GOOD Movies

Welcome to the first of GOOD's movie review roundups.

Between the suffocating advertising for the big movies and a paralyzing range of options with the small ones it can be hard to know what's worth seeing.

But we've got a few people in the film arm with their ears to the proverbial street.

Two of the films, The Living Wake and Loren Cass, are not in release yet, but received such stellar reviews after their CineVegas premieres that it's worth just being aware of them.

And if you're in L.A., the film Once, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and has received stellar reviews since (97% on Rotten Tomatoes), is playing at the Arclight this weekend as part of their special 21+ screenings. This means you can take booze into the screening, drink it during the film, and become extra emotional while listening to the dreamy Irish folk songs that are played throughout.

The Living Wake
Directed by Sol Tryon, premiered at CineVegas this week.

"...pic defies all categorization, joining a small pantheon of pics including "Withnail & I" and Peter Greenaway's "Drowning byNumbers" that whistle past the graveyard with aplomb. Marking a stunning feature debut by lead actor and co-writer Mike O'Connell, pic is certain to set tongues wagging at fests and looks primed to do well in theatrical niches and tony ancillary havens."

Review by Robert Koehler on Variety.com

Loren Cass Directed by Chris Fuller, premiered at CineVegas this week.

"A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle, Chris Fuller's "Loren Cass" announces a genuinely original filmmaking talent who literally pulls no punches in his depiction of teen angst and racial warfare on the streets of 1997 St. Petersburg, Fla."

Review by Robert Koehler on Variety.com

Fido
Directed by Andrew Currie, in limited release.

"A crafty mixture of George Romero and Douglas Sirk, "Fido" is a boy and his zombie movie that may have an unusually pastoral color scheme but tears into its many satirical targets - war, class, nuclear families, the '50s, our culture of death and violence - with the vigor of a freshly reborn flesh-eater."

Review by Robert Abele on LATimes.com

Once
Directed by John Carney, in limited release.

"In its brief running time, writer-director John Carney does something both profound and unexpected: He reinvents the movie musical as a genre of swooning rock 'n' roll realism."

Review by Ty Burr on Boston.com