Children of Men was a huge breath of fresh air to scifi films. Tight movie, shot intelligently, interesting cinematography and storytelling. District 9 isn't quite as solid or well polished, but it's a thoughtful and entertaining film. Worth seeing in a theater as an antidote to all the garbage American action flicks.

Both films are grimly depressing. But they're not simplistic dystopian future films where the horrible world is comfortably distant from today. The world in these films is terrible now, today, for identifiable reasons. It's a very pessimistic reflection on our current society. It works quite transparently in District 9's case, drawing directly on apartheid experience to tell the story of what would happen if indigent aliens came to Johannesberg and squatted there in shantytowns. Basically the director is expanding on his short film Alive in Joburg, taking good advantage of his $30 million budget and less good advantage of a 112 minute running length.

District 9 is strongest at the start setting up the world. Excellent use of documentary-style filmmaking and lots of shaky-cam to reveal classic unthinking xenophobia of various stripes. The movie then goes on to more of a classic action flick with slightly irritating Enemy Mine moralistic overtones. It works pretty well though, doubly so because Neill Blomkamp applies his CG background to some really great mech-suit and giant spaceship scenes.

If District 9 is a success we can no doubt look forward to District 10, a Roland Mmmerech / Michael Bay $200M production. The explosions will be bigger, the action sequences will be edited to a frame of their lives, and the soul will be completely gone. In the meantime maybe they'll be making good scifi films somewhere outside the US studio system.

The newly renovated Sundance Kabuki is a pretty good movie theater. It's a fancy theater for grownups: reserved seats, an effort to show good films, even a bar that lets you bring cocktails into the movie screening.

We had a pretty good experience on Thursday seeing Julie & Julia. Great film. The balcony seats were comfortable, the projection and sound were good, and the audience was polite. That last point is important; I seldom go out to movies because I hate the rude audiences but a movie about Julia Child at a theater that's $2 more / ticket than normal is a bit self selecting. Also the theater didn't show any ads, too many previews, or offensive threats to put the audience in jail. A welcome change.

The real novelty of the place is decent food and drinks in the movie. That was a mixed bag. The menu sure beats jujubes and popcorn, but it's not a proper dinner. And the alcohol service is limited to an awkward, crowded upstairs bar, a few small theaters, and balcony seating in the main theater. But the balcony worked out quite well, it was very nice to enjoy a martini and some fresh potato chips from our front row balcony. I can recommend Dosa across the street for a late dinner afterwards to make a full date.

I sure wish San Francisco had something like Portland's brewpub theaters. I have many happy memories of beer and pizza watching second-runs and old flicks at the Bagdad. Great place to watch Repo Man.

I'm not going to pretend it's a good movie. Speed Racer is a summer film with no redeeming narrative or characters. But it's absolutely beautiful and if the visuals interest you at all go see it very soon. Because there's no point in watching this film other than the sensory experience in a real theater, and it's unlikely to be in theaters for long. The pleasure of the movie is entirely in the incredible visual language. The Wachowskis aren't shy at all in their formalism and the film is a triumph of oversaturated plastic colours, insane cartoon collage, and overwhelming motion sequences. Visually the whole film is kind of like the monolith sequences in 2001. Only instead of LSD infused cosmic transcendance it's MDMA fueled heart pumping sensory overload. It's absolutely exhausting, ridiculous, and beautifully conceived and rendered. Either you'll find it interesting or you'll hate it.

In the five and a half years I've been a Netflix subscriber I've rented 104 movies. That's an average price of $11 a rental. I'm apparently one of their best customers.

Looking for something intelligent to watch? Can't wait for Season 2 of Mad Men? Do yourself a favour and rent The Apartment, the 1960 film from which Mad Men borrows half its period setting. It's a great movie thanks to the fantastic performance from Jack Lemmon. He's a total sap, a bit of a nerd, and yet despite everyone walking all over him he remains charming and self-posessed. He's also got enough backbone to get the girl in the end. Shirley MacLaine is good as the girl too, and while the movie falls a bit too much into dopey romance comedy it always has a bitter New York edge that keeps it tasty.

Netflix announced today that they're going to stop stocking HD-DVD and will exclusively stock Blu-ray. That's it, the stupid format war is over.

Well, at least it was only 90 minutes.

I went to see Aronofsky's new movie yesterday (as you would know if you were following me on twitter). I'm glad I went, but it was somewhat disappointing. It suffers the same problem as Kill Bill; lots of formalism, lots of beauty, but ultimately signifying nothing. I think the biggest problem is that the main characters are so abstracted that we don't really care about them. Both Pi and Requiem for a Dream were highly stylized and abstract as well, but the lead characters and situation were strong and personal enough to create emotional connection. In this film the characters exist in a bubble of formal beauty, inaccessible to us.

Still it is awfully beautiful, and the music's great, and there's some nice symbolism for its own sake. If you're a film geek it's worth watching.

I've been so excited about the A Scanner Darkly film that I read the book again and then went to the opening screening today. Here are my impressions.

More inside ...

Sitting at home, eating a chili dog, drinking a couple of beers, and watching Repo Man. Life really doesn't get much better.