Cinephilia: Opening This Week
Too late to be of any use for Friday night entertainment, here’s a summary of the films opening this week across the city.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Readings, Sky City Queensgate and Empire). That’s it. The calm before the inevitable Boxing Day storm.
But if Keanu Reeves playing a deadpan alien isn’t enough there’s always the annual ‘V’ Movie Marathon at the Paramount, kicking off at 4.00pm on Saturday. Organiser Ant Timpson has been somewhat scathing of Wellington’s ability (or inability) to hack the Marathon and is offering a special mini-Marathon ticket valid for 12 hours. Only problem, is you have a wear a nappy for the whole 12 hours ’cause you’d be a big baby.
On a different kind of kick, this weekend sees the first Korean Film Festival in Wellington – (only) three screenings of recent Korean movies, all at the Lighthouse in Petone on Saturday and Sunday.
The Day the Earth Stood Still will get a review in the Capital Times on Weds (and online at Funerals & Snakes soon after).
We’re animated with excitement!
Only one more week to go! Thanks to the lovely Miss Fur for capturing our excitedness so awesomely:
Are the polls on Stuff.co.nz insultingly stupid?
The Rainbow Reels
Come down to the Film Archive this eve for the last exhibition opening of the year.
Hot damn – it’s a goodie! Tessa Laird, whose name you may recognise from her brilliant art writing over the years, has curated an exhibition from the Film Archive’s Home Movie Collection.
With such a wealth of material (over 30,000 titles) she created an arbitrary selection process based on the colours of the rainbow. The resultant Rainbow Reels are fantastic. There’s everyone from Opo to Chairman Mau….
Plus, performing tonight by special request are Alphabet Bomber – a band of 13 year olds who must be seen to be believed. They’re influenced by the Cramps and sheesh – it’s going to be a party!
See you tonight!
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Image from 1982 Sweetwaters Festival from the Yellow section.
I’d Love To Have A Beer With Duncan
And you should too … proceeds from the show will be donated to the Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind Talking Books Project.
It runs from Tues 9th – 13th December and the ticket includes a beer ($20/13)
He’ll be spinning yarns from his book Two Little Boys, and having been an audience member at his shows over the years, I’d highly recommend it!!
book@bats.co.nz or phone 04.8024175
And there’s free entry for members of the Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind (these seats are limited so book early to secure them)
Stink Buzz
Stink Magnetic Tapes, the doggedly independant record company that has released music by the likes of the Mysterious Tapeman, Voodoo Savage and His Savages, Delaney Davidson, The Chandeliers and the Damned Evangelist, celebrates ten whole years of existence this December. Recently relocated from Wellington to that op-shoppers paradise of Wanganui, Stink Magnetic is holding one heck of a knees up next Thursday, Friday and Saturday (11, 12 and 13 Dec) at the company HQ, cnr Drews Ave and Rutland St, Wanganui. At only ten bucks a night for some sweet bands (mostly of Wellington origins) – at least 5 bands a night – you’d be loco to miss it, campadres. Rumour has it there’s a special ‘Werewolf’ compilation LP on hot black vinyl coming out too.
[edit: This time with the flyer!]
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
If you are considering going to the cinema this weekend, and you’ve already seen Bond and the other 21 films currently playing in Wellington, here’s a quick guide to the new releases.
Cinema owners all over the city are breathing a little easier now that two of the biggest box office releases from the States have opened at the same time. High School Musical 3: Senior Year is the third in the trilogy and the first to get a full cinema release: Readings, Empire, Sky City Queensgate. I saw it tonight at the Empire and my eyes and ears are still hurting.
Knocking Bond off his perch last weekend in the US was the Christmas rom-com Four Holidays starring Vince Vaughan and Reese Witherspoon. I believe I am out of step with most critics but I actually quite enjoyed it – and so did US$31m worth of other people. Readings, Empire, Sky City Queensgate.
Quarantine is a very quick-out-of-the-blocks Hollywood remake of the Spanish horror film [REC] that Ant Timpson was promoting earlier this year. It’s a Readings exclusive. Might be worth a look if, like me, you found it hard to read the subtitles in the original with your hands over your eyes.
The Visitor is going to be popular, mark my words. From Thomas McCarthy, writer-director of The Station Agent (which did more business per capita here than anywhere else in the world), this one is about a depressed middle-aged economics professor who rediscovers life when he meets an illegal immigrant couple in New York City. Oh man, it is so much better than I just made it sound. Penthouse, Paramount, Lighthouse Petone.
The acclaimed documentary The Survivors (about the final year of the Holocaust) gets two screenings at the Film Archive on Friday and Saturday respectively as part of their Human Rights series and finally, a Penthouse exclusive: Suddenly, a Swedish drama about a man and his son recovering from the death of the mother and brother. "A quiet and beautiful film," says IMDb.
The Visitor has already been reviewed at Funerals & Snakes, with the others following next week (and in the Capital Times next Wednesday).
UPDATE: My interview with The Visitor star Richard Jenkins is up at F&S
Midland Park, Right Now.
Anyone know what’s going on at the moment? There seems to be (forgive me my scorn) bad 80s covers (Rhythm of the Night as I type this) being blasted accross the road so loud we can hardly hear ourselves think. Owooo Owooo.
If we needed this, we’d have Mamma Mia (the sing along version natch) blasting from the Wellingtonista Home Theatre. Owoo owoo
But we don’t. Because we don’t. Owoo.
Hey, wanna buy some pot?
The Woolshed Potters, who are based at the Gear Homestead in Porirua are having their annual Cash’n Carry Sale over the next two weekends. You should get along and get your hands on some beautiful handcrafted individual pieces, because they’re great for Xmas presents, and also for yourself.
You might be a little sceptical, thinking that pottery is for hippies from the 1970s, but we’ve all seen knitting and crochet come back into vogue, so you should jump onto this bandwagon quickly. Especially if it means you buy pots by Aimée McLeod, which you should, because she is super fantastic awesome.
Pottery sales are from the Red Barn at the Gear Homestead, Okowai Road, just off Whitford Brown Drive in Porirua.
Open two weekends in a row:
- Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th December
- Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th December
- 10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Also, while you’re out there, you might want to take the time to explore the Gear Homestead, and pretend to blow up some sheep, because that’s where Peter Jackson filmed much of Bad Taste.
Google Street View knows where you live
Google Maps has today launched Street View for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all over New Zealand.
A few months ago, on what looks to have been early in the morning in winter, the Googlemobile drove around the streets of our fair city, photographing the streets.
You can now view these streetscapes as the closest zoom-in on Google Maps. They even made it down Cuba Mall!
Street View in other countries has brought up all sorts of interesting finds, from "Hey, that’s me!" to getting snapped out entering a brothel (though Google say they will blur the faces of anyone who could be identified).
So if you find anything interesting, do share it with us – you might be rewarded with a free ticket to the TAWAs!
Update
Could it be? Is this familiar looking woman at the gate of Premier House its former resident, Helen Clark?