Sunday linkage: A scriptwriter takes control, a graphic novelist strikes b.o. gold

In the Los Angeles Times, veteran scriptwriter Scott Frank (pictured above, left, with actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, center, and Matthew Goode) charts the long and winding road he took to directing The Lookout. And in Variety, ace industry observer Anne Thompson explains how a graphic novelist may be helping to change the game plan for action movies.

Also in Variety: Peter Bart muses over the fact that, not for the first time, some film critics appear to be out of sync with mainstream moviegoers. He is brutally sardonic -- and, I have to admit, more accurate than not -- when he notes the scathing reviews for the high-testosterone 300 and cracks: "[I]f you've ever met a film critic, you"ll know they're not big on either the pectoral, deltoid or other muscle groups." Sounds very much like Charles Bronson's notorious observation that most movie critics are "pear-shaped." Ouch.

I just got back from SXSW and, boy, are my eyes tired

My apologies for not posting more -- well, actually, for not posting at all -- during my recent sojourn in Austin to cover the SXSW Film Festival. I wanted to provide daily commentary about the movies, good and bad, that I viewed there. Trouble is, as we say in Texas, you got to dance with the one that brung you. And since Variety picked up my tab for this trip, my first priority was viewing and reviewing major films (for the paper and its website) quickly enough to scoop The Hollywood Reporter.

I'm back at home base now, and likely will be posting a great deal about the festival offerings in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, I invite you to check out my reviews of these SXSW world premieres: Scott Frank's The Lookout, a stealthy neo-noir drama that isn't afraid to take its time developing characters on the way to the payoff of a neatly designed caper scenario; Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, which is, scene for scene, minute to minute, one of the most explosively funny movies in recent memory; Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine's Manufacturing Dissent, an uneven yet even-handed critique of Michael Moore by two self-described "progressive liberal" filmmakers; and Mike Binder's Reign Over Me, which Jeffrey Wells has been raving about since last July, and rightly so.

And while you're at it, please also take a look at my review of Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's The Prisoner, or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair -- a documentary I strongly suspect will spark debates that will spill out of the arts and entertainment sections, and into the op-ed pages.