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I know better. I realize that you'd like to escape from the hustle and bustle of the season and lose yourself in the thrill of a good story, but you've only got time for one or two movies before it's back to hosting family and cleaning up the house. But if the ads in the newspapers are any indication, every movie out right now is an Oscar contender, so how can you decide? Well, consider this my holiday present to you--a guide to this month's arthouse films, with a blockbuster or two thrown in.

One of the most significant movies of the season is also one of the most disappointing. Stephen Spielberg's Munich was generating buzz before filming even began this summer, and that buzz has carried over into some impressionable critics' reviews. Don't believe the hype. The film focuses on the Israeli agents who attempted to track down those responsible for the Munich Olympic kidnapping, and Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner think they have something important to say. But their political "insights" boil down to the now-familiar credo that fighting terrorism can morally compromise otherwise virtuous men. And lest the audience not catch it the first time, Munich hammers home the argument in at least a half dozen conversations and then adds some ham-fisted scenes that are astonishingly banal. One ludicrous moment occurs as the main character (played with dull monotony by Eric Bana) is haunted by the killing of the Israeli Olympians while having sex with his wife. Do I even need to remark that the film ends with a lingering shot of the World Trade Center? I could put up with Spielberg's attempts at relevance (though he deserves the criticism he'll get for implying that the Israeli spy agency and Palestinian group Black September are morally equivalent) if the story held its own, but the political thriller is surprisingly lifeless. There are a few nice set pieces, and I particularly enjoyed some of the supporting cast (Geoffrey Rush is great fun as a case worker for Mossad), but too much of the plot bogs down in long conversations and Eric Bana staring into space.  

Felicity Huffman does a lot of staring into space, too, but she's the main reason to see Transamerica, a story of a transsexual woman taking a road trip with the teenage son she's just found out she has. Huffman is brilliant, but the road trip story is almost as familiar as the romantic comedy, and director/writer Duncan Tucker doesn't have much to add. 

Mrs. Henderson Presents also feels familiar but in a good way mostly. It's another WWII story, this time about the can-do British spirit. Judi Dench plays a wealthy, bored aristocrat who decides to open a theater. When that starts to struggle, she comes up with the idea of using nude female models to spice things up. Dench is her usual impeccable self, but Bob Hoskins as the theater's manager and creative director is the real star. The two have great chemistry in their comic conflicts, though the movie loses steam when it starts to take itself seriously. Apparently, if actresses are forced to wear clothes, the terrorists win. Or something like that.  

That's not the only WWII drama about the upper crust this holiday season. The team of Ismail Merchant (who passed away last spring) and James Ivory return with more of their usual fare in The White Countess. Ralph Fiennes is a blind American who dreams of opening a bar for the sophisticated in Shanghai. His dreams spring into reality when he stumbles upon an exotic Russian exile played by Natasha Richardson (who's one of three Redgrave women in the cast). The acting is fine, the art design is spectacular, and the story is utterly dull. But if Merchant-Ivory's combination of upper-class characters and repressed emotion does it for you, here's another version. As for me, I would've enjoyed it more as a joke--a blind man, a prostitute, and a Chinaman walk into a bar...  

I know what you're thinking. Isn't there anything marvelous to see this holiday season? Well, yes. I realize Pride & Prejudice has been out for several weeks, but it's the sort of film that'd be easy to overlook. Costume drama, yet another Austen adaptation, a B-list cast (Keira Knightley, Donald Sutherland, and some no-name playing Darcy). I could see why you might skip this one, but don't! It's simply one of the best and most enjoyable movies of the year. Knightley is radiant (no other word fits) as Elizabeth Bennett, and the rest of the cast shines in support. Director Joe Wright does wonders with what could easily be a stodgy narrative, and the screenplay (courtesy of Deborah Moggach) distills the novel to its essence. I don't usually like period pieces, but this one's special. Trust me.   

Someone else will have to explain the appeal of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I mean the film of course, not the book, which is one of the finest children's stories ever written. That might be my problem. I kept noticing all of the unnecessary ways that the filmmakers changed the narrative or altered the dialogue. Everything seemed designed to make it more like a video game and less like a tale of wonder (both child-like and theological). And the whole thing is such an obvious attempt to re-do Lord of the Rings, but this time on the cheap. 

 

Speaking of Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson follows up his spectacular Tolkein trilogy with an equally spectacular remake of King Kong. Simply stated, Jackson gets it right. The iconic nature of Kong, the epic sweep of the story, the aching and beautiful love story at the center, the glamour of Naomi Watts, the majesty of the Empire State Building--all of them are perfectly realized. There are a few things I'd change, but it's safe to say I haven't been this entertained at a movie theater in a long, long time. 

Well, there it is. Admittedly, that's a lot more "avoids" than "rush out and plunk down $9.50." Maybe I'm just cranky this time of year, or maybe indie film has become as predictable as the blockbuster scene. Oh, I hope not. I better fire off another letter to Santa.