The Cinecultist's Weekly Movie Picks: Don't Answer That Phone Edition

With the Oscar nominations announced this week, you can expect much of the box office traffic to be people trying to cross films off of their list that they are just now realizing are "important." However, the new releases keep a coming and the New York repertory houses are programming away, so there's loads of good flicks to check out this weekend.

In the wide releases category this week, Black Hollywood's new Meg Ryan, Sanaa Lathan who was so great in Love and Basketball with Omar Epps, appears in the new class/race rom com about a professional black woman falling for a white gardner, Something New. While the seemingly clichéd plot doesn't really fit with the optimistic title, Sanaa's smarts and sweetness might make this worthwhile for the chicks. And while we're talking movie genres targeted toward genders, the girl in trouble horror remake of the week, When A Stranger Calls starring the dark-eyed beauty Camilla Belle might appeal to the dudes. Or at least to those who like it when things go bump in the night.

As far as repertory goes, Film Forum began a run of the documentary Who Gets To Call It Art? yesterday about Henry Geldzahler, the first curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you're at all interested in the history of the '60s art scene in New York, it's a must see. The film runs until Feb. 14 and you can check out a Q&A with director Peter Rosen and editor Jed Parker at the Friday and Saturday at 8:15 pm screenings. Also Anthology Film Archives is showing some Cassavetes this weekend or you can catch the completely un-P.C. D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms starring Lillian Gish in the Golden Silents series at Walter Reade. It even has a new score by Al Kryszak and silent film with live scoring is always worth catching.

The Gothamist Pick:
While Gothamist wouldn't ordinarily classify ourselves as a fan of the western, our pick this week is Tommy Lee Jones's The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Al Gore's former college roommate directed, co-produced and also stars in this neo-western about a ranch hand determined to give his best friend a proper burial in Mexico. We've heard raves about Jones's performance (he won Best Actor at Cannes for it), in addition to Barry Pepper's, as well as the sweeping cinematography. Also, Gothamist loved country crooner Dwight Yoakum in Panic Room so we'd be pleased to see him on screen again. Sometimes it can be good to break out of our usual genre choices and as Sanaa would say, try something new.

Production Still of Camilla Belle in When A Stranger Calls