Blind Pigs, Horse Boys and the Nines

An odd blend of matters ecological, supernatural, and extraterrestrial in theaters this week.

“No Impact Man: The Documentary”
When Morgan Spurlock hit upon the idea of experimenting with the radical lifestyle switch of a diet exclusively consisting of fast food, the first thing his vegan girlfriend wisely did was declare that she wanted no part in it. Colin Beavan’s convenience-oriented, retail-worshipping wife Michelle wasn’t as astute when her Manhattan-based blogger husband pledges his entire family to spend a year living off the grid and leaving as minimal a carbon footprint as possible. Their conflicting views of the environmentally friendly experiment provides much of the drama for eco-doc by co-directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein.
Opens in New York and Los Angeles.

“Skiptracers”
No doubt inspired by the lowbrow box-office busting antics of the Will Ferrell and Danny McBride comes this crude comedy from co-writer/director Harris Mendheim that centers on the inept redneck activities of an imbecilic Alabama bail bondsman, Big Donald (Daniel Burnley), and his disastrously stupid sons, J.D. (Porter Harris) and Trucker (Dustin Kerns). These eponymous skiptracers race to recover the buck-toothed bail jumper Rusty McAndrews (Andy Stuckey, who also co-wrote the script) before their hated rivals, Cletus Yoates (Peter Gantenbein) and his henchman Bart (Rich Muscadin), can get their hands on him.
Opens in New York.

“Sorority Row”
When it comes to cinema, certain things are just set in stone — casino bosses are shady, prison wardens are sadistic, and if you’re a sorority girl in a horror movie then you’re guaranteed to be a selfish, vacuous, grade-A bitch. Oh, and someone is going to cut you into little pieces. Visit the official Web site for “Sorority Girls” and you can find six such lovelies, each with their own convenient label (the leader, the flirt, etc.). Following a pact made by these gorgeous Gorgons to cover up the accidental killing of one of their sisters and never speak of it again, a vengeful killer stalks them one by one to remind them of their dark indiscretion.
Opens wide.

“Walt & El Grupo”
As an artist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur who founded a tiny animation studio that blossomed into a $35 billion-a-year empire, there is perhaps no greater example of the American Dream than Walt Disney, the man who invented an international ambassador in Mickey Mouse. It’s unsurprising then that the U.S. government handpicked the flamboyant showman to spearhead a goodwill tour of Latin America in 1941, a trip revisited here in director Theodore Thomas’ retrospective documentary, to try to “sell” the transitioning continent on a more appealing alternative to what was then the very real possibility of global expansion by the growing Nazi empire.
Opens in New York and Los Angeles.

“Whiteout”
If you’re looking for an extreme environment for a supernatural thriller, you really can’t do much better than the six months of darkness offered by the vast, untamed wilderness of the Antarctic, a logical progression from the excellent and underrated Alaskan-set “30 Days of Night.” Returning to the big screen for the first time since 2001’s “Swordfish,” Dominic Sena helms this adaptation of Greg Rucka’s graphic novel, starring Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. marshal whose murder investigation leads to the discovery of something far deadlier than the killer she’s searching for.
Opens wide.

“White on Rice”
Following up his 2006 fish-out-of-water debut, “Big Dreams Little Tokyo,” director Dave Boyle again indulges his Asian fascination with this colorfully quirky story of an angst-ridden, thirty-something underachiever (Hiroshi Watanabe) who clumsily pursues a romance with his brother-in-law’s niece Ramona (Lynn Chen) while living under the same roof. “Heroes”’ James Kyson Lee co-stars as Jimmy’s best friend who has also taken a shine to Ramona.
Opens in Los Angeles.

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