Sure, there's a lot of exciting events in Tucson in the next few days. (Seriously, the All Souls Procession and Tucson Comic Con all in one weekend?) Still, if crowds aren't your thing (or if going out all weekend will leave you in desperate need of a night in on Monday) Tucson's Best Video Store has some suggestions.

These were the most popular DVDs at Casa Video last week:


1. Jurassic World

2. Southpaw

3. The Gift

4. San Andreas

5. Pixels

6. Max

7. Tomorrowland

8. Paper Towns

9. Dope

10. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

In this Western infused with horror, Kurt Russell essentially transplants his character from John Carpenter's “The Thing” into the Old West as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, a lawman looking for some kidnap victims. As things turn out, the victims are in the hands of a cannibalistic tribe ready to give Hunt and his cohorts a sick time in the film's final act. Those cohorts include Richard Jenkins as his clumsy deputy, a hobbled Patrick Wilson looking to rescue his wife, and a never-been-better Matthew Fox, along for the ride and offering swift justice to those who dare to approach their camp. Writer-director S. Craig Zahler makes a very impressive debut, crafting not only an authentic Western but a truly memorable monster movie. Russell, as he so often does, owns his part and makes Hunt one of his best roles in years. Jenkins seems as if he's made hundreds of Westerns before. He's right at home in dirty saloons and by the campfire. Fox makes his best mark since getting his face licked by a dog in the “Lost” finale. Watch out, because some of the things that happen in the film's final act are the stuff of nightmares. I should know, because I've had some. Thanks “Bone Tomahawk!”

There’s no doubt that Bradley Cooper goes all-in performance wise for Burnt in which he plays a chef psychotically determined to get his third star. Too bad it’s in service of a character that is hard to root for when we the audience are supposed to be doing so.

In actuality, his character is a totally unlikeable prick. After going sober for over two years and shucking a million oysters as penance for his previous bad behavior, Adam Jones (Cooper) heads to Paris, intent upon regaining his status as a legendary chef and attaining that hallowed “third star” status. He starts his quest by terrorizing restaurant owner Tony (Daniel Bruhl), a former friend turned enemy who had a crush on him but now hates him.

Jones sets up a scenario with a food critic (Uma Thurman) that would probably get most people arrested for fraud, but in the movies it gets him control of a kitchen. Sienna Miller, Cooper’s costar in “American Sniper,” shows up as a cook Jones intimidates into working for him. Of course, they fall in love, for this is a clichéd piece of crap movie. It’s hard to see an actor like Cooper laboring in a film that simply doesn’t back him up.

This sucker is a gas stove with no gas.

Assisted by a massive amount of contemporary interviews, the documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution appears at a very good time to reflect on the movement, its impact and its mistakes. The Black Panthers, of course, were the often militant and often misunderstood group that formed in urban areas all over America in the turbulent 1960s. Naturally, such an examination of the Panthers is timely because of Black Lives Matter, and worth a look to understand the context of its times. Many key members of the group’s inner circle are featured; two of the leaders of the Panthers, Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver, are dead, and the other, Bobby Seale, is curiously missing from this film. But it’s a well-assembled, evenhanded look back at an important group that ultimately consumed itself, just like the rest of the 1960s.

Trivia answer: In terms of percentage (the most profitable movie ever made) and possibly that ever will be, was Paranormal Activity. It cost around $15,000 and made close to $200 million—an astounding profit markup of 12,890 percent. That was six years ago, and we have reached the sixth movie, probably without you even noticing. Three of them did very well, but only the first one was worth a damn, so if Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is the end of the run, why did they wait so long? As a movie, it’s pretty awful, latching unnecessary 3-D onto the same formula they’ve always used. There’s another family with video cameras trying to understand what’s going on in their house. There just isn’t enough life in those elements to justify six movies. Or even three, if we’re being honest. 

Director Guillermo del Toro, who has long sung his praises for Disney’s Haunted Mansion amusement ride, makes a startlingly beautiful and creepy ride of his own with this twisted ghost story. Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), an aspiring writer, must pick up the pieces after a tragic loss, and she finds herself swept away by Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a strange Englishman that looks a lot like Thor’s jerky brother.

They marry and wind up in his family’s home, which rests atop a red clay mine. The red clay seeps up through the ground and even the floorboards of the house, giving the appearance that everything is bleeding. As Edith spends more time in the house, and gets acquainted with its ghostly inhabitants, she finds out that the red stuff isn’t always clay. Jessica Chastain is memorably psychotic as Thomas’s selfish and conniving sister.

The visuals are the real star here, including some over-the-top, bloody ghosts that Walt would never allow in his Mansion. As for the actually alive characters, Hiddleston and Chastain steal the show as siblings who definitely need an extended time out. Future del Toro projects, like sequels to “Pacific Rim” and “Hellboy,” were put into turnaround before this film’s release.

The fact that this film inexplicably bombed at the box office means those sequels will probably remain on the studio merry-go-round for a long time. For del Toro fans, this is bad news. 

The Loft Film gets off and running this evening with a big party celebrating International Back to the Future Day, which (of course) is the day that Marty McFly headed off to in Back to the Future II. To celebrate, the Loft is showing Back to the Future and Back to the Future II, along with a fashion show of ’50s, ’80s and contemporary fashions, an Enchantment Under the Sea dance and much more.

We detailed a lot of the highlights of the Loft Film Fest in last week's cover story, but one thing we didn't mention: The Loft, which is a member of the International Confederation of Art Cinemas, will also be awarding CICAE Art Cinema Awards in two competitions; Best Documentary and Best Short Film.

Here are some details from Indiewire:

The CICAE award is designed to bring attention to excellent films in order for them to be seen in art houses around the world. The CICAE award is given out at festivals including the Berlinale Forum and Panorama, the Sarajevo International Film Festival, the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The Loft Film Fest jury for documentary features includes Peter Belsito, film biz consultant, fest panelist and guest blogger for SydneysBuzz on Indiewire, actress/writer/producer Yareli Arizmendi ("Like Water for Chocolate," "A Day Without a Mexican") and Beverly Seckinger, director of University of Arizona Center for Documentary and Docscapes.

The short film jury includes Francesco Clerici, director of "Hand Gestures," Max Cannon, creator of the alternative comic strip "Red Meat", and Lupita Murillo of KVOA News 4 Tucson. 

 See the complete Loft Film Fest schedule here.

Zhang Yimou is one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. He’s probably best known for directing the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, but his films—“Hero,” “House of the Flying Daggers” and “Raise the Red Lantern,” among many others—are essential viewing. His latest effort, which re-teams him with longtime muse, Gong Li, is some heavy duty melodrama in the best sense of the word. “Coming Home” takes place during the Cultural Revolution in China, with Gong playing the wife of a controversial professor who was jailed by the government. Years later, when he’s released, his wife doesn’t remember him as her husband and from time to time even thinks he may be an official she slept with to stave off her husband’s execution. Heavy stuff, but this is Zhang Yimou, who is more than capable of turning the story into a stunning discovery.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s accent playing Philippe Petit, the high wire artist who walked between the Twin Towers back in 1974, sounds a lot like Sacha Baron Cohen’s over-the-top French accent in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It grates at first, but director Robert Zemeckis overcomes this obstacle to ultimately make a movie containing some of the best visual effects you will see in a film this year. Yes, the movie drags a bit in the first half as we see Petit miming on the streets of Paris and learning how to walk a wire under the tutelage of an old, wise circus guy (Ben Kingsley). The movie soars to a new level when Petit reaches New York and, with his crew, schemes and succeeds in rigging a wire between the world’s tallest buildings at the time, and performing a high-wire act for over forty minutes as cops awaited him atop both buildings. The movie supposedly has given people vertigo attacks, and this is not surprising. If you see it in 3D IMAX, you get a very heightened sense of being on the wire with Petit, and it’s a dizzying effect for sure. There’s a story framing device that has the young Petit narrating the story from atop the Statue of Liberty’s torch, with the towers in the background, and it’s the old, rusty version of the statue. A nice touch. Overall, the film is very much worth seeing, especially its final act. The attention to detail involving the Twin Towers is astounding.

Zona Politics Eps.44 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

On this week's episode of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Investigative journalist John Dougherty talks about the latest with the Rosemont Mine project and discuss his new film about Rosemont's parent company, Hubby Minerals. Then Peggy Johnson and Jeff Yanc from the Loft Cinema stop by to preview the Loft Film Fest, coming up Oct. 21-25. Watch online here or catch the show at 8 a.m. Sunday on the CW Tucson, Channel 8 on Cox and Comcast and Channel 58 on DirecTV, Dish and broadcast. The show also airs on KXCI, 91.3 FM, at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Here's a transcript of the show:

Hello everyone. I'm Tucson Weekly senior writer Jim Nintzel, and we're here to talk Zona Politics Today, we're talking with award-winning reporter John Dougherty of Investigative Media, a project of the nonprofit Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism. John, thanks for coming down and joining us.

(Dougherty) Jim, a pleasure to be to be here.

(Nintzel) Let's start off with some full disclosure. Your nonprofit organization, The Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism, is a fiscal sponsor of my nonprofit, the Arizona Watchdog Alliance, which produces this program, and your investigation of Rosemont Copper has been financed by the Farmers' Investment Company, which is an opponent of the Rosemont Mine.

(Dougherty off camera) That's correct.

(Nintzel) Let's start out with talking about what this Rosemont Mine actually is, for viewers who are unfamiliar with the details of this plan.

(Dougherty) Well, the Rosemont Mine would be constructed about 30 miles south southeast of Tucson in the Santa Rita Mountains. The mine pit itself is going to be an open pit, about a mile in diameter, about a half -mile deep. And the talings and waste rock from the mining operation will be dumped on about three thousand acres of Coronado National Forest. And those talings and rock piles will be six to 700 feet high, and the Game and Fish Department has said it would basically render the northern section of the Santa Rita mountains useless for wildlife and recreational purposes

(Nintzel) And the Rosemont Mine is now owned by HudBay, which is a Canadian mining company that purchased the property and project from another Canadian company Augusta about a year ago.