This Weekend at the Movies

The four big films opening at the box office this weekend are:

Eagle Eye

Fireproof

Nights in Rodanthe &

Miracle at St. Anna

With none of these films capturing a Rotten Tomatoes rating over 30%, this isn't going to be a record shattering weekend, though Eagle Eye will probably gain a semi-respectable amount of money regardless of negative reviews.

Now let me brighten up this weekend of big budget disappointments with a promising indie:

Humboldt County.






This film really resonated with audiences at South by Southwest in 2007. As a volunteer on the film venue crew at the Alamo Drafthouse, I watched as seat after seat filled up during each showing of this film, prompting managers to open an additional theater at its second and third showings. A rare move for SXSW. The additional theaters sold out as well, and positive buzz flowed from the mouths of viewers as they exited the theater.

While I didn't get to see the film, I was posted outside the theater at the third showing, and watched as the director and two of the film's stars excitedly took pictures in front of the double marquees inscribed with their film's name.

The film opens in limited release today, and luckily the Alamo S. Lamar is picking it up, no doubt a smart move considering how popular the film was at the festival.

Hopefully the Drafthouse can recreate the magic this opening weekend, I know I'll be there to see what all of the hype is about.



Synopsis: "Located on the far North Coast of California and on the margins of society is a region nicknamed "The Lost Coast"- known as Humboldt County.

It is there, amongst the state's breathtaking Redwood forests that marijuana farmers co-exist peacefully within the rural community. It is there that Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong), a promising but tightly-wound UCLA med student, finds himself stranded when he's deposited at the multi-generational family home of the free-spirited Bogart (RETURN TO OZ' Fairuza Balk), following a drunken one-night stand.

Frustrated and disillusioned with his life after his professor/father (auteur/actor Peter Bogdanovich) fails him on an important exam, the unworldly Peter at first rejects the welcoming yet eccentric pot-smoking strangers, along with their eclectic group of friends and fellow farmers, but soon allows himself to be embraced by their ideals and begins to see life a bit clearer: despite the smoke."