The New Wave: 3/11/11

Sorry for the last couple of weeks, but due to some serious time constraints I've had to make a couple of decisions on what I had time to write. I'll try to stick to the regular schedule on this one...at least until I leave for Hawaii in a month. Then all bets are off! And now here are this week's big releases in the Nation's Capital...

Jonathan Liebesman's big alien invasion flick has been described as a combination of Black Hawk Down and Independence Day, so you might want to bring a pair of earplugs. Columbia Pictures has been goin' nuts with the marketing for this one ever since last year's Comic-Con, and since then it's been a matter of keeping up the anticipation level. With this being the "slow" part of the movie season, Battle: LA is the big fish ready to swallow up the competition. My suggestion for those who intend to see it this weekend? Just have fun with it. Look at it like a video game and enjoy.  My review of Battle: Los Angeles is now can be read here.

It's lazy analysis to compare Catherine Hardwicke's latest to her most recent gig as director of Twilight. Other than a werewolf and a couple of hunky dudes there's actually very little the two have in common. Her film actually draws inspiration from a number of sources, not just the folk tale popularized by The Brothers Grimm. In particular it pulls from the book, The Uses of Enchantment, which applies Freudian psychology to a number of classic fairy tales. Personally, I think Freud would be most interested in just how repressed the whole movie feels. You can read my review of Red Riding Hood here.

Mars Needs Moms is the story of a boy who journeys off to space to rescue his mom(voiced by Joan Cusack), who has been kidnapped by aliens who need her to play mommy to their own young. Unfortunately nobody will be able to rescue Robert Zemeckis's ImageMovers Digital, the company behind the performance capture flicks The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol(and my favorite, Monster House). This will be their last film before Disney closes up their shop.