45
The Weekend Sun D V D
M O V I E S
With Winston Watusi
Fantastic Damn fine Not bad at all Dubious Dreadful Thanks to Video Ezy Brookfield for the DVDs
EXCISION Dir: Richard Bates Jr - Starring: AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter OK. Sometimes the clear “Pick of the Week” is not a film that is suitable for everyone. Or even the majority of people. This is one. I suspect many will be horrified by it or turn it off after the first five minutes. Fair enough. But it stuck in my mind and is certainly the most strikingly original film I’ve seen this year. It’s just not very pleasant. The story of troubled schoolgirl Pauline and her psycho-sexual inner life – strange fantasies with a necrophiliac bent, stemming, one assumes, from her teenage alienation – is pretty disturbing from the get-go. But can you really blame the socially inept girl for her weirdness when her mother is
(ex-porn star) Traci Lords, teacher is Malcolm McDowell and priest/councillor (“alternative” film director) John Waters? But, though you might expect it, this is not so much a Waters’ exercise in low-budget campiness as it is a Cronenberg-style coming-of-age body horror. It manages to be both emotionally moving and continually alarming, with the less said about the devastating ending the better. The look of it is impressively stylised and the uncompromising nature of the film-making can only be admired. But you need nerves of steel for this one.
Despite the props heaped on him at the Golden Globe Awards by Jodie Foster and Robert Downey Jr, Mel Gibson’s star is still struggling to regain its previous lustre. All those “uncomfortable” stories do make it hard to embrace the man (even though we all know the media lie and distort). But Mel can still rock it on screen, as he proves in Get The Gringo . It’s a return to the tough action style of Payback, set in the eye-opening world of a Mexican prison, almost a town in itself. The prison “boss” is after a liver transplant from a young boy whom Mel ends up protecting. And they’ve got to escape of course. It’s back to what the man does best and he does it very well. Hard-nosed entertaining action.
Bellflower has divided audiences and I must admit to feeling somewhat conflicted. On the one hand it is a tough, remarkable piece of low-budget guerilla film-making. On the other hand it can be a bit overblown and pretentious. Not that the story is pretentious. It’s about two twenty-something reprobates who think the world will end Mad Max-style so build flame throwers while tooling around in an armoured muscle car. The main protagonist falls for a girl when both enter a cricket-eating competition in a redneck bar: this is the grungy down ‘n’ dirty story of the ill-fated relationship. Unique and aggressively made, it possibly has more style than substance, though it’s worth a look as a possible zeitgeist moment for indie films.
M O V I E S
Brewers Bar Thursday 14 March – Villainy and Rival State – Mode. Set. Clear tour. R18. Presale tickets $25. Buy tickets from NZtix.
Cornerstone Pub Friday 8 – Big Bang Theory 10pm – late. Rock. Saturday 9 – Big Bang Theory 10pm – late. Rock. Sunday 10 – Big Bang Theory 3-6pm. Easy listening. Monday 11 – Jam night 8pm. Wednesday 13 – Native Poms 10pm – 1am.
Club Mount Friday 8 – Debbie and Reuben. Crown and Badger Friday 8 – Keel. Saturday 9 – Keel. Sunday 10 – Andy Craw, Chris Gunn and Mike Kirk 3-6pm. Wednesday 13 - Country music night. A mix of country-rock, blues & traditional.
Hit and Run is an amiable enough romp, written by, directed by and starring Dax Shepard. It’s a romantic action comedy centred round Dax’s witness-protected bank robber and his girlfriend (Kirsten Bell), road-tripping in a souped-up Lincoln with a comedy US Marshal (Tom Arnold) and eccentric excrim buddies (notably Bradley Cooper) on their trail. There’s a pleasant and surprising vein of character humour and the slightly rambling plot gives an odd “home movie with friends” feel to things, but the central duo are just about likeable enough to carry it off.
MEDIUM
Mount RSA Friday 8 – Shy and Retiring Company. Saturday 9 – Tequila. Sunday 10 – Frankie and Debbie 4.30-7.30pm.
SUDOKU 2
7
SUDOKU
How S
No.1665
6 1 8
7 3 9
4
Fill the every r 3x3 squ the d
1 How to 7 solve 6 8 1 5 No.1665 Sudoku! MEDIUM 1 8 6 comI came to The Factory 4 2 6 1 9 pletely blind: never heard of it, knew Fill the grid so that 1 7 9 7 8 nothing except it stars John Cussack and every row and every 2 is the latest of his films to end up going 3x3 square5 contains 3 37 3 9 6 straight to DVD. The man’s appeal seems the digits 1 to 9 8 to be sadly waning. A title card says 9 4 3 7 4 1 “inspired by actual events”, though this Solution No.1664 seems unlikely. Cussack’s police detective is 8 How 6to solve7 1 5 7 9 2 3 1 8 6 4 obsessed by a string of missing prostitutes, 1 8 No.1665 Sudoku! MEDIUM missing because they have been killed. We 8 6 4 2 36 56 97 84 71 35 29 see the killer in the opening scene so this 9 4 8 1 5 2 6 1 2 7 6 7 1Fill9the grid so that 2 1 7 8 6 93 3 4 5 isn’t much of a whodunit. Instead there’s an 5 7 3 6 4 2 9 8 1 7all turns amazing plot coincidence and it 8 every row and every 5 3 6 9 1 3 8 5 4 2 7 personal for a nasty little thriller that builds a fair head of steam 3x3 square contains 8 5 4 9 2 7 6 1 3 7 3 99 4 and has a twist ending that certainly surprised me. 3 the digits 1 to 9 7 3 2 4 1 6 5 9 8 4 1 Solution No.1664 6 7 8 1 5 7 9 2 3 1 8 6 4 8 6 14 28 36 56 97 84 71 35 29 9 4 8 1 5 3 2 7 6 7 1 9 2 1 7 8 6 9 3 4 5 3 6 5 7 4 2 9 8 1 5 3 6 9 1 3 8 5 4 2 7 8 5 4 9 2 7 6 1 3 9 4 3 7 3 2 4 1 6 5 9 8
SUDOKU
With Rialto
The Magistrate (NT Live) (E) Opening on February 7, tickets on sale now for The Magistrate. Academy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner John Lithgow takes the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s uproarious Victorian farce, directed by Olivier Award-winner Timothy Sheader.
Friday Feb 8 to Wed Feb 13 131 Jellicoe Street, Te Puke. RELEASE DJANGONEW UNCHAINED
Capitol Cinema 4
(R16)
MEGAscreen! Fri 8:30pm. Sat 2:20, 8:35pm. Sun 4:45. Mon 7:30. Tue 8:30pm. Wed 2:00, 5:10.
Graphic Violence & Off Lang. on
LES MISERABLES (M) on MEGA!
The Weekend Sun has a double pass to The Magistrate for a lucky reader who can tell us when the film opens. Enter online at www. sunlive.co.nz under the competitions section. Entries must be received before Wednesday, February 13.
Violence & Sexual References. Fri
12:10, 5:25pm. Sat 5:30pm. Sun 1:35pm, 8:00pm. Mon 4:00. Tue 12:10, 5:25. Wed 8:20pm.
MEGAscreen times in BLUE.
Sat 3:55pm. Wed 3:55pm.
QUARTET
(M) Offensive Language.
Sat 12:00. Sun 3:35. Mon 6:35. Tue 12:00.
PLAYING NEW THIS THIS WEEK WEEK ININ 3D3D
HANSEL & GRETEL (3D)
Temuera Morrison, Stan Walker. NEW ZEALAND DRAMA.
WITCH HUNTERS (R16) Violence, Off Language & Horror.
Fri 4:00, 8:35. Sat 2:00, 6:30. Sun 11, 5:40. Mon 4:45, 8:35. Tue 2:00, 6:25. Wed 2, 6:30.
Action, Horror, Comedy. Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton.
FLIGHT(R16) Off Lang, Drug Use & Sexual Themes. Fri 2:00, 8:30. Sat 12:40, 5:45. Sun 3:20, 8:05. Mon 3:10, 8:00. Tue 1:45, 8:15. Wed 2:00, 8:30. (R16)
Sat 3:30. Sun 6:10pm Mon 3:00. Tue 6:20pm. Wed 4:40pm.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (2D) (PG)
Graphic Violence, Sex Scenes & Offensive Language.
GANGSTER SQUAD (R16) Viol, Off Lang & Sexual Themes.
Fri 6:05. Tue 4:00. Wed 8:35.
PARENTAL GUIDANCE (PG)
FINAL WEEK. MEGAscreen! Sat 10:05am.
Coarse Lang. Fri&Tue
3:15. Sat 12:15. Sun 11:20
YOU WILL BE MY SON (M) Off Lang
Fri 6:20. Sat 12:30, 8. Sun 2:05. Mon 4:00. Tue 6:00. Wed 8:10.
& Sexual Ref’s. FRENCH.
(PG) Some Scenes May Disturb.
(PG) Scary Scenes.
3D stop-motion comedy. Sunday 11:20am.
Violence, Off Lang & Horror.
Fri 4:10. Sat 10:30, 6:00pm. Sun 12:00, 7:45pm. Tue 3:50. Wed 6:00pm.
LIFE OF PI (3D)
PARANORMAN (3D)
Fri 2:20. Sat 4:15. Sun 6:00pm. Mon 8:00pm. Tue 2:05. Wed 4:10pm.
(R16)
Fri 12:10, 6:35pm. Sat 8:40pm. Sun 1:25pm. Mon 6:00pm. Tue 12:00. Wed 6:35pm. DRAMA, ADVENTURE. Sunday 1:00pm.
PLAYING THIS WEEK
WHOLE LOTTA SOLE (M) Viol & Off HANSEL & GRETEL (2D) Language.
movies
NEW RELEASE
MT. ZION (PG) Coarse Lang.
LIFE OF PI (2D) (PG) Some Scenes May Disturb. Denzel Washington, John Goodman. Director Ang Lee.
Info line 573 8055 www.tepukecinema.co.nz
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (3D) (PG) Coarse Language.
Saturday 10:00am.
WRECK-IT RALPH (3D) (PG) Low Level Violence. Disney Animation.
Sat 10:20am.
THE HOBBIT (M) Fantasy Violence.
Fri 12:35. Sat 8:30pm. Sun 7:45.
FINAL DAYS
MONSIEUR LAZHAR (M) Adult Themes. JACK REACHER
(M) Viol & Off Lang. Tue
8:30pm.
Fri 12:30, 8:15pm. Sat 2:25. Sun 4:05pm. PARANORMAN (2D) (PG) Scary Scenes. Mon 6:05pm. Tue 12:10, 8:00. Wed 2:10. Animation, Comedy. Fri 4:35pm. Tue 4:20pm.
Soluti 7 9 8 6 2 3 4 8 1 7 6 5 9 1 5 4 3 2