TAKEN DOWN
THE FALL BLUEPRINT
Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock fails to do history justice
Jay-Z’s latest is just one of many big releases this autumn
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AT THE HOFF THIS WEEK
Diversions
SORORITY ROW: Thursday at 7:30 p.m. LAND OF THE LOST: Tuesday at noon, 4 p.m., 8 p.m.; Wednesday at 2 p.m., 6 p.m.; Thursday at 4 p.m.; Friday at 2 p.m., 6 p.m. FIGHT CLUB: Thursday-Saturday at 10 p.m.
arts. music. living. movies. weekend.
ALIENS, VAMPIRES & WILD THINGS With 2009 hurtling to an end, Hollywood just might have saved its best for last BY THOMAS FLOYD AND VAMAN MUPPALA Senior staff writers
So far this year, Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited World War II epic Inglourious Basterds met its high expectations and J.J. Abrams’ stunning Star Trek confidently reignited a floundering franchise. With the deeply layered sci-fi thriller District 9 and the chronologically disjointed comedic tale (500) Days of Summer, first-time directors Neill Blomkamp and Marc Webb, respectively, have delivered two of the most original efforts in recent memory. And
Kathryn Bigelow quietly put together the definitive film on the Iraq War, The Hurt Locker. If 2009’s final four months in movies can keep pace with the first eight, we’ll be in for a hell of a treat this fall. Here’s a look ahead to what Hollywood has in store. Jennifer’s Body (Sept. 18) Can Megan Fox act? Is Oscar-winner Diablo Cody just a one-hit wonder? These are a couple of the burning questions surrounding Cody’s sophomore effort, Jennifer’s Body. A stripper-turnedblogger-turned-screenwriter, Cody took home a statue for the first script she ever wrote — the delightfully hilarious and heartfelt indie favorite, Juno — and has
since done admirable work on the Showtime series, United States of Tara. For Cody, Jennifer’s Body marks an intriguing venture into the slasher genre she clearly loves. As for Fox, she should finally have a chance to do more than run away from explosions. Her role? Playing a possessed high school cheerleader who begins feeding on the town’s boys. And if playing a zombie-like figure is too difficult for her, then her acting career really is a lost cause. — T.F. A Serious Man (Oct. 2) The Coen brothers continue to express their cutting irony and searing
see MOVIES, page 3B