I liked Squid and the Whale, yet I also hated Squid and the Whale. It's a very tough film to reconcile. Everything on-screen is perfect: Wes Anderson-collaborator Noah Baumbach's script, about the disintegration of a marriage and its effects on the children involved, is tight and heartbreaking. The actors, especially Laura Linney, are Oscar-worthy. On the flipside, however, the characters are such horrible people that it's hard to care about their plight at all. The film might as well be called How to Raise Kids in Boulder. The parents are self-centered egotists, out to please no one but themselves, while the kids are no better: One's a budding pretentious prick, and the other's a chronically masturbating alkie. Sorry, but I see enough of that here, in real life. Why pay for it? Louis Fowler
Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered Directed by Francis Hanly
Sundance Channel/Docurama
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Debbie Does Dallas is, and always will be, one of those porn films that, while a household name, is not as notorious for what it shows on-screen as it is for the life it took on long after the pants had been zipped back up. This 45-minute documentary purports to go inside the controversy most notably its mafia connections and a lawsuit filed by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders but the one mystery that people want the answer to, the disappearance of star Bambi Woods, is never solved, leaving only more questions. And while this film could have been way more in-depth, this is easily forgiven by the DVD's inclusion of a second documentary, the British-lensed Diary of a Porn Virgin, wherein three newcomers try to make their way in the industry. It's almost more interesting than the feature. Louis Fowler
The Specials Directed by Craig Mazin
Anchor Bay Entertainment / *In case you missed it ...
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Released around the same time as Mystery Men (and thusly, overshadowed), the indie comedy The Specials, scripted by James Gunn (Slither), is about the internal workings and subsequent breakdown of the "sixth (or seventh) greatest superhero team in the world." On the eve of their action-figure unveiling (the Oscar of the superhero world), egotist leader Strobe (Thomas Haden Church) learns that his wife, Ms. Indestructible (Paget Brewster), is cheating on him with pretty-boy The Weevil (Rob Lowe). This invariably leads to the dissolution of the Specials. No crimes are solved. Barely any superpowers are used. There's not a super villain in sight. Yet, still, this massively underrated, completely hilarious cult flick is quite possibly one of the top three superhero films ever made. It's a real classic that deserves a look. Louis Fowler
