Movie Diary 5/2/2009

In the Loop (Armando Iannucci, 2009). This Brit-comedy will be the opening-night movie for this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, and if it doesn’t reach Ricky Gervaisian levels, it does bring on some decent belly laughs (Peter Capaldi and Tom Hollander especially score points).

Enlighten Up (Kate Churchill, 2008). The yoga world, documentarized through one dude’s experiences. (full review 5/15)

Lymelife (Derick Martini, 2008). Long Island in the late Seventies, as Lyme Disease and other suburban terrors stalked the woods. Two Culkins here (Rory and Kieran), plus a good part for Alec Baldwin — but maybe they all are. (full review 5/8)

Little Ashes (Paul Morrison, 2008). If it weren’t so aggressively trying to prove a point in the sexual-orientation department, this might’ve been an interesting idea: Spanish radicals in the 1920s, sorting through art and desire. The boys are Federico Garcia Lorca, Salvador Dali, and, give lesser scale, Luis Bunuel. (full review 5/15)

Went the Day Well? (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942). Germans infiltrate a small English town, and the locals respond. Interesting in the clarity with which it reminds wartime viewers that whilst being proper tea-sipping village folk one minute, they might be required to bury an ax in a Nazi’s head the next.

…And Now the Screaming Starts! (Roy Ward Baker, 1972). Calm horror from Amicus, with a nice little cast working out the details of a family curse, birthmark, and severed hand.