Ruby Sparks

3 Paws

Seen recently at AMC Oakview Plaza 24

I love movies about writers. They don't spend energy trying to cover up their frailties, and watching them worry their way through scene after scene somehow soothes my entire being - like Xanex in celluloid form.

Paul Dano's Calvin is one of these writers. He's troubled and self-absorbed and way too smart for his own good. It's a good thing he's got one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen to help shore up his shortcomings. The supporting cast (Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Elliott Gould and Steve Coogan) is used sparingly and beautifully. But the film's real gem is Ruby herself, played by Zoe Kazan, Dano's real-life girlfriend and the granddaughter of Elia Kazan.

I didn't recognize Kazan, so I googled her as soon as I got home. Her IMDb profile shows that she's been pretty busy with small film and television roles the past few years. She also wrote the script, which is warm, funny and unexpected. I think everyone is going to recognize her soon.

Bonus Bones: 10
Oscar, who plays Scotty, definitely needs his own Twitter account.

Maria Abramovic: The Artist Is Present

2.5 Paws
Seen recently at Film Streams

I have a confession to make - I don't get performance art. It makes me self-conscious and uncomfortable, which makes me feel like I'm lacking the intellect to appreciate it, which makes me avoid it if I have a choice...a vicious circle.

That being said, I think there's a lot of good and a lot of schlocky art out there, no matter the method of delivery. Maria Abramovic, the Serbian performance artist, is part of the good camp, it seems. Everything about her is compelling - the way she moves, the way she speaks, the way she commits to her work.

It's fascinating looking over her shoulder as she prepares for a 2010 retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I'm not sure I would have camped out for the chance to sit across from her as part of the new work she debuted during its three-month run. But I wouldn't have automatically ruled it out, either. I like her, even if I don't get her.

Bonus Bones: 0
She doesn't seem like the type of human who has time for a dog.

The Intouchables

3 Paws

Seen recently at the Dundee Theatre (still musty, but not for long)

Bad title, best movie I've seen this year to date.

It starts with a car chase, but as soon as Driss (Omar Sy) cranks up a little Earth, Wind and Fire, I know everything's going to be okay. The subject matter is tough - an incredibly wealthy French aristocrat (Francois Cluzet) hires a burly street tough to be his round-the-clock caretaker after an accident renders him a paraplegic.

Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano somehow manage to avoid manipulating the viewer's emotions with an almost clinical treatment of the situation, coupled with wit, restraint and a keen eye for editing - every scene says a lot, oftentimes with little dialogue. 

Cluzet (Philippe), who looks a little like a French Dustin Hoffman, turns in an Oscar worthy performance - if he doesn't get his half of this buddy movie right, the whole thing heads straight for sappy town. 

Bonus Bones: 0

I was so into this one that I almost forgot to keep track, but I came to my senses in time - no dogs.

Your Sister's Sister

3 Paws
Seen recently at Film Streams

Mark Duplass is having quite the summer. He was sweet and sad and genuinely appealing in Safety Not Guaranteed, and he's managed to do it all again as Jack, one-third of the unintended love triangle that forms in a cabin on a dark, wet, beautiful island off the northwest coast. I'm not sure if he's acting or if he's just being himself, but it's working.

The sisters (same dad, different moms) also work. Any girl with a sister will instantly recognize the admiration the younger (Emily Blunt as Iris) has for the elder (Rosemarie DeWitt as Hannah), the teasing and torment the elder unleashes on the younger, and the habits formed in childhood (telling secrets to each other in the dark when you're supposed to be sleeping) that never seem to break.

It's a good one - see it on a rainy day, if you can. And take your sister.

Bonus Bones: 0
No dogs on the island.