These weeks are flying by, and I’m not actually getting to anything. I did have a bit of a DiVo’d-from-TCM day last Sunday where I watched, among other things, the absolutely brilliant Preston Sturges comedy The Palm Beach Story. Does anybody anywhere ever write lines like as smart, witty and biting as Sturges once did? My favorite: “That’s one of the tragedies of this life — that the men who are most in need of a beating up are always enormous.”
Of course, that has nothing to do with the absolutely ridiculous number of new releases (many of them quite intriguing) and, as usual, great repertory programming happening around town over the next seven days. Everything Is Illuminated is worth seeing, but set your feelings about the book at the door. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, on the other hand, while certainly not bad was a bit of a disappointment, and I’m not even such a huge Burton fan.
But whatever. We’ve got RESFEST in town and CMJ Filmfest and a slew of other interesting new releases like Thumbsucker and Lord of War. And I retain hope that Proof isn’t too much of a mess because the play was so good. Plus Notorious at BAM and The Lost Weekend at MMI, and … oy.
Why am I babbling about this here, though? It (and more) is all over in this week’s Gothamist Weekly Movie Guide.
Out of Focus 