Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Well, things have already gotten more interesting since I published The Fifties a few weeks ago. Conceding some grotesque misfires, the broadly inept Hamlet 2 unquestionably the worst of them, I was extraordinarily moved by Trouble the Water, then richly entertained by Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys, and then coaxed out of my early skepticism toward Rachel Getting Married. All three movies will furnish fond memories at year's end... and that would be true even if the "competition" weren't shaping up so grimly. Sitting through preview trailers is becoming an endurance trial lately, given how bad they are for some of the ersatz big-ticket items. Frankly, I'm more excited to track down some winter and spring releases I missed in theaters, like Snow Angels and In Bruges and The Band's Visit, than I am to spend time with a lot of the Turkey Day and Yuletide menu items. But I've been wrong before, oh so many times: just last year, I couldn't wait for the turgid Youth Without Youth and expected Stephen King's The Mist to be a lump of coal. If Tyler Perry didn't already prove it, I really don't know what I'm going to like till it comes around. But I know what I expect to like, or at least what I'm excited about...

I'M DROOLING NOW
Che, Hunger, Milk, The Wrestler

I'LL DROOL WHEN THE TIME COMES
A Christmas Tale, Wendy and Lucy, Ballast, The Secret of the Grain, Happy-Go-Lucky

I'LL SHOW UP HUNGRY
Waltz with Bashir, Synecdoche, New York, The Class, I've Loved You So Long, Quantum of Solace

I'M EAGER TO TRY IT
Changeling, Let the Right One In, Nothing But the Truth, Slumdog Millionaire

TASTY INGREDIENTS, IFFY ON THE WHOLE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Appaloosa

I'LL TAKE TWO BITES
W., Defiance, The Reader

I DON'T KNOW, THIS SMELLS FUNNY
Doubt, Australia, Frost/Nixon, Last Chance Harvey, Revolutionary Road, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Brothers Bloom, Gran Torino, The Duchess, Valkyrie

LOST MY HANKERING
Ashes of Time Redux, Body of Lies, Good, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Passengers, The Secret Life of Bees, Seven Pounds, Soul Men, The Tale of Despereaux, Yes Man

STRIKE IT FROM THE MENU
Twilight, Transporter 3, Pride and Glory, Four Christmases, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, RocknRolla, Marley & Me

BURN THE KITCHEN
The Spirit, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Max Payne, Bolt, Bedtime Stories, What Just Happened?