Screening Room: Review Roundup

Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck wonder what 'Runner Runner' means
Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck wonder what ‘Runner Runner’ means

With awards season just around the corner, studios big and small are finishing their late summer/early fall product dump. Here’s a quick rundown of reviews I’ve written on some other releases that have mostly gone unnoticed:

Runner Runner — Justin Timberlake plays Princeton math geek who goes to Costa Rica to be seduced into Ben Affleck’s sinister, high-stakes world of online gambling. Ridiculous as it sounds. Review here.

Bounty Killer — A post-apocalyptic, Mad Max knock-off with tongue planted firmly in cheek. C+ for effort; not as funny as it thinks it is. Review here.

Symphony of the Soil — Ever wonder what the difference is between soil and dirt? No? Review here.

The Dirties — Intriguing faux-documentary story about a kid making a movie about taking revenge on the school bullies. Starts off as gimmick, turns into uncomfortably close-to-home comment on violent media saturation. Worth seeking out. Review here.

New in Theaters: ‘Byzantium’

Saorise Ronan deals with bloody eternity in 'Byzantium'
Saorise Ronan deals with bloody eternity in ‘Byzantium’

BYZANTIUM-PosterIt’s been a while since Neil Jordan tried his hand at the vampire game. With his newest, Byzantium, he is working on a smaller and more intimate scale than in Interview with the Vampire (Saorise Ronan and Gemma Arterton inside of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise). It’s gloomy and capital “R” Romantic; Keats, not Meyer), which could explain the limited distribution.

Byzantium opened in limited release Friday. My full review is at Film Racket; here’s part:

Just when werewolf armies, zombie hordes, and Stephenie Meyer’s affectless prose seemed to have done in the poor old vampire film, along comes this gloomy, glossy little oddity about the deathless from Neil Jordan. Like in his elegant take on Interview with the Vampire, Jordan’s vampires are a study in dichotomy; either happy to bury themselves in the bloody necessities of their survival or morally indecisive. In the meantime, they have eternity to deal with, and not a whole lot of money or options for living it…

You can watch the trailer here: