What to Watch – 12/23/2011

After a week of TPS reports, rude customers, and annoying bosses, all you want to do on the weekend is kick back with a few aliens, superheroes, and machete-wielding maniacs.  So here’s a We Love Cult recap of this week’s new releases in genre entertainment, covering everything from DVD/Blu-ray and online streaming to the movies coming out at your local theater.

In Theaters

Wednesday

The Adventures of Tintin
Most Americans aren’t terribly familiar with Tintin, boy reporter/adventurer. But through the magic of motion capture, as well an all-star cast including Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, and Andy Serkis, with a screenplay by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish (of this year’s Attack the Block), and direction by Stephen Spielberg, Tintin just might become a household name on this side of the pond.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
David Fincher’s latest is getting mixed reviews, including from our very own Bree.

Friday

We Bought a Zoo
From the sound of it, Cameron Crowe’s latest is so sappy and heart-warming that it goes from being lame, all the way back around to being pretty good.

Christmas Day

The Darkest Hour
An invasion of vaguely flame-like apparitions puts Moscow — and the world – in peril. Is this film on anyone’s radar? I remember seeing a single trailer for it, but haven’t heard of it again since. I smell a Christmas bomb coming on…

War Horse
Check out our review of Spielberg’s last film since The Adventures of Tintin!

DVD/Blu-Ray

Colombiana (Also available at Red Box)
It sounds like watching Zoe Saldana for 108 minutes is really the only reason to bother seeing this one, but if that’s your thing (not that I blame you), then this is the movie for you.

Warrior (Also available at Red Box)
I have zero interest in mixed martial arts, but this tale of two brothers who like to beat the crap out of people has been getting great reviews. Octagonal ring optional.

Margin Call (Also available at Red Box)
It’s hard to believe that anyone could make a movie about Wall Street fascinating, but it’s been done a handful of times already. From the critics reviews of this one, you just might be able to add one more to what is surely a pretty short list.

Straw Dogs (2011) (Also available at Red Box)
The original Straw Dogs, by Sam Peckinpah, is one of the most gut-wrenching, nerve-wracking, uncomfortable films you’ll ever see. Apparently the remake is none of those things.

Catch .44 (Also available at Red Box)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Back in the day, a film starring Bruce Willis, Oscar-winner Forrest Whittaker, and a gaggle of hot women would have been a huge box office hit. Now, it gets shoved to direct-to-DVD (save for a small theatrical release, I assume to gain eligibility for Oscar consideration…) and sounds only average at best. Maybe it’s a sleeper hit just waiting to be discovered! Or maybe not. There’s only one way to find out.

Underworld Trilogy
If you love sexy vampires in skin-tight leather, wielding double pistols (Wait, why am I not more of a fan of these movies?), then your day has come!  Grab yourself the first three Underworld films on Blu-ray for high-def Beckinsale.

Futurama Vol. 6
Laugh along with Fry, Bender, and Leela’s triumphant return to television with the second half of their comeback season.  (You’ll need to buy Volume 5 as well for the complete season.)

Netflix Instant

Helldriver
Helldriver features a zombie-killing woman with a chainsaw samurai sword in place of her hand who likes to use it to ultra-violent, ultra-cheesy effect. If that doesn’t make you add the film to your queue, then I don’t know what will.

The Constant Gardener
Nominated for four Academy Awards in 2005, this film, about a mourning widower whose wife was killed under mysterious circumstances in Kenya, is a mystery/drama with some pretty intense twists and turns. It doesn’t feature aliens and zombies or chainsaw wielding maniacs, but it’s still worth checking out.

Senna
Even if you know nothing about race car driving (like me), this documentary on one of the world’s greatest racers received nearly unanimous critical praise last year. Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t have a happy ending.

Editor’s Choice: Page One – Inside the New York Times

Either you find the crumbling world of print journalism exciting or you should just stop reading this article now. For people who write for a living and for those interested in the real goings on within the industry, this documentary is a thought provoking investigation that takes us inside the behemoth that is the New York Times in the midst of the Wikileaks release and the Iraq War. Throughout the film, we are treated to the wonderful David Cook, whose life could make for a deeply entertaining feature in it’s own right, as well as countless other staffers who are dressed far more casually than I would have imagined.

The argument at the crux of the film is not if we will continue to be serviced by journalism, but rather how, and also, what do we value more – speed or quality? It’s clear to me, someone who runs a site that values actual, get-off-your-ass reporting, and will gladly get beat on a story to make sure it’s true and done right, that the preference should be the latter but in this digital age where people want everything in an instant that is a dying model and one we wrestle with daily as we try to be all things to all people. Page One fails to show how the Times is doing that, instead the documentary highlights the experience, excellence, and professionalism of the Times’ staff, something that too few value in a world that can’t wait until tomorrow to find out about today. -Jason Tabrys

Written by Rob Lammle (@spacemonkeyx)

Rob became a geek at a very young age. Growing up on a farm, with the nearest kid his age living five miles away, Rob had a lot of time to watch movies, read comic books, and play with his Star Wars action figures. He now finds time to write for a few… More »