Catching up

Well if I'm not going to do real updates the least I can do is link to some of my outside reviews.

The latest, just in time to celebrate 5 well deserved Grammy nominations for the Dixie Chicks, is Shut Up and Sing. It's an entertaining and compelling documentary, especially enjoyable if you're a Dixie Chicks fan like myself. But you don't need to be to appreciate their story. It's a wild ride and really underlines how much the political winds have shifted in just a couple of years. (The review probably contains less analysis than any other I've written but I feel the point is really to celebrate and enjoy their story. However, it is definitely a high quality doc, entirely deserving of theatrical release.)

Last week brought The Nativity Story and Fur. Neither of them particularly good. Fur is slightly interesting in a quirky way but it's also one of the year's biggest disappointments, considering how good director Steven Shainberg's previous film, Secretary, was.

But there are a lot of good movies out. My recommended films sidebar hasn't been so large in quite some time, and there are several good movies still awaiting release. This year started off horribly and suffered through an unbearable summer, but things started rolling in late July/early August and 2006 is finishing with an exceptional fall season.

Happy Feet and Casino Royale have ruled the box office charts for the last three weeks and deservedly so. There's a wide mix in the marketplace right now of highly worthwhile mainstream and art films.

Stranger Than Fiction is a film that falls somewhere inbetween and is unfortunately getting a little lost in a crowded environment. Audiences are sure to find it in time (and appreciate what is easily Will Ferrell's best performance ever and work from Emma Thompson that equals her career-best) but I recommend seeing it sooner rather than later.

And finally, this weekend's The Holiday is one of the strongest romantic comedies in some time, with an excellent cast and intelligent quality storytelling from writer/director Nancy Meyers. It's unabashedly entertaining and perfect for the season. Hopefully it will join Happy Feet, Casino Royale and Borat as one of fall's big hits that also just happen to be good films.