Ready to explore the wonderful world of indie films you've heard about but haven't seen? Me too! Though I haven't seen these particular titles, the first two come well recommended by others, starting with Moolaadé, the last film by the esteemed director Ousmane Sembene, who passed away earlier this year. Cinematical's Kim Voynar described it as "a film about courage, survival, and the strength of the human spirit ... perhaps one of the most socially relevant" of the decade. The DVD from New Yorker Video includes a "making of" feature, interviews and additional material, and a deluxe collector's booklet.

Whisky Romeo Zulu is an Argentinean film that dates back to 2004, when it debuted at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. My curiosity was piqued at the time by Deborah Young's review in Variety, which described the intriguing premise revolving around an airplane accident: "Former pilot and whistleblower Enrique Pineyro expertly recounts a crash in full behind-the-scenes detail in his double role as director and main actor (playing himself)." Andrew Wright of The Stranger also had a positive reaction when it played at the Seattle film festival. The film was never picked up for US distribution, but Home Vision has now released it on a bare bones DVD, evidently with just a trailer, that sounds worth seeking out.

Both Interview and The Rocket received mixed critical notices. Our own Ryan Stewart said Interview "turns out to be a mediocre 'night to remember' film in which the half-intrigued, half-bored actress [Sienna Miller] and the caustic journalist [Steve Buscemi, who also directed] try to get the best of each other." The Sony Classics DVD includes an audio commentary by Buscemi and a feature on Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, who directed the film that served as the source material.

The Rocket tells the true story of legendary ice hockey star Maurice Richard, played by Roy Dupuis. I heard good things about the film when it played at the AFI Dallas festival earlier this year; it may be a good bet if you're looking for an inspirational sports story -- or if you're Canadian. The DVD from Palm Pictures features deleted scenes and a tribute to the great Richard.

Last week I wrote about the late Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman, but after I posted my column, I made a startling discovery. Over the past two months, we lost two more masters, the African filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, who died June 9 at age 84, and the Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang, who died June 29 at age 59. As with Antonioni and Bergman, I was lucky enough to have reviewed the final films of both filmmakers, Sembene's Moolaade (2004), and Yang's Yi Yi (2000), and I gave each a four star rating. In fact, I'd rate Yi Yi as perhaps the finest film of the decade so far. Unlike Antonioni or Bergman, these two never received any Oscar nominations and so their deaths did not rate headlines. I suppose if I had been more diligent about combing the web for movie news, I would have found out about them earlier.

Also this week, Buena Vista posted two decades' worth of movie reviews from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's various TV shows, including all the "guest critics" from 1999 and Siskel's "replacement," Richard Roeper. I've been addicted to this site since it debuted last Thursday, looking up my favorite movies from mid-1986 (where the reviews seem to begin) to early 1999 when Siskel passed away. Like many movie buffs my age, I grew up with Siskel and Ebert and learned a good deal from their show. It's wonderful to see Siskel again, as well as a younger, more vibrant Ebert, arguing with passion about movies they genuinely care about.