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Ty's movie picks for Friday April 11

Posted by Ty Burr April 11, 2008 10:15 AM

contempt.jpg

Pretty slim pickings this week: Hands down the best movie in town is 45 years old: Jean-luc Godard's "Contempt," at the Brattle. If you've never seen prime 60s Godard on the big screen, this is the one to go for, and it's in a brand new print that shows off every aching frame of its Technicolor wide-screen visuals. Bardot's backside and Godard's esthetic self-flagellation have never seemed so majestic.

Other than that, Wesley likes the new Iraq-themed doc "Body of War" very much. And there's a whole bunch of passable but not very successful entertainments clogging up the multiplexes: Another cute, harmless (and there's the problem) Ryan Reynolds comedy-drama, "Chaos Theory"; another heavy-breathing David Ayer nasty-cops thriller, "Street Kings," starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker; a pleasantly shallow French Riviera comedy with Audrey Tautou, "Priceless." Avoid the turgid "Dark Matter," about a Chinese grad student going psycho in American academia, even if Meryl Streep is in it (in a smallish role). As for "Prom Night," which didn't screen for critics -- well, you're on your own there.

Nice round-up at the Museum of Fine Arts of the rock docs of Murray Lerner through April 20 -- tonight you can see his very fine "Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who," while tomorrow at 3 pm is the first of five screenings of Lerner's latest, "The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival," which compiles footage of Dylan's 1963-1965 transformation from folkie sensation to thermonuclear rock and roller.

One last thing: Starting Monday, BU hosts the first Boston Muslim Film Festival -- a good idea with a strong group of films you won't find anywhere else.

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2 comments so far...
  1. What? No shoutout for Black Girl in a free screening at the Brattle? When the pickings are this slim, we could all use a dose of Sembene.

    Posted by Dan April 11, 08 01:01 PM
  1. it's probably the OCD in me, but i often hesitate in watching these classics on the big screen because i haven't seen his previous works. is that pretty bad? =P

    TY RESPONDS: Pretty bad, jedi, but not inexcusable, There's still time to save your soul, and it's only an hour and a half or so out of your life. Go for it.

    Posted by JediFonger April 11, 08 04:43 PM
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About Movie nation Movie news, reviews and more.
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Ty Burr is a film critic with The Boston Globe.
Wesley Morris is a film critic with The Boston Globe.
Janice Page is a freelance movie reviewer for The Boston Globe.
Tom Russo is a regular correspondent for the Movies section and writes a weekly column on DVD releases.

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