Screening Gotham: All-Positive Edition!

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

Editor's Note: While I thought my Top 10 of Top 10 Lists was all about effecting constructive change in contemporary film writing, a few others either directly or indirectly implicated feel differently. They're hardly alone, so with that in mind, and as long as I can sustain it, I resolve to henceforth host All-Positive Fridays on The Reeler. That it also promises to be relatively quiet around here should be no reflection on my threshhold for upbeat coverage; rather, it's a brutally slow news day even for smug, self-satisifed grumps like yours truly.

--The Slate Movie Club as hosted by David Edelstein over the last few years was consistently one of the most engaging annual film reads on Earth. Then Edelstein went to New York Magazine, and Dana Stevens stepped in as Slate's critic. Certainly you wondered, as I did, "Could she handle the Movie Club duties with similar aplomb?" This week's answer: With Keith Phipps, Carina Chocano and Wesley Morris at her side, you better believe it. Most notable thus far: Morris's takedown of Babel. OK, so that's not all positive, but Morris nails it.

--Palm Pictures and the video download service EZTakes are officially partners, I hear, and their first release is Brooklynite Michael Kang's superb coming-of-age dramedy The Motel. The deal here is that you can actually burn your downloads to DVD, which will make David Denby slightly happier. And that's positive.

--Like Denby, Tony Scott wants you to take your kids to the movies. But, you know, the good ones: "I was gratified to hear my own children, on the subway ride home [after viewing The Illusionist], puzzling out the intricacies of the plot and arguing about its ambiguities, just as the grownups did." See? Positive!

--If you're a fan of the non sequitur, Roger Friedman's SAG Award nominations item today features a great one: "But left out of the Ensemble Acting, strangely, was Stephen Frears’ The Queen. Is it now susceptible to losing a Best Picture nomination from the Academy?" Positively profound!

Posted at January 5, 2007 10:38 AM