I have two new reviews over at the esoteric webzine The Vigilant Monkey.
The first one is Me and Orson Welles and it is the latest film in the uneven, but mostly well accomplished oeuvre of Richard Linklater. It is definitely Linklater-lite, but it is on the higher rung of such distinction. It is surely nowhere near the auteuristic heights of Dazed & Confused and Before Sunset, yet it is also equally as far from the lowlights of his inexplicably well-received School of RockBad News Bears remake. The thing that does make the film work (other than Linklater's usual command of deceptively fluid camerawork) is the performance of Christian McKay as the titular ultimate auteur. A spot-on portrayal of Welles - so much so that one forgets that they are not actually watching Orson Welles himself. Otherwise the film really goes nowhere, which is very un-linklater-like. and the rather superfluous
The other film is the Godardian (yea, believe it or not) Youth in Revolt from The Good Girl director Miguel Arteta. The film, a loose (very loose) rendition of JLG's Breathless (or A bout de souffle if you rather) for the teenage set, never lives up to its high potential or even higher aspirations. Star Michael Cera, despite playing the exact same role as he does in every other movie he has ever made, does have his moments (and requisite quippish asides) and these moments are what keeps the otherwise haphazard and rather rushed film from falling too much apart.
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