This Week's New Releases: Inglourious Basterds, Post Grad, Casi Divas

Post Grad

In the role that Alexis Bledel’s overly precocious persona was created to play, she’s following up The Gilmore Girls and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with another coming of age story, this time with an excursion through the wasteland of the newly graduated college student. Were it not for the supporting cast of comic greats (Fred Armisen, Dmitri Martin, Jane Lynch) and the fact that it gives Michael Keaton work after lord knows how many years, the film would be a dullish story about an aimless young adult you feel difficulty mustering sympathy for – after all, Bledel’s post-grad character has a supportive family and a lovely home to move back to, and she’s looking for a career, not a job.

Casi Divas

Stunning betrayals. Unbelievable vanity. More make-up than you’ve ever seen (ever-ever). These are just a few of the things that comprise Mexican soap operas, and the long-form cinema that springs from them. The historically garish medium gets a tough look in this Spanish-language film about four women who (in the style of American entertainment) vie for a shot at being the star of a new movie when the producer tires of his girlfriend/star and decides to open up the spot to the nation’s hopefuls in an American Idol style televised competition. 

-- Lauren Harris