This week is overflowing with potentially interesting indie DVD releases. What Would Jesus Buy?, an entertaining documentary directed by Rob VanAlkemade and produced by Morgan Spurlock, asks a very serious question in comedic form. As I wrote in my review, the film follows Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping Choir on a trek across America as they deliver an anti-shopping, anti-materialism, pro-Christmas message, bolstered by the trappings of fundamentalist religion. The DVD from Arts Alliance America includes deleted scenes, an 8-minute public access show featuring Reverend Billy, the Choir and Morgan Spurlock, and printable lyrics of the Choir's customized Christmas carols.

Theodore Braun's doc Darfur Now "is solely about the power and the conviction" of six people who have made a difference in Sudan, according to our own Christopher Campbell. "If there's one flaw with the film, it's that it almost conclusively portrays the Darfur problem as no longer a problem." One of the film's producers is Don Cheadle, who also appears along with George Clooney. The DVD from Warner Independent includes additional scenes and an introduction and commentary with Braun.

Woody Allen may not be thought of nowadays as an "indie" auteur, but, really, how many directors enjoy his creative freedom? I admire his untiring work ethic, but many of his recent films feel half-chewed, and Cassandra's Dream is no exception.

A lot of people were disappointed with the Golden Globe nominations because they failed to include any tracks from Once in the category for Best Original Song. Will the Oscars make the same mistake? We won't know for another month, but we can at least see that the Academy is deeming the film's songs as eligible. Both "Falling Slowly" and "If You Want Me" have been shortlisted along with 57 other song titles written exclusively for their respective movies. The variety of films is quite interesting and includes musicals (Hairspray), action blockbusters (Transformers), documentaries (Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone), foreign films you've never heard of (56 Drops of Blood), domestic films you've never heard of (Badland) and Hollywood comedies you wish you'd never heard of (Good Luck Chuck).

Aside from Once, which the Academy will have to include if they want people to tune into the musical performances, the nominees are likely to include a song from Enchanted -- I'd pick "Happy Working Song" over the Globes' pick of "That's How You Know" -- a song from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story -- I'd pick "Let's Duet" over "Walk Hard" -- the Eddie Vedder song from Into the Wild (for more "guaranteed" viewers), and the song from Hairspray that wasn't in the Broadway version -- "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)". I'm sad to see Kimya Dawson not on the list, as I had hoped she had written at least one original tune for the Juno soundtrack. A few of them certainly felt like they were penned exclusively for the film. I'm not sad but was surprised to see that the Bono and Stevie Wonder duet "Love's In Need of Love Today" from Darfur Now was not eligible. But then I realized that despite it seeming like a song written just for an Oscar the film, it's actually pretty old.

I can't help but think that the huge audiences that flocked to American Gangster this weekend cut into the box office for indie films. it's a big-budget, star-driven, "based on real life" vehicle that has nothing to do with the Iraq War or other Serious Issues, yet it's an adult drama that screams quality. While there were no big break-out numbers posted, though, two docs performed quite respectably, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten averaged $9,450 on two screens in New York for distributor IFC Films. Our own Jeffrey M. Anderson found the doc to be a frustrating experience, chiefly because director Julien Temple "has never figured out how to move past a short attention span. He's constantly worried that we'll lose interest, even in a story as ferocious and passionate as Joe Strummer's." Other reviews were more positive. The film is also available as part of the IFC InTheaters video on demand service nationwide.

Darfur Now "spotlights six individuals," according to Cinematical's Christopher Campbell, "some of whose stories directly inter-weave, who are affected by the tragedy in Darfur and have been successful at making a difference." The film itself did not generate much enthusiasm among critics, but no doubt its subject matter helped the doc to earn $7,800 at three screens in New York and Los Angeles for distrib Warner Independent.

Sidney Lumet's widely-praised Before the Devil Knows You're Dead expanded into 35 theaters and had the highest per-screen average ($9,830) among limited engagements for distributor ThinkFilm, according to Mr. Klady.

Would you like to see a movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney unite against a genocidal African nation? How about a movie dealing with racial problems in the Sudan from the producer of Crash? Technically, you can see both movies in one with Darfur Now, a new documentary featuring the star power of the two actors mentioned and produced by co-star Don Cheadle, who was one of Crash's six producers.

Of course, if you're looking forward to Schwarzenegger and Clooney double-handedly kicking some Sudanese butt, or for Cheadle to head-up a multi-character drama focused on race relations within a society in denial, then you're sure to be disappointed. Still, the latter idea does closely describe Darfur Now. The film spotlights six individuals, some of whose stories directly inter-weave, who are affected by the tragedy in Darfur and have been successful at making a difference.

These individuals include Cheadle, an Oscar-nominated actor using his celebrity to draw attention to the issue, Adam Sterling, a 24-year-old waiter and activist urging Governor Schwarzenegger to sign a bill to keep California funds from investing in companies with interests in Sudan, and Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Then there's the ones actually situated in Darfur: Hejewa Adam, a woman whose baby was beaten to death by Janjaweed attackers who now fights in the Sudanese Liberation Army; Ahmed Mohammed Abaka, a displaced builder and farmer who now serves as a leader of a camp of 47,000 other displaced Darfurians; and Pablo Recalde, leader of the World Food Program in West Darfur.

Do you live in the Los Angeles area? Are you interested in seeing a free movie and hobnobbing with celebrities at a reception afterwards? Plus with the added benefit of it all being for a good cause? Well, then you've come to the right place.

Cinematical, along with Warner Independent Pictures, is giving away ten pairs of tickets to the World Premiere of Darfur Now, starring and co-produced by Don Cheadle, this coming Tuesday, October 30th at the Directors Guild of America. The film starts at 7:30pm, and you'll be able to watch the arrivals on the red carpet, and attend the exclusive reception afterwards. We'll be giving these tickets away to ten random commenters, but please be aware that you need to live near enough to Los Angeles to get there on your own nickel by Tuesday.

Check out the details about the film (including the trailer) and the giveaway after the break.

If you're a film geek like me, you're sitting on pins and needles waiting for the full Toronto International Film Festival schedule to be announced. I'm skipping out on the fest this year because I just put my kids through a 2,000 mile move (though I will be at Telluride giving you all the coverage you can handle from there), but that doesn't mean I'm not pumped up about Cinematical's TIFF coverage, which will be extensive.

The start of the fest seems ages away, and the full schedule isn't even announced for six more days -- stop teasing us already! (Yes, as a kid I did try to scope out the hidden locations of Christmas gifts well before the big day -- I've never liked surprises. What can I say, I'm a control freak.) In the meantime, here's something to whet your appetite: The TIFF Blogs are up and running at full steam. A little sampling of what you can find there:

The Full Frame Documentary Film Fest programmer Phoebe Brush shares her picks from the Real to Reel section with the group. Since docs are one of my own fave genres, I was especially interested in what Phoebe has to say about the TIFF selections. Phoebe's picks are The Dictator Hunter by Klaartje Quirijns (about the brutal regime of Hissène Habré, the former dictator of Chad) Weijun Chen's Please Vote for Me, which played Silverdocs in June, where it won the Sterling Feature competition, and Encounters at the End of the World, which Werner Herzog fans and fanatics will no doubt be lining up to see in droves.

Other TIFF docs that we're especially interested in include Darfur Now, Hollywood Chinese, A Jihad for Love, and My Enemy's Enemy. Scott Weinberg and I saw My Kid Could Paint That at Sundance, and I'd recommend that one for a great doc to see and then talk about over late-night ales at a pub or a 2AM pizza slice.

Midnight Madness is always one of the most fun parts of TIFF, and Scott Weinberg will once again be Cinematical's Man at Midnight, bringing you all the hottest horror reviews and on-the-scene action from those always-zany midnight crowds. Over on the Midnight Madness Blog, MM programmer Colin Geddes gives you a sneak pick at one of the most-anticpated films in the Midnight section, Fumihiko Sori's Vexille. Geddes points all you anime fans to the film's official website, which is streaming the first 12 minutes of the film. Vexille premieres at TIFF on Sunday, September 9 at Midnight Madness.

Other Midnight Madness coverage we're itching to bring you: Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, The Diary of the Dead, Mother of Tears, and Stuck.

TIFF is one of the few places where you can really sink your teeth into some Canadian film, and there are some hot films from Canada in this year's lineup, including David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, which stars one of my other secret movie star boyfriends, Viggo Mortenson. I stood about 10 feet away from The Viggo at last year's TIFF while waiting to interview Laura Linney, and I can attest that he is even better-looking in person -- the man just radiates "movie star" -- but I must confess that I prefer him all dirty and bearded as Aragorn to golden and glowing for press interviews. Other notable Canadian offerings that we'll try to cover: Francois Girard's Silk, Bruce Sweeney's American Venus, Ernie Barbarash's They Wait, and Martin Gero's Young People F*cking (that one just because ... well, because the title alone intrigues us).

That's enough to get us excited for the fest, now we just need to see the full lineup and start counting down the days. Let us know what you're hot to see us cover at Toronto. And hey, indie filmmakers -- if you have a film at TIFF you'd like us to check out, let us know. Some of my own fave fest finds would've gotten lost in the shuffle if a filmmaker hadn't contacted me to let me know about it. Also, please get your film listed on IMDb and get an easy-to-find official website up! The more we can find out about your film, the more likely it will be to stand out from the slew of films we have to sort through to decide what to cover, so help us out a little here, will ya?