amarcord, back on the big screen

Caught Amarcord at the Nuart this weekend -- who of us is not a sucker for the words "restored print"? Lance Goldenberg has this to say about Fellini's film in L.A. Weekly:

Amarcord often comes off like a series of loosely connected vaudeville routines, its players pumped up into a realm of caricature, where gestures and emotions are as outsized as those famously enormous butts and breasts so dear to the director’s heart.

Goldenberg likes the film, but this apt description gets to the heart of why I don't think it's a complete success. Ebert says it's "Fellini's final great film," but while Amarcord grew on me, it's not in the same league as La Dolce Vita or Nights of Cabiria. Still, even minor Fellini beats the hell out of so much else, especially during the dregs of wintertime moviegoing.