Busy day today, so let’s get to it: It’s movie time!
“A Beginner’s Guide to Endings“: A very talented cast does its best to fix the gaping conceptual holes in Jonathan Sobol’s dark comedy, but it’s a lost cause. Jason Jones is pretty great, though.
“Crooked Arrows”: Finally, a lacrosse movie! With Brandon Routh as the manager of a ragtag team of misfits who become contenders against all odds! By playing lacrosse! Yeah, I’m a cynical sod, but Rad got caught up in it.
“Habeus Papum”: Nanni Moretti’s pope-psychiatry comedy about a nervous new pope (Michel Piccoli) and his therapist (Moretti) plays like “Analyze This” at the Vatican. (“Pope-psychiatry”! I just got that!) Rad kinda likes it.
“In the Family“: Patrick Wang’s stunning debut as writer, director and star is a character study worthy of Bergman and Cassavetes. Yes, really. Go see it.
“The Intouchables“: You know how your parents are always saying they don’t get foreign movies? Here’s one that’s tailor-made for them, a French drama that pretends to be challenging and confrontational but still manages to reaffirm every art-house cliche in the book. The actors are engaging, though.
“Lovely Molly“: If Larry Fessenden made a “Paranormal Activity” clone, it’d probably look a lot like Eduardo Sanchez’s modest creeper. That said, Gretchen Lodge — who plays the young woman tormented by something unknown — is fantastic. Let’s see more of her.
“Moonrise Kingdom“: Is it Wes Anderson’s best film since “Rushmore”? Quite possibly. All I know is it’s one of the saddest comedies I’ve ever seen. The online review is about twice as long as the print version, so enjoy!
“Piranha 3DD”: John Gulager, the pulpy auteur behind the “Feast” trilogy, parachutes into another franchise for this extra-exploitative follow-up to Alexandre Aja’s fleshy, bloody “Piranha 3D”. Andrew is satisfied.
“Snow White and the Huntsman”: Hey, it looks gorgeous. But I couldn’t get to the screening, so I have no idea whether it delivers on the lush vibe of the trailer. Curious to find out, though.
And that’s everything, I think. Unless someone snuck in another title at the Projection Booth, of course. Nobody tells me anything.
I thought the Nanni Moretti movie was being released as “We Have a Pope”?
I gave up on Moretti after the simplistic treacly pap of The Son’s Room.
I’m going with the original Latin title — the English translation seems so stiff. And yeah, I’m not a big Moretti booster either, although I do like the beer that shares his name.