The ticket stub captive

This should wrap it up for the year and allow me to start on my year's-best lists--though I'll be Netflixing a few more 2007 flicks for a while.

• The Ex (5/19, Orange)--Had a hell of a time remembering what the hell this was, since IMDb shows it under the alternate title of Fast Track. Mainly I remember that it tried hard to make us think of There's Something About Mary, even down to [SPOILER ALERT] the fake handicapped suitor, but all in all, forgetting it wasn't a disaster. Wouldn't have gone but for being in Orange already for . . .
• Jindabyne (5/19, Orange)--Which in turn was kinda reminiscent of Deliverance, but without any squeals. Didn't believe the reviews that Gabriel Byrne and My Future Wife Laura Linney would whiff together again, and in fairness, this is much better than the ridiculous P.S., but that's not a high bar.
• Direktøren for det hele (The boss of it all) (5/27, IFC)--Oh. My. God. One of the goofiest, funniest comedies I saw all year, directed by that master of the belly laugh . . . Lars von Fucking Trier? This is straight out of the Preston Sturges playbook: to avoid the ire of the people who are going to hate him eventually, the company director pretends to be a lackey and hires an actor to play the company director. Hilarity ensues.
• Brand Upon the Brain (5/27, VE)--More Guy Maddin madness: the protagonist, named Guy Maddin, returns to the lighthouse-orphanage where he was raised to deal with repressed memories, weird science, and disappointed love. Narrated my his best pal Isabella Rossellini. Oh, and the air conditioner was out in the theater, so I got a free pass to use later!

Which reminds me of something I saw later at the same place and complained about a projector meltdown and got another freebie, but I don't seem to have a ticket stub for it . . .

• Delirious (?? [Sunday of Labor Day weekend, maybe? yes, good bet: I see only three films for the 9/1 Manhattan trip, so let's guess that], VE)--Amusing interplay between Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt, as Tom DiCillo mines the Living in Oblivion lode. Brilliant cameo by Declan MacManus as Elvis Costello.

[Moments after I logged off: yes! I remember now! Dude took my ticket stub when he gave me my free pass! Glad I remembered that, else I'd be haunted by all the ticket stubs I must have lost, but now I'm secure: had one stolen, lost one on the Delta-hellish return from vacation.]

OK, I was wrong: I'm not going to finish tonight. But while I'm on the subject of things I don't have a ticket stub for but I know I saw:

• The Simpsons Movie (early August, Savoy, Ill.)--Some people complained that this was nothing more than three episodes of the series strung together. Well, yeah? Have you produced as much creativity in your life as there is in three good episodes of the TV show? Me neither.