Werner Herzog is such a gratifying director to be getting into now. More and more of his movies and documentaries are coming out on DVD, and more critics are celebrating his work/influence. Roger Ebert, one of my favorite critics*, brought Herzog to my attention 2 or 3 years ago, but I didn’t really start getting into Herzog until Vice magazine published a series of interviews with Herzog this past fall.

If you’d like to start watching Herzog, this is my recommended viewing order:

1. Grizzly Man – Though 5 years old now, and Herzog has released 5 features since it came out, this documentary’s technique of simultaneously exploring subject, Timothy Treadwell, and director, is a great introduction to Herzog’s methods in both his features and documentaries.
2. Lessons of Darkness – This “documentary” on the Kuwaiti oil fires after the first Gulf War radically re-contextualizes documentary technique, twisting the desert landscape to reflect Herzog’s prejudices. Famously, Herzog shows his firefighters as animals, asking at one point: “Has life without fire become unbearable for them?”
3. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – The only non-documentary Herzog film I have watched all the way through. Although I am not sure how well it holds up to the fiction other critics might recommend, like Aguirre, the Wrath of God, I think the movie’s fantastic, and I personally enjoy it more than any of Herzog’s earlier non-documentary films.

* Shut up! I like his writing! Even though I don’t agree with a lot of what he says!

Though it took me until it was released on DVD to check it out, I finally got around to seeing The Hurt Locker — a day before it was nominated for Best Picture for this year’s Academy Awards.I had read on blogs after it was released in theaters that it was a great film. I read reviews from critics I trust like Roger Ebert, who raved about it. Then after Avatar came out, it seemed like everyone started talking again on blogs and in Tweets about The Hurt Locker and how the two would likely be going head-to-head with Avatar in a David vs. Goliath-like battle. They were right.

The Hurt Locker is a beautiful piece of film. I’m a big fan of the war film genre because it’s so hard to get right. But when it’s done right, it is done right. I don’t really want to get too deep into the glorifying war vs. anti-war film debate, but The Hurt Locker is simultaneously a great commentary on the current wars we are fighting and a flat-out great action movie. The suspense in the film is palpable. I don’t think I have been as physically involved and on the edge of my seat during a film since Paul Greengrass’ United 93. Director Kathryn Bigelow does a great job of letting you feel the suspense that these soldiers must be going through every time they leave the wire. Nevermind the fact that they are defusing a bomb and never know when it might go off, but you also never know when a sniper is going to fire on you, or someone is going to pop around out of an alley an point an AK-47 in your face.

I’m not a member of the Academy, but it has my vote.

For the past year I’ve been waiting for the release of Empire after seeing its initial teaser. It’s a film about having fun on fixed-gear bicycles by a group of friends in New York City. There are a bunch of films out there on the internet generally about the same thing, but the guys at Empire have done a great job teasing the film by running a blog about it is and releasing these short trailers. I’ve found that for me, nothing really gets me more motivated to get out and ride than watching cycling videos, especially during the winter months. I can’t wait for the full-length version to be released.

We’ve been hearing about James Cameron’s “Avatar” for what seems like an eternity now. At nearly $300 million, it’s the most expensive movie ever made. Its marketing machine has been at full force for months. It has a spectacular trailer. And now the critics are getting in on the act.Roger Ebert has given it four stars and it’s doing well on Rotten Tomatoes. It’ll be the box-office best for its opening weekend (this post was written before the premiere).

Conversely, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was the 2009′s highest grossing film at more than $400 million domestically, yet it had a 19 percent approval rating from the critics on the Tomato meter. I didn’t plunk down the money to see it, and still haven’t, but what from I listen to most seriously — word of mouth — it’s the worst movie ever made.

Word of mouth is an interesting animal. When I saw the trailer for Sandra Bullock’s new based-on-a-true-story movie, “The Blind Side,” I laughed it off as a cheesy Disney I’m-a-rich-white-person-giving-a-black-kid-from-the-streets-a-chance tearjerker. It didn’t start at No. 1, and movies usually drop off dramatically after the first week, but it has to-date grossed more than $150 million. The reason? Word of mouth and social networking.

I haven’t seen it yet, and probably won’t in the theater, but I am definitely interested in checking it out after hearing good things from people I know. It’s funny how you can write something off because of bad marketing, a poor review or a cheesy trailer, yet will change your tune once someone you trust vouches for it.

'The Blind Side' was based on Michael Oher (center)