Borat: Cultural Learnings of America Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan:  I only got to see the first 30 minutes of this spin-off flick for Sacha Baron Cohen's character from Da Ali G Show (which I understand is more than the crowd got to see at the premiere on Thursday night when the projector broke) because of a scheduling conflict.  And let me tell you, walking out of this screening was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life.  For the bigger festival pictures that already have domestic distribution deals, it's not unusual to see security guards in the front corners of the theatre, using special viewing devices to ensure nobody is pirating the film.  What is unusual to see are security guards nearly bent over at the waist from laughing . . . while their backs are to the screen.  I can't wait to see the rest (I did -- review here).

Little Children:  Todd Field's follow-up to In the Bedroom is a tale of suburban woe co-adapted with Tom Perotta, the author of the novel.  You might think the titular children are the toddlers of the main characters, but eventually it is revealed that the adults are the children in question.  Brad (Patrick Wilson) is a stay-at-home dad with a law degree and an emasculating wife (Jennifer Connelly), and he hasn't aged a bit since the death of a parent in his late teens.  Sarah (Kate Winslet) is one dissertation short of a PhD in English Lit, but she fritters the days away smirking at the conformity of the other local moms, and being snippy with her only child in a home way larger than she needs.

The two have an affair after a nice meet-cute scene, and there's another story thread involving a resident recently released from prison following a sentence for exposing himself to a child (Jackie Earle Haley in his first performance in 13 years, and he's creepier than Clint Howard).  The community reacts like Osama bin Laden has been spotted on their streets, so you know it's just a matter of time before the cacophony of tragedy brings its big, shiny boot down on these people.  Awesome dry narration of the proceedings to go along with the overall awesomeness of just about everything else with Children.  This should be an Oscar contender across the board, but what's with the scene where Winslet's eyebrows are deemed too thick and not a word is said about Connelly's?

Ghosts of Cité Soleil:  Asger Leth, son of famed Danish director Jørgen Leth, notches his filmmaking belt for the first time with this documentary about the eponymous Cité Soleil section of Haiti's Port-au-Prince during the turmoil before and after Jean-Bertrand Aristide's 2004 downfall.  It's a gritty City of God-like look into a scary moment of history, but mostly it made me embarrassed to be an American.  If Haiti wasn't already on the long list of countries the United States needs to apologize to, the folks making that list need to check out this movie to see what our stupid gangsta rap culture has done to this former French colony that became the world's first independent black republic.  Without the bullshit posturing and demands for respect, Haiti might be a safer place to live.  Still, any film, no matter how many issues a person might have with it, can still be redeemed by playing Brian Eno's "Ending (An Ascent)" over the closing credits.

(That was more of a critique of the subject than of the film, which I thought was interesting and quite well done).

The Fall:  You might remember Tarsem Singh as the director of R.E.M.'s award-winning music video for "Losing My Religion," or from the instantly forgettable 2000 Jennifer Lopez film, The Cell.  You might have been wondering what that crazy Indian has been up to for the last six years.  You might have thought he was crying into his lavishly decorated pillow, but you'd be wrong because Tarsem has been on nearly every continent on this planet looking for insanely visual places to shoot his next feature, The Fall.

A remake of Zako Heskija's 1981 film Yo Ho Ho, The Fall will instantly suck you in with a slow-mo black-and-white opening that merely sets a brisk pace for the eye candy you'll be treated to for the next two hours.  The story is almost a bit like The Princess Bride, only set in a Los Angeles hospital, with a paralyzed man (Lee Pace) and a young girl with a broken arm (Catinca Untaru) bonding over the former's epic story about an evil governor and the men who want to kill him.  Mostly, the story is just a front to get the girl to steal morphine pills for the man, who is suicidal over losing his girlfriend.  The man's story incorporates several of the characters at the hospital, a la The Wizard of Oz.

The interaction between the man and the girl is mesmerizing, and never once sounds scripted.  That would, I think, be easy to forget considering The Fall might be the most visually arresting film you'll ever see in your life.  I spent a bulk of the film wondering if some of the sets and locations actually existed, or were generated by the craziest computers in the world.  I'm afraid that some folks might not dig this picture, and feel it will be like Lady in the Water in that you either take the bit and run with it, or you sit there and scratch your head.

For Your Consideration:  All you really need to know is that Consideration is the new Christopher Guest-helmed improv mockumentary.  You probably won't care that the subject -- the movie industry -- has already been sent-up by Guest & Company (see The Big Picture), and even taken care of more recently with David Mamet's State & Main.  Consideration is plenty funny, but I don't think it's as good as either of those other two films.  But like I said, you probably won't care.

Consideration focuses on the filming of a small drama called Home for Purim which appears to be unremarkable in every possible way . . . at least until an movie gossip site mentions that an actress (Catherine O'Hara) might have a shot at an Oscar nomination.  Before you know it, Purim is on everyone's radar (despite "everyone" having a basic understanding of the internet akin to Ted Stevens).  The studio is now interested, and eager to get their hands into the project to make changes.  Entertainment television shows want their slice of the pie, too.  And, of course, the attention goes right to the heads of the screen talent.  It's all kind of a one-joke premise, but when you think about it, that's how Guest films have played in the past.  But his other offerings did a much better job of fleshing out that one joke to a 90-minute movie.