Resident Evil: The Bottom of the Barrel

So far, I have received -- oh, I dunno, maybe a zillion retweets for this tongue-in-cheek Tweet: "Isn't it about time in the Resident Evil franchise for Alice to run into Abbott and Costello?" So I guess I'm not the only one who's run out of patience with this long-running sci-fi series. The latest installment -- Resident Evil: Retribution -- arguably is the least coherent and most enervating yet. (You can read my Variety review here.) Maybe the producers really should take a page from the old Universal horror flicks and team Alice with Kate Beckinsale as Selene of the Underworld movies for their next installment. It couldn't hurt.

The Weight: A "Who's On First?" for a new generation?

Three years before the Sundance Film Festival premiere of his Arbitrage -- a smart, suspenseful and exceptionally well-acted drama set to open Sept. 14 at theaters and drive-ins everywhere -- Nicholas Jarecki directed and co-wrote The Weight, a slight but clever short that plays like a stoner version of a classic Abbott and Costello routine. The two movies have absolutely nothing whatsoever in common. Which, when you think about it, may be a promising sign that Jarecki is filmmaker worth keeping your eye on.