Ty's picks for Friday, March 24, 2006

"Thank You For Smoking" -- Not the take-no-prisoners political satire this country could surely use, but a heck of a lot of fun, so it'll do until the real thing comes along. Aaron Eckhart plays the slimiest tobacco lobbyist you'll hate to love, and the dialogue is endlessly quotable. Never forget: "The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese."

"Inside Man" -- Wesley reviewed it and I haven't seen it, but it's getting the best reviews Spike Lee has had in years. And both Denzel and Jodie Foster sound as if they're at the top of their game. See you in the movie line.

The Boston Underground Film Festival runs until Sunday, at the Brattle, the Coolidge, the Harvard Film Archive, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed. Tonight at the Brattle is "East of Euclid," from one of Guy Maddin's collaborators, and "Psychopathia Sexualis," apparently a film adaptation of Krafft-Ebing's pioneering 1880 psychological work treaitise. (If it's as good as R. Crumb's version in the old "Wierdo" magazine, prepare to be amazed.) And at the HFA is "Pony Trouble!," billed as "a lighthearted comedy about necromancy, cannibalism, and plastic horses." It, uh, slayed them at the Brattle last November and is directed by local boy Warren Lynch. Support your local filmmakers, folks.

Also, feel free to go to the Wim Wenders/Sam Shepard collaboration "Don't Come Knocking" at the Kendall, if only to bow down to the brilliance of cinematographer Franz Luztig. Guy's got a pretty cool website, too.