Jennifer’s Bright Meatballs (Weekly Links)

Bright Star: soothe thy lips.

Reviews I wrote for the Herald this week:

Bright Star. “Measured, murmuring.”

Jennifer’s Body. “Nothing gets in the way of the one-liners.”

Love Happens. “One watches this movie wishing for a bit of incompetence or sloppiness.”

The Burning Plain. “Just dependent clauses.”

The Informant! “His brain spinning like a gerbil on a wheel.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. “Nonstop monsoon of cheeseburgers and flapjacks.”

Somers Town. “Creates a glow around itself.”

Big Fan. “Some truly unexpected twists.”

Movie Diary 8/18/2009

Somers Town (Shane Meadows, 2009). Meadows began like an inheritor of the British kitchen-sink style, but each new movie he makes suggests a rich generosity about people and an ability to let actors’ personalities come out. This is a slip of a movie, not much more than an hour long, but it shines. (full review 9/18)

Post Grad (Vicky Jenson, 2009). Summer after college, Alexis Bledel, dead cat jokes, Carol Burnett as the Grammy. (full review 8/21)

Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain, 2008). Bleak view on a Saturday Night Fever enthusiast (although “enthusiast” suggests a mood that doesn’t exist in this world) in Chile during the Pinochet era. Uncompromising to a fault – and has dancing ever been as joylessly portrayed? (full review 8/21)