If my laptop dies while I’m at a festival that means I don’t have to do any work, right? Woo-hoo!

There is a movie about owls coming out today, so that should make you owl lovers happy. It’s called “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” which sounds like the title of something I would not like but that turns out to be pretty entertaining. Owls!

In limited release before it goes wide next week is “Never Let Me Go,” based on the beloved novel that everyone’s been telling you to read the last couple years. The film very admirably translates the novel’s emotions,  and I think fans of the book will enjoy it.

Remember Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street”? Well, he is still alive! In “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” he gets tangled up with Shia LaBeouf, which seldom ends well for anyone.

Disney has a comedy called “You Again” out today, but only critics who write for print publications were invited to the screening. Actually, at first everyone was invited, but then the studio changed its mind and uninvited the onliners, telling them it had been canceled. Stay classy, Disney!

Other limited release goodness: the thrilling coffin-based drama “Buried,” Joaquin Phoenix’s waste of time “I’m Still Here,” and a wonderfully sweet senior-citizen romance called “Lovely, Still.”

At Film.com, “What’s the Big Deal?” is about “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” and “Eric’s Bad Movies” features “Firestorm.” It’s a fire and a storm all in one, for your convenience.

Yeah, I don’t know why this didn’t go up on Friday. Goblins?

Ben Affleck’s “The Town” is wicked smaht. “Easy A” is a sharp, funny teen comedy. “Devil” (produced by M. Night Shyamalan), one of Hollywood’s Shameful Secrets®, is mediocre but not bad. Something called “Alpha and Omega,” about computer-animated wolves was screened for critics, but on a Sunday afternoon, and eff that.

At Film.com, “What’s the Big Deal?” is about “The 400 Blows,” one of them French movies from that New Wave they had over there.

Finally, “Eric’s Bad Movies” has at long last captured its white whale: “Cool As Ice,” starring Vanilla Ice. Every time I have asked for suggestions for this column, many people have said “Cool As Ice.” It’s a no-brainer. The problem has been that it was never released on DVD, and barely released on VHS (not that I would stoop to watching a videotape anyway). But now, in conjunction with its U.K. DVD release, it’s available in the U.S. through Netflix’s Watch Instantly, and so I was able to see it. What a blessed age we live in.

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And with a “thunk,” the mystery of Susan’s missing underpants was solved. #lastlinesofbadromancenovels

Self-parodying word-barfer Armond White: “RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE superior to INCEPTION and AVATAR.” http://bit.ly/ck8EwZ

Self-parodying word-barfer Armond White: “RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE superior to INCEPTION and AVATAR.” http://bit.ly/ck8EwZ

Did you know the Statue of Liberty was a gift from foreign leaders to warn us against socialism? http://bit.ly/aajo66

The one year I went to TIFF was the one year @scotteweinberg *didn’t* go. We’re not allowed in Toronto at the same time.

Thank you all for your suggestions for “Eric’s Bad Movies” a few weeks ago, and feel free to continue contributing ideas by posting comments in that thread. Now I come to you again seeking suggestions for my other Film.com column, “What’s the Big Deal?”

The criteria are completely different for this column. The idea behind “What’s the Big Deal?” is that there are many films the average person has heard of that are supposed to be “classics,” but that maybe the average person hasn’t seen. And sometimes you’ll watch one of those movies, expecting a classic, and when it’s over you think, “Well, that was OK. But what’s the big deal?” This column is meant to lay out what the big deal is.

My experience has been that if I plop down and watch some “classic” film for the first time, without any advance preparation, often I’ll come away underwhelmed. There’s a good reason for this. A movie from, say, 1960 wasn’t made for me. It was made for people in 1960. I don’t have the same frame of reference that the film’s intended audience would have had. So then I’ll read what other people have written about the movie and I’ll realize, oh, it was the first film to do this, or a good example of that, or it came out while this trend was popular, or while this topic was in the news, or whatever. Once I have some context, it increases my enjoyment of, and my appreciation for, the film.

Continue reading…

Have critics in other places found that screenings of YOU AGAIN have been canceled, or is this phenomenon unique to the Pacific Northwest?