According to metacritic, the trades give Star Trek two perfect scores of 100. When is the last time that happened — for any sort of movie? (These have been out a few days, but I only noticed them tonight.)

Variety, Todd McCarthy:

Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Faithful enough to the spirit and key particulars of Gene Roddenberry’s original conception to keep its torchbearers happy but, more crucially, exciting on its own terms in a way that makes familiarity with the franchise irrelevant, J.J. Abrams’ smart and breathless space adventure feels like a summer blockbuster that just couldn’t stay in the box another month.

Star Trek here joins the James Bond series as the long-term ’60s franchises that have been most successfully rebooted, although the current accomplishment is the more surprising since, after 10 films and a succession of TV series, Star Trek was widely thought to have exhausted itself. While respectfully handling the Roddenberry DNA, Abrams and longtime writing cohorts Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have transferred it to a trim new body that hums with youthful energy.

The Hollywood Reporter, Ray Bennett:
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Thanks to Roger Friedman (and every other critic with eyes connected to a cerebral cortex) I can save the 8 bucks I would’ve thrown away on Wolverine to throw away later on G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.
To balance out the superficiality of my interest being a lot more stimulated by Channing Tatum than by Hugh Jackman, I can honestly say I like the way cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen shoots action flicks. Transporter 2, Transformers, Wanted. No matter what you think of these movies plotwise, shotwise they gleam with a wet sexy gloss. Speaking of wet sexy gloss, Amundsen is now shooting Jonah Hex, and if you missed the photos of Megan Fox being ogled and ewwed over this week, you can find a couple after the cut.

(see, this clickable tease is what’s known as an “Easter Egg” and I guarantee you it’s more fun to see than whatever various “bonus” FOX claims to be planting after the credits of Wolverine.

Fans of Wolverine who watched the online leak of the film won’t miss one thing by skipping the theater — they’ll miss at least two. Director Gavin Hood says the theatrical version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, due out Friday, features two different “Easter egg” endings. The short bits of footage play after the credits and reveal important information about key characters. Hood says the two endings play on separate prints, so different theaters may show different footage. (USA Today)

Oh noes! Wait, I mean “Who cares?” I don’t mind waiting two days to see these super-special extras posted on youtube, instead of paying twice for the privilege. If you want some instant gratification to Marvel at, check out Megan Fox’s 12-inch Barbie doll waist on the next page.

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Main Competition Categories:

• The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – “About Elly (Darbareye Elly),” directed and written by Asghar Farhadi.
• Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Rune Denstad Langlo for “North (Nord),” written by Erlend Loe.
• Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Ciarán Hinds in “The Eclipse,” directed and written by Conor McPherson.
• Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Zoe Kazan in “The Exploding Girl,” directed and written by Bradley Rust Gray.
• Best Documentary Feature – “Racing Dreams,” directed by Marshall Curry.
• Special Jury Mention: “Defamation (Hashmatsa),” directed by Yoav Shamir.
• Best New Documentary Filmmaker – Ian Olds for “Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi.”

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There’s a lot of nervous toe-tapping in the hallowed stalls of Washington after the Tribeca premiere of Outrage and its upcoming theatrical release May 8.

“Outrage,” a new documentary from filmmaker Kirby Dick, takes issue with the secret lives of closeted gay politicians — especially conservative Republicans who outwardly oppose gay rights.

The film, which premiered last week at the Tribeca Film Festival, features tell-alls from men who say they’ve had relationships with various Republicans, including Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Bush strategist Ken Mehlman and former Senator Larry Craig.

According to Magnolia Pictures, “Outrage” is a “searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians with appalling gay rights voting records who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to.” (HuffPo)

I wish they’d used the trailer tagline, “We know what you did last session,” on the poster after the cut. It’ll be interesting to see how Florida Governor Charlie Crist deals with Outrage in future gubernatorial and senatorial races. Often named as Republican hopeful for the 2012 Presidential candidacy, does this movie effectively screw his chances?

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With the same impeccable sense of timing that inspired Oliver Stone to give us a dollop of W. just when we’d had quite enough of him, thanks, The Hollywood Reporter says Stone has signed on with Fox for a sequel to Wall Street. Short of having Gorden Gekko replaced with the little Cockney fellow from GEICO, I think it’ll be hard to script any scenario similar to the original that’s remotely palatable to the public in the midst of this meltdown. Michael Douglas is expected to reprise his role as Gekko, but unless he’s humiliated like Bernie Madoff, frankly, I’m not in the mood to watch him try to regain his status with the Masters of the Universe. And who’s rumored to be cast as the Charlie Sheenier protégé in the sequel? Shia LaBeouf.

The problem with movies that pretend to be cautionary tales about greed is the same sticky mixed message we’re given in war movies. It’s tough to avoid glorifying the thing your movie is supposedly warning against. Just as a recent poll of shows that conservatives don’t get the joke on The Colbert Report (deep down they believe he’s for real), a generation of hucksters looked up to Gordon Gekko in the same way Pacino’s Tony Montana was a hero to wannabe gangstas. Maybe cigarettes in movies are only seen as props for villains now, but they sure know how to make sucking down a lungful of carcinogens look cool.

I’d like to see Oliver Stone orchestrate a comeback with the kind of scathing cultural commentary he used to be capable of making. But on the basis of his last few films, I wonder where his erratic moral compass will lead him next. Whatever happened to Pinkville? Wartime atrocities not headliney enough? Or just not sexy enough.

The Hurt Locker earns its blurbs. It’s pulse-pounding, nerve-jangling, heart-wrenching. Nice to see some posters that capture that intensity. Trailer after the cut.

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Julia Roberts honoring Tom Hanks at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on Monday, and demonstrating why her three best movies are rated R.

Soon after moving in, Beth, a brainy, beautiful writer damaged from a past relationship encounters Adam, the handsome, but odd, fellow in the downstairs apartment whose awkwardness is perplexing. Beth and Adam’s ultimate connection leads to a tricky relationship that exemplifies something universal: truly reaching another person means bravely stretching into uncomfortable territory and the resulting shake-up can be liberating.

Looks like a charmer, with genuine chemistry between Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne.

From FirstShowing, via Empire, by way of SlashFilm courtesy of scans from AccessSaoirse.

So what can we offer that’s new? How about the first two pages of the script?

Because silhouettes say “dark humor for grownups.” (2008, 2007)

Just in time for theaters packed with sniffling brats snotting all over germy arm rests, swine flu arrives with the summer blockbusters.

• Wash your hands. Often.
• Cover your mouth if you sneeze or cough.
• Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress
• Drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.
• Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Resist the urge to lick this lobby poster. And this one.

If you’ve already seen every French film from the ’60’s, and wish an unknown Godard classic would be rediscovered, you could do worse than the films of Philippe Garrel. Garrel’s Frontier of Dawn was nominated for a Palm d’Or last year, and finally had its US premiere last month. Ran across this preview at traileraddict, and my first reaction was “oh no! wtf is up with the Voice-over of Doom and Piano of Gloom?” It’s like a parody of an art-house trailer from 40 years ago. Then I found this explanation at Greencine:

“…disarmingly beautiful faces and bodies intimately fill the frame in largely drawn-out takes, with relatively minimal movement as if they were closer to the character’s still photography than the motion picture kind. The score seems misplaced from classic suspense or horror, all violins and pianos striking sharp, stark, blatantly foreshadowing notes. Perhaps those who heckled the film at Cannes last year dismissed this all as pretentious navel gazing, but it’s a bold approach to attempt conveying the ache of absolute love.”

yeah, I’m ready to buy into that, as well as this attitude:
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Extending the battle for prominence and dominance that existed in real life between mother Beale and daughter Beale, Jessica Lange has decided she’ll be placing her Grey Gardens performance in the Lead Actress category at the Emmys this August. According to the distinguished Page Six of the NY Post:

According to an insider, the cable net has been pushing Drew Barrymore, who plays “Little” Edith Beale in the well-received HBO movie, to put herself in the running for a Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries Emmy nomination. Hoping to maximize its awards tally and prevent a vote-splitting scenario, HBO suggested to Barrymore’s co-star, Jessica Lange, that she agree to put herself in the running for a Best Supporting Actress nod.

But we’re told Lange wouldn’t go for it. “Her immediate reaction was that she’s won two Oscars, and that she has equal screen time to Barrymore,” says our insider. “She felt she wasn’t a supporting character in the film, and that it’d be dishonest and a manipulation of votes. She didn’t want a part of it.”

Watching the doc and bio-pic side by side last week, I was struck by the clearly conscious decision the HBO filmmakers made to place Little Edie at the center of the narrative. In the documentary, Albert and David Maysles allowed Little Eddie to hog the spotlight a bit but her mother’s domineering presence was never in doubt. The adaptation gives the more traditional dramatic arc to Little Edie by default, but sometimes does so at the expense of the actual real-life dynamic.

Although we’re all blown away by how closely the actresses have mimicked the mannerisms and accents, there are a couple of scenes in particular where the HBO doc throws the weight of its sympathy toward Little Eddie. (I’ll have to try to find clips to back up what I think I saw being done.)

Strangest quote from the NY Post’s piece, after the cut.

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Clip from a 1972 episode of Maude, after the cut.

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