“To Rome with Love”
Directed by: Woody Allen
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Saturday 7/07/2012 with my wife at the Sierra Vista Cinema 16 in Clovis

My wife and I agree on a lot of things about going out to the movies. First: Even a bad big-budget movie in Mandarin will probably be more interesting than most bad big-budget movies in English. Second: Always see an indie movie the first weekend it comes out in Fresno, because it will probably be gone by the same time next week. Third: Even a mediocre Woody Allen film will probably be better than most everything else in the theater that weekend.

Well, we might have to question that last one after seeing Woody Allen’s latest ensemble comedy, “To Rome with Love.”

Going in, I read some harsh reviews about the 76-year-old Allen’s most recent film, which played out as a mishmash of ideas centered around four separate stories. The only connection was that all the stories took place in Rome. That general formula has worked well for Allen in so many other great films. But here, the narratives do not overlap literally or thematically, which left me feeling like “To Rome with Love” was, as several critics suggested, a series of unexplored chunks cut from previous scripts that got loosely tossed together into this one. That didn’t help the dialogue, which felt wooden and forced.

The movie had its charming characters, for sure. I particularly loved Rogerto Benigni as a working-class Italian man who is unexplainably swept into a media circus as a temporary celebrity. I also loved Fabio Armiliato as a humble funeral director whose gorgeous tenor singing voice can only be realized when he’s singing in the shower. But there were other not-so-charming characters– Alec Baldwin’s philandering architect, Ellen Page’s self-absorbed actress, Alessandra Mastronardi’s naive country girl, etc. In the end, the only thing that made “To Rome with Love” worth seeing in the theater was that I didn’t have any interest in seeing the new, younger Spider Man or the foul-mouthed talking teddy bear, Ted.

“Footnote”
Directed by: Joseph Cedar
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Friday 5/11/2012 with my wife at the Tower Theatre in Fresno
At first glance, a film about the deep rivalries between professors of Talmudic studies seems like it’d make a pretty boring movie. But fortunately, the emotional complexity of “Footnote,” an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, far exceeds the mind-numbing minutiae of the real academic world. Plus, I always love father-son stories, and director Joseph Cedar turns this one into a real puzzle, with equal parts oddball wit and brutal reality.

“Turn Me On, Dammit!”
Directed by: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Friday 6/08/2012 with my wife at the Tower Theatre in Fresno
Everybody loves a good Norwegian sex comedy! Am I right?! This little gem of a coming-of-age film, from first-time director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, tells the funny, wistful story of Alma, a sex-obsessed teen girl growing up in Nowheresville. The movie, which shows Alma exploring her sexuality through masturbation, phone sex, and various fantasies and embarrassing social situations, was briefly banned in Alabama after protests by religious groups. But I thought such a ban was totally unnecessary, as the film was very sweet and tastefully done.

“Monsieur Lazhar”
Directed by: Philippe Falardeau
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Friday 7/13/2012 with my wife and our friend Gosia at the Tower Theatre in Fresno
Another Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, “Monsieur Lazhar” tells the heartbreaking story of an Algerian refugee in Canada who is hired to take over an elementary school classroom after a teacher commits suicide. The opening sequence sets a heavy tone, but the perfect performance of Mohamed Fellag as Monsieur Lazhar brings charm, humor, and great humanity to the film. The ending– a fable within a fable– is abrupt but cathartic, and it reminded me that poetry and beauty can be found in even the darkest moments of grief.

“Melancholia”
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Format: DVD from Redbox
Viewed: Tuesday 6/05/2012 with my wife at home

For decades, Hollywood screenwriters have tried to capture, on film, the end of the world. I haven’t seen every apocalypse movie that’s out there, nor do I want to. (There must be explosions! Lots and lots of explosions!) But this summer, I caught two end-of-the-world movies that felt understated and a bit different.

I’ve been a fan of Danish director Lars von Trier since 2000, when my love for Björk led me to see von Trier’s stark musical Dancer in the Dark in the theater. That movie bowled me over with its unconventional style, which communicated a heartbreaking bleakness that I’ve seldom seen on screen. In von Trier’s latest film, “Melancholia,” he operates in a similarly unconventional style throughout. The movie, which opens with a long and beguiling slow-motion sequence, tackles the idea that depressed people react more calmly to stress and catastrophe than those who are, on the surface, more well adjusted.

“Melancholia” tells the story of two sisters: The movie’s first half takes place during one sister’s wedding, and the second half takes place shortly afterward, as the Earth is about to collide with another planet. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg play the sisters with sharp contrast. Dunst delivers her finest performance since her role in “The Virgin Suicides,” showing both the snarling ugliness and the calm clarity of depression. Gainsbourg, who I previously knew best from her music collaboration with Beck, provides the perfect foil, showing fearful doubt and fidgety uncertainty. The sisters, alone except for a few other family members at a private estate, experience the end of the world largely in quiet and isolation, a filmmaking move by von Trier that lends a progressively creepy and heavy feeling to the movie’s breathtaking conclusion.

“Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”
Directed by: Lorene Scafaria
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Friday 6/22/2012 with my wife at the Sierra Vista Cinema 16 in Clovis

A couple weeks later, I saw an apocalypse movie of another kind: “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” which is actually a romantic comedy, if you can believe it. The movie is directed by Lorene Scafaria, a young filmmaker who so far likes to make boy-meets-girl flicks for the semi-indie crowd. After seeing “Melancholia,” I didn’t expect much from a rom-com that starred Steve Carell and Keira Knightley as neighbors brought together in an unlikely end-of-the-world love relationship. But even though “Seeking a Friend” was pretty glossy Hollywood and the writing was a bit generic at a few points, it had many sweet and funny moments. Ultimately, I thought the heart of the movie was really ambitious and well done.

The film got me thinking about Steve Carell, who is best known for his TV role as a bumbling boss in “The Office,” and who has starred in a number of Hollywood hits in the past decade. Carell plays the lead role in many of his films as an aww-shucks everyman that we can’t help but love despite his tics. There are definitely elements of this typecast that follow him throughout “Seeking a Friend,” as Scafaria’s script sometimes veers toward the predictable. So, to use von Trier’s binary, Carell shows just enough sadness and just enough strength to elevate his performance to something special. His character is named “Dodge” for a reason, and of course you can’t dodge the apocalypse in the end.

“Moonrise Kingdom”
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Format: Big screen
Viewed: Sunday 6/24/2012 with my wife at the Edwards Fresno Stadium 22

Wes Anderson movies always have me at hello. His latest masterpiece, “Moonrise Kingdom,” was no exception. I loved following the adventure of the two 12-year-old outcasts, Sam and Suzy, as they fall in love and run away together. As the bumbling cadre of townspeople– a strange assortment of characters that only Anderson could conjure– closes in on the runaway lovebirds, my heart filled with true joy for cinema.

So, in the spirit of Wes Anderson whimsy, I thought I’d ask my Facebook friends for a little help in reviewing the movie. Here are their short (and mostly positive) reviews:

— “Moonrise Kingdom is the childhood you’d wished you’d had.”

— “Wes Anderson finally found the most natural choice of group for his aesthetic– boy scouts!”

— “The film felt like a collage of all his other films, and I enjoyed the slow ride through Andersonville. (Not the infamous Civil War prison Andersonville, but an imaginary town composed of all of Wes Anderson’s films.)”

— “I liked it.”

— “Visually I was very interested and entertained, and I thought the art direction was some of the best of any of his films, but the story didn’t keep me interested.”

— “Binoculars. They’re my super power.”

— “The charm of Wes Anderson films is their ability to leave your heart feeling half empty and half full, and this one was no exception.”

— “Your first love is like the first time you get your ears pierced.”

— “Moonrise Kingdom, starring Li’l Lana Del Rey.”

— “I wish I could have seen the film when I was 12.”

Please feel free to leave your one-sentence reviews in the comments.