Sunday Night Update
Now Playing: Weekly cinema notes [films seen in theatre unless specified]
THE INCREDIBLES (2004, Brad Bird)- Pixar proves once again the upside of collaboration by finding wrinkle after clever wrinkle in the film's concept, a family of superheroes (the highlight being Elastigirl's infiltration of a top-secret compound). Just because the characters look less like photo-realistic humans than like walking action figures- by design, I'm guessing- doesn't give the film any less impact than prior Pixar classics. Rating: ***1/2.

MEAN CREEK (2004, Jacob Aaron Estes)- effective portrait of a group of teens who commit a terrible act is distinguished by complexity in its look at how teenagers relate, and empathy towards even its most outwardly despicable character. Cast works together wonderfully, with Josh Peck a standout as the bullying George. Rating: ***.

ALFIE (2004, Charles Shyer)- update of 1965 film is softened in translation, with the seemingly contradictory Michael Caine (a charming misogynist) turned into Jude Law, a decidedly post-feminist model of the modern Maxim reader. Fairly stylish by Shyer standards, but he leans wayyyy too heavily on montages and Mick Jagger's songs. Rating: **.

OKRAINA (1933, Boris Barnet)- early Russian cinema has never really been my thing (I certainly respect its place in film history but I'm just not a big fan), but as far as it goes this one works. Maybe I was a bit tired, but I couldn't quite tie everything together in the story- old-school white-on-white subtitles didn't help- though I did enjoy some of Barnet's witty uses of sound. Rating: **1/2.

CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974, Robert Altman) [seen on DVD]- probably the best example yet of Altman's leisurely pacing put to effective use, in service of a tale of two gamblers who become friends mostly out of convenience. The unpredictability of the film's narrative comes largely out of the aimless protagonists, with George Segal and particularly Elliott Gould giving great tragicomic turns. Rating: ***1/2.

ZHOU YU'S TRAIN (2002, Sun Zhou)- would-be weepie, with largely unnecessary non-linear structure, plods along for most of its length before turning pretty dopey in the final reel. Still, there are worse ways to spend two hours than drinking in Gong Li- subtract at least half a star from the rating below if you're not in the mood to ogle. Rating: *1/2.