REEL TALK: MOVIES RATED BY SPAGHETTI TOPPINGS I’VE LIVED TO REGRET

NATURAL SELECTION | CHOCOLATE CHIPS

One of the biggest surprises of last year’s SXSW was writer-director Robert Pickering’s impressive Natural Selection, which went on to be an official selection for the 2011 Ebertfest. It tells the challenging story of a devoutly Christian woman who sets off on a journey to find the illegitimate son of her dying husband … yet it manages to be really funny at the same time. [R | Kendall Square Cinema, Fri 7.6.12]

KATY PERRY: PART OF ME | KETCHUP

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Katy Perry: Part of Me is “A3Dmotion picture event movie” [sic]. Sounds about right (they’re just missing the “LOL” at the end). Follow Katy Perry as she sings, dances, schmoozes, panders, humblebrags, and fulfills contractual obligations to appear in 3D concert films. [PG | Wide Release, Thu 7.5.12]

SUNSET BOULEVARD | BACONNAISE

As a rule, I try to avoid two types of entertainment: anything with Zs where Ss ought to be, and movies named after any street in Los Angeles. That’s not prejudice, it’s just out of respect for Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder’s masterpiece about all that is Hollywood. Equal parts satire and celebration, it’s guaranteed to win over even the most jaded of hearts in only the way a Billy Wilder movie can. [NR | Harvard Film Archive, Sat 7.7.12]

TO ROME WITH LOVE | ICE CREAM

Woody Allen has periods. Stop giggling, I mean like the way Picasso did. Before Annie Hall, it was one-liner sex farces. Then it was seriocomic New York-based proto-mumblecore. For the last decade or so, we’ve seen him in his European period. This postcard to Rome has critics divided, but all agree that, on the whole, Allen’s recent branching out is a breath of fresh air. [R | Coolidge Corner Theatre, Fri 7.6.12]