It's a splendid week for indie lovers with a taste for classic cinema -- which is everybody, right? -- with a flock of great Westerns and two Louis Malle films from Criterion among the highlights. More recent fare is more scarce.

Even though reviews were mixed to negative (our own Jeffrey M. Anderson was definitely mixed), Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (Sony Classics) is almost required viewing. (Erik Davis posted a clip from the DVD just last week; check the official site for more.) The DVD includes an audio commentary by Coppola, a "making of" feature and two others on the music and make-up.

Tricia Regan's doc Autism: The Musical (Docurama) follows five autistic children as they write and produce a musical. Brendan Butler at Cinema Blend called it "heart-wrenching and heart-warming ... The dialogue the film opens with is as vivid and fierce as any hot-button topic in our country today." (Read more about the film at the official site.) The DVD includes deleted scenes and a "companion guide."

Leelee Sobieski stars as a would-be dominatrix in Walk All Over Me (The Weinstein Co.), which debuted at Toronto last fall; Eye Weekly said it was a "somewhat messy but energetic comic thriller." (Check the movie's site for more information.) The DVD includes a commentary by Sobieski, co-star Tricia Helfer and director Robert Cuffley, behind the scenes footage, a deleted scene, outtakes, a music video and still gallery.

Cinematical was just sent this exclusive clip from the upcoming Youth Without Youth DVD, starring Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz and Andre M. Hennicke. Produced, written and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, Youth Without Youth follows linguistics professor Dominic Matei (Roth) who, in 1938, gets struck by a bolt of lightning and starts aging backwards, from 70 to 40. There's seemingly no limit to the wonder and love he can find in his new youth. He pursues lost dreams, endless knowledge and the secrets of life until his secret is discovered. Now he must use his increased intelligence to keep his powerful secret safe from the wicked powers that would use it for evil. The above behind-the-scenes clips shows how the filmmakers went about aging Tim Roth through make-up and other wacky techniques. (And, personally, I just love Tim Roth in anything -- so I'd watch something like this a bunch of times.) Here's a question: What's the first thing you'd do if you started aging backwards?

Youth Without Youth arrives on DVD and Blu-ray High-Def on May 13th.

When you look at Javier Bardem, do you think: "Gee, he'd look great in a dress!" or, "Gee, he'd make a good woman?" No? Well then, you're right in line with Francis Ford Coppola. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's made a big change in his upcoming film, Tetro, giving what he calls a "sex change" to the character Bardem was set to play. So, Bardem is out and fellow Spaniard Carmen Maura (Volver) is in.

During rehearsals for the shoot, Coppola realized that things needed to be changed: "One of the important roles in the script is a mentor and teacher to Tetro (Vincent Gallo), and I originally wrote it for a man. As I read and reread (the script), I felt that the interaction between the two characters would be far more intriguing if they were of the opposite sex." However, other sources have told THR that Bardem "became unavailable." This could be true, as the actor wasn't available for the rehearsals in Buenos Aires. But if it is, why not say as much?

Whatever the case, you can be sure that Maura will give a very different performance than Bardem would have -- just like Gallo will definitely bring something very different to the table than Matt Dillon. The film follows Tetro, a man living in Buenos Aires and being mentored by Maura's literary critic, when his estranged younger brother (Alden Ehrenreich) comes to find him. Production began on March 31.

Over on Spoutblog, Cinematicalite and Spoutster Christopher Campbell has a couple of entertaining posts up detailing the five best and worst directorial sellouts of all time. From Francis Ford Coppolla's The Godfather and The Godfather 2 (Best) to Alien Resurrection (Worst), Campbell breaks down the whys and wherefores of his thoughts on these directorial missteps. Go take a look at what he has to say about the worst of the best and the best of the worst, and then let us know what you agree with -- or don't.

As a coda to these best and worst directorial sellouts lists, it would be interesting to see Christopher do the obvious follow-up -- the best and worst sellouts by otherwise respectable actors and actresses.

Things don't seem to be going smoothly for Matt Dillon. For the second time this year, his lead role is going to someone else. First it was Cadillac Records. Now it's Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Vincent Gallo has signed on to star in Coppola's next directorial gig, with no reference to the previously-attached Dillon.

Gallo, meanwhile, signs on for the project after throwing a big stink about his previous gig, Giallo. Back in February, he was less than pleased that Dario Argento had cast daughter Asia Argento, and wanted out: "I'd rather not be in a movie with her. I'm not a fan. I was a fan of her father's. I'm retiring." I guess Javier Bardem and newcomer Alden Ehrenreich can feel honored that Gallo is willing/interested in working with them!

With production beginning at the end of the month in Buenos Aires, the film focuses on two brothers, played by Gallo and Ehrenreich. They're "torn apart by rivalries and betrayal," older bro Gallo heads to Buenos Aires, and younger brother Alden goes there to find him. Bardem will play an Argentinian literary critic and Maribel Verdu is Tetro's love interest.

Twenty-one years ago, Francis Ford Coppola made Peggy Sue Got Married. It was a strange fantasy comedy, one that scored itself some Oscar nominations and starred Kathleen Turner and Coppola's nephew, Nicolas Cage. There's already been talk of how Cage was difficult on set. The actor himself admitted last year to Conan O'Brien that he based Charlie's strange and distracting voice on Gumby, and how his uncle and the studio almost fired him over it.

Now there's more word about his behavior during that production, and he's really not happy with it. In her upcoming book, Send Yourself Roses, Turner discusses her time with Cage during the film, and while the book has yet to hit shelves, the BBC reports that a "defamation, libel, and slander" case has been filed by Nicolas in London's High Court. What has got him so worked up, especially since he already admitted to being difficult?

According to The Daily Mail (via American Superstar), she wrote that Cage was "absolutely determined to prove that he wasn't there as the result of nepotism." And followed it up with: "Oh, that stupid voice of his and the fake teeth! Honestly, I cringe to think about it. He caused so many problems. He was arrested twice for drunk-driving and, I think, once for stealing a dog. He'd come across a chihuahua he liked and stuck it in his jacket."

So -- was he just a bratty and difficult nephew on set, or was he some wacko who stole chihuahuas? Who knows? It still sounds entertaining. Turner's book is scheduled to hit shelves this month, and also features dirt on Burt Reynolds and Christie Brinkley (the latter of which sounds like Spider-Man, without crime-fighting as an excuse for no-shows).

Last month the honorable task fell to me to review two of the year's most anticipated movies for Cinematical, Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (9 screens) and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (51 screens). In retrospect and with a comfortable critical consensus in place, moviegoers can easily see that Youth Without Youth is a "bad" movie and There Will Be Blood is a "good" movie. But in that first moment, when the movie is freshly unspooling, there's nothing to go by but your own anticipation, experience and gut reaction. And these were two of the toughest movies I ever saw. In each review I said something like "these movies may have their flaws, but they're too rich and complex to be easily dismissed."

December is jam-packed with notable movies, each vying for a spot on our personal top ten lists or on our awards ballots. There are many more movies than usual and there is a heightened sense of anticipation for each movie. It's easy to get befuddled, our heads packed with too many images and opinions. I didn't much like Margot at the Wedding (85 screens), and I liked Persepolis (7 screens) very much, but I had a hard time recalling either movie a few weeks later, mainly from overload. (Critics who cover film festivals usually experience this same phenomenon.) What I really needed was more time to ponder each movie, or at least a second chance to see certain movies.

Two holdovers outperformed new releases in the indie weekend box office totals, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Jason Reitman's teen pregnancy comedy Juno grossed $35,500 per screen at 40 engagements in major markets, more than twice as much as Joe Wright's period wartime romance Atonement ($15,720 per screen but at nearly three times the locations: 117).

Both Juno and Atonement will expand to more than 200 theaters this coming Friday, where they'll have to compete with five major releases over the long holiday weekend. Juno will ramp up to more than 850 theaters on Christmas Day and more than 1500 screens on Friday, January 4. Will its reputation as a critical darling keep it rolling along, or will it need more endorsements from teen audiences?

Among new releases, Marc Forster's character drama The Kite Runner did the best, pulling in $14,490 per screen at 35 locations. Cinematical's James Rocchi wrote in his review: "It makes us truly see the people ... in many ways for the first time; that's the film's greatest achievement, and ultimately the best reason to see it." Nanking, a doc about the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, opened in one theater in New York City and earned $6,200. Our own Kim Voynar called it a "deeply affecting film [that] doesn't offer any easy answers."

Adam Rifkin's surveillance camera peek-a-boo project Look got raked over the coals by certain critics -- check out selected quotes gathered by David Hudson at GreenCine Daily -- yet still averaged $5,150 at the two screens where it opened. That means it did better than Francis Ford Coppola's return to the big screen, Youth Without Youth, which managed $4,630 per screen at six locations -- not quite disastrous, but not very encouraging, either. Jeffrey M. Anderson wrote an excellent, measured review, which examines the film in the light of Coppola's entire career.

A lot rides on Youth Without Youth, Francis Ford Coppola's twentieth feature film and his first after a ten-year absence from the director's chair. His last film was The Rainmaker (1997), an above average John Grisham thriller iced with good performances, although it was an unremarkable film for a man who once earned comparisons with a wunderkind like Orson Welles. I wish I could report that Youth Without Youth is a "comeback" of immense proportions and that Coppola had restored himself as a kind of genius auteur, but the film is far more difficult than that. In some ways, it's as unremarkable as The Rainmaker, but in other ways, it's far too astonishing and complex to be easily dismissed.

Coppola has always caused trouble for auteur critics. Obviously he made two of the greatest films of all time with The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), and though I'm alone in this, I love The Godfather Part III (1990) equally. Also, we could easily add The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979) to the list of all-time greats. After that, it appears he took a fall, but continued to make interesting films. With a little coaxing, his canon can be divided up into a few neat categories. The masterworks have a kind of reckless intelligence, an uncanny mix of chaos and control. It could be argued that Rumble Fish (1983) and The Cotton Club (1984) belong in this category as well.

The ever-entertaining Francis Ford Coppola has sat down with the Guardian on the eve of the release of his latest film, Youth Without Youth. Here's the highlight reel: Coppola is forced to backpeddle over those recent comments he made about Nicholson, Pacino and De Niro being old and fat and rich, or something like that. "I said, well they're not the same guys they were when they were young and hungry. Now they are rich. Deservedly so. Thank God, you know. Then it gets all twisted. I mean, I'm a friendly guy, right?" Love that last part. He goes on to add "Jack is a huge talent, one of the greats. These are my friends. And that kind of stuff can hurt friendships."

On his next film, Tetro, Coppola seems to have confirmed to the paper that Javier Bardem will star, although it's written ambiguously enough that the Guardian may have just been printing what they erroneously believe to be fact. Coppola says "It's about fathers, sons and brothers, a bit Tennessee Williams, a bit Rocco and His Brothers." He then launches into a defensive posture, pointing out that no matter what he does people will be expecting a new Godfather landmark film and will be disappointed if he doesn't deliver that. "They hope it's going to be another Godfather. There is always that hope even in the face of the impossibility of that actually happening."

The Godfather and its import on Coppola's career is a theme of the interview, and at times the director even seems to shrug off the impact of the film or suggest that his career would have been more pure, like Godard's, if he had not been left to contend with helming one of the most successful pictures of all time. "I got sidetracked," he says. "I would have made more personal films. Films of ideas. Like the guys who were making movies when I came of age -- Godard and the New Wave. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place." Sounds to me like Coppola needs to get out of the vineyards and get back to work and stop feeling so sorry for himself.

I have been dying to see Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, which finally hits at least some theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 14. The pre-World War II story follows a 70-year-old played by Tim Roth who gets struck by lightning. Instead of dying, he becomes a young, brilliant man who vows to discover the origin of language and consciousness. It sounds strange, unique, and possibly very, very good, although I'm sure it's definitely for selected audiences -- this isn't the sort of flick to have a huge mass appeal. It also doesn't help that the trailer, which Matt Bradshaw shared in September, is pretty vague and crappy.

However, maybe the Eleanor Coppola's documentary on the production will help fill in the holes and amp up curiosity in the project. Yes, Francis' wife has made a doc called Coda: Thirty Years After, which details Coppola's journey with Youth Without Youth. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is going to air on Starz December 9, and will also be included in the new DVD release of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse (which Peter Martin discusses in this week's Indies on DVD column). Coda includes production footage of Youth, as well as some other bits that will be tasty to Coppola fans -- there's also footage of No Cigar, his first short film, home movies, and behind-the-scenes footage from The Rain People and The Conversation.

My pick of the week is Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep. Our own Jeffrey M. Anderson declared: "There's no question that it belongs in the canon of greatest American movies." As he pointed out, though, the film "has perhaps been more written about and appreciated than actually seen." Now we can all see it. The two-disk special edition DVD from New Yorker Video includes an audio commentary by Burnett and Richard Peña, two versions of Burnett's feature film My Brother's Wedding, four shorts (three rediscovered and one new) and cast reunion video.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse , directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, stirred up controversy when Hickenlooper said that neither he nor Bahr were consulted on the DVD version of their documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere calls it "one of the best making-of-a-famous-movie docs ever made," but also says that the new DVD from Paramount Home Video "looks like a VHS tape. ... No remastering, tweaking or upgrading ... brilliant!" Sounds like a rental to me. The DVD includes Eleanor Coppola's doc Coda: Thirty Years Later, which will also be screening on cable next month -- see Monika Bartyzel's story for more on that.

Cinematical's James Rocchi saw Gary Hustwit's Helvetica at SXSW and described it as "one of the most intellectually exciting, stimulating, warm-hearted and best-made independent documentaries I've seen in a long time." The DVD includes 95 additional minutes of interviews. Another festival favorite, So Yong Kim's In Between Days (pictured), about a teenage girl dealing with first-time romantic feelings for her "best and only" friend, hits DVD with a stills gallery and a conversation with the director and co-writer/producer Bradley Rust.

In her review Jette Kernion said she was "not a rabid [Werner] Herzog fan, which may actually be the reason why I liked his latest film, Rescue Dawn, as much as I did." The DVD includes commentary by Herzog, deleted scenes, and a "making of" featurette. Luc Besson's Angel-A did not cause much stir when it was released theatrically earlier this year, but I've always been fascinated by the director. The DVD has a "making of" feature.

Imagine you went to a bat mitzvah and Steven Spielberg was there. Now, imagine he came up and talked to you. And then he got you an acting gig. An acting gig starring in a Francis Ford Coppola film. So, maybe that's not exactly how it went down for Alden Ehrenreich, but nonetheless he was apparently "discovered" by the Schindler's List director -- via a video shown at a bat mitzvah Spielberg attended -- and he is now cast in a major role in Coppola's Tetro, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ehrenreich joins the film's star, Matt Dillon, who has been attached from the beginning; the two actors will play brothers. Also added to the film is Spanish actress Maribel Verdú (Pan's Labyrinth; Y tu mamá también) as Dillon's character's girlfriend. Javier Bardem may also sign on, if his schedule allows, to play an Argentine literary critic named Unknown.

Originally the film was described as being about rival Italian immigrant families, which could still be the case, but now the main story is said to focus on the younger brother (Ehrenreich), who head to Buenos Aires in order to find his older brother (Dillon), who left the family many years before. Whatever the plot, though, Tetro is sure to be a good film with this cast. I will be disappointed if Coppola doesn't hire some of my local Argentine favorites (Ricardo Darín; Norma Aleandro; Mía Maestro; any of these deserve the exposure). One thing we probably don't have to worry about is whether or not young Ehrenreich will be any good. Spielberg has a good record with young performers, from Drew Barrymore to Joseph Mazzello to current favorite Shia LaBeouf, so we can trust this latest protege will deliver the goods. Tetro begins shooting in Argentina in February.

It's not much of a secret that Francis Ford Coppola did The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II in order to work on more personal films, particularly The Conversation. So, it isn't that surprising to find out neither those two nor The Godfather: Part III are among his personal favorites. According to Page Six, Coppola considers his five best films to be Apocalypse Now, Rumble Fish, The Rain People, his upcoming Youth Without Youth and, obviously, The Conversation, which also happens to be my favorite of his work. This shortlist comes from the next issue of Time magazine, which also includes a continuation of a lengthy two-part profile on the filmmaker. Within the article, Coppola suggests that it's his films that took awhile for critics to appreciate, like Apocalypse, or awhile for audiences to discover, like Rain People, that he prefers.

None of this should upset his fans; they still love The Godfather trilogy, and at least his other monument, Apocalypse, is included. It isn't like he selected Jack or Captain EO. Also in Time is Coppola's clarification of his alleged chiding of Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, which apparently was taken out of context. He told reporters at the Rome Film Festival, where Youth premiered last month, that his comments in GQ weren't true, that he has "nothing but respect and admiration" for the three actors, who he considers the best in the world, as well as his friends. However, he wouldn't address the original comments specifically for Time's article. Other things that were discussed in the profile include Coppola's next film, Tetro, which will begin shooting in Argentina in February, despite the recent robbery. Youth Without Youth, which sounds a lot better to me since Coppola lumped it with my own favorites of his films, is set to hit U.S. theaters (NYC and L.A.) December 14.

"I was 64-years-old when I made this film, and I think I finally discovered the child within me. It turned out to be ... a little girl." Man, I love Terry Gilliam. The above video is his introduction to the film Tideland, and I found it on a new Cracked list which covers 9 Awesome Directors Who Temporarily Lost Their Mind. Basically, the list is pretty much that: directors who are primarily known for their awesome films, but for some reason slipped in a few random duds that seemingly came from left field. Tideland is Gilliam's dud, according to them, and since I still haven't seen the film, I can't say whether they are right. But I can tell you that I absolutely love this video intro from the director, and it makes me want to see the film even more.

Also on their list are Francis Ford Coppola (Jack), Steven Spielberg (Hook, though he should've been on there for 1941), Spike Lee (She Hate Me), Guy Ritchie (Swept Away), M. Night Shyamalan (Lady in the Water), Sidney Lumet (The Wiz), Ridley Scott (A Good Year) and Clint Eastwood (the years 1996-2002). Some of these films were loved by many, so I could see this list potentially rubbing people the wrong way. What do you think of it? And what other directors surprised you with a random crappy film mixed in with an otherwise spotless record?