Weekend Movie Picks: 6.29

What's good, what's fun, what's intriguing, what's a must... now playing in Manhattan theaters.


What I'd like to see:

Ratatouille
No surprise here... Bo, Co and I are hitting the Deuce tonight for this one. Looks like a blast, and got a Metacritic rating of 94, the sixth-highest ever.

Evening
The trailer looked so good—great cast, lots of weepy moments—but the Times totally trashed it. Hmmmm....

Falling
Five high school friends, now women in their thirties, reune at a funeral. This Austrian import is getting good reviews, and could be a solid character-based flick.

Sicko
Michael Moore's new documentary, about America's health-care system, now wide-released. I think Bo and Co would like this, but I'm not sure there's time this weekend.

In Between Days
From Taiwan, a small, well-reviewed portrait of a lonely girl trying to navigate adolescence in a strange, wintry American city.

Ghosts of City Soleil
The supposedly violent, disturbing documentary about Haitian thugs whose lives are informed by American hip-hop.

Eagle vs. Shark
The trailer makes the quirkiness look a tad too forced, but it could be sweet and romantic enough to win me over.


What I've seen, and liked:

A Mighty Heart
Angelina Jolie is great as the film's emotional core, but the real star is director Michael Winterbottom, who has made a complicated, smart, heartbreaking, visually—and politically—striking thriller.

Live Free or Die Harder
The perfect summer actioner: millions of bullets, thousands of car wrecks, amazing stunts, crazy deaths, the country in peril, wisecracks from our smirking hero. But the shrewdest move of all is casting Justin Long as Willis's sidekick, instantly updating the franchise.

Broken English
Less cute and romantic than sad and bitter, this portrait of a single woman in NYC making poor choices in love is nonetheless a fairly engaging take on modern relationships.

Manufactured Landscapes
A visually amazing documentary about Edward Burtynsky, a photographer who specializes in massive shots of industrial landscapes, here focusing on environmental devastation in China and Bangladesh, wrought by our addiction to consumerism. Bo, Co and I all liked this a lot, and it provoked a great conversation on our way home, but we also all wished there had been more background and context given to imagery.

Nancy Drew
Emma Roberts is adorable as the extremely capable, buttoned-up sleuth, a fish-out-of-water in contemporary LA. Bo really liked this and Co absolutely LOVED it... totally on the edge of her seat the entire time, when she wasn't cracking up.

Ocean's 13
Funny, clever, stylish and exceptionally likable, starring the cutest guys on the planet. My favorite "summer blockbuster" thus far.

La Vie En Rose
Both Tom and I loved this Edith Piaf biopic: the music, the bravura performance by Marion Cotillard, the movie's structure and script.

Crazy Love
Crazy is right. As Burt Pugach and Linda Riss tell their improbable, seriously twisted tale of love and lye, you just have to sit there and shake your head in amazement. Excellent editing keeps the pacing brisk.

Golden Door
A beautifully-shot, richly-detailed drama of Sicilian immigrants coming to America in the early 20th-century, filled with surprising, Michael Gondry-esque touches of whimsy.

Let's Get Lost
Although hopelessly repetitive, as all junkie stories are, this documentary about Chet Baker is both sad and lovely.

Knocked Up
The reviews are right: this is rowdy, sweet, crude, smart, well-acted, hilarious.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Shockingly incoherent but definitely fun to look at. Think of it as a $200 million art film and you'll be all right.

Once
The sweetest movie playing today: affecting, romantic and filled with great music.

Shrek the Third
Keep your expectations low, and you should be pleasantly entertained, occasionally amused. Your kids will definitely laugh.

Spiderman 3
Bloated and corny, sure, but Bo, Co and I had a blast.

Waitress
Clever, cute, funny, with terrific performances all around. Looks great, feels great. My favorite movie I saw this Spring.

Away From Her
An almost great love story—husband and wife, married 44 years, she gets Alzheimer's—undermined by a somewhat dishonest script.

28 Weeks Later
The coolest looking movie of the year. Plus: tremendously tense and frightening. Too bad the script's so stupid.

The Lives of Others
A smart, well-crafted tale of suspense and betrayal, set in dreary 1980s East Berlin.