There are those people who think that because I see a lot of fancypants movies that I don’t like popcorn fare.  Au contraire mon frere; in fact, quite the opposite (See ”If Nothing’s Going to Blow Up, I’m Not Going.”)

And it was in that spirit and with great enthusiasm that I plopped down $56.25 (including parking and treats) to take my girlfriend out on a Friday night to see The Avengers.  I mean a billion dollars in box office can’t be wrong.  Can it?

Oh yes.  Yes it can.

Look, I really don’t consider myself a movie reviewer; I don’t have the education or the insight to back that title up.  But when you spend that much time squirming in your seat, you know something just aint right.

I also know that tearing down such a wildly popular movie is too easy and absolutely pointless.

And yet, here I go anyway.  Call it a personal rant.  Call it catharsis.

There’s one major reason I’m going to swim the breast stroke up these class VI rapids.  And it is not the logic-free story, the over reliance on endless CGI battle scene, a relentless war march of a score or the utter lack of character development; these are the foundations of the modern comic book movie.  But you usually also get some dramatic energy on the part of the well paid cast…some acting, or at least some over acting.  But not here.  It seemed to me that Nick Fury and the rest of the gang where so stressed out about the impending invasion that they popped a few Quaaludes.  I have never seen a group of superheroes so absolutely nonplussed about the end of the world.

Even with the inane dialogue they were given, they could have gotten worked up a little… just to keep themselves occupied during the shoot.  But Jesus, Sam, you have made me very desperate…to get my money back.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki seemed to be the one guy trying to do something with his character, which is funny – sure he’s the villain, but it’s hard to know exactly what he really has to do with anything.  When The Hulk finally (and hilariously) takes Loki out of the picture, absolutely nothing changes in the movie.  Because the real bad guys in this picture are the people who made it.

I feel better.  Thanks for listening.

This movie made me ANGRY!

“I Wish” is a delicate little movie about little people with big dreams.  A group of Japanese kids travel to the place where two bullet trains pass each other, a place, they think, where wishes come true.  But between the time they come up with the plan and its final implementation, the kids grow and their wishes change in lovely, subtle ways.  It’s a sweet, delicate movie that reminds me – somehow – of those Japanese rice candies - you know, the ones with the wrappers that melt in your mouth.

Nadine Labaki is a Lebanese actor and filmmaker (Caramel) who manages to make fun movies about serious subjects that affect the women in her region.  Her latest, “Where Do We Go Now?” is a hoot – and also a powerful look at the devastating affects of religious sectarianism.  In an isolated town populated by Christians and Muslims, the movie asks “Can’t we all get along?” Labaki’s answer seems to be: yes, if the women have their way.

There’s a long tradition of transplanting Shakespeare into different times and places, and that’s what they’ve done with “Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish” – in this case, the Montagues and Capulets are two ultra-orthodox Jewish sects: the Chabads and the Satmars.  But that’s not all director Eve Annenberg has done in this story within a story populated by kippah wearing street criminals…and it ends up being a lot of movie made for very little gelt.

 In repertory

Through next Sunday the 20th, it’s “The Poetry of Precision: A Robert Bresson Retrospective” at the Aero in Santa Monica.  This Sunday, an amazing double feature starting at 7:30: “Au Hazard Balthazar” and “Mouchette.”

“High & Low: Postwar Japan in Black and White” is a film series programmed in conjunction with LACMA’s small but terrific Daido Moriyama photography exhibit.  Check out Akira’s Kuroswa’s thriller “Stray Dog” at the Bing Theater Sunday at 7:30.

Cinefamily continues Animation Breakdown’s salute to Japan’s Studio Ghibli with “Castle in the Sky” Friday and three shows of “Spirited Away” on Saturday including a 2PM matinee for the kids!

The thrilling new film “Polisse” is based on real cases handled by the Children’s Protection Unit in Paris.  Swinging wildly from heartache to humdrum, belly laughs to gut-wrenching, you get a sense of what it’s like to be one of these cops – which is to say, you don’t know if its safe to feel at all.  Please note: this is an adult movie that deals with difficult subjects.  Matt’s Movies will screen “Polisse” on Tuesday the 15th in West LA.

The creative community is reeling after the passing of musician, rapper, activist, filmmaker and father Adam Yauch who died of cancer this past Friday, May 4^th in New York City. Yauch was a founding member of the Beastie Boys, one of the most groundbreaking and influential hip-hop groups of all time.

Yauch is being remembered and celebrated for his work with the Beastie Boys (KCRW’s Garth Trinidad hosted a beautiful tribute which you can listen to here), as well as his involvement in the Tibetan Independence Movement through his non-profit organization, the Milarepa Fund. What many people may not be as familiar with is his obsession with cinema, and his dedication to the production, promotion and distribution of great independent film through his company, Oscilloscope Laboratories.

In a touching reflection for the A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin writes:

Yauch was the George Harrison of Beastie Boys, a spiritual searcher, vegan, and practicing Buddhist whose obsession with film led him to start an essential art-house distributor named Oscilloscope Laboratories, just as Harrison’s cinephilia led him to form Handmade Films.

Under an alias (Nathaniel Hornblower), Yauch began exploring his fascination with filmmaking by directing many of the Beastie Boys videos including “So Whatcha Want” and “Intergalactic.”

His final work as director is a thirty minute escapade through the faux streets of New York called “Fight for Your Right Revisited” which stars Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood and Danny McBride as the Boys circa 1986, who through a series of misadventures, find themselves face to face with their future selves (played by John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell and Jack Black respectively). Weaved throughout this kooky, cameo-laden narrative is a music video for “Make Some Noise,” from the Beastie Boys 2011 album “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.” You can view the full version here:

 In addition to his filmmaking, Yauch also had a passion for championing great independent film and delivering it to the public. He founded Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2008, which has since developed a reputation for finding an audience for independent film that has been deemed ‘too risky’ or unwelcome in the mainstream. Many of the films distributed by Oscilloscope have been featured on The Treatment, including Andrea Nevin’s documentary about punk dads, The Other F Word, Oren Moverman’s The Messenger, and street art doc Exit Through the Gift Shop. For a full list of Oscilloscope titles, go here.

Yauch will certainly be missed, but his creative spirit lives on through the countless musicians, artists, filmmakers and fans whose lives he touched. Whether it’s watching an Oscilloscope film, revisiting our interviews, donating to his charity, or listening to the Beastie Boys on full blast, let’s all find a way to thank Adam Yauch for his incredible contributions to our world.

Before I signed on to produce The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell last fall, the closest experience I’d had to a film festival was an all-night Christian Bale marathon at the Aero.  Armed with snacks and a neck pillow, I sat through five Bale features in a row from 7PM to 5AM. It was awesome.

But not even my Bale-athon can compare to the exhilarating experiences I’ve had this year at Sundance and Tribeca.

I’m constantly overwhelmed with film screeners, books, and television shows to consider for The Treatment.  I’m getting better at dealing with the guilt associated with the fact that I will never be able to read or watch every single thing that comes across my desk.  In that regard, I love film festivals, because I get to see a LOT of films in concentration, and discover talent I wouldn’t have heard about otherwise.

I must say, sitting through four or five movies in a day can be rather draining.  By the end of the day you’re all nerves and emotions; your butt is imprinted in the theater seat, and your feet are buried underneath a sea of burrito wrappers and Coke cups.  And then, once it’s all said and done, you have to somehow communicate your experiences to others in a satisfying way, which is quite a daunting task, even for the most stoic and seasoned film critic (of which I am not – that’s Elvis’ job).

I saw ten films at Tribeca, but when I got back I immediately started writing about the “Elles” by Polish director Malgoska Szumowska.  It wasn’t one of my favorites at the festival, but perhaps it was the one I needed to process most.  The film stars Juliette Binoche as Anne, a journalist who’s writing a piece about student prositution.  Szumowska co-wrote the film after reading an article about the increasing popularity of this alarming social trend among French college females.  In other words, it’s a hot topic, and the film is full of explicit sex scenes that were at times very difficult to watch.

Ironically, the first thing I wrote about the movie was a cold and clinical review (which you can read below if you have nothing but time and like to read things that are boring).  I just didn’t know what to make of it, or what to make of my strong reaction to it.

Although many critics are exasperated by Szumowska’s portrayal of the female experience, Binoche’s performance alone is worth the ticket.  I hadn’t heard a word about it before Tribeca, but that’s one of the greatest parts about the festival: the joy in discovering a new filmmaker or appreciating a well-known talent.  Once the last burrito wrapper had been thrown away, and I was back on the plane to LA, I knew that for whatever reason, I had to share this part of my festival experience.  “Elles” is playing at the Nuart now through Thursday, May 10^th.  View the trailer here.

Elles is distributed by Kino Lorber and now in limited release.  It is directed by Malgoska Szumowska and written by Malgoska Szumowska and Tine Byrckel. It stars Juliette Binoche, Anais Demoustier and Janna Kulig. Rated NC-17.

NOTES FROM TRIBECA: “ELLES” directed by Malgoska Szumowska
By Jenny Radelet

A husband and wife mill around the kitchen preparing breakfast. The husband, Patrick, is dressed in his suit and tie and the wife in her bathrobe. The children are late for school, and there is much to be done before Patrick’s boss comes over for dinner that evening. The wife, Anne, tries to close the refrigerator door, but various bottles of dressing and milk continually get in the way of it shutting fully. Finally, in a wave of frustration, Anne slams the door shut, only to have it swing wide open again. “What did the fridge do to you?” the husband asks.

Anne’s domestic frustration, which she comically takes out on the fridge, is central to ‘Elles,” which was co-written and directed by Polish filmmaker Malgoska Szumowska. The film stars Juliette Binoche as Anne, a journalist, wife, and mother of two boys. When we first meet Anne, it is just before the kitchen fiasco. She is sitting at the computer in her beautiful Parisian apartment, disheveled after working through the night on her latest piece for Elle magazine: an expose about female college students who are prostituting themselves in order to afford school and living expenses.

We spend the day with Anne as she prepares dinner, does laundry, tidies up the house, and wanders around aimlessly listening to classical music. Cut in between these domestic vignettes is the story of her two interview subjects, the wholesome, flirtatious Lola and the explosive, childlike Alecja (played by Joanna Kulig, who gives a standout performance.) Anne begins her work as a concerned, almost maternal outsider seeking understanding. Gradually, as she becomes more immersed in the lives of these girls, she begins to unravel, calling into question all the relationships with the men in her own life, and distancing herself from her domestic roles of wife and mother.

The idea for “Elles” spawned from an article about the increasing epidemic of female prostitution in French colleges. Szumowska presents it as a social trend with complicated roots. Lola is drawn to it out of fear of ending up like her lower-middle class parents. Alecja resorts to it after a frustrating meeting with a school counselor leaves her with nowhere else to turn. Although these young women have different motivations for prostituting themselves, they both seem to enjoy the attention they receive from men, and the lifestyle it enables them to afford.

Szumowska depicts human sexuality in many complicated forms. It is soft and sensual, grotesque and violent, bizarre, isolating and at times, tragic. The scenes are so explicit that the film merited an NC-17 rating when it was released in New York and Los Angeles this past weekend. Thankfully, Binoche’s performance adds humor and compassion that gives the film some balance and the viewer some relief.

We never get to read Anne’s piece once it’s finished, but one can gather it would be in line with Szumowska’s realm of thought: that prostitution is a woman’s choice, that sex for money can be enjoyed, and that men’s perception of women remains flawed. Whether or not you agree, “Elles” is worth seeing as a provocative exploration of the themes of guilt, consequence, pleasure, loneliness and the female experience.