The "Independents Week" series continues at the Harvard Film Archive: Tonight, the deadpan teachers'-lounge satire "Chalk", tomorrow Joe Swanberg's "Hannah Takes the Stairs," to my mind the best film yet to come out of the so-called MumbleCore scene.
"License to Wed" has the worst reviews of 2007 so far (Wesley hated it, and the Times' A.O. Scott held it out on tongs), so entertain yourself by reading them instead of paying good money to see a bad movie. "Transformers" and "Ratatouille" will likely dominate the weekend box office, attracting (respectively) 8-year-old boys of all ages and foodies of all sizes.
Mostly there's a new bunch of arthouse movies hitting town and most of them are at the Kendall Square: the sprightly zombie comedy "Fido" (in photo above, and, yes, that's comedian Billy Connolly in the middle); the pretty okay hitman comedy-romance "You Kill Me," which you should see for Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni but probably on DVD; and "Gypsy Caravan," a soul-lifting music documentary that's not just for world-music followers or Gipsy Kings freaks. (I.e., if you liked "Buena Vista Social Club," you'll like this.)
The omnibus film "Paris Je T'aime" returns to the Coolidge and the Kendall today after a brief appearance in May: here's Wesley's review. 18 short stories, one per arrondissement, with a roster of directors that includes Alexander Payne, Olivier Assayas, Wes Craven (!), and the Coen brothers, and a cast that includes Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Marianne Faithfull, and Elijah Wood. Admit it, you're curious.
The Brattle has "Broken English," which is a feast for Parker Posey fans, but save your Brattle-bucks until next weekend, when the Werner Herzog double-bill kicks in. You really need to see "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" on a big screen.
