Some photos from San Francisco. Full set and slide show on Flickr.

Paupack Park

Tribeca Film Festival

Reading Waveland on the E Train

Fast Lunch Special

From the best movie of the year so far to the baldfaced atrocity that was Watchmen, here’s a roundup of recent reviews, in order of preference:

Adventureland. Greg Mottola, 2009. *****
Mesrine. Jean-François Richet, 2009. **** 1/2
Tokyo Sonata. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2009. ****
Sin Nombre. Cary Fukunaga, 2009. *** 1/2
Tokyo! Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho, and Michel Gondry, 2009. ***
The Education of Charlie Banks. Fred Durst, 2009. ***
Duplicity. Tony Gilroy, 2009. **
Watchmen. Zach Snyder, 2009. *

The local TV station in Hattiesburg, MS, used to segment its bite-sized news coverage with fanfare flashes that moved quickly from “World News Now!” and “Local News Now!” to conclude with uplifting “Good News Now!”  Well. In case you haven’t heard yet, Marcy’s second novel Bad Marie, follow-up to the New York Times editor’s choice Twins and pitched as “Mary Gaitskill meets The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,”  was sold to HarperPerennial. We don’t have a publication date yet.

Also, SmokeLong Quarterly just published an interview Meg Pokrass and Dave Clapper conducted with me about Fictionaut. Thanks again for the opportunity to blab, guys.

Two new reviews on About.com: The International, which I enjoyed a good deal, and the MoMA premiere of the Bollywood spectacle Delhi 6, which I enjoyed even more. That’s Sonam Kapoor in the photo above.

Photos from yesterday’s visit to the New York Comic Con. My review of Takashi Miike’s Yatterman is up at About. I also reviewed Fanboys and Coraline last week.

You may have noticed a few changes around here. Along with a new design, I’ve slightly adjusted my blogging habits. For the time being, I’m done with posting a pithy line or two about every movie I see. There doesn’t seem to be much value in it beyond keeping a personal log, which is something I might as well do in private, and the energy is better spent on longer reviews for About.com. The first of 2009 just went live there, of Olly Blackburn’s hilariously awful Donkey Punch. It’s been strangely liberating to put the notebook down and watch for pleasure alone.

The muckworld sidebar now includes full feeds for some of my other projects. The Fictionaut blog has been absorbing much my blogging energy, so it’s only fitting that the latest post there should show up here. (And if you like, we also have a feed of every Fictionaut member’s blog.)  Below that, you’ll find the latest post from my tumblr blog, which is the place for assorted floatsam and netsam, posted without a second thought, often in the wee hours of the morning. On top of that, you’re also welcome to follow my Twitter feed, which I generally use sparingly unless I’m at a show or something.

This main blog will be reserved for photos, commentary, links, and updates that don’t fit anywhere else, such as pointing to Marcy’s and my ballot on the indieWire critics poll, something I totally forgot in the mad days of December (and which appears to have gotten lost in their redesign.)  I’ll also have an exciting announcement very soon — and that, my friends, is what they call cryptoblogging, and it’s only one of four or five personal rules I’ve broken with this here navelgazing post. To finish it off, a few vacation photos (slideshow). Sorry, no kittens.

Photos from a snorkeling trip to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize.

We’ve opened the Fictionaut blog to the public at http://blog.fictionaut.com. This is where I’ll continue to announce site news along with short interviews with members such as Tania Hershman, Keith Lee Morris, Matt Bondurant, and (upcoming!) Tayari Jones, as well as selections of  favorite Fictionaut stories — so far, we’ve featured Frederick Barthelme, Ami Greko, Richard Nash, and Meakin Armstrong.

We also now have a Facebook page, if that’s your kind of thing. Drop by, subscribe to the feed, leave an obscene comment, and if you haven’t already, request a Fictionaut invite. Much more to come.

Also, because one new blog per week just isn’t enough, I’ve started tumbling.

My Mother, My Bride, and I/Die Zweite Frau
Another cross-cultural love story from Europe, this time bridging Bavaria and Romania. Erwin Kobarek (Matthias Brandt) picks Irina (Maria Popistasu) out of a catalog, but his mother (Monica Bleibtreu) disapproves. One of my favorites at the Hamptons Film Fest. Hans Steinbichler, 2008. ****

Speed Racer
I’m still kicking myself for missing this in the theater. Delirious, demented, delicious. Andy & Larry Wachowski, 2008. ****

Black Ice/Musta jää
I liked this twisted Finnish thriller in Berlin, and it got even better on second viewing in the Hamptons. Let’s hope it doesn’t just get remade, but also released in the U.S. Petri Kotwica, 2007. ****

Werther
This punk rock adaptation of Goethe’s classic is either a pretentious disaster or wildly romantic triumph. Possibly both. Either way, Hannah Herzsprung is out of this world. HIFF. Uwe Janson, 2008. ***

Dunya & Desie
Movie version of a long-running Dutch TV show about two teenage friends. Dunya (Maryam Hassouni), the daughter of Muslim immigrants, returns to Marocco, and her bubbly friend Desie follows. Thoroughly sweet & enjoyable. HIFF. Dana Nechushtan, 2008. ***

Boogie
Bogdan’s on vacation with his wife and child when he runs into his old buddies who still call him Boogie and insist to take him out on a wild night. Perceptive and unassumingly real, Boogie snuck up on me. More from Danny Kasman. HIFF. Radu Muntean, 2008. ***

Troubled Water/DeUsynlige
This gripping redemption story starring Trine Dyrholm won Best Narrative Feature and the audience award at the Hampton’s Film Fest. Marcy reviews. Erik Poppe, 2008. ***

Nothing But the Truth
Reasonably amusing fun-house mirror version of the Miller/Plame case. Could’ve used more Vera Farmiga — but that’s true of every movie. Rod Lurie, 2008. ***

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I love the man as much as anyone, but the only HST movie I really need to see at this point is The Rum Diaries. Alex Gibney, 2008. ***

The Bad and the Beautiful
Kirk Douglas as selfish Hollywood producer who screws over Lana Turner. Highly entertaining until the wimp-out ending. Vincente Minnelli, 1952. ***

Barocco
Curiously surreal crime/love story starring Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu in two roles. Andre Techine, 1976. ***

Flash Gordon
Ornella Muti! Mike Hodges, 1980. ***

Quantum of Solace
Seems like I was entertained. The editing blew. That’s all I remember. Marc Foster, 2008. **

Dancers/Dansen
Annika (Trine Dyrholm) falls in love with a rapist. Dyrholm is terrific but the movie pales compared to Der Freie Wille. HIFF. Pernille Fischer Christensen, 2008. **

‘77
As a major Star Wars geek, I tried my best to like this sci-fi coming-of-age story. But you know what the man says: there is no try. More from Karina Longworth. HIFF. Patrick Read Johnson, 2007. **

Shadowboxer
So lurid and godawful, we couldn’t stop. Cuba Gooding Jr. bonks Helen Mirren — with a gun! Lee Daniels, 2005. **

The Andromeda Strain
A long time ago, I was sent to bed after the first 15 minutes. Finally finished it. Dull science procedural was not worth the wait. More from Glenn Erickson. Robert Wise, 1971. **

What Just Happend
Rough going, but we held out until Bruce Willis shows up in wooly beard. Barry Levinson, 2008. N/R.

Sea Bright, New Jersey, East Hampton, Long Island, and Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania.