IFC News: "Two guys walking around talking for two hours."

This week at IFC News:

Matt Singer starts on the first of three parts of his 40th anniversary guide to the "Planet of the Apes" films, pointing out metaphors, continuity errors and the best examples of Charlton Heston badassery.

Michael Atkinson does "The Films of Sergei Paradjanov" and "El Cid." On the Kino set:

The films — "Shadows [of Forgotten Ancestors]," "The Color of Pomegranates" (1969), "The Legend of Suram Fortress" (1984) and "Ashik Kerib" (1988) — are all based on folk tales and ancient history (Ukranian, Armenian and Georgian), but only "Shadows" is centered on narrative. It's also the most visually dynamic; unfolding a tribal tale of star-crossed love and familial vengeance in the Carpathian mountains, the movie is one of the most restless and explosive pieces of camerawork from the so-called Art Film era, shot in authentic outlands with distorting lenses and superhuman capacity, and imbued with a grainy, primal grit.

Aaron Hillis talks to "In Bruges" director Martin McDonagh:

It seems like theater people who get into filmmaking tend to make flat and stagey work, but "In Bruges" is rather cinematic for a playwright's feature debut.

Well, exactly, that's exactly the kind of film I didn't want to make: Two guys walking around talking for two hours, or sitting on a bench and talking for two hours, or sitting somewhere else. That was my biggest fear. I grew up loving films. I never really had much of an interest in theater as a kid because I wasn't ever brought to it; you know, I didn't really have the money to go to it. Film was always my first love, and is something I wanted to get back to, and all of my influences are cinematic ones. All the De Niro-Scorsese films, Terrence Malick, Kurosawa, Sam Peckinpah, David Lynch… um…

… Nicolas Roeg?

Roeg, yeah. I wouldn't have said an influence necessarily, but "Don't Look Now" is very much a template of this, of trying to capture a town as a character.

On the podcast, we debate A.O. Scott's points from last week on the current sad state of the romantic comedy, pick out the few recent pairings we can came up with that display genuine chemistry, and look at a few undeniable stars who nevertheless seem incapable of generating a romantic spark with a costar.

And Neil Pedley has what's new in theaters.

+ IFC News