I had never heard of Smart People before I got the email about passes, and I went because a) it was free, b) I didn’t have anything else to do that night, and c) the cast was so bizarre I had to see how it worked.

Answer: it didn’t.

Right from the start I was annoyed by glaring continuity errors, which for all the film I see I almost *never* notice. Would that that had been the least of my annoyance. But no. There was also a parade of utterly unlikeable characters. And I am not one to be generally down on unlikeable characters, if they’re well written. These weren’t. The only character I was interested in at all was Thomas Haden Church as the (adopted!) brother. Would have liked him better without the dreadful facial hair, but so it goes. And I did not for one minute buy Sarah Jessica Parker as a doctor. Nor did I buy her being interested in Dennis Quaid’s arrogant professor outside of an impressionable freshman crush. IF THAT.

It wasn’t as bad as In Bruges in this regard (well, what *could* be?) but it still paraded a number of derogatory “gay” comments, and played for laughs the possibility of being perceived as gay. I am unbelievably sick of shit like that. In some cases maybe one could argue that it said something about the character, such as when Page’s character jibes Church about his (non-existent) boyfriend. Maybe. But at the end, SPOILER ALERT Quaid and Church shop for baby things together, which was a visual gag, left to the audience to understand that O NOES! People will think they are gay! Let’s all laugh at them! Or let’s sit in the theater and fume. I know which one I picked.

It wrapped up with a sappy, unbelievable ending with characters taking virtual 90 degree turns. THAT DOES NOT QUALIFY AS AN ARC. I am just saying.

I hope people don’t see this and form a crap opinion of Ellen Page. In spite of being a perfectionist, SAT-obsessed Young Republican, her character had a startling amount in common with Juno, which is sad, because she can do so much more than the precocious, verbally advanced teen.

She did wear some really cute sweaters, though. Some hideous. But some cute. Still not worth seeing the movie for.

* First off, did I forget to post about For the Bible Tells Me So? I am thinking I did! Fail. Every year at the film festival there are movies I hear about in line, but never manage to see. For the Bible Tells Me So was 07′s, and now I understand why. I’ve seen a lot of queer-themed documentaries, and even a few others on gays-and-religion, but this one was easily the best. American-focused, of course.

* On a recommendation from a friend, I queued Shackleton, the story of the 1914 trip of the Endurance to the South Pole. Beautifully filmed & acted. It is long, yes, but I thought it was well-paced. I have to admit I was particularly taken with all the scenes including the men singing, showing how they passed the time at sea. Also, I have to give a shout-out to Matt Day who played the photographer Frank Hurley. He’s in one of my favorite comfort movies, the criminally underrated Love and Other Catastrophes (which seriously needs to come out on DVD soon, before my VHS wears out.) Oh! It was also neat to see it after going to the Maritime Museum in Greenwich this summer — they have the replica of the James Caird used in the film.

* The Lion in Winter was utterly delicious. I’m just sorry that there wasn’t a revival of it to pair with last winter’s big screen adventure with Becket.

* Kiss of Death was in my queue already after Noir City, but I bumped it to the top after the death of Richard Widmark in late March. It’s a solid enough noir on its own, but (as everyone knows) it’s Widmark’s portrayal of the villain Tommy Udo that makes it particularly worth seeing.

* The week after Widmark passed, his Night and the City director Jules Dassin died, so Rififi moved on up the queue. I wrote a bit about Dassin on the ephemeral blog already, but in between the two films, he was blacklisted, which is why Rififi was filmed in France. It’s *the* classic heist film, worth seeing for lots of things, but in particular for the heist itself, something like a half hour with no dialogue but an excellent score. Um. No pun intended. This is not a hijinks sort of heist movie. It’s very dark.

* The Best of Youth was a six hour Italian film, originally aired on television in four parts, and then as an edited version in the theater. I am a total sucker for any sort of epic family history piece, and this was beautiful and satisfying. Also, I might now have a bit of a crush on Luigi Lo Cascio.

* Toy Story, I realize, is sort of a random selection, but I’m in a group on Ravelry that’s working through the AFI Top 100. I actually hadn’t seen it in years, possibly not since shortly after it came out on video, and I was surprised to see how well it stands up. The animation is still strong (my favorite bits being the details like scuff marks at the bottom of doors), the story has a lot of great stuff going on, and probably the use of classic toys helps it feel all the more timeless. But the thing I noticed most about it this time around is that Andy’s is a single parent household. His mom cares for him & his sister, maintains a gorgeous home, plans his birthday and the family move, and there’s never a mention of a father. So cool!