Laurence Anyways (Xavier Dolan, 2012)

8/10
I still haven't seen Xavier Dolan's first two movies (they're on the list) but I caught his new one tonight. It's taking a lot of flak for being overlong and self-indulgent, but I didn't get that at all. It is long, but not to the point of being boring. And there's some soapboxing, but not to the point of distraction. Dolan certainly seems to have a love-or-hate style though. Chunks of the movie play out like music videos, the imagery and symbolism is sometimes as subtle as a sledgehammer, and you have to wonder sometimes what walk of life his characters are culled from in terms of their dress, the way they talk, and so on. Despite all of the above, he still tells a damn good story, and packs a lot of emotional weight and realism into what's happening on-screen. Both leads deserve a lot of credit but Suzanne Clement in particular was exceptional. Basically there's a whole lot of style, but the substance is there too...I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012)

8/10
There's a pretty daunting task ahead of you when you have to cram in a multitude of superheroes and at least give them some semblance of a backstory or character so that people who haven't read the comics or seen the other films (like me, mostly) won't be completely uninterested or uninvested with what's happening on screen. As such, the movie is a bit like an old ship - it does a lot of creaking out of the gate and takes some time to get going, but it's smooth sailing when it does. And to mangle another metaphor, the Avengers' in-fighting is a bit like trying to enjoy your salad when you know the steak is around the corner - it keeps you busy while it lasts, but you're really just killing time for the main course.
All that said, I thought the movie did a lot of things really well - the script was sharp, and genuinely witty (not "comic book movie funny" like Spiderman or something). The acting was very good all around, except I'd like to put a stop to Jeremy Renner playing the exact same character in every single film he's in. At least it only took him about 6 minutes to turn bad in this one. The end fight scene around Manhattan is action film ecstasy, and some of the best-filmed, most exhilirating 3D action I've ever seen, and certainly makes the whole thing worth the price of admission. I had a lot of fun, and that's what matters.

Wicker Park (Paul McGuigan, 2004)

4/10
Weird romance/thriller that I watched with a friend on Netflix...it jumps through a lot of hoops in trying to keep our starcrossed lovers seperate (mistaken identities, stalking, and a lot of information being withheld from the viewer until just the right moment), only to unite them inevitably in a standard Hollywood "crying together at the airport" finale. Apparently it's a remake of a French film called L'appartement which, by all accounts, did it a lot better and more coherently.