Monday, October 5th, 2009

'Tis a slow week for blogging due to it being finals week. Despite missing the last three days, there has not been a lot of cinematic news pumping through the blogsphere. This may be due to the fact that instead of blogging or digging up some kind of casting news to bitch about, cinephiles actually have a few decent options in theaters this weekend. Taking the top of the box office was Zombieland, which was shockingly great. I expected it to be comical, but from the wonderful opening credit sequence set to Metallica's "For Whom the Bells Toll", I was hooked. Also, I don't think it is a huge spoiler to say that Bill Murray cameos in the film, as whenever I searched Zombieland on Google search, all that came back was Murray's name. Anyhow, the short amount of time may be one of Murray's best comedic performances since Groundhog Day, try to digest how awesome that compliment was.

Other than Zombieland, there was five other very watchable releases that is definitely on my must-see list. First, the Coen Brothers' most recent dark comedy A Serious Man, which showed up disappointingly outside of the top 25 on the box office charts, but still looks incredible. Pixar re-released Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as a 3-D double feature for a two-week engagement, kicking off one of the best autumn movie seasons for family films since the 80's. In addition, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It!, which is garnering what some feel surprising critical praise in a coming-of-age comedy set in the world of roller derby girls, and starring Ellen Page. Michael Moore's most recent documentary, a commentary on the current state of our country's economic woes, Capitalism: A Love Story opened up as well. Finally, the least of the big releases of the weekend, Ricky Gervais' fantasy/comedy that has been getting some undeserved criticism for being "atheist propaganda", The Invention of Lying, landed in the top five of the box office.

Not only has the blog sites not had time to bitch about casting news, or worry more on the fate of Marvel comic to film adaptation this week for raving over the decent batch of quality flicks, but another independent horror movie, Paranormal Activity, has been taking off with some good old fashioned word of mouth advertising. Apparently, Twitter has been a big help to the film, and if you visit the official site of Oren Peli's debut feature, that was originally made in 2007, you can demand that it be shown in your area. I thought, due to the mockumentary style, that it looked somewhat interesting, but with such an early fan following, who wouldn't want to see this?