Ah, January, time to rent some movies

In theaters Friday: Inkheart, Killshot, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

New on DVD/Blu-Ray: City of Ember, The Express, Igor, Max Payne, Saw V

Since the rush of holiday and Oscar movies is over, and January is such a dumping ground for below par product, I always enjoy staying in when it’s cold and watching some interesting and more obscure films on DVD. I did see The Tale of Despereaux, though, and highly recommend it. It was funny and heartwarming like the best family films should be, but it is also a very sophisticated screenplay. With so many subplots, characters and adult themes, I remember thinking in the middle of it, “This is like the Pulp Fiction of animated mouse movies!” Truth.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to renting Appaloosa next week and later in the month, Rocknrolla, but Cinematical recently posted its list of great movies released in the dead month of January. Surprise, surprise, former Baton Rougean Steven Soderbergh’s low-budget indie experiment, Bubble, made the list! Released in January 2006 (and forgotten by February), Bubble was one in a series of smaller films Soderbergh uses to cleanse his palette after huge Hollywood projects like Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic. But utilizing the non-actors and long silences of a rural factory town and shooting on video makes Bubble the smallest of Soderbergh’s small films. If that bores you, don’t let it, because this is a pretty remarkable, if understated, drama. Sure it doesn’t aspire for much, but what it does reach for, it attains, finding the kind of realism and beauty that can only be discovered in simplicity, never complexity. And how often have you left the theater in the last year and said to yourself “Wow, that was way too long/loud/confusing/cheesy/vulgar/ridiculous!” Yep, Bubble is none of those things. With a great guitar soundtrack by Robert Pollard, Bubble is a quiet 75-minute film that’s great to watch while enjoying a glass of wine and a home-cooked supper. Plus, Parkersburg, W.Va., makes Baton Rouge look cosmopolitan. So that’s kind of cool.

Dustin James Ashley plays Kyle, a shy, mid-20s slacker who lives with his mother and works in a rubber doll factory in rural West Virginia. His days are as slow and quiet as his speech, and oddly, his best friend is a peculiar middle-aged co-worker named Martha. Their friendship changes, though, with the arrival of Rose, an attractive single mother who takes a job at the factory and catches Kyle’s eye. But Rose is as mysterious as Kyle, and she may not be as innocent as she first seems. Soon, the town is rocked by a murder, and local police must question everyone at the factory to determine the killer. Taking a page from one of my favorite young directors, David Gordon Green, Soderbergh relishes the rusted and somber ennui of small town America. As usual, Soderbergh’s touch here is light and fluid. Everything in the film makes sense, and the tone is offbeat but not hokey. Check it out!