Reviews: HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU, MEMORIAL DAY

Festivals: Yet more Sundance sales news,SXSW lineup, True/False lineup, Why Paul walked out of 500 Days of Summer

Lists: 5 Great Movie Marriages as Inspiring as the Obamas,10 Movies Ruined by a Former Child Star, Five Movies That Failed to Predict the Future, Part 2, 10 Classic Films That Would Be Better With Zombies, 5 High Points in Punk Rock on Film

Podcast: FilmCouch #107: Slumdog Millionaire, Watchmen Mania, He’s Just Not That Into You

Zeigeist: Chick Flicks and Economic Stimulus, Etta James and Beyonce, Blind Comparison, FANBOYS: Will Even Fanboys Say ‘Whatever’?,Lux Interior,Jude Law, Christian Bale, more Christian Bale, yet more Christian Bale,Jeff Lipsky vs. mumblecore, Super Bowl Ads, Oscar Predictions: Don’t Underestimate The Reader,Todd Solondz’s New Film,TWILIGHT Sequels to go Torture Porn?

This week awards season got underway in earnest, we learned lineup details on Berlin and Rotterdam, and the long, cold ass kicking that is Sundance began. See you next week!

• DEAR ZACHARY: A response to comments
• An Idiot’s Guide to the Magical Negro
• Polanski Wants Trial Moved Out of LA
• SILENT LIGHT Review
• Criterion’s Bottle Rocket: The Best and Worst Version Ever
• My Bloody Valentine 3D in 2D. Clip(s) of the Day
• Julie Delpy Goes to Berlin, Chris Moltisanti Goes to Rotterdam
• WGA Nominations
• Wall-E vs The Academy: Seven Snubbed Movies About The Future
• 13 Films We’re Watching At Sundance
• The Great Samurai Cop Swindle
• Ridley Scott’s 1984, and 11 Commercials From Famous Directors
• Sex Scenes: Sex and Drugs and My Way
• Anti-war Films ARE Successful!
• DGA Nominations
• Sad Milestones in the History of 3-D
• Film Independent and Netflix Launch Indie Film Competition
• Cinema Eye Honors 2009 Shortlist
• Sundance/Slamdance previews: LA MISSION, ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE UNDEAD, PAPER HEART TV, YOU WONT MISS ME, Amreeka
• FilmCouch #103: Comedy, Tragedy, Criticism
• Oscars: 10 Unlikely Nominations We’d Like To Se
• BATTLE FOR HADITHA DVD Review
• Trailers: Hurt Locker, High Kick Girl!, THE RAMEN GIRL
• Eastwood Roundtable Video Essays
• Hugh Jackman Drops Out of Soderbergh’s Elvis Musical

Two halfsie holiday weeks in one Week in Review! From the final days of recession gluttony to the cold dawn of 2009, we learned about charismatic Nazis, twisted nativities,Revolutionary Road, The Spirit, Chernenko-sploitation, and the most misunderstood movies of the past twelve months. Happy Everything!!!

For Your Consideration: 5 Alternates for Best Song Oscar

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review

Revolutionary Road Review

5 Most Offensive Uses of Special Effects

I.O.U.S.A. on YouTube, and Interview with Patrick Creadon

Jessica Biel is a Naughty Elf

Alternative Nativity: Five Movies about Life, Death, and Babie

Tom Cruise in VALKYRIE: A 5 Point Program To Becoming a Nazi

Home for The Holidays: Sexy (And Family-Friendly!) Cinema Suggestions

The Spirit Review

The Most Misunderstood Films of 2008

Eight Films Built Around a Nazi Fetish

Lynn Shelton: The Media Diet

Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li Trailer.

CARGO 200 Director Alexei Balabanov, Interview

Big, Stupid Hollywood Films We’re Looking Forward to in 2009

Is MSNBC Redefining Documentary?

Andy Warhol meets Steven Spielberg

New Year Wishes For 2009 From Lauren Wissot

Oscars: Best Picture Underdogs

The Spirit and the Graveyard of Failed Superheroes

FilmCouch #102: Best of 2008, Wholphin 7

CARGO 200 Review

Kathy Griffin’s New Years miracle

Our Favorite Jeffrey Wells Moments in 2008

If you have a film in Sundance or Slamdance, we want to talk to you.

Bests of 2008: movies that played in movie theaters, movies that didn’t, music videos

You should buy DVDs for presents.

Reviews: The Wrestler, Gran Torino

Lists: 5 Loveable Movie Racists, Worst Oscar Hosts, 5 Reasons Why I’m Thrilled the Che Roadshow is a Hit, 5 Classic Sci-Fi Remakes Starring Don Draper

Considering Milk’s Oscar dark horse.

German lesbian schoolgirls are sexier than sexy Nazis.

Tze Chun’s Media Diet

Casting the Inevitable Blagojevich Biopic

INTERVIEWS

Paul Rudd and David Wain Interview, Role Models, Fantastic Fest 2008

Ronnie Bronstein: The Media Diet

Watchmen director Zack Snyder on Hollywood and Video Games

REVIEWS

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Rachel Getting Married

The Pleasure of Being Robbed

Che Review and Steven Soderbergh Press Conference, NYFF 2008

…Read more

• Podcast: Olympics (Nastia!), Politics (Primary) and The Rape of Europa
• Will Heath Ledger’s final performance ever be seen?
• Whit Stillman follows up last week’s interview with a recommendation of Godfrey Chesire’s Moving Midway
• Review: Momma’s Man
• Karina revisits her frustration with Trouble the Water
• Recognizing the slow success of Step-Brothers and Whatever Happens in Vegas
• Lists: 10 Excuses for Delaying Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; 10 Underrated Songs by Fictional Groups (in Movies); 10 Worst Athletes-Turned-Action Hero Fight Scenes
• Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract with audio commentary by Karina
• Brandon Harris interviews filmmaker James Ponsoldt (Off the Black)
• R.I.P.: Film critic and artist Manny Farber
• Karina looks through the final Toronto Film Festival lineup; and later gives special attention to the programmed Paris Hilton documentary
• Religulous secretly opens in L.A. and NYC; and eventually receives a rave review from Variety
• Blame Russia for the failure of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Watch Josh and Benny Safdie’s latest short, There is Nothing You Can Do
• Comparing Mad Men’s Don Draper to Batman, and later, Richard Nixon to Batman
• Lauren calls Vicky Cristina Barcelona “a phenomenal work of intellectual porn”
• Kevin looks at the most disappointing movie to video game adaptation
• Chris discusses R-rated movie marketing
• Fellon Fest: The Dark Knight is killing us
• Carson Mell screens his animated shorts and music videos in San Francisco
• Videos: Star Wars‘ Death Star watches over San Francisco; Will Oldham eating mushrooms; Bill Murray skydiving; Josh Brolin does his best George Bush; Momma’s Man trailer; Tom Cruise Dancing; repeat performance of Cloris Leachman’s Oscar dildo
• Michel Gondry’s new comic book surprisingly labeled misogynistic
• Karina prepares for the Democratic National Convention with a look at the movie stuff
• One person not expected to attend: longtime Republican Dennis Hopper

• Elliott Gould Takes Brooklyn
• Tropic Thunder: Hollywood Will Gently Nibble Itself
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona: In Defense of Late Woody Allen
• Anti-Populism and Indie Antiquity: Interview with Whit Stillman
• Michael Moore Dares Obama to Denounce Him
• Eleanor Coppola’s Conceptual Art Rebellion
• 10 Best Animated Series Spun Off from Movies
• Woody Allen by Jean-Luc Godard
• Bigfoot Found?
• Did Harvey Weinstein Get What He (Maybe) Paid Anthony Lane For?
• Elizabeth Taylor Murdered?!?
• Downloading = The End of American Imperialism?
• Star Wars Wedding Album
• Miss Mae West and Me
• Porno, Synecdoche Added to Toronto Lineup
• Exclusive Clip: A GIRL CUT IN TWO
• Dames & Cakes: Tilda Swinton’s Film Festival
• Toilet Humor in ‘The Spirit’
• CHE, CHANGELING, WRESTLER Make NYFF Lineup
• Benh Zeitlin of GLORY AT SEA: The Media Diet
• iArthouse Born as Vongo & ClickStar Die
• Kim Novak Drags Judy Holliday Under the Stars
• Strippers + Explosions = Patriotism
• Azazel Jacobs at BAM
• Films Within Films I Want to See
• Slavoj Zizek is in a Terrible Mood
• Astaire, Kelly and the Sinatra Kiss of Death
• Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac and the Unfortunate Publicity Photo
• Mad Love for My IPhone
• Rebecca Hall: The First Female Woody?
• Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes in ‘Soul Men’. Clip of the Day
• Nastia’s Liukin’s Height of Fame? Stick It!
• FilmCouch #83: Tropic Thunder protest, The Clone Wars
• 10 Movies Sold on a Sex Scene
• Rohmer on the Lower East Side
• The Dark Knight: Where’s the Video Game?

• Podcast: Pineapple Express and the genius of Danny McBride
• The Media Diet: Jennifer Sharpe
• Lists: 10 Actresses Who’d Be Great as Catwoman, 15 Characters Who Unconvincingly Play Another Race, 10 Big Star Cameos
• Videos: The Informers trailer, Olympia for the Olympics, Cloris Leachman suggests doing unspeakable things with her Oscar, Muppet roommate, Scooby-Doo meets Batman
• Notes on a Sex Scandal
• A party with global implications
• Religulous and truth by way of deception
• The dumping of Midnight Meat Train
• Fest lineups: Fantastic Fest, DocuWeek
• Quentin Tarantino is not going to remake a Russ Meyer movie with Britney Spears.
• Antonioni’s fatal hunger strike
• A brief history of LucasArts video games
• Pondering the Barack Obama biopic
• George Lucas, who may or may not be the devil, wants to make lots of TV shows
• Pineapple Express made a lot of money.
• At least, Huey Lewis’ check cleared
• Robert Downey Jr didn’t cash his
• Nike distributes a documentary
• A YouTube contest to get killed
• Morgan Freeman played a bathing Dracula before he crashed his car

• Our complete Comic-Con coverage
• Lists: 10 Best Masturbation Scenes; 10 Ways Man on Wire is JUST LIKE The Dark Knight; Unsatisfying Threequels
• Videos: Che trailer; The Joker endorses McCain; Disney racism; Harry Potter trailer; W trailer; Harry Potter rocks the vote
• On FilmCouch: Comic-Con, Mardi Gras: Made in China
• The Secret History of Mardi Gras: Penises
• The Safdies hire Ronnie Bronstein
• The Media Diet: Tom Quinn
• Reviews: In Search of a Midnight Kiss
• George Bush says the 3452nd Mummy movie is good for “Oriental” diplomacy!
• Malcolm McDowell and the sex appeal of the psychopath
• Oliver Stone’s W: too soon?
• Two Lovers finds distribution
• Marketing Casablanca
• There was some confusion as to whether or not Zach Snyder is as much of a Smashing Pumpkins fan boy as he could be.
• But there’s no confusion about the lessons he could learn from Steven Spielberg’s disastrous E.T. video game
• Batman nerds attack
• Telluride Film Festival widget
• Toronto Film Festival documentaries
• My Effortless Brilliance in New York
• Say goodbye to R-rated horror
• Stuff Hollywood Assistants Like

• The Dark Knight fever:
  • Paul very positively reviewed it.
  • Kevin celebrated the urban setting of Gotham City.
  • 10 People Besides Heath Ledger Who Deserved a Posthumous Oscar.
  • Batman met Hellboy (in toy form).
  • The Dark Knight trailer was remade (in toddler form).
  • 10 Lamest Excuses For Why You Aren’t Seeing it.
  • Is there a villain worthy of following Heath Ledger’s Joker?
  • And, finally, the best reactions to The Dark Knight so far can be seen in the video above.

• On FilmCouch: oh yeah, more TDK.
• Last weekend: the fake George Bush got into a bar fight, was arrested.
• Spike Lee likens Barack Obama to Jesus. Again.
• Yes, Karina is on holiday. We miss her, too.
• But she left us with her excellent reading of Ghostbusters.
• And her thoughts on the YouTube-serialized Superman II: The Fan Cut.
• Goliath is now available on IFC’s Festival Direct VOD channel.
• Non-TDK reviews: Adam on Hellboy II: The Golden Army; Kevin on Transsiberian.
• Non-TDK lists: 5 Allegories for Charlize Theron’s Role in Hancock; 5 Movies Pretending to Be Video Games.
• Non-TDK trailers: Choke (red-band); The Spirit; Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog; Terminator Salvation.
• Lauren discussed the eroticism of Bunuel’s L’Age d’Or.
• Steven watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents and other TV DVDs during his latest Felon Fest.
• Why did Meet Dave bomb so badly?
• Andy Dick commited a sex crime.
• If we can’t find Paul, we’ll know he’s watching docs on his favorite new site, SnagFilms.
• Or, if it’s October 17-18, he could be attending The Conversation.

• It was the week where everyone questioned the future of theatrical. It all got so confusing that Mark Cuban was able to club Peter Bogdanovich over the head and drag him over to the digital dark side.
• We can all learn a lesson from Wall-E…and that lesson is that bad things happen when people buy iPhones.
• Will Che invade New York?
• We learned about the first two days of Geek Prom Comic-Con.
• Charlie Chaplin goes evil, gets sexy.
• Hancock was twisted.
• Nike put Kobe Bryant in a Delorean, sold 300 pairs of vaguely Back to the Future themed shoes.
• Bruce Connor died.
• I’m Through With White Girls.
• This week in unsatisfying hook-ups: video games and movies.
• I love La France.
• As far as black superheroes go, Hancock’s grip on impressionable young minds pales in comparison to Static Shock.
• On FilmCouch: La Jetee, Naruse, Sinatra.
• Meryl Streep will have her revenge on Pauline Kael.
• Silent Light is getting a theatrical release! Unless it’s not!
• Videos: Muppet Cover Songs, Less Than Zero, the Batman sell-out train continues, Tropic Thunder mocu-marketing, Hellboy 2 PSA
• Lists: Bad actors, Movies for Guillermo Del Toro to Remake,
• Quentin Tarantino, on crack.
• Sheffield DocFest, TIFF lineup additions
• Dr. Death: The Movie
• Karina did an interview.

• Gonzo director Alex Gibney talks about what makes him feel like Gandalf, and the search for the American Dream.
• Gerard Depardieu goes to the dungeon.
• Dragging the Hitchcock out of Mad Men.
• LAFF: Heaven Wants Out, Trinidad and Thing With No Name
• Metropolis edges towards a landmark restoration.
• Plot songs: classic style, Will Smith style.
• Who needs critics when we’ve got the producer of 88 Minutes?
• John Waters has a new “anarchist” muse.
• Videos: Quantum of Solace trailer, Hellboy goes Inside the Actors Studio; New Miyazaki, Muppets love America, too.
• Lists: 10 Best Superheroes Created For The Screen
• I always feel like, YouTube is watching me!
• IsThe Wackness Juno for boys? Or is it just a mirror of the ultra-boyish segment of the movie blogosphere?
• Related: 10 movies that definee New York in the 90s.
• On FilmCouch: Inside the YouTube screening room, and Wall-E.
• There are an awful lot of unauthorized ways to produce a Harvey Weinstein expose, apparently.
• War, Inc isn’t coming to DVD … yet.
• Peter Greenaway brings laser light show aesthetics to The Last Supper.
• Girls and boys can’t share Hollywood porn.
• Anti-strike activism from Temp X.
• Finally, a special July 4th treat: Nick Dawson points us to the website for Proud American, a film described thusly by its official synopsis, “While showing the nation’s spectacular landmarks and engineering marvels, historical sites and natural wonders, Proud American is really about the American people.” And it’s “presented by” Coca-Cola, MasterCard and Wal-Mart, so you know it has to be good!

• Los Angeles Film Festival: karaoke, Finishing Heaven, party pics
• SilverDocs: Alternative American Teens
• The Death Squads and The Film Critics
• Related: blogging hasn’t cured Peter Bart’s blogophobia.
• Videos: Cartoon porn, Cartoon George Carlin, Star Wars meets Princess Bride, Wii Lightsaber, Disaster, Latvian Ghostbusters.
• On FilmCouch: The death of George Carlin inspires talk of “life-changing” comedies.
• Lists: The Most Critically-Acclaimed Action Movies of the Decade, Five Films For Gay Pride, Potential Future Pixar Films With One-Word Titles, 10 Awful Matrix Spoof
• Momma’s Man gets shuffled in the THINKFilm litany of sad days
• The Arrested Development movie PR game.

• Lists: 5 Unsexy Movies About Sex, 15 Films That Offended Religious Groups; Ethnic Cinematic Atrocities and the Fake Beards That Enabled Them; 10 Movies That Beat Get Smart To The Punch;
• CineVegas: Britney Spears, Finally Lillian and Dan, Memorial Day; pictures
• SilverDocs: Spike Lee and refugees
• RIP, Cyd Charisse.
• Proof that the I Dream of Jeannie movie could be just like Armageddon.
• On the Podcast, Kevin and Paul talk Spielberg, Hitchcock and Shyamalan.
• More crappy viral marketing for The Dark Knight.
• Impersonating Christopher Walken.
• Laughing at Bangkok Dangerous
• Steven Boone returns to the halfway house to sample Susan Sontag and Terrence Malick.