Film Friday: A New Hope

And so we return to our weekly film round-up. A slightly delayed return, we guess, but with studios now mostly interested in revving up towards the Oscars with the films they've already released, there's very little happening in January.

Case in point, there are really only a couple of films out this week when we're talking general release. First up we've got Bride Wars, as safe a bet as any in a slump, because god knows you ladies love weddings, right? Can't get enough of them, and it's not at all insulting to your intelligence to assume you'll run out and see a film just because it has the word "bride" in the title. The Star's Peter Howell calls it part of "Hollywood's annual post-Christmas assault on feminist sensibilities and simple good taste," and we're inclined to agree.

One man with no shame about assaulting good taste is of course Michael Bay, foisting The Unborn upon us with his name slapped across the trailer (even though he's only one of three producers, apparently). One has to wonder what reason anyone could have to go and see this after watching even the TV trailer, which reveals what looks to be most of the scares. Above and beyond that, Eye's Adam Nayman explains that "[director] Goyer’s Ira Levin-style attempt to integrate Holocaust tropes into his highly derivative narrative lowers the film somewhere beneath mere trash."

And that’s about it for this week, though there are some fun things on from day to day in rep if you keep your eyes open, with, for example, Agnès Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7 playing the Bloor, and if you want to see Anne Hathaway in something (reportedly) decent, Rachel Getting Married is playing the Fox, Royal, and Revue. Finally, this week's Doc Soup is Recipes for Disaster, playing on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Bloor.