Oliver Stone may have already unleashed on moviegoers his melodramatic vision of 9/11 with World Trade Center but even if you don't want to see the wreckage recreated on screen, there's way more filling New York movie screens.
Two flicks to appeal to the teen and pre-teen audiences: Step Up is a dance school movie about a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (Channing Tatum) and the slightly prissy girl (Jenna Dewan) who needs his help gettin' down. Even though director Anne Fletcher choreographed Bring It On, this flick's no Save the Last Dance. But then again, not much is. Tim Allen teaches a band of super hero kids to work together in Zoom. Sounds a bit snore worthy, though it does star Summer's ex from The O.C.
Three very different horror films also hit screens this weekend. A remake of the Asian horror blockbuster, Pulse stars Kristen Bell as a girl haunted by the dead through their technology. That'll teach the kids to spend so much time text messaging and using MySpace! A neurotic young man meets a blasphemous Marquis in Czech director Jan Svankmajer's Lunacy, a film which features references to Edgar Allen Poe, insane asylum inmates run amok and stop motion animated meat. The movie as a whole is more thoughtful and provocative than it is horrific, and actually after a while, the moving meat is sort of cute. In the more straight forward, Belgian horror Calvaire (The Ordeal) a traveling singer ends up at a remote inn one foggy night. You may think you already know how this one ends, but the road there is paved with some major creepy.
For something a touch lighter, Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter play lovers who may have met before but don't remember, in Conversations With Other Women. The film uses split screen to try to show each of the characters experiences simultaneously. Sounds risky and sort of intriguing.
In anticipation of Volver a new release from Spanish provocateur, Pedro Almodóvar in November, Sony Pictures Classics is rereleasing theatrically eight of Almodóvar's previous films in a series called "Viva Pedro" starting this weekend at Lincoln Plaza. They've made brand new prints of each movie and with Matador and Law of Desire not available on DVD, this is a perfect time to see them for the first time or over again. The first film to screen, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which stars a very young Antonio Banderas is a total must see.
Symphony Space's "The Supporting Cast: As Bright As the Stars" series takes a look at the Western, a genre studded with iconic performances from character actors, with the double feature of William Wyler's The Westerner and John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The first film begins at 5 pm and will play both Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Gothamist Pick:
Ryan Gosling has been touted as the next big artist-actor for a while now, and he lives up to the confidence in him with his stellar performance in the local indie, Half Nelson. Shot entirely in Brooklyn on a shoestring budget, the film tells the story of Dan Dunne (Gosling), a middle school teacher who inspires his history class during the week, despite his destructive weekend crack habit. When a student, Drey (newcomer Shareeka Epps giving a preternaturally wise performance) discovers Dunne cracked out after a school basketball game, the two develop an unusual friendship. Unique for it's unembarrassed look at drug use, morally ambiguous characters and quietly artistic camera work, Half Nelson may be one of the best films of the year. Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden will be on hand for a Q&A following the 7:20 pm screening at the Angelika on Friday.
