The Good, the Bad, the Weird (two-and-a-half stars)

130 MINUTES | KOREAN + MANDARIN + JAPANESE | SOMERVILLE THEATRE: APRIL 26 @ 9:30 P.M.

There's a little of each of the title qualities in Korean director Kim Jee-woon's revision of Sergio Leone's classic, but not enough to warrant its punishing two hours plus length.

Looking for Eric (three stars)

117 MINUTES | SOMERVILLE THEATRE: APRIL 25 @ 2:30 P.M.

Like Fatih Akin and "Soul Kitchen" below, Ken Loach, the doyen of British neo-realism, also deserves a break, in his case from the heavy-lifting of his grim, kitchen sink working class lamrnts such as "Sweet Sixteen" and doomed Irish Rebellion period tragedies such as "The Wind That Shakes the Barley

The Independent Film Festival of Boston started yesterday, and it's stuffed with so much fine viewing that reviews overflow into this blog space. Here's one we couldn't fit into the print edition of our coverage:

Soul Kitchen (two and a half stars)

GERMAN | 99 MINUTES | SOMERVILLE THEATRE: APRIL 24 @ 10:PM

Roger Ebert not long ago twittered his opinion that 3-D was, ultimately, "a distracting, annoying, anti-realistic, juvenile abomination to use as an excuse for higher prices." After seeing "A Christmas Carol," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Clash of the Titans" (I'm not including "Avatar" because it turns out that the press screen I attended had faulty projection; on the other hand I am not eager to see it again properly), I'd have to agree.

As noted in this "Huffington Post" item by Virginia M. Moncrieff, the Iranian authorities, after holding Panahi prisoner for over six weeks, have finally disclosed their charge against him: he's accused of making an "anti-government movie" in his home.

I'd like to thank Mr. Simpson for his comment on my posting yesterday (see below) as it provides a text book study of the rhetorical devices employed by some right wing thinkers (and left wingers too, to be honest, but they have not adopted them as a fundamental strategy) in arguing the issues. All very timely, given the Tea Party demonstration (and counter demonstration from Tea Party Poopers) occurring today at the Boston Common (see photos).

I can only imagine that Jafar Panahi's ordeal in prison would be intensified if and when he learns that his cause is being exploited by American right wingers in an attempt to malign "liberal" Hollywood.

In an item entitled "Tale of Two Directors Part One: Hollywood Supports Child Rapist, Ignores Imprisoned Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi" on Andrew Breitbart's "Big Hollywood" website, blogger John T.

As is his wont with films of this kind, Anthony Lane's review of "Clash of the Titans" is highly entertaining. But I could hardly let stand a gratuitous swipe he takes at one of the great sci-fi films of the 90s, Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" (1997), which he dismisses as "thrillingly brainless." Hardly.

Meanwhile, though information is not very forthcoming and Panahi remains incommunicado, his wife reports that the director has been enduring Abu Ghraib-like conditions, stuck in a tiny cell without enough room to lie down.

There will be a memorial tomorrow at Boston University for Karen Schmeer, the great local film editor who died tragically last January just shy of her 40th birthday.

It takes place in Room 101, the BU College of Communication, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, starting a 6 p.m. with a gathering of friends and family.