If you live anywhere near New York City, and you're a fan of independent films (and free drinks), then there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be attending at least every night of the 2008 Gen Art Film Festival. As always, Cinematical will be there in full force (well, those of us in NYC, at least) when the fest kicks off tomorrow night at New York's historic Ziegfeld Theater with a screening of Diminished Capacity, starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, Alan Alda and Dylan Baker. Knowing Gen Art, I'm sure more than a handful of celebs will be on hand for that red carpet event.

The fest will continue throughout the week with screenings of films like Half-Life, Cook County, Frost, Surf-Wise, Nightlife and The Take. Of course, following each film is the obligatory awesome after party (with open bar!), which is open to anyone with a ticket to that night's screening. Seriously, it's a cool festival -- and the kind you could totally take a date to, in case you were looking for ideas. (Keep in mind, though, that a kiss at the end of the night is still not guaranteed -- though it's pretty much a given after one of Gen Art's bashes.) Cinematical will be there for a few of the nights (with both Weinberg and myself at the Friday Nightlife screening), so do make sure you say hello.

The 2008 Gen Art Film Festival runs from April 2nd through April 8, and you can find out everything you need to know over at the fest's official website.

One thing you'll probably notice if you watch a lot of festival movies is this: When you dig beneath the big-time, A-list, "gala titles," you come across a lot of medium-sized flicks that come from relative newcomers -- but feature some great work from veteran actors. Renny Harlin's Cleaner is one such example: It's a so-so movie that's probably worth seeing just for the performances of Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris. Brad Furman's The Take is another one of those flicks: It's got a passably compelling story, a half-decent screenplay, some nifty touches from a young director ... and a lead performance by John Leguizamo that's really quite excellent.

Written by Josh and Jonas Pate (Deceiver), The Take opens by introducing us to a firmly middle-class (but entirely admirable) nobody: Felix De La Pena (Leguizamo) is an armored truck driver who gets kidnapped and shot in the head during a vicious robbery. Against all odds, Felix survives and (with the help of his devoted wife Marina) slowly starts down the road to recovery. But Felix isn't the same man anymore. Although he's still able to walk, talk, drive and otherwise function pretty reasonably, he's also quite a bit "slower" in the head ... plus he's now fostering one nasty little temper. Meanwhile the brutal crook who led the robbery (Tyrese Gibson) is busy tying up a bunch of loose ends -- and you just know the two men are bound to butt heads again.

Odds and ends from Friday/Saturday:

• An interesting trio of stars have lined up to play roles in The Take, to be directed by Brad Furman. According to Production Weekly, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez and Tyrese Gibson are attached to the heist flick, which was penned by siblings Josh and Jonas Pete. Story will surround a security guard (Leguizamo) who gets caught up in a carefully orchestrated heist. While recovering from the dramatic event, he learns the FBI and police are targeting him as their prime suspect. Damn, talk about a guy that deserves a pay raise.
• While I'm sure Martha is still holding out hope the Weinstein's remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai will mysteriously disappear and never happen ... like, ever, it does appear everything is going forward as planned since a scribe has now been attached. Screenwriter John Fusco (Hidalgo, Young Guns) has been tapped to bring a little bit of the American west to 16th Century Japan. Seeing as Kurosawa originally used the Western for inspiration during Samurai, this seems like a logical choice. Whether or not the remake should happen in the first place? Well, that's a debate I'm sure will heat up as time goes on.
• Those of you who have been waiting for a sequel to the comedy classic Animal House may get a chance to see the whole thing play out in real life. Authorities recently raided the Alpha Delta fraternity house that inspired the1978 hit film. Located at Dartmouth College, police confiscated a computer, videotapes and two sledgehammers. Though no one is saying what this is all about (and if Alpha Delta is now on double secret probation), the police chief did note that it was not drug related. Animal House scribe, Chris Miller, was a member of the same fraternity when he graduated from Dartmouth in 1964 and later used his experience to help create the wonderful characters we've grown to love over the years.