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PICK OF THE WEEK2 Picks this Week!
The Lives of Others If there is one film you catch this week on DVD it should be the Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film about espionage in East Germany. Especially because it was just announced that Hollywood would be remaking it. Look at how well it did for Scorsese with The Departed. However, Scorsese took a Hong Kong action film (which still remains better than the remake) to retool and not the Oscar-winning Best Foreign Language Film. Part of the beauty of this film is the subtlety and bleakness evoked by 1980's East Germany, not to mention the stirling performance by Ulirch Mühe. Please make sure to go out and see his brilliant final performance before Hollywood whitewashes him away. ~CRC 
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters Unfortunately the site that I use to find what new releases are scheduled forgot to mention The King of Kong on its opening this past Friday. Kevin and I were lucky enough to catch this film at the Philly Film Fest and were thrilled when we heard it was getting distribution. An epic battle between a guy who's got nothing and the American arcade chamption, Kong does the unbelieveable and makes a two hour documentary about Donkey Kong riviting and hysterical. ~CRC Opening This WeekDedication - limited (The Weinstein Co.)Illegal Tender (Universal Pictures)  Mr. Bean's Holiday (Universal Pictures) The Nanny Diaries (The Weinstein Co.) Resurrecting The Champ (Yari Film Group Releasing) September Dawn (Black Diamond Pictures) War (Lionsgate) Other sites we like:   Best viewed with: 
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NEW THIS WEEK
THE WEEKLY RANT
August 24, 2007 There goes the neighborhood... Well, with Mr. Bean's Holiday and The Nanny Diaries opening this week I think we can officially ring the death knell for this Summer's Blockbuster season. And thus we enter into the dead zone, that period before Oscars season really kicks off as Summer gives up the ghost and the theaters are filled with all the detritus that really should not have been released. It was a good Summer though, and there were a great handful of films that I know I will happily return to. Some will be against my will or happen to be on at parties and others I know that I will search out on DVD, movies to return to again and again. In that later category, I will definately add Hot Fuzz, Superbad and Waitress. Fuzz and Superbad have that male bonding, let's throw something quote-able and funny on that you really cannot get in lesser comedies; and to be honest, I thought Waitress was one of the cutest, most earnest films to be released this summer. Oh! I almost forgot about Once! While the release of this film had in both as a festival pick, its wide-release date got it on the Summer radar. And yes, I have hyped it a lot, but it really is a great film and one of the ones I will def be buying when it hits DVD status. This week our poll question asks you what your favorite film of the Summer was. Unfortunately, we were not able to fit all of the Summer releases into the poll, so I picked 9 of the biggest releases and added a None of the Above to round it off. If there is a film you really liked and wanna tell us about it - one that we missed and should make time to see or one that should be on the list - please drop us a line on our message boards. So, as we get ready for what the Fall has to offer (I personally am very excited for Wes Anderson's newest The Darjeeling Ltd. and am hoping that the Studios back off from Julie Taymor's Across the Universe cause in my mind Julie can do no wrong) we are happy to bring you a couple of final Summer entries. Steve, in what I can only assume was a moment of insanity, went to see the Catherine Zeta-Jones/Aaron Eckhart romantic comedy No Reservations. He did add, though, that this was in connection with watching the original, the German film Mostly Martha. In his defence, Steve writes: Normally, you'd be off to scour our site for more reviews to read or to comment about how wrong I am about a film in the message boards. However, just a few days after seeing this film, I was reading a local blurb from a local paper about No Reservations, and it mentioned how the film was actually based on the German film Mostly Martha. So, next week, I'll be reviewing the predecessor of Reservations, and I'm extremely excited to especially since it stars Martina Gedack, who gave a brilliant performance in The Lives of Others, the Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film in 2007. Sadly, Others apparently has also been tapped by Hollywood for a English remake. [ed: See Pick of the Week] What do you think about this trend of Hollywood remaking foreign films such as these and various Korean horror films (The Ring, The Grudge, etc.) in recent years? Should the film studios work more on developing original material or is the remake worth the remake? Come discuss it with us in our message boards! So it was after all Steve wanting to get to the root of the re-make phenomenon. I, at least, am relieved. In addition to Reservations, I finally caught up with the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and I gotta say I really enjoyed it. Of all the Children's films this year has given us so far, this is the only one I would consider happily letting my hyptothetical kids watch. Ok, I have not seen Ratatouille...I like Brad Bird and should give him more credit. In addition to catching the end of the Summer stock, we also have two films to add to our growing list of Classics. Kevin managed to catch Chinatown on screen at the Ambler Theater (yes, yes I work there...) and loved it. Even if you have seen the film check out is review, and if you have not - find a way to go see it. It is brilliant and should not be missed. This week also marks the kick off of my mini-Marathon: Greatest Film Ever Made? in which I take the time to explore in detail the four films that have been touted over the years to be the Greatest addition to Cinema. This week I lead things off with a review of Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 masterpiece Battleship Potemkin. Ok, well, I guess if you read my review you will see that masterpiece is a bit off - but I think his writing about film is mind-blowing. (The John Wayne Retrospective took a week off...) That's all we have for this week. Remember to vote in the poll and leave you thoughts on the message board. Thanks for reading. Till next week, Please send us any thoughts or comments at Feedback@TheCardinalReview.com. Missed a week? Check our our Archive
Last Week´s Poll QuestionFollowing the opening of Death at a Funeral we asked What do you think Frank Oz’s greatest gift to cinema has been? And with no question what-so-ever, Oz's career in creatures trumped his directorial work. 45% said that his greatest addition to film were the Muppets, which easily beat out Yoda at 27%, The Dark Crystal at 18% and Sesame Street with 9%. No one cast any votes in favor of his direction work. You heard it here Frank - stick to puppets...or Muppets. Make sure to vote this week and toss in your opinions on our message boards. COMING SOON
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