the go-getter Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Genghis Khan rules! Sergei Bodrov's Mongol (Picturehouse), the first installment of a planned trilogy covering the Mongolian military leader, cleaned up at the indie box office, taking in $25,360 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Our own Jeffrey M. Anderson didn't even like the battle scenes -- "polite and observant rather than reckless or exciting" -- much less the movie as a whole. Eric D. Snider was more admiring, if not wildly enthusiastic, as were most critics (per Rotten Tomatoes).

Two films that opened at one theater each performed quite well. Take Out (Cavu Pictures) earned $9,900. Directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, the film depicts a day in the life of an illegal Chinese immigrant who must pay off a large debt to his smugglers or face the consequences. The only way to pay the debt? Get good tips from his wealthy delivery route. Both the New York Times and Village Voice were complimentary.

Eric Guirado's Grocer's Son (Film Movement) made $9,500. The titular character must leave the city to return to the country and care for his sick father's duties. Gradually he finds that the villagers are not so gruff after all, and romance might be blooming too. Slant Magazine and Variety published positive reviews, though noting various flaws.

Have you ever read a film review in which the critic went to great pains to find meaning and symbolism that really wasn't there? I was reminded of that practice just now as I struggled in vain to find a common theme with which to bind together five previews for today's Trailer Park. Rather than trying to find structure where none truly exists, I'm just going with five trailers I find interesting. Cool?

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Yes, I'm a big enough Kevin Smith fan that I stayed up for the midnight launch of this trailer on the Quick Stop Entertainment site. Unfortunately I didn't realize they meant midnight on the West coast, so I was slightly sleep deprived when I finally caught the trailer this morning. As Erik pointed out in his recent post, Smith states that this is just a teaser and doesn't contain even a second of footage from the actual film. The title characters (played by Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) are lifelong platonic friends who decide to produce a porn flick together. The teaser shows them auditioning talent, but we only see the two of them as they struggle through the unfamiliar process. No belly laughs, but it is quite funny and charming, while being verbally graphic. This is a bit of a relief, as the "I'm F***ing Seth Rogen" video that was circulating a little while ago featured the two stars riffing on Sarah Silverman's hilarious "I'm F***ing Matt Damon" video without really adding much. More importantly, I learned a new word today: "manscape."

These days, almost every indie actor (or actress) has their own band. On top of that, they also have their own MySpace page or YouTube page that's colorful, creative and has way too much going on. Personally, I don't have a MySpace page (sorry to let my legion of fans down) and cannot stand when someone sends me a link to one because, more often that not, the damn page gives me a headache. So what -- this person has 4,365 friends and likes to bombard us with the colors red, black, purple and orange set against some random image that gets in the way of the text you're (apparently) supposed to read. This should mean what to me, again?

So it's refreshing when an indie actor (or actress) comes along and wants to share their music without shoving it down our throats. Case in point: Gen Art's Pulse recently stumbled across a YouTube page for a user named of wild animals, who apparently turned out to be none other than indie actress Jena Malone (Saved!, Donnie Darko). According to Pulse, Jena spends a lot of her down time at some remote cabin in Tahoe where she likes to create experimental short films and music videos for her band. Yes, they're a little odd (hence the word 'experimental'), but I dig her voice and creativity. If you've got nothing to do tonight, swing on over there and let us know what you think. Jena can next be seen in The Go-Getter which will be screening at this year's Sundance Film Festival.