So, I’ve been busy. Philadelphia is about to be inundated with film product, and so here I am on (deep breath) A Separation, Miss Bala, Albert Nobbs (with accompanying Six Pack), Pina and — why not? — Addiction Incporporated, too. Have at it, people.

Oh, and I didn’t watch anything yesterday beyond a couple bits of Zodiac, so no point in a Screening Log today.

Screening Log: 23 January 2011

1. /Miss Bala/ (2011, Gerardo Naranjo) Much more effective watching it while I’m not recovering from a minor panic attack. Less a thriller than a horror film. Review forthcoming. [screener]

2. Straw Dogs (2011, Rod Lurie) Hey, morbid fascination. I haven’t seen the original since before I could vote, so I can’t confidently offer a take on its complex and dodgy morals. (My guess is that, while Peckinpah meant for Hoffman’s descent into macho neanderthalism to be a bad thing, he muddled that in execution.) For the record, this tries to copy some of the complexity from the original (Kate Bosworth’s Melissa George stand-in looking shifty at her husband post-melee, for instance), but it’s basically the dumb defense of vigiliantism that the original only reluctantly is. Sam Peckinpah was genuinely wrestling with demons and his own potentially repugnant beliefs; Rod Lurie is just trying to copy a classic. [DVD]

Screening Log: Weekend of 20 January 2011

1. The latest Parks and Rec [Hulu]

2. Addiction Incorporated (2011, Charles Evans, Jr.) Review forthcoming. Preview: far too late to have much impact, but as engaging and likable as its “lead.” Cartoon segments with mouse-people enjoying a calm nicotine high both too cutesy and innaccurate as to what a nicotine high is like. [screener]

3. Road to Nowhere (2010, Monte Hellman) Rickety and slightly less clever than it thinks it is, although, yes, why did no one realize a decade ago Shannyn Sossamon is best when she’s doing almost nothing? [Netflix Instant]

4. The Last Circus (2010, Alex de la Iglesias) Batshit, natch. A constantly mutating narrative keeps this watchable, although I can’t for sure appreciate the complexity of the political aspect. [Netflix Instant]

5. Revisited the first through third episodes from the third series of The Thick of It

5. Love Exposure (2008, Sion Sono) Well, then. Yes, this loses some steam in the second half, but I would pay a lot of money to see Sion Sono radically alter some major comic book movie. The first hour is a genius origin story, and the rest is the silliest epic ever made. [DVD]

6. Art History (2011, Joe Swanberg) Adequately captures the remoteness of being on a film set. Final scene nowhere near as powerful as the one that concludes Silver Bullets. [screener]

7. Aurora (2010, Cristi Puiu) Went in expecting this to be slow for slow’s sake, but there’s a method to the glacial non-pace that becomes apparent once our protagonist suddenly starts [spoiler]. Finale mirrors the one in Police, Adjective, only not nearly as awesome, as how could anything be? [screener]

8. Most of The Sleeping Beauty (2010, Catherine Breillat), to be finished later [Netflix Instant]

Screening Log: 19 January 2012

1. Black Books, S2E3 [Netflix Instant]

2. Nostalgia for the Light (2010, Patricio Guzman) [DVD]

3. Silver Bullets (2011, Joe Swanberg) My new favorite Swanberg. For someone who officially falls into the “mixed” category on J.S., I sure do wind up approving of several of his movies. [screener]

Screening Log: 18 February 2012

1. Cowboys & Aliens (2011, Jon Favreau) [DVD]

2. Flowers of War (2011, Zhang Yimou) [advance screening]

3. Remaining two parts of A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) [YouTube]

4. Black Books, S2E2 [Netflix Instant]

Screening Log: 17 January 2012

1. Black Books, Episodes s1e6 and s2e6 [Netflix Instant]

2. Albert Nobbs (2011, Rodrigo Garcia) Review forthcoming [screener]

3. First part of A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, which I’d never seen before. Basic, of course, but it’s important to occasionally refresh yourself with the basics. Also, it’s predictably wonderful. [YouTube]

Screening Log: Holiday Weekend of 13 January 2011

1. The latest Parks and Rec [Hulu]

2. That Summer (2011, Philippe Garrel) [repertory screening]

3. /Ocean’s Twelve/ (2004, Steven Soderbergh) [DVD]

4. /Out of Sight/ (1998, Steven Soderbergh) [Blu-Ray]

5. /Lost in America/ (1985, Albert Brooks) [DVD]

6. Haywire (2012, Steven Soderbergh) [advance screening]

7. Downton Abbey Series 2, Episode 2

Slim pickens this weeks, kids, as all my work wound up sadly The Iron Lady-related. Pan here and listicle on actors who actually look like the famous people they’re playing here (Meryl’s MT only gets a drive-by mention.

Just remembered I neglected to post shameless plugs here last week, which is lame. Reviewed Angelina Jolie’s Bosnian saga In the Land of Blood and Honey. More charitably, I devoted Six Pack to a sextet of worthwhile 2011 films that, for whatever reason, never played Philadelphia theatrically. The list could go on and on. At deadline, I hadn’t yet seen Elia Suleiman’s offbeat Israel piece The Time That Remains, and I’m still kicking myself for choosing Ong Bak 3 over Cold Weather (which I did to create a more diverse list, but whatever). But I’m glad I finally had a chance to say kind words re: Matthew Porterfield’s Putty Hill (pictured).

Screening Log: 12 January 2011

1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011, The Daldry) I did not enjoy The Daldry. [advance screening]

2. Revisited episodes 3 (wine), 4 (injuries) and 5 (lock out, with Bernard briefly working in fast food) from the first series of Black Books, which, again, wow. (The above image wasn’t in any of them. I just like it.) [Netflix Instant]