"Slim pickings" is the best way to describe this week's releases. Isn't anyone planning to stay home and watch DVDs?

Two Lovers
Joaquin Phoenix can't decide between Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. Directed by James Gray, this suffocating drama is dark, thoughtful, and "more true to real human existence than most of the dreck that comes out of Hollywood studios," wrote Kim Voynar. I wasn't quite as impressed by it as she was, but it's still my top pick in a slow week. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

12 Rounds
Wrestler John Cena stars in Renny Harlin's latest train wreck (as I described it in my review), a sober drama that resolutely refuses to embrace its loonier plot elements (fire engine smashing through New Orleans, an out-of-control street car). Aidan Gillen (The Wire) provides one of the few pleasures as an exceptionally-nasty master criminal. Also on Blu-ray. The "Extreme Cut" adds less than three minutes of footage. Skip it.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
I was hoping against hope that this might provide some cheesy fun, but Nick Schager slammed that door shut: "Fighting sequences are dreadfully lethargic ... their choreography is of a dull, unimaginative sort." Not even Kristin Kreuk can save this one. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

Also out: Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience.

After the jump: "Indies on DVD" provides several good rental choices, a landmark film by Spike Lee hits Blu-ray, and a long-dismissed effort by director Hal Ashby gets dusted off.

Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 6/30

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The decidedly un-PC Bruno has gone sensitive. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has decided to err on the side of caution, and cut a Michael Jackson related skit from Sacha Baron Cohen's raunchy comedy. The edit was made just hours before its Los Angeles premiere. "We decided to take it out for tonight, and we'll reassess before the release whether to keep it out," said director Larry Charles at the premiere's afterparty.

The scene involves Cohen's gay Austrian interviewing an unsuspecting LaToya Jackson about a number of topics, but focusing on her brother, Michael. As I haven't seen the film, I don't know what the jokes are, but THR says that they center on Jackson's high-pitched voice, and his one-time white glove trademark. It's already screened for critics, none of whom found the scene particularly offensive, but Universal was concerned it would upset his grieving family and fans. However, Universal might restore it for the film's wide release, as a studio spokesperson also confirmed that they were still undecided about whether it should stay or go. The film opens in two weeks, and cutting the scene out of every print would be expensive, and possibly delay the film a'la Spider-Man 2.

What do you think, readers? Is Universal making the right call to err on the side of caution or good taste? Or should they leave Bruno alone, and trust audiences will be less sensitive about Jackson in the coming weeks?

More Bruno: Check out this hilarious report from the Bruno premiere on Moviefone Minute.

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"Let me get this gay stuff out of my system." Richard Berkowitz (pictured above in both images) did not set to be an AIDS activist, or even to live openly as a gay man. He fully intended to meet and marry a woman, settle down, and raise a family, which would have pleased his liberal New Jersey Jewish Democratic family. Enrolling at Rutgers University in the early 1970s, however, changed his life.

Berkowitz's journey from college student to S&M hustler to safe sex advocate to gay community outcast is carefully chronicled in Sex Positive, a documentary by Daryl Wein that opens today in New York after a successful series of festival screenings. (Regent Releasing will open it in Los Angeles and Denver next week and in San Francisco on July 3.) Berkowitz is nearly forgotten today, despite co-writing two key texts that introduced the concept of "safe sex" and generated considerable controversy upon their publication.

Wein's film succeeds in reasserting credit to Berkowitz, virologist Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, and the late musician / activist Michael Callen for vigorously proclaiming that a promiscuous lifestyle increased the likelihood that gay men would contract AIDS. That message, initially delivered in 1982 and 1983 when the gay community was devastated by scores of deaths and little or nothing was being done by the government to research and try to cure or at least slow the spread of the "gay disease," got them branded as "anti-sex." Yet the three men asserted that a "sex positive" lifestyle could be enjoyed as long as certain safeguards were employed.

Continue reading Review: Sex Positive

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My, my, the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) has certainly grown up. It seems like it was born only yesterday, and already it's celebrating its eighth edition. This year's festivities got started on Wednesday evening with a "by invitation only" screening of Woody Allen's Whatever Works, the director's first NYC-based film in five years. Only a few members of the press were allowed to attend: three of the four reviews linked at Rotten Tomatoes were negative. Coincidence?

Deals. ESPN picked up TV rights to Jonathan Hock's documentary The Lost Son of Havana, according to indieWIRE, and will broadcast the film in August. The doc follows Luis Tiant, a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1964 to 1982, as he returns to his homeland of Cuba after 46 years of exile. Tiant once said: "We should never forget what has happened to the people in Cuba for forty years."

First Run Features acquired Yoav Shamir's Defamation, and plans a fall release. As reported by indieWIRE, "In the doc, Shamir embarks on a quest to answer the question 'What is anti-Semitism today?'" Ex-paratrooper Shamir previously made the excellent Checkpoint; when his latest debuted at the Berlin fest in February, Howard Feinstein in Screen International praised the director's "lighter approach," calling the film "a well-researched but unapologetically subjective essay."

Our Coverage. Public screenings began on Thursday afternoon, and our own Eric D. Snider caught The Swimsuit Issue, which is "about a group of ordinary men of varying ages and physiques who combine to create Sweden's first all-male synchronized swimming team." He observed: "Hard to believe this and Ingmar Bergman came from the same place." Eric also reviewed Fear Me Not, "a slow-burning psychological thriller" from Denmark, starring Ulrich Thomsen and Paprika Steen.

After the jump: Blog Talk (i.e., what other people are saying.)

Continue reading Tribeca in 60 Seconds: Saturday, April 25, 2009

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Is it possible for gay and lesbian ultra-Orthodox Jews to reconcile their sexual orientation with their devout religious beliefs? Director Sandi Simcha DuBowski examines the question carefully and quietly in Trembling Before G-D, a documentary available for free online viewing at SnagFilms.

Over a period of years, DuBowski interviewed Hasidic and Orthodox Jews in New York, California, Florida, Britain, and Israel, all individuals struggling with their feelings. One man has undergone therapy for more than 10 years in an attempt to "cure" his homosexuality. Others have been ostracized from their families and the communities in which they were raised. Still others prefer to remain anonymous. DuBowski also talked to different medical experts and religious leaders.

In his review for another site, Eric D. Snider commented: "Though the stories are compelling in their humanity and the striking quandaries they present, even for straight viewers, they develop a sameness after a while. None of the stories are outrageous or especially moving; in fact, most of them are not stories so much as case studies ... They are portraits of people, and good ones, but the film falls into a rut long before it's over. That said, it offers several interesting insights into the seemingly incongruous matters of homosexuality and orthodox religion." Reviewing it for The Village Voice, Jessica Winter concluded: "DuBowski's sober, scrupulous documentary doesn't lash out at an oppressive religious structure so much as offer a hopeful prayer-out of love and devotion-that it be made better."

We've embedded the video below for your viewing convenience. More information is available at the film's official site and at SnagFilms.

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Deals. As Eugene Novikov informed us, hard-hitting dolphin doc The Cove was picked up by Roadside Attractions. Via our friends at indieWIRE, we also learned:

• "Don't run! If we must die, we will die." Street protest doc Burma VJ will be released by Oscilloscope in theaters this spring. If you don't think a monk with a megaphone can make for riveting footage, watch the trailer, embedded below.
• Biopic Pedro (about the late gay activist who memorably appeared on MTV's The Real World) will skip a theatrical release and instead debut on MTV before hitting DVD.
• First Run Features acquired Andrew Jacob's Holocaust survivor doc Four Seasons Lodge for theatrical release.
• Lucrecia Martel's critically-acclaimed thriller Headless Woman will hit theaters in August through Strand Releasing.
• Heavy metal doc Anvil! The True Story of Metal, will get a very decent-sized release next month by VH1, of all companies, opening in at least 18 cities on April 10, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Box Office. The three-director team-up Tokyo! took the top spot last weekend, raking in $23,460 at a single theater in Manhattan, per Box Office Mojo. The film, featuring segments directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, opened to generally good notices. Eric D. Snider said: "Think Paris Je T'aime, only a lot weirder (and about Tokyo, not Paris, duh)."

Festivals. Michael Lerman posted the news that John Cooper has been named Director of the Sundance Film Festival. Cooper told indieWIRE that he wanted to "establish a clearer distinction between the event's festival director vs. its programming director." He also emphasized that Sundance is a "discovery festival, we're not launching Academy Award campaigns." That sounds good as a means of preserving Sundance's artistic integrity and stated mission, but he's not really saying Sundance will eliminate star-studded screenings, is he?

Continue reading Indie Roundup: 'Burma VJ' Pickup and Trailer, Sundance Speculations

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The Tribeca Film Festival has been in the news lately for significant personnel changes, but what about the movies? This year's edition gets underway on April 22, and Cinematical has received a list of the first 38 of the 86 feature films that will be screened. A few titles that jumped out at me:

The Eclipse. The great Ciaran Hinds stars in an "atmospheric drama about a widower who sees and hears strange things in his house." Hinds was fairly magnificent in the TV series Rome and stood out in Steven Spielberg's Munich. Add to that Iben Hjejle and Aidan Quinn as writers the widower encounters at a literary festival, and this is a drama that I want to see.

The Fish Child. Lucia Puenzo made the well-regarded XXY and now comes a "a passionate love story in the arms of a pulsating thriller." I love the idea that for her sophomore feature, the director has made what is evidently a very different type of movie than her quieter debut drama.

Stay Cool. The Polish Brothers (Northfork) return with a "charming comedy" about a high school reunion of sorts, with Winona Ryder and Hilary Duff. Manure was sharply criticized at Sundance just a couple of months ago; could Stay Cool possibly be any good? Winona Ryder doesn't get seen enough, and Hilary Duff has made interesting choices, so this could be surprisingly good -- or another train wreck.

Outrage. Documentarian Kirby Dick, who made the terrific This Film is Not Yet Rated, turns to the subject of "the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to." I'm hoping it's as sensational as it sounds.

After the jump: The complete announcement. Browse away, and tell us what looks good to you!

Continue reading Tribeca Fest Announces Lineup (Part One)

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Milk
Sean Penn won an Academy Award for his portrayal of openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, and Dustin Lance Black won another for his script, which focused on Milk's activist years in the 1970s. "It's a minor miracle of sheer film making joy and determination," wrote James Rocchi, "and one of the best American films of 2008." With deleted scenes and mini-features "Remembering Harvey," "Hollywood Comes to San Francisco," and "Marching for Equality." Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Let the Right One In
My top pick from last year is a dramatic thriller about vampires and young people, old souls and eternal fears, yearning for the unobtainable and the inevitable pains of loving another person. Director Tomas Alfredson takes a traditional tale -- the youngster who is picked on and the new friend who helps -- and rubs in a touch of supernatural, a touch of the old world, and a touch of heart on the sleeve, wrapping it in beauty and agony. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Transporter 3
I have no easy defense of my love for Jason Statham as Frank Martin in the Transporter films. Suffice it to say that the action -- fights, car stunts, people stunts -- keeps me occupied, the plots are not hard to track, and I like the interplay between the main character and Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand). In this episode, Jeroen Krabbé as the bad guy is a nice bonus. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Also out: Cadillac Records, Role Models. After the jump: a bounty of Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray Picks, plus Collector's Corner.

Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 3/10

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With Valentine's Day looming at the end of the week -- don't forget your lovey-dovey gifts, boys and girls, or Saturday night might end up extra cold, if you know what I mean -- why not go beyond the superficial and consider the meaning of true love. Our friends at SnagFilms are featuring two "true love stories," and we've embedded one of them below in its entirety for your viewing pleasure (US only).

Black, White and Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe is an absorbing look at the controversial photographer and his longtime lover and patron. Mapplethorpe was transformed by art curator and collector Wagstaff, and their relationship was a complex one; Wagstaff's interest in photography was matched by Mapplethorpe's galvanizing artistic vision. The two men also shared a close friendship with poet / musician Patti Smith throughout the 1970s and into the 80s.

James Crump's doc features new interviews with Smith, writer Dominick Dunne, and many others, plus archival interviews with the two subjects, rare footage, and a bevy of gorgeous photographs. It's probably most illuminating for the focus on Wagstaff, a figure who is now forgotten but who, the film argues, deserves much greater recognition. The title refers to a hugely influential exhibition that Wagstaff staged in the early 60s.

Note: the documentary includes brief instances of frontal nudity (in photographs), so it may not be safe for work.

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Continue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Dec. 12

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Continue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Dec. 5

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Continue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Thanksgiving

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Continue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Nov. 14

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1. Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (Logo)
2. Synecdoche, New York (Sony Pictures Classics)
3. Let the Right One In (Magnolia)

How on earth did an unheralded, under-the-radar movie from an untested distribution outfit manage to nearly out-earn a much-advertised period flick starring one of the biggest tabloid stars in the world, directed by one of the most respected? Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, based on the Logo TV series, opened at theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington DC over the weekend and grossed $32,200 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. That puts it just behind Clint Eastwood's Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie. The romantic comedy follows four men and their partners as they travel to Martha's Vineyard and deal with relationship travails. The first release by Logo's film distribution unit, indieWIRE says that Noah's Arc "is already 2008's highest grossing narrative gay film overall."

If a romantic comedy starring gay African Americans sounds like an unlikely box office winner, what about a movie with a nearly unpronounceable title featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman as an aging theater director? Not exactly sexy, I suppose, but Synecdoche, New York nonetheless grossed $19,222 per screen at nine theaters in New York and Los Angeles. I don't think anyone expects this to be a huge box office smash, yet that's a good, strong start for Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, one of the more intriguing films to be released this fall season.

Continue reading Indie Winners: Gay Romance, Unpronounceable Angst, Swedish Vampire

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