This Week in Film: Take a Trip Back to Yesteryear

In Theaters
For what feels like the first time in weeks, there is actually more than one release this week. Whether that is a good or bad thing in this case is up to you. First up we've got The Dilemma, the new comedy from director Ron Howard, starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James as an auto design team who's partnership may be rocked when Vaughn finds James' wife (Winona Ryder) cheating on him. Let's face it, it looks pretty crappy, and if it wasn't for the gay joke controversy that occurred this past year following the first trailer for the film, would this even be on most folks' radar?

Then we have The Green Hornet, which is finally making its way to the big screen after almost two decades of production starts and stops. While every report coming off the set during filming had this in many minds as the first bomb of 2011, after a handful of special early screenings around the country the buzz is steadily growing that the film is surprisingly good.

Special Showings
Another edition of Retrofantasma returns to the Carolina Theatre in Durham on Friday, Jan. 14th. This time, the double-bill will feature 35mm screenings of the 1951 sci-fi classic The Thing From Another World and Forbidden Planet, starring everyone's favorite robot, Robby. The show starts at 7pm, and tickets are $8, which includes admission for both films.

Cinema Overdrive is also hosting a screening on Wednesday, Jan. 12th. Mark this one on your calendars folks, because this is a film that doesn't get shown on the big screen very often. William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones star in the 1977 cult classic Rolling Thunder, the story of a war veteran brutally assaulted by some punks that then kill his wife and son. His only reason to live being to kill those he holds responsible for his torment, he goes on a vigilante rampage with only his military training and a hook-hand. The movie starts at 8pm and as always admission is only $5.50.

Finally, the North Carolina Museum of Art continues its Winter Film Series with the 1937 classic Make Way For Tomorrow on Friday, Jan. 14th at 8pm. The film features the story of an elderly couple that lose their home to foreclosure and must depend on their horrible children for support. Not a laugh riot, but a great film. Admission is $5, with discounts available to members.

 

On DVD
If you missed The Social Network while it was in theaters, here's your chance to judge it for yourself before another critics group gives it one more Best Picture award. One of the few flicks in recent memory that was actually deserving of the hype surrounding it. Speaking of deserving, Piranha 3D hits home theaters this week, and it deserved so much more love than it received while in theaters. It will be fun to see if those that actually did watch the movie on the big screen will still like it when they are watching it at home, without the help of 3D glasses and a roomful of strangers yelling at the screen along with you. Finally we have Alpha and Omega, a cartoon that will make you truly appreciate the love and craft that Pixar and Disney put into their animated features. A&O made it onto most critics' Worst of the Year lists, or at least those that remembered it at the end of 2010. A 90 minute animated commercial for Canadian tourism, this was partially funded by the Canadian Tourism Commission. Enough to make me never cross the border, purely out of spite.

 

Notable Films on TV
Enter the Dragon 8 p.m. Thur. Jan. 13th, AMC
 Released in 1973, Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly are among the contestants in an island martial arts tournament. This was Lee's final film before his death at the age of 32. Far from "just a kung-fu movie", in 2004 the film was chosen for preservation by the National Film Registery. You and I both know this has been on your "to watch" list for years, so what are you waiting for?

The Doors 9 p.m. Sat. Jan. 15th, VH1 Classics
Remember back in the day when Oliver Stone, Val Kilmer, and Meg Ryan were all considered good bets at the box office? Now Stone is making arguably the worst movie of 2010, Kilmer is starring in direct to DVD dreck, and Ryan...what the hell is Meg Ryan up to these days, other than questionable procedures? Well, let's take a trip back to yesteryear with The Doors, Stone's version of the band's history, naked Natives and all.

A Bronx Tale 9p.m. Mon. Jan. 17th, Spike
The great De Niro film that is criminally forgotten. Directed by De Niro from a script written by costar Chazz Palminteri, the film tells the story of a kid that is torn between two men that he idolizes: his straight arrow father (De Niro) and mobster father figure Sonny (Palminteri). It would be 13 years before De Niro stepped behind a camera again, this time for 2006's The Good Shepherd.

 

On Netflix Instant
New to Netflix this week is Diggstown, a film that every studio exec should be forced to watch before they are hired. Maybe then every flick being produced for the next three years wouldn't star Channing Tatum or Sam Worthington. Starring James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr. among a host of character acting greats, they try to shake down a small town mobster in a series of boxing matches. For anyone that loved The Departed, I recommend State of Grace, the 1990 crime thriller starring a young Sean Penn as an undercover cop assigned to take down the crime family led by his childhood friends, played by Ed Harris and Gary Oldman. Finally, we have 2009's Solitary Man, starring Michael Douglas in what might be the finest performance of his career. Playing a man that can't stop the compulsions that ruin his life and relationships, Douglas brings to the screen work we haven't seen him produce since his work in 2000's Traffic and Wonder Boys.

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