of warning, even though it is almost all still photography, if you experience vertigo, or have a fear of heights,  be prepared to have the crap scared out of you.

As always trailers are after the break!

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