(Gort shows Keanu Reeves a thing or two about acting in the original 1951 "The Day the Earth Stood Still")
The biggies this weekend are "Doubt" and "Frost/Nixon". Both are entertaining enough Oscar-bait, mostly on the strength of the performances: Frank Langella's Richard Milhous Nixon in "F/N" is a fabulously watchable conceit and beholding Meryl Streep at her most enjoyably eeevil and Philip Seymour Hoffman at his most likeable (and therefore highly suspect) is like getting a double serving of ham for the holidays. (Viola Davis, who'll get Oscar nominated on the strength of her one scene, is the mustard.)
Both of these movies are essentially theatrical two-handers transposed to the screen, and both are rather more shallow than they first appear. But that's okay: Serious drama can be fun, and when Streep and Langella are cooking, you know they know that. Just don't go to "Frost/Nixon" expecting the facts of the matter or to "Doubt" expecting subtlety.
"Nothing Like the Holidays" is everything like a home-for-the-holidays movie, with salsa. But the cast --especially Elizabeth Pena -- makes it go down easy. "How About You" is an adaptation of a Maeve Binchy story that gives Vanessa Redgrave an excuse to do things with turbans. Let that stand as either recommendation or warning.
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" -- Gort, Klaatu barada not-go.
The Harvard Film Archive's Nagisa Oshima retrospective continues; what I said last week in this space still holds. Do try to see the aching, absurdly powerful "Boy" on Saturday night. It's one of Derek Malcolm's very favorite movies. One of mine, too,
The Brattle is going Indy rather than indie this weekend, with the airing out of all four of Spieberg's Indiana Jones movies. Yes, even the much-abused "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which I still say fell victim to the youthful nostalgic delusions of much of its audience (in other words: it's a lot more like the other three than you probably want to admit). Just to gussy things up and give the series a patina of class, the excellently-named Dr. Jason Ur from Harvard's Anthropology Department will introduce the 7:00 and 9:30 shows tonight. (Does this guy really exist or will it turn out to be Brattle director Ned Hinkle in a pith helmet? Nope, he exists.)
The eerie "Manufactured Landscapes," one of my top picks from last year, has a return engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts as part of the ongoing "Photography on Film" series. With barely a word, this documentary about Edward Burtynsky's eco-photography makes a far more cogent case for man's predations than anything in "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
The Coolidge is showing "Gremlins" Sunday at 9:30, all you 80's tater-tots. Just pray that the screening doesn't go after midnight... and that it doesn't rain...
