feeling listless

Review! Once, not too long ago I was asked to list my top five film directors. The list went something like Woody Allen, Steven Soderberg, Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater (see below) and Ed Burns. I think I'd just seen and fallen in love with 'The Brother McMullen' and decided that we had a new generation Woody Allen on our hands. Then I saw 'She's The One' and bumped him for Whit Stillman. But I'll give anyone the benefit of the doubt and looked forward to his next film -- which then appeared on direct-to-video here I think. Then I saw the trailer for his new one "Sidewalks of New York" and wondered what I ever saw in him. In the revival of my old Review! feature I present CNN's Paul Clinton opinion which actually includes the subheading "Derivative filmmaking": "Also no exception is the presence of Burns' greatest weakness -- Burns. In his films Burns' characters are (apparently unwittingly to Burns himself) arrogant, self-involved and smirky. In all his films -- which of course he writes -- he obviously thinks his characters are the most likable, best looking, and intelligent people on screen. Everyone else, especially all the men in his films, are unredeemable jerks."