The List!

Grrrr! Can someone explain to me why I can't find The Lovely Bones anywhere in the area? Seriously? A movie of that level and it's not playing in DC? What is this? Bumfuck, West Virginia? I thought this was a major metropolis, not an eyeblink of a town straddling a dirt road. Bahh!! I understand opening a film in limited release, but DC is rarely ever a part of it. I blame Mayor Fenty, personally. More specifically that damn hat of his. So with The Lovely Bones out of contention and Invictus already in my rearview mirror, the choices this week are woeful.



Mark this day down, folks. It's probably the one and only time you'll ever see a Zac Efron film at the top of my list. But when he's paired up with director Richard Linklater(Before Sunrise/Sunset, Dazed and Confused) even I find it hard to keep myself away. Efron stars as a teenager who finds himself added to Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar at the opening of his Mercury Theatre back in 1937. Oscar chatter is starting to surround this project, mainly for newcomer Christian McKay starring as the controversial actor.



My enthusiasm for Broken Lizard's latest has soured noticeably since we first put up the trailer what seems like an eon ago. It could be because I remembered that I've never really liked anything Broken Lizard's ever done. That tends to sour me on a project. The only thing that keeps me optimistic is Michael Clark Duncan, who has more comedic timing in his oversized pinky finger than the rest of these jabronies have in their entire bodies. The story involves a former boxing champion turned restaurant manager who falls into debt with the mob. So as a means of jinning up some dough, he challenges his staff to sell as much food as humanly possible in one night. It looks a little too similar to that mediocre fast food comedy, Waiting. Not a good thing.



Another film swimming in Oscar buzz, Colin Firth stars as a gay English professor who's partner has recently passed away. Taking place in the 1960s, and developed by some of the same people behind the similarly timed Mad Men TV series, A Single Man is based on the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name and has been hailed as "one of the first and best novels of the modern gay liberation movement." I'm a huge fan of Julianne Moore, who co-stars alongside another one of my favorite actresses right now, Big Love's Ginnifer Goodwin.

If there's time...



In my review of Invictus, I stated that I think this is Morgan Freeman's best performance of his already spectacular career. But it also might be Matt Damon's, even though it's clearly a more understated role. Invictus is the story of how South African president Nelson Mandela, and his attempt to heal the wounds of apartheid by uniting his country around the South African national rugby team. An uplifting and powerful film. Another great one by director Clint Eastwood, who continues to put out phenomenal work year after year.



I very nearly put this on the "Absolutely not!" part of The List, but figured I'd be flogged by the folks who keep asking what I think about it. I guess, because I'm African-American, I must have particularly keen insight on what is basically Disney's first African-American fairy tale princess. I don't. I'm much more interested in Disney's return to hand drawn animation, and whether or not people will embrace the style once again. It's been a long time since that that great era of Disney animation in the 90s, and since then Pixar and Dreamworks have set up camp as the top dawgs. I don't want this to turn into Treasure Planet(which Disney invested in heavily then died on the vine) and fall into obscurity. I hope this is a success, and so the least I can do is go and judge it for myself.

No...no..a thousand times no!

Nothing springs to mind as being overtly offensive to the senses. Well, there's still that stench emanating from Everybody's Fine, which I've managed to avoid thus far.