1. Sex and the City (3,285 Theaters, 148 Minutes, Rated R): Carrie and the girls finally hit the big screen and all I can say is, eh.
Granted, I know that I am not the target for this audience, being that I have never spent more than $50 for a pair of shoes, have never spent more than half my lunch check on alcohol, and, well, have a penis.
But still, the story line–will Carrie marry Mr. Big or not–seem like the plot line for half the episodes of the TV show’s run. Why pay $10 to see that when I can see it at home as part of my basic cable package. Especially when you have to sit in the theater for over two hours.
But, like I said, I am not the target audience. The target audience is paying $19,000 for premiere tickets and then crying when they don’t get in. So there is a devoted fan base. But is it big enough to make a splash at the summer box office? And will any straight man see with out being forced to by his significant other? I guess we’ll see.
2. The Strangers (2,467 Theaters, 90 Minutes, Rated R): The “Rated R” film is a dying breed, quickly being replaced by the wider-audience-demographic friendly PG-13 as the rating studios shoot for. So it is odd that this week’s two major releases are rated R. There is some life left in that rating yet.
The plot of this movie is remarkably similar to the recent Funny Games. A couple is terrorized by a group of home invaders. The invaders force the couple to do heinous things just to survive.
Two movies in the same vein does not a genre make. But now that the straight up torture porn genre has lost a bit of its allure with horror fans, maybe this variation on that theme would be enough to take its place.
But don’t listen to me. I haven’t seen the movie. But Film Buff Online head honcho Rich Drees has. If you want to find out what he thinks of this film, click here.
