Here's a 2005 German film that's now making its way around the indie theatre circuit in the U.S.:

Antibodies
Grade: B

Though burdened by some predictable plot twists and excruciatingly obvious biblical symbolism, this slick thriller by young German director Christian Alvart is a worthy homage to serial killer classics like The Silence of the Lambs and Fritz Lang’s M. When a sex offender and child killer finally winds up in prison, he gradually corrupts the morals of an upright farmer who interrogates him about an unsolved murder. The film’s critical and commercial success in Europe scored Alvart a Hollywood gig directing Renée Zellweger in Case 39, a horror movie due out this summer.

the treadmill waltz

follow the link to a great video my cousin jaimie showed me on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

Opening April 13th

The Hoax
Grade: C+

Lasse Hallström (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) tries his hand at the con artist genre and falls miles short of recent gems like Catch Me If You Can and Shattered Glass. Based on real events that took place in the early 1970s, The Hoax depicts an outrageous literary scam in which writer Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) nearly pawned off a fabricated Howard Hughes autobiography on Life magazine and a major publishing company. Gere, Hope Davis, Alfred Molina and Marcia Gay give it the old college try, but they ultimately flounder because Hallström and screenwriter William Wheeler provide few reasons for us to care about the characters.

FILL 'ER UP

If you live south of the border - the Canadian border, that is - you've probably never heard of the sitcom Corner Gas. It only crossed my path because my friend Jacq from Regina, Saskatchewan (the city that rhymes with fun) lent me the Season One DVDs that her brother sent her. At first it seemed like a dullsville knockoff of Northern Exposure. Eccentric characters out in the middle of nowhere, one stoplight in town, two cops who have absolutely no law and order to enforce. That kind of stuff.
But I was hooked by the end of Season One, and wanted to see the next batch of episodes so much that I fell for an eBay scam (the disc quality is fine, but they slapped me with a $10 shipping fee for 5-15 day delivery). I'm particularly fond of Emma Leroy, the wiseass redhead matriarch of a clan that includes a fumbling retired husband and the main character, Brent, who oversees the negligible flow of business at the Little Gas Station on the Prairie. Beside the gas pumps and the food mart, the most of the "action" takes place at Ruby's Cafe and the town bar.
One strange thing: I've seen over 20 episodes, and it's always summer in Dog River. My expert witness (I'm talking about Jacq, of course) tells me that Mother Winter slams Saskatchewan pretty damned hard, with major snowfalls and temps as low as minus-40. If I wasn't so distracted by these weather anomalies I could spend a lot more time trying to figure out who's going to win the next curling competition or who's going to be appointed as the next friendly ambassador to a solitary tourist who's only in town because he took a wrong turn.

Oh, I just read on the Corner Gas website (www.cornergas.com) that the producers just struck a U.S. distribution deal with Superstation WGN, which means that episodes will soon be invading about 70 million American TV sets. If this offends you in any way please don't kill the messenger. Blame Canada, not me.

The Listening Lineup

For lack of a better idea, I've decided to dedicate this entry to the music I've recently piled onto my iPod. For all of you out there who have been dying to know, here's my current arsenal of tunes:

1. Amy Winehouse. This British soul singer has a brand new album out called Back to Black. It sounds a lot like the Phil Spector Wall of Sound music from the 1960s, but songs like "Rehab" give it a decidedly modern edge. I've only heard the album twice and I'm already an addict myself.

2. Arcade Fire's Funeral. I've been reading about this indie Montreal band everywhere, and I finally caved in and downloaded their first album. It underwhelmed me at first, but I'm starting to see why the band warrants comparisons to the Talking Heads and U2.

3. The Beatles. "Nowhere Man" and "Penny Lane," just cuz I like them.

4. Buffy Sainte-Marie's She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina. I love Buffy to death, but she's recorded so many albums that I can't keep up with them all. Today I downloaded this 1971 title, and I'm eager to see how it compares to Buffy classics like Illuminations and Moonshot.

5. Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man." This song has always haunted me. It's featured in the movie Zodiac, and I've been humming it for the past two weeks.

6. Elton John's self-titled album. My partner Drew is a huge Elton fan, so I try to keep him rolling in the classic material from the 1970s. This one starts off with "Your Song," a tune that always leaves a lump in my throat because I associate it with a TV movie tearjerker about a girl who died of Cystic Fibrosis. The tie-in is that she listened to this song on her deathbed.

7. Ferron's "Shadows on a Dime" because it's a fucking awesome song by a criminally underrated artist.

8. Kate Campbell's Songs From the Levee. I've been listening to Kate's beautiful soul/folk/gospel/country music ever since I interviewed her for an article in 2003. I just got around to buying Songs from the Levee, which is her first album.

9. Lucinda Williams's West, a welcome return to form after her mediocre 2003 disc World Without Tears.

10. Nino Rota's soundtracks for Fellini's La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits. His carnivalesque compositions always lift my spirits.

11. Oum Kalthoum. I'd never heard of this deceased Egyptian singer until Rickie Lee Jones recommended her in an article on eMusic.com. It's very sensual stuff.

Florida. Beautiful weather, harsh penal system.

-Jerri Blank

Zodiac
Grade: B+

After bombing with Panic Room in 2002, David Fincher redeems himself with this engrossing and chilling investigation into the unsolved Zodiac serial killings that plagued the San Francisco area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The guy who brought us Fight Club shows surprising restraint in the violence department, cutting from the brief murder scenes to long and meticulously detailed sequences about the reporters and cops assigned to the case. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith, the San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the proceedings. Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. also play lead roles, and the great supporting cast includes Chloe Sevigny, Philip Baker Hall and Elias Koteas. Clocking in at 160 minutes and offering no real resolution, Zodiac makes you feel nearly as exhausted and paranoid as the investigators.