Which taudry summer fare will receive our hard earned cash this weekend? Cinecultist weighs in on the contenders like Don King (with less hair but more attitude).
In this corner we have -- THE SCHLOCKY SEQUEL:
2 Fast 2 Furious: CC's editorial board is torn on the issue of Vin Diesel. One member after seeing Pitch Black found that they'd see anything with him in it, knowing they'd be disappointed. Another, after seeing the same performance, liked him too well to be suckered into any further disappointing roles. Verdict on this installment? It stars no Vin, only lame Paul Walker and has no discernable plot. Tough sell.
In the opposite corner -- OSCAR WINNER'S NEW OUTING:
CC drool object du jour, Adrien Brody stars in a new release made in 2001 and a romantic comedy to boot. What's it about? Who knows/who cares. It's called Love the Hard Way. If Adrien can charm us to distraction in a Ken Loach picture (Bread and Roses -- rent it), we're up for his foray into the chick genre.
Wild card competitors:
Capturing the Friedmans. A docu about a family torn apart by scandal who also happened to record most of it on home video. The New Yorker's David Denby called it a "masterpiece," which is a loaded term so tred with caution.
Whale Rider. Sundance darling. Girl power. Pretty whales. Sounds good to us.
The Weather Underground. Another docu (is this the season for these things or has CC just come out of a narrative fog all of a sudden?) highly recommended by the good people at Time Out New York.
Projected Knock-out -- SATURDAY CHEAP MATINEE BABY:
Audrey Tatou in a film about the EU version of year abroad. Cute young Europeans get it on -- like American Pie but with accents. Woohoo. L'Auberge Espagnole.