News: This Week's Releases

Ah, I can almost smell the end of the summer movie season, a time of year riddled with big-budget action epics and light, breezy comedies. And who could possibly be better than Quentin Tarantino to begin the departure of summer 2009? His latest film, Inglourious Basterds (yes, it is spelled incorrectly on purpose), is looking to dominate this weekend’s box-office, opening on approximately 3,165 screens. The hype is huge and Tarantino could only benefit from a late summer success, especially since his last directorial effort, the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse, earned a paltry $25 million and failed to break even. Speaking of Grindhouse, Tarantino’s partner in crime, Robert Rodriguez (who directed the Planet Terror segment, as well as the Machete faux trailer) also has a movie opening this weekend: the candy-colored Shorts. Its screen count is only slightly lower than that of Inglourious Basterds, and Rodriguez has had success with these types of movies before (remember Spy Kids and its two sequels?), but the marketing for Shorts lacks any sort of inspiration and, let’s face it, one of the biggest draws for both The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (his last two family-friendly films) was that they were both in 3-D. With the recent advancement of such technology, the real mystery is why Rodriguez didn’t shoot this in all three-dimensions. This week’s final wide release witnesses the return of Rory Gilmore…ahem, Alexis Bledel (who, to finish off the “Six Degrees of…” game this week’s collection of releases inadvertently started, starred in Sin City, which Robert Rodriguez directed and Quentin Tarantino guest directed). The film is Post Grad and is opening on just under 2,000 screens. Despite the large difference in screen count, fans of Gilmore Girls, still bitter over its perceived premature cancellation, might show up in force to support the charming Bledel. As for limited releases, The Cinema Issue will be covering four this weekend: Casi Divas, My One and Only, Fives Minutes of Heaven, and Art & Copy. Reviews of these films will arrive as soon as possible in the form of Late Reviews. Coverage of the three wide releases will appear by Friday of next week, just in time for a whole new array of films to be released.