As promised...
Now Playing: A sentence or two on the movies I've seen lately.
DONNIE DARKO: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT (2001, Richard Kelly)- it's just as awesome as ever, if not more so, and the additions delve deeper into the grey area between speculative science and faith. Gyllenhaal great as Darko, and Mary McDonnell shines as well as Donnie's mom, who bears a striking similarity (personality wise) to my own mother. Rating: ***1/2.

RAY (2004, Taylor Hackford)- pretty much what you'd expect: can't argue with the music, but the story proceeds pretty formulaically, with a few unfortunate missteps in the final reel. On the positive end, the Jamie Foxx hype is warranted, and the supporting characters are always completely convincing. Rating: **1/2.

JU-ON (2003, Takashi Shimizu)- zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Some OK atmosphere can't overcome repetitive structure and ho-hum scare scenes. Rating: *.

BIRTH (2004, Jonathan Glazer)- Glazer confirms himself as a filmmaker to watch, for his patience as much as his mastery of tone; the trust he has for his actors, as in the sustained closeup of Kidman at the concert, is pretty miraculous. Plot gears grind a bit late in the film, but the film's style sees it through even the more dicey parts- kudos to Savides' dark, dank cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's cliche-avoiding score. Rating: ***.