Drama Rod Lott
My wife barely can stand — and sometimes refuses — to watch TV shows like The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm because they make her too nervous. Therefore, she would hateMichael and Silver Tongues,
two new-to-DVD entries in discomfort cinema. I recommend them both,
while acknowledging they are far from the easiest of watches.
Television series Rod Lott
As beloved as Lynda La Plante’s long-running crime series Prime Suspect is, her Above Suspicion
deserves equal adoration. It’s another example of how the British leave
viewers wanting more, rather than taking the American approach of
burning them out, because the first two seasons — all seven episodes
between them — come collected on Acorn Media’s two-disc Set 1. This leaves two more seasons as yet unreleased, so I pray we see a Set 2 soon down the pipe.
A few years ago, L.A.-based writer/director/actor Blayne Weaver had a big win with his rom-com Weather Girl at Oklahoma City’s deadCENTER Film Festival. The reception was so warm that he wants to bring his newest movie, 6 Month Rule, to our fine town.
Specifically, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 to AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial. Here’s the hitch: At the time of this writing, 28 more tickets need to be sold before that one-time screening — complete with a Q-and-A with Weaver — can be concrete. You can reserve your tickets now at tugg.com — despite the name, I swear it’s not a porn site.
So what’s 6 Month Rule about? Here’s the official synopsis:
“6 Month Rule is a romantic, charming, and poignant look at relationships, seen from the eyes of Tyler (Weaver), who lives by a philosophy that allows him to avoid making any significant connections with women. He frequently boasts that he can get over any woman in 6 months or less, but this is mostly due to his fear of emotional attachment. His best friend (Martin Starr) has just become Tyler’s main project, as he tries to teach his buddy all about the joys of cold-hearted bachelorhood. However, when he keeps bumping into a fascinating woman (Natalie Morales), he discovers that no philosophy is set in stone. Julian (Patrick J. Adams) is the hipster rock star that Tyler’s character must defeat in order to win the girl.”
Readers may know Morales from her recent stint on Parks and Recreation as Tom Haverford’s girlfriend. Starr was on two hilarious TV series: Party Down and Freaks and Greeks. Also in the cast are Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall), John Michael Higgins (Bad Teacher) and Vanessa Branch (the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise).
In other words, a lotta talent for a little movie, so Tugg it. Wait, that didn’t sound right. —Rod Lott
Action Rod Lott
MGM's marketing campaign for 1972's Cool Breeze played up — if not centered around — a connection to Shaft.
That connection? Both were blaxploitation films released by MGM. I
guess audiences thought that wasn't enough of a lure, because Breeze is an obscure entry in the genre, just now seeing the light of DVD, courtesy of the Warner Archive archivists.
In this appealing indie rom-com, a novelist’s girl of his dreams springs from the page to a real person.
Comedy Rod Lott
In Ruby Sparks, wunderkind author Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood)
has a few problems — one being that he is dateless, another that his
male dog pees like a girl. More pressing is that he lacks the
inspiration to follow up the Great American Novel that landed the
high-school dropout on The New York Times best-seller list when he was all of 19.
Horror Rod Lott Another camcorder film? Only in part, but at least Lovely Molly comes from the mind of Eduardo Sánchez, who helped kick-start the craze back on a mainstream scale with 1999's The Blair Witch Project,
which he co-wrote and co-directed. So there's that, not to mention this
must be the only one scored by avant-garde indie instrumental act
Tortoise.
Comedy Rod Lott
With one of those titles that doubles as a story summary, Jersey Shore Shark Attack is the rare made-for-Syfy film that has more to it than said title.
Thriller Rod Lott
Stop me if this sounds familiar: a handful of people trapped in an
elevator, in a life-or-death situation, and one of them is not who he or
she seems to be.