Movie Reviews Galore

OK, well, I've seen a bunch of films lately and it seemed worth mentioning a few. First of all, "Batman Begins" is pretty good if you enjoy that kind of action/superhero movie. Christian Bale does a fine job as Bruce Wayne/Batman, perhaps second only to Michael Keaton in recent history (sorry Val Kilmer and George Clooney, but you know it's true). Director Christopher Nolan did Batman right, I'd say.

I also saw "Me and You and Everyone We Know" (http://www.meandyoumovie.com/) which was written, directed, and starred in by Miranda July, an artist who collaborated with my friend Harrell Fletcher on this web site project that made it into the Whitney Biennial last year:
http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/
Anyway, I highly recommend seeing the movie (and participating on the web site project). It's a hard movie to talk about, I realize. I think of it as feature-length video art, in some ways, with interesting cinematography and a focus on the beauty of the mundane in everyday life. The kid actors in it do a great job, and every character in the storyline is treated with dignity.

I rented "Be Cool" on DVD and just thought it stunk like a city dump in every way. Some critics said "The Rock" was the only good thing in the movie, but I wouldn't even go that far. He was no worse than anyone else, but every aspect of the movie was bad and dumb and didn't work. And I liked "Get Shorty" OK--I even read the Elmore Leonard novel. "Be Cool" though was very self-conscious of itself as a big "Hollywood" movie from the opening with James Woods in the car with John Travolta to Uma Thurman trying to pretend to be a widowed record producer to Harvey Keitel in one of the most mediocre roles of his entire career. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Vince Vaughn is almost funny at times, along with Andre 3000, but even when you do laugh it is almost in spite of yourself.

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