Blind Side of the New Moon (Weekly Links)

New Moon: pale fire

Reviews I wrote for the Herald this week:

The Twilight Saga: New Moon. “Bella sure can pick ’em.”

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. “As a filmmaker, Daniels comes on like a hard-hitting linebacker.”

Blind Side. “Manages to keep the schmaltz level down.”

Planet 51. The males of this planet wear no pants.”

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. “A family-made documentary can’t be considered the final word.”

And an interview, mostly on the Twilight phenomenon, with two low-billed cast members.

And two more oldies from Movietone News magazine, published in Parallax View: The Rose, and Richard Lester’s forgotten Cuba.

Movie Diary 11/19/2009

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Chris Weitz, 2009). Everybody’s shirtless, almost, in the sequel to the pretty good Twilight. Kristen Stewart is excellent, the CGI dogs are not, the Northwest locations are convincing, the final line is daft. (full review 11/20)

Me and Orson Welles (Richard Linklater, 2009). Nice idea about a kid (Zac Efron) signing on for a minor role in Welles’ 1937 production of Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre. Some gracefully rendered insights and a real Wellesian energy from Christian McKay. (full review 12/11)

Ninja Assassin (James McTeigue, 2009). Haven’t seen this much bodily mortification since The Passion of the Christ. With the secret mountain lair and the many flying implements of death, this should be more fun. (full review 11/25)