This weekend will see the battle of theWs in theaters across America, as moviegoers decide whether they want to watch the world go out with a stunning Pixar whimper in "WALL-E" or see Angelina Jolie make civilization safe for testosterone-based lifeforms in "Wanted". (That's EVE from the former movie above, not Angelina from the latter.)
Not really a contest, in my opinion. "Wanted" will get all the angry young men who wouldn't be caught dead going to a family film until word gets out that "WALL-E" is a visionary sci-fi parable that in some ways is the most grown-up release of the year. Some of the action scenes director Timur Bekmambetov comes up with in "Wanted" blew me away, sure, but I sat through "WALL-E" in sustained, even deepening awe at what Pixar attempts and achieves here. In a way, the film's the successful merging of Kubrick and Spielberg sensibilities -- which is to say profound disenchantment and radiant hope -- that "AI: Artificial Intelligence" wasn't.
That and the R rating for "Wanted" will cut into its ticket sales, so you know who's going to win the box office race. I'm just curious to see to what extent middle America embraces "WALL-E" over the next few weeks. It's a dense movie and, under the surface, a very dark one. This isn't "Finding Nemo". This is better. (And, oh my, look at these reviews.)
If you can't get your brain around a CGI animated movie that you should see even if you don't have kids, there are other choices. Wesley loves the new Fatih Akin movie "The Edge of Heaven," and as a huge fan of the German-Turkish director's "Head-On," I feel duty bound to tell you to check the movie out, even if I haven't seen it myself yet. It's at the Kendall, as is a short, quiet, achingly moving little drama about where sublime faith turns dangerous, "My Father My Lord."
"Brick Lane," about the cultural collision between a Bangladeshi bride and her new country, England, is at the Kendall and the Coolidge. The Brattle brings in "The Tracey Fragments," which per Wesley may test the patience of Ellen Page fans while pleasing those with attention deficit disorder. Also opening this week is "Finding Amanda," which will test the patience of Matthew Broderick fans and anyone who likes good movies.
At the Harvard Film Archive, a weekend of the groundbreaking political documentaries of the late Emile de Antonio. Friday night doubles up "In the Year of the Pig," the 1968 Vietnam doc that now looks like the coolly angry grandaddy to Michael Moore's agitpop, and 1966's "Rush to Judgment," one of the first major JFK assassination-conspiracy works. Saturday gives you a chance to see the riveting "Point of Order," in which de Antonio lets Senator Joseph McCarthy hang himself with his own documentary footage. Good stuff all around.
The "New Cinema from Spain" series finishes up this weekend at the MFA; also showing at the museum is "Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts,"which gets a thumbs up from the Globe's classical music critic Jeremy Eichler.
Oh, and if you're headed out the Turnpike, Mass MOCA in the Berkshires is hosting a cool event tomorrow: An outdoor screening (unless it rains) of the 1973 Bruce Lee classic "Enter the Dragon" with live music accompaniment by DJ/percussionist Karsh Kale.
If you're not headed out at all, there are three Cyd Charisse films on Turner Classics tonight. Good ones, too: if you can't stay up, set your Tivo for "Silk Stockings" at midnight.
