president's day weekend

4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days--
stark, dark, and real. winner of major film festival awards worldwide, yet sadly disqualified for oscar recognition. (look into how academy's own new foreign nomination standards got in the way of this year's best candidates.) director mungiu crafts an eerily bleak portrait of 80's-era romania, then makes you squirm and sweat with his characters through every urgent moment. exceptional, theatrically long takes and daring stillness add to the sense of immediacy. the cast is stellar; lead anamaria marinca impresses.
exceptional: 3 stars

jumper--
reminiscent of the three keys to smart real estate: location, location, location. PYT's hayden christensen and rachel bilson bop around the world from one impressive world landmark to the next, engaging in a sci-fi wargame of teleportation. it's a promising fx premise executed with flair by director doug liman, yet it rarely feels like more than a high style geography romp. i doubt the target audience cares for much more. it's fun in that teen date movie kinda way, but i certainly won't be holding my breath for those rumored sequels.
fun: 2 stars

step up 2 the streets--
proof for my assertion that dance movies are like porn. endure the paper-thin plot and stilted dialogue until the next big display of the talent's primary skill. tight opening number for setup (including a smooth cameo by channing tatum), talk, Perform, talk talk, Perform, etc. further feeding the porn analogy is delicious star briana evigan. she can flat-out move it on the dancefloor, no doubt; but, really, i'd watch her do anything. good enough chemistry with hunky, deft counterpart robert hoffman, but we just keep waiting for them to (ahem) perform. their hottest shared moment comes in the climactic dance sequence in the rain, a save the best for last number typical of the genre. choreo is nice, but, sadly, never wows.
typical: 2 stars
evigan: delicious