Fame, Rage and Capitalism

Clive Owen is "Back," as are Michael Moore, Sally Potter and Audrey Tatou.

“Mary and Max”
With the sophisticated likes of “Coraline,” the recently released “9,” and “Up,” this is fast becoming a banner year for animation adults can enjoy. Adding to that is the latest from Aussie filmmaker Adam Elliot, which opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and centers on the cross-continental pen pal relationship between Mary Daisy Dinkle (Toni Collette), a neglected Melbourne eight-year-old, and Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a New York shut-in whom she randomly selects out of loneliness from the American phonebook to write letters to.
Opens in Los Angeles; will be available on VOD on October 14th.

“Pandorum”
As U.S. audiences await German director Christian Alvart’s long-delayed first film, the Renée Zellweger psychological thriller “Case 39″ — or not, given the write-ups it received across the pond, his sophomore English-language feature will hit American shores first. With more than a hint of “Event Horizon” surrounding this haunted-house-in-space saga, it’s unsurprising to find Paul W.S. Anderson on board as producer of this industrial chiller starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster as a pair of crew members who awaken with no knowledge of their surroundings or memory of their identities on a seemingly deserted spacecraft.
Opens wide.

“Paradise”
Returning to New York after being a part of the Film Comment Selects series earlier this year, Michael Almereyda’s collage of found art, incidental detail, and whatever deceptively random image or event happened to have moved him at the time spirals beyond being a mere video memoir into a panoramic examination of the Ouroboros cycle of youth, life, and death. Presented as 33 individual scenes taking in the unique character of two dozen cities, spanning nine countries, and collected over ten years, “Paradise” coagulates into a dense and subjective interpretation of the simple wonder of the everyday world.
Opens in New York.

“The Providence Effect”
As President Obama feels the need to address the collective high school student body of America directly about the importance of education, documentarian Rollin Binzer goes to the commander-in-chief’s hometown of Chicago to chronicle the remarkable story of Providence St. Mel Preparatory School, a once-faltering Catholic school that has maintained a 100 percent college acceptance rate for its graduating class for more than thirty years by preaching accountability in the classroom.
Opens in limited release.

“Rage”
Regardless of whether it’s really a prescient glimpse into the future of distribution or merely a clever marketing ploy, this highly experimental offering from British performance artist and filmmaker Sally Potter is noteworthy, if only to gauge the interest level in these new, emerging platform with a simultaneous release in theaters, on DVD, and via cell phones in a seven-part series, as well as online at a freeview outlet. The film itself goes backstage of a fashion house as it becomes the subject of a murder investigation, featuring an all-star cast the comprised of Judi Dench, Jude Law (in drag), Dianne Wiest, Steve Buscemi, Lily Cole, and John Leguizamo, darkly riffing on the worst aspects of fashion culture.
Opens in limited release in addition to online, on mobile devices and on DVD.

“Surrogates”
Released on the heels of the similarly themed “Gamer,” this high-concept blend of science fiction and noir should serve as an interesting companion piece, again taking our increasing interaction through artificial channels to its extreme conclusion. After the most recent installment in the “Terminator” franchise made his own franchise installment look like “Citizen Kane” by comparison, director Jonathan Mostow can return to the big screen after a six-year absence with some sense of vindication. Set in a future where humans live in perpetual isolation and interact through surrogate robots, Bruce Willis stars as a gumshoe forced to abandon his avatar and step out into the real world to solve the first murder this new “utopia” has seen in years.
Opens wide.

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