Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 3-9, 2009

Land of the Lost

There was a great hue and cry from online film critics earlier this year when this Will Ferrell comedy was released that it had "raped childhood memories".

But I don't know. The original 1970s TV series, considered by many to be a cult classic because of its low-budget aesthetics, gave me nightmares, and just imagining the menacing hissing sound of the Sleestack lizard villains sends chills up my spine. So really, there's no memories that I care to hold onto.

The TV series was directed by Sid and Marty Krofft, the same puppeteer duo that gave 1970s American kids the mind-bending Saturday-morning fantasy shows HR Pufnstuf and Liddsville, shows that are thought to contain enough drug references that they might be considered more of a gateway drug than marijuana. The Kroffts also produced this new remake.

The story is about a scientist and his cohorts who are sucked into a space-time vortex and end up in a fantastic prehistoric realm.

Ferrell, along with up-and-coming comic talent Danny McBride, have aimed this new Land of the Lost squarely at the adults who grew up watching the series and may have turned to recreational drug use as a result. It was rated PG-13 in the US for "for crude and sexual content, and for language including a drug reference", but bafflingly the Thai ratings board thinks that just because the TV show was for kids this movie will be too. Did they even watch it? It's Rated G. At Paragon, Esplanade, Major Ratchayothin and EGV Seacon.

Just when I thought 300's Gerard Butler was turning his back on action films to exclusively make sappy romantic comedies -- though he did star in Guy Ritchie's pretty cool RocknRolla -- the Scottish actor turns up in Gamer, a sci-fi thriller by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the same director pair that brought us the insanely stylized action in Crank 2 earlier this year.

In a plot that reminds me of Death Race, Butler is a convict who is forced to be a fighter in a massive multi-player online game. He is actually being controlled by a joystick-wielding teenager. Michael C. Hall, best known for his TV roles on Six Feet Under and Dexter, chews up scenery here as the game's developer and promoter. Chris "Ludacris" Bridges also stars. Rated 18+

Also opening

Young @ Heart -- This heartwarming documentary is the first under Thailand's new motion-picture rating system to be Rated P -- that's P as in Promote, or "promote as educational". It's about a senior citizens' choir in the U.S. who take on the challenge of learning some new music -- by the likes of Sonic Youth, Coldplay and James Brown. At House on RCA.

The Final Destination -- I had a premonition that a sequel in the long-running Final Destination series would come around. But just like in the movie, knowing that there would be a sequel only delays the inevitable. For this fourth entry, another batch of teenagers meet their grisly and bizarre ends -- in 3-D in some cinemas. Rated 18+

Under the Sea -- Another 3-D show, this is new IMAX documentary checks out the waters of the Coral Triangle, from the Great Barrier Reef off Australia up to the wild coast of Papua New Guinea. At Krungsri IMAX, Siam Paragon.

Phobia 2 (Haa Phrang) -- Five short horror films from Thai studio GTH -- the same slick professionals who brought us the likes of Shutter, Alone, Dorm, Body #19, Coming Soon and 4Bia. The tales range from the moralistic to genuinely scary and, most refreshingly, laugh-out-loud sarcastically funny. Check out today's story in Daily Xpress for a bit more about it. Opens on Wednesday, September 9 -- 09/09/09.

Also showing

13th Thai Short Film and Video Festival encore -- If you missed the recent festival, here's a another chance to catch the now-award-winning shorts and experimental films, plus older Thai features, for free, at the Sri Sala Cinema at the Film Archive in Salaya, Nakon Pathom. Starting at 5, today's free show is Rak Kham Lok (รักข้ามโลก), a  1978 romance that stars Krung Srivilai, Lona Sulawan, Witoon Garuna and "Jik" Naowarat Yuktanon. Parts were filmed around Mount Rushmore in the U.S.

Friday's show at 5 has the first of the White Elephant Award competition, including the special-mention winner Buddhist. Saturday at 2.30 are the first batch of R.D. Pestonji Award competitors, including the special-mention Four Boys, White Whisky and Grilled Mouse and the runner-up Francais. Sunday afternoon's show is the Digital Forum, which are longer experimental works. Among them is the sci-fi fantasy Apai:Mani, Bodily Fluid is So Revolutionary starring Sawanee Utumma and the critically hailed Colours on the Streets by artist Weerapong Wimuktalop.

Monday at 5 is program 2 of the White Elephant competition of university-student films, including Pray, a special-mention and Popular Vote winner.

Just catch air-con bus #515 from Victory Monument and ride it almost to the end of its line. In Salaya, not far from Mahidol University's campus, you'll pass by a bright yellow building which has a pink building behind it. That's where you'll want to get off. Check out the schedule at www.Fapot.org.

Take note

First, I want to note that the documentary Citizen Juling is continuing for at least one more week at House cinema on RCA. This important documentary looks at the entire tableau of Thai politics and society and how it relates to the violence in Southern Thailand. The showtime is at 6.30 nightly.

Second, the Bangkok International Film Festival has listed many more titles on its website for its September 24-30 run. Get on over there and have a look.

Last, sad news to report on the passing of two friends of independent cinema in Southeast Asia -- Filipino film critic, journalist and scholar Alexis A. Tioseco and his girlfriend, Slovenian journalist and film programmer Nika Bohinc, were fatally shot  on Tuesday night in a robbery at their home in Quezon City, outside Manila.

The pair had been in Bangkok just a month before, to help introduce Death in the Land of Melancholia: Lav Diaz Retrospective in Thailand. I had met Alexis only a couple of times, but learned much from him during the short time we were acquainted. He was the founder of the online magazine for Southeast Asian cinema, Criticine. A youthful, eloquent and thoughtful voice about film has been silenced.

My thoughts go out to the couple's close friends and family.