The calm before the blockbuster storm. This weekend’s offerings are mostly limited releases from notable film festivals. For starters we have the the critically-acclaimed Amardillo, A Screaming Man and The Princess of Montpensier making their post-Cannes debuts. And if that isn’t your cup of tea there’s always The Imperialists Are Still Alive! and The Double Hour, as choices because other than that, I wouldn’t put much stock in studio fares like Wes Craven’s reboot-rehash Scream 4.
U.S Indie
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Atlas Shrugged: Part I – Paul Johansson – Rocky Mountain Pics. This questionable adaptation of Ayn Rand’s free-market manifesto is short on acting, story and production value.
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The Conspirator – Robert Redford – Roadside Attractions. Redford’s period piece tells the true story of three men and one woman who were
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Footprints – Steven Peros – Paladin
This small forgettable indie in the vein of Mulholland Drive tries to pay tribute to Old Hollywood and movie magic
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The Imperialists are Still Alive! – Zeina Durra – IFC
Fun, compelling and widely meandering. Screened at 2009 Sundance, Zeina Durra’s atmospheric debut feature is an alluring and paranoid journey into the effect ‘the war on terror’ has had on the everyday lives of several Manhattanites. Imagine Chan is Missing crossed with Issac Mizrahi’s Unzipped. Here’s our interview with Zeina.
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Foreign
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A Screaming Man – Mahamat-Saleh Haroun – Film Movement
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes last year, Haroun’s modern fable
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The Double Hour – Giuseppe Capotondi – Samuel Goldwyn
The movie, which won its stars, Ksenia Rappoport and Filippo Timi, awards at the 2009 Venice Film Festival is
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The Princess of Montpensier – Bertrand Tavernier – Sundance Selects
Based on a novella by Madame de Lafayette, this sweeping historical dramance feels all to real in Tavernier’s latest costume extravaganza. A princess caught between duty and love might sound titillating but amid bloody battles and court intrigue it’s enough to kill anyone’s passion. Included in the Main Comp during a weak Cannes year.
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Documentary
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Armadillo – Janus Metz – Lorber Films Received by wide critical acclaim at several film festivals, this Danish war documentary, which
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Square Grouper: The Godfathers of Ganja – Billy Corben – Magnolia
From the creators of Cocaine Cowboy comes this SXSW doc about the proliferation of pot smuggling in 1970’s Florida. In sharp contrast to the brazenly violent Scarfaces of the 1980s, Miami’s marijuana smugglers were cooler, calmer, and for the most part, fishermen. This paints a vivid portrait of Miami’s pot smuggling culture through three of the city’s most colorful stories. Here’s our interview with “Bobby Tuna”.
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Studio
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Rio – Carlos Saldanha – 20th Century Fox. The makers of the hit Ice Age bring us RIO, a comedy adventure about a domesticated Macaw who never
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Scream 4 – Wes Craven – Dimension Though it doesn’t generate the same pulse tingling excitement of the original, Scream 4 does manage to offer up
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