Weekend Movie Picks: 6.8

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


What I'd like to see:

La Vie En Rose
Honestly? The longest bit of Edith Piaf I think I've ever heard was from that scene in Saving Private Ryan. But the buzz on this biopic has been excellent, her voice is beautiful, and the trailer makes it seem like a must-cry.

Ocean's 13
As others have said, it feels like Soderburgh and Clooney owe us one after the mess of 12, so this could be fun.

Mr. Brooks
More to have a killer-thriller in the mix than any real high expectations, though the cast is good here, and it could surprise.

Crazy Love
The documentary about the improbable, seriously twisted, decades-long relationship between Bronxites Burt Pugach and Linda Riss... improbable because, in 1959, in a jealous rage, he hired someone to throw lye in her face, then asked her to marry him went he got out prison 30 years later, and she said yes!

Golden Door A supposedly beautifully-shot, richly-detailed drama of Italian immigrants coming to America in the early 20th-century.


What I've seen, and liked:

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.

Brooklyn Rules
Joins the long list of movies that I've liked about tough-neighborhood boyhood best friends coming of age... and coming apart? Set in the mid-'80s, in Bay Ridge, featuring an excellent Scott Caan.

Gracie
We all enjoyed this to varying degrees, family athlete Co being the biggest partisan; Bo and I frustrated by the repetitious father/daughter conflicts during the long middle part.

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.