Errata is a web journal written by Robert Davis who has neither spent a night in a ghost town nor pulled a turnip from the earth. He doesn't even know if turnips grow in the ground. Perhaps on trees, like candy corn. Therefore, Errata is a non-commercial project.

Observation #1: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious."

Observation #2: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious" at the top of your lungs. Bring your eyebrows together before you say it. Effective!

Observation #3: Same for books. Even at libraries.

There is a prize for people who correctly guess the thing about Metropolis, Nevada.

Except where the text specifically states otherwise, Errata's vagaries are indicated vaguely and its authors are indistinct in the traditional way of the Internet, except where the authors lay claim to their work. In some cases Robert Davis lays claim to work that is not his own but has been abandoned like so many ghost towns. Except where held presently, fistfuls of dirt are suspended via dispersal, or dispersed via suspension (in the air), and thus their dissolution is their transcendence, or their transcendence is their dissolution. And yet our eyes tear, and our vision is impaired, demonstrating for the umpteenth time that one entity's gain is another's fit of sneezes. Except where indicated, storms shall outlive the clay upon which they rain, unless storms are improperly delimited by their clouds, which dissolve, rather than by their inevitable return. Thus the clay loses, unless the clay is said to own the storm, to use it to make itself heavy, to make itself cling to white garments, refuse dispersal, cake upon the facades of abandoned buildings, and sit like Man [sic] upon the earth where it is pelted by a storm that it owns. In which case the clay still loses, if you ask us.

Some of the above is legally binding and should be considered a mental contract between Errata and those upon whom it acts. The bit about the prize should be considered an overstatement insofar as prizes differ from dirt and prize dispersal differs from dirt dispersal. Please recall that ownership is a weight and, therefore, hope that you do not win the prize.

One day Errata or its representatives will call upon you for a favor. It is expected that you will hop-to without delay.

You may contact Robert Davis by email unless it's about the rock that was thrown in anger. The rock is more properly called a clod. Why do you continue to raise the topic?

6 March 2008

Now Showing: Weekend of March 7

Other Weekends

Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park (credit: Scott Green)

Of the movies in theaters and newly available on DVD this weekend, here's what I like, with links to my reviews, if any. And don't forget that Daylight Saving Time goes into effect this weekend.

Opening This Weekend

Wow, the multiplex is a dead zone, but around the fringes we have:

Paranoid Park — Gus Van Sant's latest film drifts ever so slightly back toward narrative filmmaking, which makes it easier to enjoy in the moment but maybe a little less rewarding.
[trailer, my podcast comments from New York and J. Robert's from TIFF, see also: my chat with Van Sant in the March issue of Paste Magazine (Michael Jackson's glove on the cover)]
Snow Angels — It may be my favorite of David Gordon Green's films, although it took me some time to come to that realization. It's his most conventional in structure, but it's still an odd mix of elements.
[trailer, listen to my chat with Green on this weekend's podcast, see also: my review in the March Paste]
Married Life — I resisted this period drama by Ira Sachs, trying unsuccessfully to fit it into the noir-ish or screwballsy mold that it seems to ask for, but by the end I appreciated it, mildly, as something else entirely.
[trailer, review]

Continuing, in Preferential Order

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [trailer]

The Unforeseen [trailer, see also: my review in the April issue of Paste]

There Will Be Blood [trailer, brief comments on the podcast]

Taxi to the Dark Side [trailer]

Honeydripper — John Sayles' best film in years [trailer]

Chicago 10 [trailer, capsule review]

Michael Clayton [trailer, see also: my capsule review in the March Paste]

Persepolis [trailer, J. Robert's interview with the director on the podcast]

Be Kind Rewind [trailer, review]

Minor Amusements

No Country for Old Men [trailer, lengthy discussion on the podcast]
In Bruges [trailer, Sundance report]
The Counterfeiters [trailer, review]
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [trailer, brief comments on the podcast under "omissions"]
Juno [trailer, brief comments on the podcast]
The Savages [trailer, review, discussion on the podcast]
The Other Boleyn Girl [trailer]

No Thanks

Atonement — OK, I kinda like the first 45 minutes or so [trailer, brief comments on the podcast under "omissions"]
Vantage Point [trailer, my rave review]
10,000 BC [trailer, review]

New on DVD

My Kid Could Paint That [trailer, discussion on the podcast]
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead — Sidney Lumet turns Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke into reservoir dogs. [trailer]

Where I'll Be This Week (Bay Area)

The PFA is having an amazing run, with the Pedro Costa series bleeding into the Welles retrospective. Meanwhile, Peter Bogdanovich is introducing each of his films at the Castro.

March 7: Los Olvidados at the PFA
March 7 (alternate): Eisenstein's October at the California Theatre in San Jose
March 7 (midnight): At Long Last Love at the Castro, Bogdanovich film not available on DVD. Dave Kehr of the New York Times says, "For those lucky enough to be in San Francisco this weekend... a rare screening of the 126 minute version of Bogdanovich’s most grievously underrated film, the talking musical"
March 8: The Magnificent Ambersons at the PFA
March 8: In Vanda's Room at the PFA
March 9: Pedro Costa Regents' Lecture plus Casa de Lava at the PFA
all weekend (alternate): Bogdanovich at the Castro
March 12: Late Spring at the PFA, an all-time fave
March 12: Los Olvidados again at the PFA
March 12: Journey into Fear at the PFA
March 13: The Stranger at the PFA
March 13: The Lady from Shanghai at the PFA

Posted by davis | Link | Other Weekends

Reader Comments

March 7, 2008, 09:22 AM

maya

You know this is an open invitation to stalk you?

March 7, 2008, 11:00 AM

davis

Or do I simply want to see Vantage Point and 10,000 BC again, creating an elaborate diversion to hide my tracks? One can never be sure....

March 7, 2008, 03:29 PM

maya

Well there's nothing like hiding one's movements under mammoth tracks. BTW, I was so hoping 10,000 B.C. was going to be entertaining; but, after your Paste review, no way. I'll just stalk you instead; that's much more entertaining.

March 7, 2008, 03:38 PM

davis

That kind of movie isn't really my thing, you know, but I was aware of that going in, and I was fully prepared for some good brainless fun. I can appreciate that. I even bought a hot dog and some Whoppers! But then.

March 7, 2008, 03:41 PM

davis

Brian comments here that SFMOMA is showing El Topo on Saturday at 3pm. I haven't seen it. I'm considering that as an alternate to the above. I also neglected to mention Paper Moon on Saturday afternoon at the Castro.

Other Recent Posts

Other Recent Episodes

Favorite Films

Opening This Weekend

Continuing, in Preferential Order

Minor Amusements

No Thanks

New on DVD

Where I'll Be This Week (Bay Area)