Today was the final day of the 2010 Spokane International Film Festival. But the festival juried awards were announced late Saturday. They are as follows:

Gold SpIFFy for Best Feature: “Wah Do Dem” (Ben Chace & Sam Fleischner, USA)
Silver SpIFFy for Best Feature: “Cinco Dias Sin Nora?” (Mariana Chenillo, Mexico)

Gold SpIFFy for Best Documentary: “Prodigal Sons” (Kimberly Reed, USA)   
Silver SpIFFy for Best Documentary: “Dive!” (Jeremy Seifert, USA)

Gold SpIFFy for Best Short: “Lady Luck, Case No. 37” (Jason McKee, USA)
Silver SpIFFy for Best Short: “Hamlet, but you didn’t hear it from me” (John Kenower, Canada)

Gold SpIFFy for Best Animation: “The Mouse that Soared” (Kyle Bell, USA)
Silver SpIFFy for Best Animation: “The Lady and the Reaper” (Javier Reco Gracia, Spain)

Gold SpIFFy for Best SpIFF Film of the Northwest, presented by The Inlander: “The Mouse That Soared” (Kyle Bell, USA)
Silver SpIFFy for Best SpIFF Film of the Northwest, presented by The Inlander: “Zombies of Mass Destruction” (Kevin Hamedani, USA)

Most Promising Filmmaker: Kyle Bell (“The Mouse that Soared”)

That’s it for the 12th-annual SpIFF. See you next year.

Below: The trailer for big winner “The Mouse That Soared.”

It occurred to me the other day that I had never finished compiling my Top 10 Film list for 2009. OK, here it is:

10. “Away We Go.”

9. “Paranormal Activity”/”District 9.”

8. “Up.”

7. “The Cove.”

6. “Cold Souls.”

5. “Tyson.”

4. “Where the Wilds Things Are.”

3. “Avatar.”

2. “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

1. “The Hurt Locker.”

So, not surprisingly, I’m rooting for “Hurt Locker” to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

Below: The trailer for “The Hurt Locker.”

If you’re interested in seeing Jeff Bridges in his Oscar-nominated role in “Crazy Heart,” your chance will come on Friday. “Crazy Heart” will open at AMC’s River Park Square Theatres.

If you don’t already know, Bridges has won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild awards for “Crazy Heart.” In the film he plays an aging country singer who, the trailers tell us, may have one more run for fame and fortune in his path.

Some critics are describing the film as this year’s “The Wrestler.” It looks to me as if it’s a variation on “Tender Mercies,” the 1983 film that won Robert Duvall his Best Actor statuette.

Whatever, it’s about time that Bridges get recognized for his many worthy movie performances. I’ve compiled a list of 10 below:

“The Last Picture Show” (1971): In Peter Bogdanovich’s classic tale (based on Larry McMurtry’s novel), Bridges plays the BMOC football player Duane Jackson.

“Fat City” (1972): An aging John Huston enlisted Bridges to play a young boxer trying to make a name in the sport, while Stacy Keach plays the veteran who sees the end coming soon.

“Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” (1974): Cast alongside Clint Eastwood, Bridges plays half of a robbery duo as brought to the screen by a very young Michael Cimino.

“Winter Kills” (1979): Bridges plays a man on the trail of the man whom he suspects assassinated his president brother.

“Heaven’s Gate” (1980): Though only part of Cimino’s ensemble cast, led by Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken, Bridges makes an undeniable impression as an old-West saloon owner.

“Starman” (1984): Playing an alien snared Bridges his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.

“Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1988): In Francis Ford Coppola’s biopic, Bridges plays the real-life automaker Preston Tucker, who was ahead of his day.

“The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989): Bridges, cast with his brother Beau and a sumptuous Michelle Pfeiffer, plays a man so emotionally protected that he has to be pulled screaming from his emotional closet.

“The Fisher King” (1991): Playing an ambitious DJ to Robin Williams’ emotionally disturbed homeless man, Bridges portrays an essentially good man fighting against his marketing instincts to help a fellow human.

“The Big Lebowski” (1998): Bridges plays The Dude, who gets caught up in the Coen brothers’ study in absurdity. A role for the ages. The Dude, in truth, abides.

Below: Jeff Bridges as The Dude.

Oscar nominations are out, and there aren’t too many surprises. Fans of the Spokane International Film Festival - some of them anyway - should be pleased to know that they’ve already seen one of the Best Foreign Language nominees, “Ajami,” which screened Sunday night.

Overall, the two films that have been trading honors back and forth all awards season - “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” - lead the nominess with nine each.

But eight nominations for Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”? Including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Isn’t it time to recognize that Tarantino can direct scenes, he can write dialogue, but - at least with this film and his epic “Kill Bill” - he can’t write a complete picture that holds together beginning to end?

This year, of course, is the year that the Motion Picture Academy has upped its Best Picture category to 10, which makes the New York Times’ surprise over the cheesy sports film “The Blind Side” getting a Best Picture nod a bit surprising in itself. If there were just five nominees, it would be a surprise.

It is a bit of a surprise that “Blind Side” received the nomination and Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus” did not. Other than acting nominations for Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, Eastwood’s film received nothing. Then again it’s probably time that Hollywood thank Sandra Bullock, who does successfully make an impact in the film without pulling all the attention from the central figure: the homeless-kid-turned-NFL-player Michael Oher.

One thing that doesn’t make sense to me is “Up” being nominated both for Best Motion Picture and Best Aminated Picture. Shouldn’t it have been one or the other? This is a perfect scenario for it falling victim to a split vote, giving the animated win to something such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

That wouldn’t bother me too much as I liked Wes Anderson’s “Fox” film. But “Up” should win something.

Below: The Oscar nominations (pardon the ad).

I’ve been going to movies at the 2010 Spokane International Film Festival since Thursday and I’ve yet to see a loser. Part of that isn’t surprising, considering I was among those who chose the lineup.

But I didn’t see every film. And yet even the ones that I didn’t preview - among those the opener, “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” the documentary “The Horse Boy,” the Chinese narrative film “Cow,” the Israeli film “Ajami” and the documentary I saw tonight at the Magic Lantern, “Afghan Star” - would have deserved to be in the lineup of any of the festival’s 12-year history.

“Afghan Star” is particularly worthwhile, and not just because it’s a look at Afghanistan’s equivalent of “American Idol” or England’s “Britain’s Got Talent.” It’s because the backdrop of the show is a country in which just competing in such a contest can mean a death sentence. It’s because amid the poverty, the stark mountains, the dust and cold and the ubiquitous military vehicle passing by (or overhead), the movie presents this reality-based competition as if it’s the most popular thing on Afghani TV.

Which, of course, it is. Far more than politics and maybe even religion, a possibility that upsets the powers that be so much that they threaten to shut the show down. Others, meanwhile, send death threats to some of the female competitors. One, in fact, earns nationwide condemnation just for dancing while singing and uncovering her hair.

The winner of the competition is never really in doubt (it goes to the pretty boy). But the filmmakers do a good job of keeping the story on track through to the competition’s finale. And there’s even a bit of an epilogue for each of the four main finalists.

What you may take away from “Afghan Star” depends on what most interests you. Political oppression? Afghani music? Pretty boys? What I took away were the images: the faces of snot-nosed little boys, burqa-wearing women carrying cell phones, trash-filled streets set in the shadow of haunted mountains, and Afghan TV producers who brave death to bring their viewers … “American Idol”?

Never thought of crap TV as a political statement. But there you have it.

Just as I thought. Simon Cowell is a wuss.

Below: The pretty-boy winner of “Afghan Star.”

Zombie fans rejoice. The political “zomedy” titled “ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction,” which attracted an audience of some 200 film fans Friday to the Garland, is going to play twice more. The film, which is part of Horror Fest 4, will screen at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and 9 p.m. Thursday at the Magic Lantern.

And look for “ZMD” director Kevin Hamedani to show up for Sunday's 2 p.m. Filmmaker Forum - without, we hope, a thirst for human flesh.

Click here for more information.

Below: The trailer for “ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction.”

In all the publicity over the death of J.D. Salinger, I nearly didn’t notice the news that Howard Zinn had died. The popular historian died at age 87 in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday.

While Zinn didn’t have the effect on my life that Salinger did, he did rock it. The first time I read Zinn’s book “A People’s History of the United States” - I just turned in my chair and read the title off a copy that sits in my bookcase - I couldn’t put it down. It filled in the holes that traditional history textbooks ignored. Or, at least during my era, minimized.

The deaths of the Indian tribes, the effects of the Robber Barons of the late 1800s, the sedition acts used to muzzle World War I dissidents, the Red Scare, the oppression of blacks, of the poor, of women - all these were the stories that Zinn told. And while even he might admit that he didn’t tell the whole story more than the mainstream historians, his work - in conjunction with theirs - does manage to give a more comprehensive view.

Following are 10 great quotes from Zinn’s work:

“There is no such thing as impartial history. The chief problem in historical honesty isn’t outright lying. It is omission or de-emphasis of important data.” Told to biographers Deb Ellis and Dennis Mueller.

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” In an interview with TomPaine.com.

“It is possible, reading standard histories, to forget half the population of the country. The explorers were men, the landholders and merchants men, the political leaders men, the military figures men. The very invisibility of women, the overlooking of women, is a sign of their submerged status.” From “A People’s History of the United States”

“With the indiscriminate nature of modern military technology (no such thing as a ‘smart bomb,’ it turns out) all wars are wars against civilians, and are therefore inherently immoral. This is true even when a war is considered ‘just,’ because it is fought against a tyrant, against an aggressor, to correct a stolen boundary.” From “Howard Zinn on War.”

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” From www.goodreads.com

“I’m worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they’re doing. I’m concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that’s handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.” From www.goodreads.com

“If you don’t know history, it is as if you were born yesterday.” From www.goodreads.com

“I will try not to overlook the cruelties that victims inflict on one another as they are jammed together in the boxcars of the system. I don’t want to romanticize them. But I do remember - in rough paraphrase - a statement I once read: ‘The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you don’t listen to it, you will never know what justice is.’ ” From www.goodreads.com

“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. ” From www.goodreads.com

“I think people are dazzled by Obama’s rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president - which means, in our time, a dangerous president - unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.” From www.goodreads.com

Howard Zinn, who helped fill in history’s gaping holes, is gone. Who will take his place?

Below: Matt Damon reads Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.”

Day four of the 2010 Spokane International Film Festival offers movie fans a couple of early lines.

You can begin at noon with either the Japanese narrative film “Still Walking” (at AMC) or the political documentary “Encirclement” (at the Magic Lantern), followed at 3 p.m. by the Mexican narrative “Cinco dias sin Nora” (AMC) or at 3:30 by the Chinese documentary “The Red Race” (Magic Lantern).

The day ends with a 6 p.m. showing of the Israeli film “Ajami” at AMC.

That leaves you time to take in a late showing of “Avatar.” Heh-heh.

Below: The trailer for the movie “Ajami.”

The first three film programs for the 12th-annual Spokane International Film Festival gave a pretty good indication that this year’s lineup, indeed, may end up being the best ever.

We started off with “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” a look at the civil rights movement as seen through the music of the era, which played Thursday night at AMC’s River Park Square Theatres. Preceded by Kyle Bell’s short “The Mouse That Soared,” the program got things off to a good start. A packed house, a stirring re-examination of U.S. history of the 1950s and ‘60s, a luminously made animated short, followed by free pizza and wine in the River Park Square ground-floor courtyard: Pretty good way to begin.

Then on Friday, at AMC, we had back-to-back features that couldn’t have been more different. The opening film, “The Horse Boy,” is an intriguing documentary about a couple who, in an effort to treat their autistic son, take him to Mongolia. While there, the family treks across the plains, they ride horses, and they visit a number of shamans who try their best to alleviate the boy’s symptoms. And it seems to work. In any event, filmmaker Michel O. Scott - who was at the screening - manages to create a fascinating story that never insults the audience’s intelligence while keeping open the possibility that it takes more than science to cure our problems.

Friday’s late movie was “Cow,” a Chinese film set during World War II in which the lone survivor of a Chinese village fights to care for a cow that has been left in his charge. His love-hate relationship with the animal survives massacres, marauding Japanese soldiers, starving Chinese peasants, the return of the army and more other problems than I care to recount. It’s a curious film, one that blends humor with graphic violence and war drama, but one that kept my interest throughout its near-two-hour running time. It was preceded by the bizarre animated short from Canada, “Runaway,” which also features a hardy cow.

Hardy types then had a midnight showing to see. Screening at the Garland was the co-called “political zomedy” “ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction.” Having been up since early that morning, I was asleep before the film even got started. By the way, this film is part of the Horror Fest IV, a collection of horror films that will continue showing at the Magic Lantern.

Today’s series of programs kicks off (little sports cliche there) at noon with the short film “Pups,” followed by two other shorts, “The Spam Job” and “Dive!” at the Magic Lantern. Meanwhile at AMC, the Animation Showcase presents 11 shorts. At 2 p.m., four filmmakers - Denise Bennett (“Pups”), Kyle Bell (“The Mouse That Soared”), Michel Scott (“The Horse Boy”) and Jeremy Seifert (“DIVE!”) will talk during a Filmmaker Forum at the Magic Lantern. At 2:30, the Italian film “Mid-August Lunch” will play at AMC, followed by “Gigante” at 5:30 and “John Rabe” at 8:30.

Click here for the entire schedule, and also for information on how to purchase tickets.

Below: The trailer for “John Rabe.”

My day started early. Can you believe 4:23 a.m.? I had the alarm set for 4:30 because I was supposed to go to KXLY, channel 4, to talk about the Spokane International Film Festival 2010. But once I was up, well … no going back. Not for seven minutes, anyway.

So that’s how I came to be sitting in KXLY’s parking lot at 5:18, going over my notes. Let’s see, this is the 12th-annual SpIFF. It began last night at AMC’s River Park Square theatres with a showing of the documentary “Soundtrack for a Revolution.” It runs through Feb. 7 at both AMC and the Magic Lantern. It boasts 26 feature films and 26 shorts from about 20 countries. Tickets are $10, and student prices are available.

That was the plan. But who knows what I said? I was on camera for about two minutes, just before 6, and I was too busy answering questions from anchor Kalae (Kuh-LIE) Chock to do much more than name my fellow SpIFF programmers and give a lame explanation about what a film-festival movie is (“it touches your heart and your head” … WTF?). I don’t think I even mentioned the phone numbers: (509) 720-7743 or (888) 411-7743.

Whatever. By a few minutes after 6, I was on the street, watching the moon set in the west and headed home, job done. Later tonight I’ll be at River Park Square to see the U.S. documentary “The Horse Boy” at 5:30 and then at 8:30 to see the Chinese film “Cow.”

Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I doubt anyone even noticed. Any viewers crazy, or unfortunate, enough to be up that early probably had eyes only for Chock or her coanchor Mike Gonzales.

To see the full SpIFF schedule, click here.

To see Kalae Chock on camera, click on the embed below:

J.D. Salnger, they’re reporting, has died. R.I.P Mr. Salinger, 1919-2010.

I was introduced to Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye” whlie still in high school. It wasn’t something that was assigned for class. Like much of the literature that I read at the time, Camus’ “The Stranger” and Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” chiefly among the many books that littered my bookshelf, I stumbled upon it, probably through one of my classmates.

That was back in 1964, long after the novel was originally published in 1951. I didn’t stop there, of course. I wanted to drown myself in Salinger’s works, so I read his collection “Nine Stories,” his novel “Franny and Zooey” and his two novellas, “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters” and “Seymour: An Introduction.”

While I loved the stories, appreciated the novel and scratched my head at the novellas, nothing could shake my love of “Catcher in the Rye.” Its portrayal of disaffected youth seemed to speak to me personally. Holden Caulfield’s melodramatic take on life, his tendency to think of his fantasies as preferable to reality and his bent for self-sacrifice - all of which he used as a defense against the deep grief he felt over the death of his young brother - had equivalents in my own life.

For some five years, I was never without a copy within easy reach. So, in remembrance of that, I offer another list: my top 10 lines from “The Catcher in the Rye”:

“What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by.  I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them.  I hate that.  I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it.  If you don’t, you feel even worse.” For a Navy brat, who attended 11 school in 12 years, I was always saying goodbye.

“I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.  It’s awful.  If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera.  It’s terrible.” I’ve never been much of a liar. But my oldest friend Ed was always good at it. We’d hitchhike and he’d tell the people who picked us up the wildest tales of “Butch” (him) and “Skip” (me).

“When I really worry about something, I don’t just fool around.  I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something.  Only, I don’t go.  I’m too worried to go.  I don’t want to interrupt my worrying to go.” Anxiety has been such a part of my life for so long that I only tend to notice it now when, for some strange reason, it’s gone.

“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.” Self-explanatory, right?

“In my mind, I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw.” Holden may be striving for irony, here. But maybe not. Whatever. It feels right.

“Sex is something I really don’t understand too hot.  You never know where the hell you are.  I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away.  Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass.  I broke it, though, the same week I made it - the same night, as a matter of fact.” Oh, hell, who hasn’t been here?

“I was half in love with her by the time we sat down.  That’s the thing about girls.  Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.  Girls.  Jesus Christ.  They can drive you crazy.  They really can. ” Enough said.

“Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up.  I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something.  Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery.  People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap.  Who wants flowers when you’re dead?  Nobody.” I’ve had a few friends die lately, so this has a fresh feeling for me. It captures my sentiments perfectly.

“I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall.  But I don’t honestly know what kind…. It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college.  Then again, you may pick up just enough education to hate people who say, ‘It’s a secret between he and I.’  Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the nearest stenographer.  I just don’t know.” I can’t think of a line, except from Camus, that better captures the ungodly fear I had in high school of what horrors my future may have held.

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything.  If you do, you start missing everybody.” Strange sentiment. More like you start missing yourself. But close enough to feel right.

“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around - nobody big, I mean - except me.  And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That’s all I do all day.  I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” As a teenager, I couldn’t think of a better way to live my life. In truth, I still can’t.

Thank you, J.D. Salinger. Your books helped me transition through my awkward adolescent years. And I strongly suspect that I’m not alone in this.

And finally we’re here: The week in which the 12th Annual Spokane International Film Festival begins. If any of the films that I helped choose for the 11-day event are an indication, then this just might be the best festival ever.

It all begins on Thursday with the opening film, a fascinating documentary titled “Soundtrack for a Revolution.” Codirected by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, the film tells the story of the civil rights movement through its music. Let’s get it on.

For the entire schedule, click here. Some of my personal favorites include:

“Gigante” (5:30 p.m. Saturday, AMC River Park Square): This film from Uruguay follows a shy security guard who looks for love … in some of the wrong places.

“Still Walking” (noon Sunday, AMC): When a Japanese family gathers for a reunion, it becomes a chance to confront, and maybe resolve, pain from the past.

“Cinco dias sin Nora” (3 p.m. Sunday, AMC): When a Mexican woman dies, her family is forced to cope with the demands that her last will and testament forces on them.

“The Other Bank” (7 p.m. February 3, Magic Lantern): A Georgian boy goes on a dangerous road trip to find his father, left behind in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia.

“Troubled Water” (noon Feb. 6, AMC): In this Danish effort, an accused murderer attempts to atone for past crimes, though the path to redemption is hardly easy.

There are many other good choices. As someone who has been going to this festival since its beginning, I’m confident saying that it’s the best one yet.

And, no, I don’t get paid anything to say that. Though if you wanted to send me a check … well, I could always use some spare cash.

Got something you want me to publicize?

Below: The trailer for the Uruguayan film “Gigante.”

Love those lists. You know what I mean. Top 10s. Actors. Genres. Lines. Characters. Etc.

I just stumbled on a site that seems a bit different. So much so that I wish I had thought of it first. It’s the Top 20 Movies Insults list. And you can check it out by clicking here.

Here’s my contribution: It comes from “Pulp Fiction,” and it’s Vincent Vega (John Travolta) telling Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) that they’re lucky to even get served at Jackrabbit Slim’s. “I don’t think Buddy Holly’s much of a waiter.”

OK, it’s not the cleverest crack in history. But it just happens to be one that I’ve used more times than I care to remember. I live, you understand, in Spokane.

Below: The restaurant scene from “Pulp Fiction.”

After watching two pretty good, if sloppy, football games, I spent Sunday evening in a movie theater. That, to me, is a perfect day.

The movie we saw, “A Single Man,” was directed by the fashion designer Tom Ford. And it shows it. Based on the 1964 Christopher Isherwood novel, “A Single Man” is an artsy effort set in 1962 Los Angeles. Colin Firth plays a college English professor who, still grieving the death of his lover (Matthew Goode) eight months before, has decided to end his suffering.

So he goes through his day, leaving his perfect glass-heavy house in Topanga Canyon, going to teach Aldous Huxley to dull students, getting approached by no less that two model-pretty young men, purchasing bullets for his pistol, preparing his suicide scene, having dinner with his oldest friend (Julianne Moore), having a drink with one of the pretty men and ending up back home, perhaps changing his mind. Though it may not matter as fate has a way of doing what it wants.

Firth is good, as is the singularly unsexy Moore (perfectly cast), and Goode has but a cameo. The pretty boys were cast no doubt for their looks because they can’t act a lick and one, at least, has all the callow qualities of a yet-to-be-paper-trained puppy.

So Ford fills the many empty moments with slo-mo shots, closeups of eyes and mouths and other random body parts, Lynchian portraits of straight suburban life and many flashbacks of the professor’s life with his now-dead lover.

It’s all played out like a fever dream. And that has some charm. For a moment or two.

Below: The trailer for “A Single Man.”

The problem with completing a massive project such as “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which garnered a number of Academy Awards, is that it can cause a person to freeze. What do you do next? It’s happened to filmmakers as diverse as Federico Fellini and Paul Mazursky.

Peter Jackson hasn’t stuggled too much. He followed LOTR with the box-office smash “King Kong” remake, and he’s involved himself in a number of other filmmakers’ projects, from Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9” to Guillermo del Toro’s “Hobbit.” But it’s been only with “The Lovely Bones” that Jackson has taken the filmmaker reins himself.

And the results are mixed.

Based on Alice Sebold’s novel, “The Lovely Bones” tells the story of 14-year-old Susie Salmon (the Irish actress Saoirse Ronan), whose murder leads her on a paranormal journey of justice and redemption. Susie is a normal girl, loving her parents (her father in particular) even as she is moving toward independence. She’s intrigued with an older boy, Ray (Reese Ritchie), and obsessed with taking photos of everything her eyes see.

What she doesn’t see is the neighbor (that’s Stanley Tucci underneath all that makeup) who has targeted her. And when she ends up his victim, we are along as she begins her journey into a realm that is haflway to where she will eventually go. She doesn’t go any farther because she can’t break bonds with her former life.

The question that the movie asks is simple: What are those bonds? Do they involve her killer and bringing him to justice? Do they involve the boy Ray who mourns her loss? Her younger sister, Lindsey (Rose McIver), who has her own maturing problems to cope with? Her mother (Rachel Weisz) and father (Mark Wahlberg), whose individual reactions to Susie’s disappearance cause a wall to grow between each other? Or all of them in concert?

As you can understand, most of “The Lovely Bones” is told in flashback, with Ronan providing the voiceover narration. That includes the sequences in which she travels through a heavenly landscape, much of which, because this is a Jackson production, looks suspiciously like the New Zealand featured in the LOTR series. And, thankfully, Jackson avoids showing any real graphic violence.

I’m particularly grateful for that Jackson’s restraint regarding violence. It’s hard enough to go and see a movie about a serial killer targeting teenage women. It would be unbearable were we to forced to endure the actual murders. But as welcome as Jackson’s decision to opt for art vs. exploitation is, I’m not sure that solves the problems that ensue.

For part of what “The Lovely Bones” is becomes a mystery story. And when you’re guiding viewers along such a path, it’s important to play with rules. And here is where Jackson fudges. How could a guy dig a whole cellar in the middle of a cornfield, in full view of a nearby suburban neighborhood, without attracting attention? How could he successfully remove all the incriminating evidence?

Jackson falls into the trap that has caught many other filmmakers (most notably Tarsem Singh, director of “The Cell”): His killer is just a bit too much the genius. A far less complicated, and less artistic, rendering would have served Jackson’s story far better.

Given this detraction, which pulled me out of the movie every time it came up, “The Lovely Bones” is a beautiful achievement. Ronan is a good actress, even if she seems a little young to be such a draw for the boy Ray. And while Susan Sarandon is little more than a cliche as Weisz’s mother, McIver proves to be a hardy choice for Susie’s younger sister. And, overall, Jackson’s eye for a fantasy world is unerringly beautiful.

Someday I gotta visit New Zealand. Frodo is still beckoning.

Below: The trailer for Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones.”

One of the most intelligent, thoughtful commentaries on the “Twilight” series of books can be found by clicking here. Make sure to read down to the comments. One of them, and the author’s response, is hilarious.

Hard to believe that the author is a 19-year-old college undergraduate.

Four new movies opening tomorrow, at least one of which sounds interesting. They are:

“Extraordinary Measures”: OK, interesting? Not this one. Not if you can tell anything from the trailers, that is. Another “inspired by real events” melodrama, one with cute little suffering kids, an overbearing Brendan Fraser and a raging Harrison Ford. Think I’ll pass.

“Legion”: OK, this one might be worth a matinee price. Paul Bettany plays an angel who comes … uh, down? … to protect humanity from a band of avenging angels on a mission from God. Wow. What with this and “The Book of Eli,” we’ve got a whole new genre going: The mainstream Christian thriller. If nothing else, they’ve upgraded the casts of these things from Casper Van Dien to Denzel Washington.

“Tooth Fairy”: The Rock? As The Tooth Fairy? Please.

“A Single Man”: Finally. Colin Firth stars in this period-piece drama about a gay man, a college professor, who is grieving the death of his lover. It’s all based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood. Firth is getting lots of attention for his performance. Oscar talk even. Sounds a whole hell of a lot better than anything else coming up.

Below: The trailer for “A Single Man.”

Yesterday I discussed the problem that I’d had trying to prepare a blog post about David Lynch in honor of his 64th birthday. Today I’m going to recreate that lost post.

It has to do with Lynch’s unique ability to create screen dialogue, either single lines spoken by characters such as Dennis Hopper’s Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet” (who never met an f-word he wouldn’t embrace and so will be missing here) or dialogue between characters such as Nicolas Cage’s Sailor Ripley and Laura Dern’s Lula Fortune in “Wild at Heart.”

Thus I offer, my top 10 lines from Lynch’s various films:

Lula: “One of these days the sun’s gonna come up and burn a hole clear through the planet like a giant electrical x-ray.” Sailor: “I wouldn’t worry about that, Peanut. By then people’ll prob’ly be drivin’ Buicks to the moon.” (“Wild at Heart,” 1990)

OO Spool: “My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from “The Wizard of Oz.” But I warn you, my dog is always with me. WOOF!” (“Wild at Heart”)

Mr. X: “I put every damn pipe in this neighborhood. People think that pipes grow in their homes. But they sure as hell don’t! Look at my knees! Look at my knees!” (“Eraserhead,” 1977)

Dorothy Vallens: “What are you doing in my closet, Jeffrey Beaumont?” (“Blue Velvet,” 1986)

Jeffrey Beaumont: “Do you see that house? I used to know a kid who lived there, he had the biggest tongue in the world.” (“Blue Velvet”)

Dale Cooper: “Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee.” (“Twin Peaks,” 1990-91)

Deputy Tommy “Hawk” Hill: “One woman can make you fly like an eagle, another can give you the strength of a lion, but only one in the Cycle Of Life can fill your heart with wonder and the wisdom that you have known a singular joy.” (“Twin Peaks”)

The Log Lady: “When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy.” (“Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” 1992)

Coco Lenoix: “You know, there was a man that lived here once that had a prize-fighting kangaroo. Well, you just wouldn’t believe what that kangaroo did to this courtyard!” (“Mulholland Drive,” 2001)

Nikki: “All I see from this is blue tomorrows.” (“Inland Empire,” 2006)

Below: The trailer for “Eraserhead.”

Every veteran blogger has experienced it at least once.

You work hard on a post. An hour or so, getting the words just the way you want them. Finding just the links that best exemplify the points you’re trying to make. You’ve done this so many times before that you’ve become a bit arrogant. A bit cocksure.

And so you’re confounded when you click on the “save” command and … nothing. Or, worse, a note that tells you that your connection has timed out. You try desperately to save things. But … no.

Uh-oh. All that work. Gone.

Happened to me just now. I’d worked on a piece to honor David Lynch on this, his 64th birthday. All that work. Gone.

Ah, well, at the sound of the falling tree, the post is traveling somewhere in an alternate reality. The very same reality that Lynch has worked in since, oh, 1977.

Happy birthday, you wonderful weirdo. And many more.

Below: Trademark David Lynch on watching movies on your cell phone.

Saw a strange trio of films over the weekend, the first two at the Magic Lantern and the third as part of the AMC Select Series at AMC’s River Park 20.

First up was “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans.” This is Werner Herzog’s variation on Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel. But while Ferrara’s film was unremittingly grim, matching its lead actor, Herzog opts for a more comical style. The humor is mostly unintentional, keying as it does on Nicolas Cage’s typically weird characterization. But the film overall does - despite several brutal scenes - tell a tale of karma and, ultimately, redemption. It’s a hell of a trek, though, one that many filmgoers likely won’t be up to making.

Second we endured one of the more strange, hypnotic, bizarre, off-putting, terrifying and just plain vomit-inducing films I have ever seen. Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” is a Lynchian kind of study of a couple (Willem Defoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg) dealing - not very well, I might add - with the death of their little boy. What’s different about the film is that von Trier, the Danish master behind the Dogma movement, never gives us a firm notion of what’s going on. As the couple heads off to a remote Pacific Northwest cabin, then engages in a round of therapy sessions and bouts of rougher-than-rough sex, questions abound: Is this all a figment of his imagination? Is she possessed by spirits of feminist possession? Is this all one or the other’s revenge fantasy that simply gets out of hand? Whatever, von Trier is a master of manipulation, giving us scenes that I literally could not watch. To save, I have to say, my own sanity.

Finally, last night we saw the new Pedro Almodovar film “Broken Embraces.” Told for much of its length out of time, going back and forth between the mid-‘90s and 2008, the film centers on a young woman (Penelope Cruz), the powerful older man she marries (Jose Luis Gomez) and the filmmaker with whom she falls in love (Lluis Homar). At turns a story of possession and obsession, of need and obligation, of love and lovelessness, of betrayal and revenge, “Broken Embraces” is, finally, a mystery story that Almodovar unveils slowly, carefully and artfully. In the end, this is not among his best, which for me include “Talk to Her,” “Volver” and “All About My Mother.” But it shows that, at least in terms of style, he continues to develop as a filmmaker. And Cruz just keeps improving as one of the world’s most luminous stars.

Below: The trailer for Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist.”

No matter how many awards shows take place before the Academy Awards, there are no Oscar guarantees. The Motion Picture Academy is notoriously predictable/unpredictable at the same time. And this year, with no odds-on favorites to choose from, it’s any film’s race.

“Avatar”? Oh, please. I love the thing, but an Oscar? For what? Thrilling me with its CGI, for sure. But the story? Look, I think Oscars should go to story lines that offer just a bit more than the Nickelodeon channel. And has anyone even talked about the film’s obvious open ending, which bellows — not just screams — sequel?

Tell that to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which chose “Avatar” over “The Hurt Locker” as Best Motion Picture, Drama, in its annual awards show Sunday night. That’s opposed, of course, to “The Hangover,” which won for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (I was sure they’d go for “Nine,” if only because of the film’s tie to Fellini).

“Avatar” winning over “Hurt Locker” contradicts what the Broadcast Film Critic Association did on Friday, which opted for the Iraq War study. And “Avatar” director James Cameron won over “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow, one of Cameron’s ex-wives — exactly the opposite of what the BFCA did.

What does all this have to do with the Oscars? Probably nothing. But if you want to keep track of the various awards shows, check out what Fandango is doing. Can’t hurt, especially when it comes to your annual office Oscar pool.

Below: The incomparable Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes.

I managed to catch only the final 10 or so minutes of last night’s Broadcast Film Critics film awards, but I did get to see “the kiss” and revel in the win of “The Hurt Locker” for Best Picture.

“The Kiss” was what Sandra Bullock gave to Meryl Streep following Bullock’s Best Actress win for “The Blind Side.” There was a bit of titillation there. But this was no Britney Spears/Madonna open-mouth affair. It was little more than a little lip-lock.

The big moment came when, after James Cameron’s “Avatar” had taken six separate awards, it lost out to “The Hurt Locker” for the overall prize. What underscored the win even more was that “Hurt Locker” was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, one of Cameron’s ex-wives.

For the whole list of winners/losers, click here.

Below: A shot of “The Kiss,” static but still stunning.

I stumbled upon another collection of movie photos. The photos, which were run in Empire magazine for its 20th anniversary, are introduced this way: “From South Africa (Clint Eastwood) to Santa Monica (Governor Schwarzenegger) to Jack Nicholson’s house (um, Jack Nicholson), Empire trotted the globe to deliver you 27 of the planet’s biggest stars, recreating iconic performances from two decades in film, for a unique 20th birthday celebration.”

Some pretty interesting stuff. Check it out.

My old friend, and former Spokesman-Review colleague, Leslie Kelly is trying out for a reality show. The show is called “MasterChef,” and it features notorious British chef Gordon Ramsay. Click here to search the Serious Eats site for Leslie’s explanation. And log on to post a comment of your own.

Below: Gordon Ramsay in full glory.

I’ve always loved movie ratings, some of which I sometimes even agree with. Case in point: this description of “The Book of Eli,” the post-apocalyptic movie from the Hughes brothers as described in the review by the New York Times’ incomparable Manohla Dargis.

“The Book of Eli” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). The usual dystopian violence.

Oh, yeah, and Dargis used the word “lugubrious” earlier on, too. Damn, I hate it when critics force me to resort to dictionary.com. I always end up learning something.

Below: The trailer for “The Book of Eli.”

One of my former Gonzaga University students, Brian Chausmer, sent me his takes on three recent films. They were so well conceived, I asked him if I could share them here. I give you, then, the world of contemporary cinema according to Chausmer:

“Avatar”: Solid. Damn solid. I expected the 3D, IMAX, digital
production, surround-sound extravaganza to be hokey and gaudy, but the
3D rendering was subtle and well suited in certain contexts: embers
flying around after the fall of the big tree, arrows flying by, fire,
etc., and never over-the-top. Except for the occasional slip of the
glasses every time the sound waves knocked them down my face, I never
once felt overwhelmed by the use of 3D and audio effects.

Colonialism, transcendentalism, naturalism, imperialism and the obvious
MacGuffins aside, it was still enjoyable. I’m not one to revel over a
producer’s supposed magnum opus, but beyond Cameron’s personal
achievement, this movie felt like an achievement for the entire Sci-Fi
(see also: SyFy) genre. My only disappointment is that I’ll have a hard
time watching other movies that now seem hokey in comparison. It
certainly won’t win an academy award for original plot (see: “Pocahontas,”
“Dances with Wolves,” the Joseph Campbell Hero Cycle…), but to create an
entirely new (consistent) language and render something so
breathtakingly gorgeous is worthy of every other commendation they can
think of. I literally feel like I experienced every human emotion while
watching this movie.

My final question is: what was real? Was it entirely CGI? And if so, how
underinflated are the budget numbers? ($237 million?) I have no idea how
many computers and artists it takes to render trees, fire and water that
perfectly, but I sure can’t wait to see the “making of” DVD.

“Sherlock Holmes”: Fun, but not the box-office sweeper I thought it
would be. While entertaining and well played by RDJ and Jude Law, I
never felt like I was immersed in the plot or the goal of the two
protagonists. I don’t know much about the Holmes series, but I do know
that this one was hardly true to the original Doyle stories. Though
sticking true to the original story would’ve bored most moviegoers.

I guess I’m just exhausted by that whole late 19th-century costume and
set design. I feel like the takes on that era are so overdone that I get
sick of watching a movie that seems perpetually dark and low on contrast.

Otherwise, it was fun and worth it to see RDJ and Jude Law work together.

“Hurt Locker”: Like the title says, this movie could be summarized in
one word: intense. While there were no jaw-clenching battle scenes,
it seemed as if even the “simplest” of defusing missions they went on
made me pucker up and cringe as I anticipated seeing Jeremy Renner have
his entrails blown clear across Baghdad. Great film.

Below: The trailer for “Hurt Locker.”

Check out these rare photos from the original “Star Wars.” Some unmask cast members such as Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and David Prowse (Darth Vader). Others put the cast in distinctly non-heroic poses. My favorite: Chewbacca groping Princess Leia. Oh yeah.

Los Angeles Times blogger Patrick Goldstein says that conservative commentators are taking shots at James Cameron’s “Avatar,” a film that - as of today - has grossed some $1.3 billion ($432 million in the U.S. alone). Goldstein states, correctly enough, that regardless of political attitudes, moviegoers flocking to the film are “enthralled by” it.

“As for its themes,” Goldstein continues, “my guess is that people either find themselves in agreement - maybe it is a bad thing to destroy a pristine primitive culture - or manage to ignore the message altogether.”

What about you? What do you like about “Avatar”? What do you dislike? Is it a great film? Or are we engaging in a kind of mass hypnosis caused by Cameron’s mastery of CGI? Or is something else going on?

Below: For anyone who hasn’t yet seen “Avatar,” here’s the trailer in Spanish.

Speaking of eclectic Best of 2009 movie lists, check this one out. I have to admit that three are strong contenders for my own list. But “Jennifer’s Body?” Really?

For my No. 9 favorite film of 2009, I’m going to cheat. I’m going to list not one but two movies. But those seem, to me, like natural fits. Neither one by itself might make the cut. But together, and because each added something of interest to the year’s movie lineup, I’m including them here.

They are, in order, “Paranormal Activity” and the appropriately titled “District 9.”

“Paranormal Activity”: Yeah, it’s a gimmick. Yeah, it owes a lot to “The Blair Witch Project,” not just because it’s a mock documentary but because it’s an exercise in stylish horror. Yeah it’s got a plot that is about a complex as a phone book. And, yeah, it cost about 37 cents to make (actually $15,000, but who’s counting).

No matter. Oren Peli’s “Paranormal Activity” offered up some of the most chilling moments of 2009. The movie takes two inordinately ordinary people, the cocky Micah (pronounced Mee-kah) and Katie, and puts them in the the most generic suburban house possible (filmmaker Peli’s own house). Micah thinks he knows best how to protect Katie, though he might have reconsidered if he knew that it was a killer demon haunting her.

What Peli does best is just let the story unfold. And the gradual feeling that he creates is the same kind of chill that you used to feel when mom (or maybe dad) made you take the garbage out after dark. Or go and empty the dryer in the cellar. Or whatever your own particular fear is. By the time the demon jumps at the camera (literally), you’re either gonna jump, too … or laugh. Either way, you’re likely to do it a little nervously.

“District 9”: Like Oren Peli, South African director Neill Blomkamp took a simple concept and made it into something more. The difference is that, even though “District 9” began as a short, it is a far more sophisticated creation.

The simple part involves the story. Told, again, mostly as a mock documentary, it is a variation on the age-old story of colonialism and oppression. Only in this case the colonists are aliens from another planet, and the oppressors are South Africans. Irony alert. Or message alert. Whatever.

But don’t get the impression that Blomkamp overdoes the messaging. Instead, he immerses us in the story of a low-level governmanet functionary - well played by an unknown actor named Sharlto Copley - who over the course of the film evolves from sycophant, to victim to a kind of reluctant hero. And Blomkamp, with some clever use of computer graphics, ends up giving us a kind of sci-fi adventure that has five times the emotional power of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” at 1/25th the cost.

Oh, boy, another chance to dump on Michael Bay. Never miss one if I can.

Below: The original “District 9” short.