Movies This Week: Good Blank Debt Days

We'are at that strange point in the cinematic year, a sort of dead calm before the contenders for awards get released. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything going on this week. Tuesday is a particularly tough day for Austin cineastes as there are three don't-miss events kicking off. 

I seriously want to clone myself just for Tuesday. aGLIFF starts that night, and it looks like another stellar year, with Texas representing (seriously, Cancerpants has to be the best-named film this year, and it's an Austin film).  The (free!!) Community Cinema series starts Tuesday at Austin Public Library with Peace Unveiled, an episode of the PBS series Women, War & Peace that doesn't air until October. And Austin Film Society's latest Essential Cinema series "Days and Nights of Being Wild:  Hong Kong New Wave" begins that night too with Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (pictured above). I don't get to Essential Cinema screenings enough, and Wong Kar-Wai is such a strong director (FYI: one film in the series was produced by University of Texas graduate Tsui Hark).

Movies We've Seen:

The Debt -- Add this one to your "must-see" list, as Don says, "The Debt is a slick, smart and thought-provoking thriller with much to say about the sometimes fine line between fact and fiction" in his review.  (wide)

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy -- When I first heard about this movie, I kept confusing it with Cummings Farm, but it's just not the same, and unfortunately A Good Old Fashioned Orgy lives down to expectations. Read my review for more. (*wide)

Seven Days In Utopia -- Robert Duvall and Lucas Black previously worked together in Get Low. Now they're back the Texas-filmed Seven Days In Utopia. Debbie says, "The wholesomeness of this movie makes for a family-friendly outing..." and a whole lot more. Read her review for more. (Cinemark Tinseltown 17, Regal Gateway)

Other Movies Opening in Austin:

Apollo 18  -- Was there a secret 18th mission to the moon? That's the premise of this movie, the latest of too many films using the "true" story gimmick. It didn't screen in advance for critics. Drew McWeeny at HitFix says in his review, "It doesn't matter if this footage was found or manufactured, because the only good thing that could be done with it involves a match and an accelerant." (wide)

Point Blank --  The French have a knack for taut thrillers, and Kenneth Turan's review at the Austin American-Statesman says this one "will leave you breathless. Unfolding at a blistering clip from its slam-bang opening through its bravura close." (Violet Crown, Regal Arbor)

Saving Private Perez -- It took me a while to figure out why I knew this title. In 2010,  producer Fernando Rovzar was in town for Cine Las Americas with my favorite film from the fest that year -- Love, Pain and Vice Versa -- and mentioned in a Q&A that his production company was working on a comedy about a Mexican crime lord's suicide mission to find his lost brother. And now here it is in Austin. (Cinemark Tinseltown 17)

Shark Night 3D -- Whatever you might think about the movie from its title, Austin film critic Peter Hall's review for Horror's Not Dead may actually convince you to give it a shot. (wide)