Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston in "Management," Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2009

"Management"
Glancing at her recent resume, it seems forgivable to wonder if Jennifer Aniston's descent into the bowels of rom-com hell is her end of some Faustian deal made to secure the $1 million-per-episode paycheck she enjoyed at the tail end of "Friends." Happy to take advantage of Hollywood's most luxuriant head of hair is playwright-turned-director Stephen Belber, who makes his big screen splash with this tale of an uptight traveling saleswoman (Aniston) who's romantically pursued cross-country by a good-natured schlub (Steve Zahn) who won't take no for an answer after a one night stand.
Opens wide.

"Not Forgotten"
Having finally earned himself a little leading man success as the star of CBS' police drama "The Mentalist," Australian actor and perennial bit-parter Simon Baker continues to pay his due diligence to the indie scene that helped keep him afloat during his pre-procedural years. Baker stars as Jack Bishop, a family man with a dark and violent past. When his beloved daughter mysteriously disappears, Jack turns to the mysterious Sante Muerte cult for guidance at the behest of his wife (Paz Vega).
Opens in limited release.

"O'Horten"
Writer/director Bent Hamer employs the wonderfully atmospheric stillness of Scandinavian winter (Norway this time) as the backdrop for a bittersweet humanist dramedy peppered with moments of humor. Baard Owe stars as the aptly named Odd Horton, a fastidious train driver forced to abandon the crutch of routine when retirement comes a-knockin' and a surreal series of mishaps kickstart a peculiar evening that forces Horten to confront the unregulated chaos of the everyday. In Norwegian with subtitles.
Opens in limited release.

"Revue"
With the Cold War becoming a fading memory in the minds of the West, Belarusian helmer Sergei Loznitsa offers up a cultural and political retrospective, journeying into the heart of the Soviet way of life obscured for so many years by the then-impenetrable Iron Curtain. Assembling a cinematic collage of archival news footage, state propaganda material and television programming of the era, Loznitsa pieces together a detailed and fascinating reconstruction of daily life and the social rituals representative of a fallen empire. In Russian with subtitles.
Opens in New York.

"Summer Hours"
This latest offering from former Cahiers du cinéma critic-turned-filmmaker Olivier Assayas -- the second in a series of films commissioned by Paris' Musée d'Orsay (following Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Flight of the Red Balloon") to celebrate its 20th anniversary -- is ironically the kind of bourgeois-centric fare the magazine built its reputation vilifying. Following the death of their mother, three scattered, emotionally damaged siblings (Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier and Juliette Binoche) gather at the matriarch's country home to discuss the fate of the property and the extensive art collection of their great uncle's work that is housed within it. In French with subtitles.
Opens in limited release.

"The Yes Men Fix The World"
Anti-globalization pranksters The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno) continue their satirical campaign to undermine capitalism and film it, baiting gullible conference organizers and all-too-eager media organizations into providing them with an audience and then laying bare what they believe to be the true intentions of some of the world's most irresponsible corporations. They've posed as representatives of Dow Chemical to admit culpability to the Bhopal chemical leak in India and offer to make reparations to victims live on the BBC. Taking a cue from their first doc from 2003, they once again prove that the most dehumanizing actions can be legitimized and rendered palatable by the simple application of an expensive looking suit.
Opens in Los Angeles.

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