The News: 'Core Class in Session

Pimp Lucious, Trapped! (Photo: IFC.com)

By S.T. VanAirsdale

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

--So as I've let on more than a few times and as our Reeler Pinch Hitters can attest, I journeyed a ways out of town over the last few weeks, removing myself not only from the NYC loop but almost entirely from the news cycle in general. I'd asked what I missed, but there seems to be only three stories taking place at the moment: Mumblecore, Mumblecore, Mumblecore. I guess I'd better get caught up. Give me a couple of days.

--"Is this really the city you know?" asks New York Magazine, where Bilge Ebiri conducts a "versimilitude test" of New York movies against the authentic milieu that spawned them. I agree on most counts, except for the semi-misreading of Peter Jackson's King Kong, whose '30s-era NYC -- with its elevated trains, icy streets and flawless skyline -- was as painstakingly accurate as it could be.

--"I ain't ever gonna stop p-p-p-pimpin'. P-p-p-pimpin's for life." Between this platitude and dreams of pigeon-shit attacks, the latest installments of Trapped in the Closet on IFC.com live up to their predecessors' absurd promise -- and then some. It makes almost negative sense, like a grand piano with one key, but damn if R. Kelly and Co. aren't devastating performers and the direction isn't, well, kind of stunning. It's very possibly the best comedy I've seen this year.

--Of course, I haven't seen Superbad, which evidently "grossed $31.2 million, breaking a 12-year-old record for movies that opened after August 15, said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures." What a stat! Watch out for this week's Resurrecting the Champ, however, fixing to become the highest-grossing Rod Lurie film ever to open on Aug. 24. Or the re-rescheduled The Nanny Diaries, which... oh, fuck it. (H/T: The Hot Blog)

Posted at August 20, 2007 9:03 AM