Opening This Week: June 1st, 2007

Monday, May 28, 2007 | 12:00 AM

By Christopher Bonet

IFC News

[Photo: "Day Watch," Fox Searchlight, 2007]

A round-up of the best (or worst) $10 you'll spend this week.

"Crazy Love"

Some couples quite possibly shouldn't be together. When your spouse spends 14 years in the slammer for throwing acid on your face, that's by our indication that it just might be time to, you know, stop responding to phone calls and move very far away. Dan Klores' thrilling documentary charts the turbulent relationship of Burt and Linda Pugach, a love story that begins with an affair, moves on to jealousy and a jail sentence, and turns into a modern-day marriage, offering insight into the human psyche, contemporary relationships, and sheer, perverse stupidity.

Opens in limited release (official site).

"Day Watch"

That vague, Russian battle between good and evil continues in this sequel to 2004's surprise hit "Night Watch," based on the science fiction trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko. The trailer for this one doesn't make a lick of sense, but then neither did the first film. Some pretty impressive action sequences (including a hotrod skidding along the side of a glass-paned building) make us look forward to it anyway.

Opens in limited release (official site).

"Gracie"

Disney Channel mainstay Carly Schroeder stars as a teenage girl who fights to play on the boys' varsity soccer team after her brother is killed in a car accident in 1970s New Jersey. This film is based on the life experiences of Elizabeth Shue, who also stars and co-produces, and is directed by her hubby Davis Guggenheim. Andrew "Billy Campbell" Shue and Dermot Mulroney co-star.

Opens wide (official site).

"I'm Reed Fish"

"Million Dollar Baby"'s Jay Baruchel stars in this quirky indie comedy about a small-town radio personality whose life is thrown into chaos after an old flame from high school re-enters his life just days before he is to be married to his longtime girlfriend. The film, which, surprisingly, isn't written by Zach Braff, won the Best Actor award for Baruchel at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Look for Alexis Bledel and Schuyler Fisk in supporting roles.

Opens in New York (official site).

"Knocked Up"

Girl meets boy. Girl and boy have drunken sex. Girl finds out she's pregnant eight weeks later. That's the gist of Judd Apatow's latest comedy, starring Seth Rogen and Katharine Heigl as a couple whose one night stand results in... well... lasting consequences. Early reviews hint that this may be the funniest film of the summer season, if you're up for raunchy-yet-morally-centered comedies.

Opens wide (offical site).

"Mr. Brooks"

Writer-director Bruce A. Evans, perhaps best known for the easily forgettable Christian Slater-helmed "Kuffs," pretends its still 1992 with this thriller starring Kevin Costner and Demi Moore. A detective (Moore) investigates a serial killer (Costner), a normal successful businessman with a dangerous alter ego (William Hurt). Honestly, this film sounds more like something that would come from Donald Kaufman. And Dane Cook in a drama? We can't even bear to see him attempt comedy.

Opens wide (official site).

"Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman"

British thespian Timothy Spall stars as Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most prolific hangman who moonlit as a grocery deliveryman while keeping his day job secret from his wife (Juliet Stevenson). The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Opens in New York (official site).

"Rise: Blood Hunter"

After she wakes up in a morgue, a journalist (Lucy Liu) realizes she's one of the undead and enlists the aid of a police detective (Michael Chiklis) to hunt for those responsible for her death. It's a lot like "The Crow," only with Lucy Liu kicking ass and possibly playing for both teams. Yeowch.

Opens in limited release (official site).

"Ten Canoes"

This acclaimed Australian film tells the story of ten Aboriginal men who go hunting for geese and tell each other tales from their people's pasts. Rolf de Heer's film won the Special Jury Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

Opens in New York (official site).

"The Trials of Darryl Hunt"

This documentary from filmmakers Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg chronicles the brutal rape and murder case of a wrongfully convicted black man who was exonerated based on DNA evidence in 2004. The film premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

Opens in limited release (official site).