The Cinecultist's Weekly Movie Picks, Sir Yes Sir Edition

Baby, it's cold outside. Though Gothamist thinks it's always a good time to go to the movies, this time of year is particularly perfect for cozying up at the cineplex. Hot cocoa goes great with popcorn.

This week there's the option of a hunky officer in training (Annapolis), a magical nanny with a freaky nose (Nanny McPhee), a Dane's further impressions of Americana (Manderlay), and a film distribution experiment at work (Bubble).

We're anticipating that it's going to be all about James Franco in a crew cut at the box office and though the trailer looks a bit like 2 Fast 2 Furious in Virginia, direction by Justin Lin of the excellent Better Luck Tomorrow is keeping us optimistic. Also you may have heard that Martin Lawrence is dressing up as a woman in a fat suit. Again. We'll just ignore that, shall we? And moving on.

The Gothamist Pick:
One of the most eclectic and engaging British directors working today, Michael Winterbottom's festival fav Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story comes out in limited release this weekend. An adaptation of Lawrence Sterne's book -- the first meta novel written before there was such a thing as meta, complete with blank pages and a self-aware narrator -- Winterbottom concocted a movie about the making of a movie starring Steve Coogan, who plays himself playing Tristram plus various other characters. Confused yet? As you should be. For more of a review, of this complete laugh of a picture check out J. Hoberman's take in the Village Voice and Gothamist's previous from the NYFF.