Film notes from a boring week

Nothing much to report on this week so in the best tradition of journalism, when there’s nothing to report on - you make it up – no, just kidding. Actually in the best tradition, you simply comment on whatever strikes your fancy. So here are a few things mildly interesting from the world of film over the past week:

* Much ado about Wes Anderson’s latest The Grand Budapest Hotel, which opens Friday at the Main. Never been music of a Wes Anderson fan, whose movies are so bizarre, separating time and place into fantasy worlds - as to be silly. Not everyone’s cuppa tea as they say. Though this one might have more potential as a send up of a fictitious 1930s European hotel with all the period archetypes, and a stellar cast with people like Ralph Fiennes, Jason Schwartzman, and everyone’s favourite, Bill Murray.

* Then there was this piece in The New York Times Sunday magazine The Ethicist column. A reader asked if it was okay to boycott Woody Allen’s films in light of the latest allegations about him actually abusing his step-daughter Dylan Farrow many many years ago. What I got from the piece is that the allegations still haven’t been proven in court, and/or that regardless of your views, a person can separate the artist from the art. Read for yourself at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/on-boycotting-woody-allens-films.html

* The first ever Detroit Free Press film festival takes place this week with films pretty much all Detroit-related. We’re talking docs, folks. But it’s interesting so many docs have been made about Detroit and this is the venue in which to see them. March 20-23 at the Detroit Film Theatre (DIA) and at Fillmore Detroit – 12 films altogether. A Detroitophile’s delight. Go to www.freepfilmfestival.com

* Speaking of fests, the 16th annual Detroit Jewish film festival runs April 27 – May 7, and you can see the schedule at http://www.jccdet.org/home-filmfest/. The Windsor (unrelated) Jewish festival should be coming up soon.

* And I almost fell over when I saw that Devonshire Cinemas is screening art house fave Quebec director Denis Villeneuve’s intriguing Enemy, a psychological thriller par excellence. Now I wonder if I will be the only person in the theatre!