FINDING THE FUNNY AND IT’S BLOODY RARE

I just got home a little while ago from “Fresh Meat” — a monthly comedy variety show produced and hosted by my friend Catie Lazarus at Comix on 14th Street. I’ve known Catie off and on for a couple years, but I’d never gone to her show nor seen her perform. A couple weeks ago, Catie and I had lunch while I was still seemingly dying from a cold, and the next week I heard from her that she was sick. My fault? Maybe — a friend at work had renicknamed me “germy” because of how much I was constantly coughing. So when poor Catie called and said, “You got me sick! Are you coming to my show on the 23rd?” Well the implied Jewish guilt from here combined with my own don’t-bother-mentioning-it-as-I-can-create-my-own-guilt-regardless-of-any-actual-fault-thank-you-very-much obviously meant that my answer would be yes.

Of course, I was seriously encouraged when I saw her lineup of guests which included the hysterical Jessi Klein (who I interviewed just about two years ago for Gothamist); the side-splitting, asthma-inducing storytelling of author Jonathan Ames; and the equally funny readings/performances of Elizabeth Spiers, David Rakoff and Annabelle Gurwitch.

The last time I laughed this hard at might have been at Borat. Rarely have I seen live comedy where virtually top-to-bottom, the program was this strong, and that’s even more remarkable considering the fact that only Jessi and Catie are actual stand-up comics.

Catie is performing all over the place in the coming weeks, and “Fresh Meat” will be back at Comix on Feb. 13. As difficult as it is for me to find time to do anything social these days (and it will likely only get worse), I will most definitely be checking out Catie and her show again, and you should consider doing so too.

OSCAR OUTRAGE? NOT SO MUCH, BUT MAYBE I’VE JUST BECOME SUPER-CYNICAL

The film industry takes a brief break from Sundance obsession to reflect once more, and for the final time, on the previous year. That’s right … awards season officially entered its third trimester this morning with the Academy Award nominations, and now all we can do is sit and wait what comes out when the envelopes finally break their water.

I’ll have more thoughts later when I can process more, but my most immediate reaction is one of … meh. I just heard the people on NBC claiming shock at the lack of Best Picture and Director nominations for Dreamgirls, and I’m personally shocked at their shock. Big deal, it won the Golden Globe. Ever since nomination voting for the Oscars closed before the Globe awards have been announced, they have often been less of a true bellweather.

And I can’t say that I’m all that surprised by the nominations that cause a wee bit of personal outrage, such as Adapted Screenplay for Little Children or all the super-love for Babel. I suppose the only thing I wasn’t really expecting was the Best Picture nomination for Little Miss Sunshine, and yet, I can’t claim total shock by it either. All it does is keep Little Miss Sunshine in the official race for year’s most overrated film with Babel.

Some final (for now) quick thoughts as we wait for the bulk of the nominations:

  • OK, one other pleasant surprise? Pan’s Labyrinth (my top film of the year) receiving a Best Original Screenplay nomination. I would have been incensed had it not received a Best Foreign Film nod, but it’s nice to see it receive some added recognition. However, even more than screenplay, it deserved a Best Director nod for Guillermo del Toro.
  • I have mixed feelings on the Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Borat considering that so much of the film was improved and not actually written, even if I suppose the very nature of the creation still deserves applaud.
  • I suppose it’s wrong to say that Little Miss Sunshine was my only Best Picture surprise. I wasn’t expecting Letters From Iwo Jima, even though it did receive lots of early critics awards. But that’s a pleasant surprise. As far as films that seriously had a chance at the nomination, Letters at least deserved it, and ranks number three of the five for me.
  • The Best Actress category appears to be by far the strongest and most-competitive cateogry with five tremendous performances that in any other year would be an odds-on favorite to win. With that said, Helen Mirren should be walking home with the award for The Queen this year. Of course, this category also holds a personal disappoint, as I would have loved to see Maggie Gyllenhaal receive notice for Sherrybaby.
  • OK, one other big surprise (I guess I did have some) is Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children.
  • I was also somewhat excited by Ryan Gosling’s nod for Half Nelson. Gosling has quickly become one of the most talented, if still relatively unknown, actors working today, and his performance in this film was as strong as ever.
  • I guess the other big surprise (wow, I’m really negating myself, no?) would be no Jack Nicholson but yes Mark Wahlberg for The Departed. Maybe I don’t describe that as a shock because that’s actually the way it should be, but Oscar getting something right is, often, a surprise.

More TK ….

2006 IN REVIEW PART II: THE TOP 10 — AND THEN SOME

I actually have a lot of lists and “awards” to bestow this year, but the way I always get myself in trouble is by trying to do everything at once, and then eventually deciding it’s too late to do any of it. Sure, everybody is tired of year-end lists, and most people got theirs done at the actual year-end. I’m perfectly content feeling like I have a somewhat comprehensive take on things by now: the day before the Academy announces its Oscar nominations. So there’s more to come, but for the time being, I thought I would at least get this up and done.

I know everyone has been complaining about how 2006 was a bad year for film, and maybe overall it was, yet I still found myself with plenty of titles to choose from, and a few that I think will stand the test of time. The hardest thing for me, in fact, wasn’t finding enough movies to fill my list, but rather determining any sort of order. Other than my top film of the year, I have a feeling that the rest of my top six or seven is relatively interchangeable, and several of those I include in “Next Best” on a given day could potentially crack that top 10.

So, without further ado: Below is the list; clicking on a title will take you to brief comments on that title (as will simply clicking on the “Continue reading …”). The only films I included are titles which were released in New York during 2006 and were not nearly 40 years old. (Army of Shadows deserves a special and separate mention). There are also comments (after the jump) about what’s missing. Other worthy notables (as well as a few other categories) will be for another post. And now …

THE BEST FILMS OF 2006

  1. Pan’s Labyrinth
  2. The Departed
  3. Old Joy
  4. Children of Men
  5. <a href="The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
  6. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
  7. The Road to Guantanamo
  8. This Film Is Not Yet Rated
  9. Borat
  10. Apocalypto

NEXT BEST (in alphabetical order)

  • 49 Up
  • Fratricide
  • Half Nelson
  • The Heart of the Game
  • Jesus Camp
  • Lady Vengeance
  • Letters From Iwo Jima
  • Marie Antoinette
  • The Queen
  • Sherrybaby

WHAT’S NOT ON THE LIST
(but you might think it should be …)

Continue reading “2006 IN REVIEW PART II: THE TOP 10 — AND THEN SOME”

GOLDEN GLOBES POST-MORTEM: DOES HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF?

No no no no no no no no no no no no! I hope that this actually gets Babel out of Hollywood’s system, but I fear the opposite. Crash didn’t even receive a Golden Globe Best Picture nomination last year before going on to win the Oscar and officially become the most overrated film of 2005. Last night, Babel leaped ahead of Little Children and Little Miss Sunshine to become the clear favorite in this year’s race for the overrated title. I’m a fan of Alejandro González Iñárritu — I loved both Amores Perros and 21 Grams — but Babel is at best an admirable failure and at worst a nonsensical and fragmented bore. How exactly do you give your director’s awatrd to The Departed, your screenwriting award to The Queen, and call Babel the Best Picture? By any reasonable judgment, if Babel is actually that great, Iñárritu should have received a director’s award for being able to coherently tell and integrate these four stories and themes.

I also just saw Letters From Iwo Jima yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I think it’s a far superior film to Flags of Our Fathers, and Warner Bros. is ridiculous for not marketing it better. But giving the Best Foreign-Language Feature award to Eastwood is a joke with Pan’s Labyrinth there as competition. Dreamgirls winning was kind of expected, but I’m guessing it’s as much because of the HFPA’s love of musicals as not wanting to award Borat with too much.

Speaking of Borat — words can’t express the genius of Sacha Baron Cohen. I don’t know about you out there in interweb land, but to me, his very ability to give that speech without cracking much more than the slightest grin is a greater test of endurance than any trick I’ve seen David Blaine perform.

And looking at the television side of things, Ugly Betty? Really? It’s a fun show, that’s aired the rough equivalent of a full season on a cable network, but … really? Compared to The Office? And yes, I know everyone loves Grey’s Anatomy, but come on! That category was so flawed anyway … in fact, why bother with it?

Anyway, the Globes weren’t as infuriating to me as they usually are, until that Best Picture announcement by the governator. In fact, the only thing I found totally absurd about the show was … exactly how much money did Nancy O’Dell and Maria Menounos receive to be insipid, barely used eye candy? And who was producing their on cameras? Whoever fed Menounos the question to ask America Ferrara about being cast in Ugly Betty after great resistance from the powers that be should be blackballed from ever working in celebrity or entertainment journalism again.

THE GOLDEN GLOBES PREVIEW: IF I PICKED THE WINNERS … SORT OF

The awards have been flying around furiously, and even though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is probably the least reputable group of all the critics who actually bestow honors upon the worlds of film and television, for some reason (read: a really large budget that allows for a really glitzy show), their Golden Globe Awards are the most publically influential honor a film (and to a lesser extent, a TV series) can win, second to the Oscars.

And so here we are, with the Golden Globes happening tonight, sneaking up on everybody who still isn’t really used to them being in mid-January rather than the good ol’ days when they were about three weeks later because … well so was Oscar. I’ve been furiously (myself) trying to catch-up on all the movies that came out in 2006 that had so far eluded me. There are still a few more I hope to see before officially releasing my own Top 10 list (which I really, truly anticipate to arrive by this Friday), but I can’t help myself from doing a relatively brief and somewhat quick prognostication for tonight’s event.

The Globes are always slightly more unpredictable than the Oscars. They’re known for nominations that make no sense and the occasional winner that is even less logical. This year’s nominations are no exception, and I’m sure there are several HFPA members still enjoying whatever expensive swag received by The Weinstein Company since there is no other possible explanation for a that Bobby Best Picture nomination, especially when you further consider that while Emilio Estevez was (justly) shut-out of the director category, Clint Eastwood managed to score 40% of the nominations for two films that between them could only score one “Foreign-Language Film” nod. For my money (as I will also discuss in a further post), the three front-runners for the Out of Focus Lensy™ for “Most Overrated Film” of 2006) all received Best Picture nods — Little Children and Babel for Drama and Little Miss Sunshine for Musical or Comedy. (Sorry, kids, but as much as I enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine, the praise it has received for being a great movie is a bit much. I think it’s a much better film than Thank You For Smoking, for examplel; it’s just not as good as some are making it out to be.)

The Globes could actually go any which number of ways tonight, so unless I think there’s a shoo-in, I’m actually not going to predict. Work has been getting so all-consuming that I don’t know that I have the brain power right now (as I sit in my office on this national holiday) to accurately predict. After the jump is a combination of who might win, who will win, who should win … blah blah blah. In doing this, it just reminded me … Oscar is more fun.

Continue reading “THE GOLDEN GLOBES PREVIEW: IF I PICKED THE WINNERS … SORT OF”

2006 IN REVIEW PART I: OUT WITH THE OLD, BEGINNING ANEW, AND ALMOST BECOMING ATTAINABLE

Happy New Year, everyone. My first resolution for 2007 is not to write more in this space, but rather to never again (after this very second) mention either why I haven’t been posting or explain how/why I’m about to recommence in earnest. I mean, who cares, right? You certainly don’t. And why create false expectations for myself. I would like to focus more energy on my writing, but my goal this year is to actually make what I’ve always called “unattainable” attainable.

And I’m not just speaking of my previous repeated mentions of averaging one film per day, although it is now time to report that I actually … fell just short. Can you believe it? 357 movies in 2006. ARGH!!! If I had been paying closer attention to the actual count during December, I probably could have made it. But instead, I wound up eight short. (sigh) To once again lay out those ground rules, I count any feature length film that I watched in full, in one sitting, on DVD, cable or in a theater, although I can only count a film once per year. No edited for TV; no commercial interruptions: so for instance, TCM is OK, but AMC isn’t — Miracle on 34th Street during the latter’s Christmas Day marathon doesn’t count., But submissions to the festival I watch for my job do, so it doesn’t have to be a theatrical release. Got it? Good.

Because it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to actually list titles of submissions I’ve watched, I’m listing those simply as “TFF Submission” — but if you are a filmmaker who has submitted your film to the festival, please know that it this point there is a much greater chance that I haven’t seen your film than that I have.

Anyway, preamble aside, after the jump is my list for October, November and December for those of you (because I’m sure there are … well … none) who have been keeping track in these three posts, you can feel complete with this post here.

Best and worst movies and TV of the year — I’m making my lists and checking them twice. Hopefully they’ll be here next week, but I will say that if you haven’t yet seen Pan’s Labyrinth (which opened in select cities last week and I reviewed during the New York Film Festival), you should rush out to do so. When all is said and done, I doubt you’ll see another title topping my list.

So goodbye 2006. You weren’t as crappy as 2005, so I guess that means things are looking up? Yay 2007.

Continue reading “2006 IN REVIEW PART I: OUT WITH THE OLD, BEGINNING ANEW, AND ALMOST BECOMING ATTAINABLE”

THE WORK FRONT

… is busy! In case you missed it, there was some pretty big news this week on the Tribeca front: the establishment of the Tribeca/ESPN Sport Film Festival as a part of this spring’s TFF. This should actually be a really exciting addition to this year’s festival, and the key word there is “addition.” The TESFF isn’t taking sports films that wouldn’t otherwise make Tribeca and it’s not going to be comprised of solely big-budget, TV-produced documentaries. It’s just going to be a sidebar event that will bring a little more focus, during the regular festival, to sports and competition-oriented films. And you know what? The sports films Tribeca has shown the past few years deserve that. Last year, one of my favorite films in the festival was The Heart of the Game, a phenomenal doc about a girls’ high school basketball team in Seattle and the journey of its female star. Personally, I thought this movie was as fascinating as Hoop Dreams, and yet Miramax gave it a very limited and not-well-publicized release. (If you missed it, that’s what Netflix is for.) It’s also will certainly not be all documentaries, nor will the films necessarily be focused on traditional major sports. Spellbound and Wordplay both could have fit; and if I have any influence (which I don’t, necessarily), I’ve already seen a film which I hope gets into the festival and the TESFF.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned a few weeks (but only two posts) back, things at the job have been picking-up, and the release of the above news is only a small part of it. In addition to my regular duties, for the past month I’ve been a sort of managing editor of the TFF newsletter and contributor to the website as well as its redevelopment. Today is, in fact, the “official” deadline for submissions to the 2007 festival. Why is “official” in quotes? Because it’s not the final deadline; it’s just a less expensive deadline. If your film is postmarked today, the submission fees are $70 for a feature and $50 for a short. The drop-dead-no-submissions-accepted-beyond-this-point date is a month away — Jan. 5 — and if your submission is postmarked on that date, the fees are $90 and $70. A film isn’t penalized in any way by coming in at the later deadline other than the slightly higher submission fee, so if you’ve been rushing to make it by today but could really use another couple weeks, you should take it.

I’ve been screening submissions recently … a lot of them. A few things have been great, many have been kind of meh and then there’s the usual large contingent of, “Oh my god! What were they thinking? Money has so many better uses.” I have noticed one fascinating trend this year, however: several films with very elaborate, creative and well-produced title sequences followed by basically nothing else. And I’m not talking about even “big” budget, mainstream indie films. I mean small, lower- and low- budget truly independent pictures. It’s actually quite fascinating. There are a few movies where I am absolutely convinced that more thought, time and care (and I suppose maybe money) went into conceiving, creating and producing the title sequence than in writing the script. Part of me wants to gather them all up at the end, edit together the title sequences and show a program of those, but without the rest of the movies.

Anyway, that’s where I’ve been. I hope to get myself and my schedule a little more into balance and under control soon. In fact, I’ve been so relatively busy with work and a few other things, that I still haven’t seen Casino Royale! I know … for shame. I’m even disappointed in myself.

R.I.P. ROBERT

2006_1121altmanWow. Robert Altman has died. The man was 81 years old, and yet I was quite shocked to read this news. Maybe it’s because in the last several years, Altman continued to be a vibrant and relatively prolific filmmaker, never really showing his age.

Altman has always been a fascinating director to me. He’s one of the few filmmakers to work in the last half-century who truly epitomized the idea of independent filmmaking and could honestly be called a maverick. I say this not because every film he made was a masterpiece — far from it. In fact, in more recent years, I started to think of him as Alternating Altman. If I liked a film, I often thought his next one was terrible, but if the last one was awful, chances were good I’d love the following. His last three films may not perfectly prove this theory, but it comes close. I thought Gosford Park was fantastic, but The Company made me want to shoot everyone on screen. Prairie Home Companion, on the other hand, left me on the fence, but there were plenty of positive things I liked about it.

OK, so maybe he didn’t alternate perfectly: I thought The Player rivaled Unforgiven as best films of 1992, and while Short Cuts never quite reaches Nashville status, it was still excellent. However, that was then followed by the utterly drab Pre-a-Porter and the relatively dull Kansas City.

Yet Altman’s reputation stands alone simply based on his work from the ’70s, a series of titles that arguably earns him the title of that decade’s greatest filmmaker: MASH, Brewster McCloud, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Images, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, 3 Women, A Wedding — 11 films in nine years that alone illustrate why cinephiles have such great nostalgia for ’70s filmmaking. And as other greats from the ’70s have stopped working or find themselves far less or significantly more popular, making their films on different scales but in primarily the same styles and genres, Altman continued to always do things his way — for better or worse. He managed to film life: sometimes exciting, sometimes not. He managed to weave multiple stories and characters together in a manner that many others have tried, and most have failed — including sometimes him. He managed to take simple situations and make them extraordinary and transform extraordinary situations into simple ones. And again, always on his own terms.

The Player, Short Cuts and Gosford Park aside, Altman’s filmmaking certainly peaked over a quarter-century ago. But as those films (as well as his weaker more recent efforts) proved, he always pushed himself to find that certain twist — to create that slightly askew perspective even on the most familiar topic. And he just kept working. No more new Robert Altman films: I suppose that’s the shock. His passing at the age of 81 — that’s just sad.

UPDATE: I just received a press release mentioning that Altman died from “complications due to cancer.” I was unaware of this, but maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. Apparently, he’s been battling the disease for the last year-and-a-half, making A Prairie Home Companion even after being diagnosed. Apparently, he was also in pre-production on his next film, which was scheduled to start shooting in February.

UPDATE-THE RETURN: Eugene Hernandez has a magnificent tribute to Altman up over at indieWIRE.

NOT SO QUICK NOTES: ED BRADLEY, JAMES BOND, BORAT, TWO ON BROADWAY AND TRIBECA

Sometimes, I have issues with balance. As in … how do you balance all the different elements of life to get everything done — work, play, non-work work, whatever. Yesterday, I called a friend lame. It was partially a joke, but like all jokes contained a grain of truth. Why was he lame? Because he was backing out on going to The Twilight Singers show with me last night at Warsaw. I was a huge Afghan Whigs fan and I love the stuff Whigs frontman Greg Dulli has done since with his new band The Twilight Singers. But when I came to work this morning, I had to IM him to say, “I’m lamer than you.” Because last night, I meant to stop at home, drop off my bag, make some dinner, and then go to the show. And yet, somehow between dinner and go to the show, I lost consciousness … until 11 PM. So I was so lame, I didn’t make it to a show I really wanted to get to.

But in reality, lame is the fact that I haven’t posted anything in weeks. I have many excuses, but none worthy of boring you at this moment. Instead, I’m just going to try to do what I can, and while I hope to write more on all these issues later, we’ll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I can’t let this weekend arrive without making a few comments about the death of Ed Bradley, the rebirth James Bond, the beginning of my theater binge and the job!

  • 60 Minutes correspondent died a little over a week ago, and last Sunday’s broadcast was a wonderful tribute to the man who was many viewer’s favorite correspondent — certainly mine. Bradley had the enviable ability to interview anyone at any time in any situation. He could cover major world events and leaders as well as smaller human interest stories while also being right at home talking to celebrities of all-ilk. All the 60 Minutes correspondents are among the top tier of investigative reporters, but Bradley had something special, and maybe it was simply because everyone really did seem to generally like him. He was known as truly one of the good guys. And nowhere could that be seen better than in last Sunday’s edition, put together as a loving tribute, capped off (as always) by an Andy Rooney segment, but in this case, one that was heartfelt and anything but annoying. If you haven’t seen the episode, I’m sure it’s somewhere on the web.

  • Casino Royale opens today, and although I’ve specifically read little about the final product, early buzz seems to be quite positive. I’ve been getting super-excited about this film since I saw the first trailer. I’ve written several posts about James Bond over the last couple of years, especially the ones touting Clive Owen and bemoaning director Martin Campbell. At first when Daniel Craig was announced, I didn’t think he was a great choice (albeit, not because he’s a blond). I’ve since reconsidered, and while I never put faith in trailers depicting the quality of a film, I did receive much encouragement to see the tone presented through these advance marketing tools. A darker, more complex character can be seen in every one of Craig’s facial expression, and that indicates at least an attempt at a truly faithful adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel. I’ve always said that the right actor in a truly representative adaptation of Casino Royale (and that actor could have been Timothy Dalton, back in the day) would be the best of all Bond movies. Is that possible, especially with Campbell at the helm? We’ll see, this weekend, but I am surprisingly more encouraged than I had been previously, and I can’t wait.

  • Let’s just take a moment to make a brief distinction here: I have never laughed so hard and so consistently in my life as I did during Borat! the weekend before last. That does not mean that I am trying to claim that Borat! is a phenomenal movie or the greatest comedy I’ve ever seen. It just means it made me laugh. A lot! And it baffles me how anyone can not have some sort of visceral reaction to the film. The criticism of it essentially being a continuous series of comedic sketches is not invalid. Still, as an entertainment and as social commentary, I consider it a must-see.

  • About a month ago, I started going crazy buying theater tickets. I have no money, so I’m not sure what prompted this other than a confluence of shows I felt I had to see. The first was the new Broadway production of A Chorus Line. As I’ve expressed in this space before, I love this show — worship it, even — and consider it one of the landmarks of the history of musical theater. This is probably why I was so disappointed by this production which utterly fails to explode off the stage with a life of its own. I don’t buy that it’s dated or not topical; I think it’s even more topical in today’s culture even if the physical realities of theater and the world are different. But this production is a great example of how even the best shows can be brought down to earth if not presented in the best way. I really will try to get back to this topic soon.

  • Meanwhile, I had the opposite experience with Grey Gardens, The Musical, which I missed during its initial run at Playwrights’ Horizons but am thrilled to have seen in its recent Broadway engagement. Christine Ebersol should be handed the Tony right now. Rarely have I seen as accomplished a performance on the stage, and the transformation she goes through from Big Edie in Act I to Little Edie in Act II is miraculous. You almost forget it’s the same actress. If you’ve never seen the Maysles’ Bros. famous documentary about the Beales, I highly suggest you watch it before going to see the show. It makes the experience that much more enjoyable, especially to see how creatively the musical’s creators adapted this verite film with essentially no narrative into a full-blown musical play that makes perfect sense and runs possibly the quickest 2 1/2 hours I’ve experienced in some time. Go see it. Now.

  • Oh yeah … the job. So, I’ve been here permanently and full-time for about seven weeks now, and yet I feel like I’m still settling in. It has been a weird experience because this isn’t really a new job for me. It’s just a new situation at a job I’ve had for some time. With that said, I have had several other responsibilities placed on me, and one of them (albeit only temporarily) has been to help with the website and newsletter.
    What?!? You didn’t know the Tribeca Film Festival had a website? More importantly, you didn’t know we had a newsletter?!? Well, the website is going through some changes, and we have an amazing team of people hard at work to help relaunch it at the beginning of 2007. Along with that comes the newsletter, currently called The FIP. The FIP becomes a weekly email newsletter next week, highlighting news, events and other info going on around the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Cinemas. In the coming weeks and months, it will alert people to special audio and video content exclusive to Tribeca. If you want to sign-up, just click here. This has been taking up a bit of my time during the last week or two because they needed me to cover for an employee who was leaving. I won’t be working on either the newsletter or website long-term, but for now, I am.

Whew. OK. Glad I got that out. Now I feel a bit less lame … but just a bit. Stay with me … I’m really not deserting this place, all evidence to the contrary.

For now, have a good weekend, and hopefully, when I come here next, I’ll be all hopped up on Bond.

Hmmm … that doesn’t sound right.

CMJ: IT’S NOT JUST MUSIC, YOU KNOW

As throngs of musicians check-in at Lincoln Center and downtown music fans start planning the best way to hit five venues a night through Saturday and survive on only a few hours sleep, it’s important for this space to make note of that other, smaller, but no less fun part of the CMJ Music Marathon, namely the CMJ Film Fest. The Film Fest regularly does its best to present a combination of music-themed films as well as regular motion pictures that, for lack of a better description, would be most appreciated by the CMJ audience. I have to say, that while they always seem to get a few decent titles here or there, the program of screenings this year seems, better than ever, to truly satisfy that goal.

This year’s Film Fest program kicks-off tonight with what must be the most anticipated comedy of the fall: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen’s big screen transformation of his hysterically politically incorrect Kazakhstanian “journalist.” The film received raves at the Toronto Film Festival, and people who’ve seen it have told me that it’s not just brilliantly funny, but also quite tasteless. Sure you can wait until Friday when it opens nationwide, but Borat himself will be on hand at tonight’s Film Fest screening.

If there is a second most anticipated comedy of the fall, it’s probably Tenacious D in “The Pick of Destiny”, with Jack Black and Kyle Gass teaming up as their legendary greatest rock band in the world to create, finally, “the greatest motion picture of all time.” (Screens on Friday at 12 PM at the DGA Theater on 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.)

Other big name studio films getting advance screenings at Film Fest are Reno 911! Miami, in which the cops from the Comedy Central TV series must save the day at a Miami police convention threatened by a terrorist attack (let’s call it, Police Academy for the 21st Century); Stranger Than Fiction (screens Thursday at 5:30 PM at Tribeca Cinemas), which looks fantastic in a Charlie Kaufman/Spike Jonze sort of way but unfortunately is directed by Marc Forster; and Darren Aronofsky’s long-awaited Fountain of Youth sci-fi drama, The Fountain (Thursday at 4 PM at the Walter Reade).

Music fans get some direct concert and documentary footage in two titles both showing on Saturday at the DGA Theater. At noon is Okonokos, a movie featuring the band My Morning Jacket live. As great as My Morning Jacket is recorded, the buzz has always been that they’re an even better live band, and this film finally gives the rest of a chance to see. Following at 2 PM will be Oasis — Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, a documentary which follows Oasis on its seven month “Don’t Believe the Truth” tour. After the screening, Noel Gallagher will be on hand for a Q&A session moderated by Matt Pinfield.

And then come the rest … a nice selection of more indie-minded fare and special programs including Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Thursday at 1 PM at the Walter Reade), a cool looking thriller from the director of Run Lola Run and Fuck (screening tomorrow at 3:15 PM at the Walter Reade), Steve Anderson’s documentary exploring all the meanings, connotations and usage of yours and my favorite word.

One special video-related program of interest takes place at MoMA on Thursday and Friday: Chuck Statler: Before MTV will feature a collection of clips in a retrospective of the innovative music oriented filmmaker’s work. At the 8 PM screening on Thursday, Statler will be in attendance for a discussion and q&a session as well.

Film Fest has always flown a bit under the radar at CMJ. It’s easy, no matter what the titles are, to be overshadowed by, as the Music Marathon boasts, 120 non-stop hours of music. If you have a CMJ badge, attendance is easy … show up (maybe a little early), and you get in. This year for the first time, CMJ also sold a badge at a discounted rate for Film Fest events only — $50 for unlimited attendance; $25 for five screenings. These passes can be purchased at CMJ Registration at Lincoln Center starting today. Individual tickets may be available at the venue box offices before the screening.