Hundreds of years ago, our founding forefathers were spending their Fourth of July weekend getting ready to grant America its independence. Today, we celebrate with some time on the beach and at friends' barbecues, all of which could include sitting in massive traffic as your wallet is depleted thanks to sky-rocketing gas prices. There's a solution: pump the AC, kick up your feet and declare your own independence by tuning into IFC Saturday, July 5th and Sunday, July 6th for a weekend of films born and bred in the USA, featuring "Garden State," with Zach Braff (who also directs) as a guy going home to Jersey in an effort to figure his life out. Then check out "Stolen Summer," about a young Catholic kid plotting to convert his Jewish friend in 1970s Chicago, and a group of troublemakers just trying to get by in NY in "Hurricane Streets." Don't miss these and other films that'll take you on a trip across America without getting on a plane or having to pay a fee for your first piece of checked luggage.

Also in July, it's good guy vs. bad guy in an all out crime spree. Saturday, July 19th and Sunday, July 20th, tune in for a plethora of indie films featuring lock-ups, lockdowns and shakedowns. The line-up includes the Coen brothers' "Miller's Crossing," one of the best gangster films of all time. Taking place in the stylized 1930s, it pits two crime boss rivals against each other as they each try to take control of a city. In "Suicide Kings," ubër cool Christopher Walken gives his usual smooth performance as a Mafioso who gets kidnapped by a bunch of young, rich wanna-be criminals. And catch some cool cinematography and art direction in "Confidence," featuring Ed Burns (who's made quite a niche for himself since directing, writing and starring in his own first film — "The Brothers McMullen" — on a shoestring budget). Also on the schedule: "Trans," "State of Grace," "Never Die Alone" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village" (premiering this month).

PREMIERES TO LOOK FOR IN JULY:

• "BEE SEASON" With a hidden gem of a performance from Richard Gere, "Bee Season" offers a father cheering his daughter on to win the National Spelling Bee. Premieres Tuesday, July 1st at 6:35pm ET.


• "CAMILLA" One of Jessica Tandy's last films, "Camilla" follows a group of people, young and old, on the road (literally) to discovering themselves. Premieres Tuesday, July 8th at 7:25pm ET.


• "THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE" You can't go wrong with a film from the guy who directed Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke." You also can't go wrong watching Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke play Italian-American cousins getting into a whole lot of trouble, no matter how hard they try to avoid it. Premieres Thursday, July 20th at 9pm ET.


• "JERSEY GIRL" Don't fear the dreaded "Gigli" Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez combo — this romantic comedy from, yes, Kevin Smith, is really about the sweetly grown-up relationship that forms between Liv Tyler, as a video store worker, and Affleck as a withdrawn single dad. Premieres Saturday, July 26th at 9pm ET.

By Joanna Varikos in What to Watch on IFC | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (7)

Tags: American cinema, Crime, Gangster, July, schedule

Oh, the horror! If our Grindhouse flick every Friday at midnight isn't enough to send you running for cover, get ready for a triple threat of thrills and exploitation every Thursday in June. Kicking off at 9pm ET, it's back to back to back thrill and chill featuring classic horror films like "Eaten Alive" (featuring a young Robert Englund, pre-Freddy Krueger in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series), Joe Dante's "The Howling", John Carpenter's "The Fog" (which literally petrified me into thinking creatures would appear whenever the weather called for non-visible conditions after seeing it as a kid,), "Return of the Living Dead" and a slew of others that'll leave you screaming for more.

This June, IFC is also celebrating gay pride month with fabulously queer cinema every Friday night in "Out at the Movies." Boldly going where mainstream films won't, these indies don't hold back when it comes to same-sex love. Don't miss this chance to catch Christina Ricci trying to steal her brother's boyfriend in "The Opposite of Sex," a teen dealing with his crush on a male classmate in "Wild Tigers I Have Known" and a pair of boarding school girls secretly getting frisky (while a young Mischa Barton observes from afar) in "Lost and Delirious." Tune in for a double dose of girl-on-girl and guy-on-guy relations all month long.

And of course, June is also the month IFC premieres our original doc "Heavy Load," which follows four members of the UK band Heavy Load over the course of a year. Filmmaker Jerry Rothwell captures the struggle of these musicians, some with mental handicaps, as they try to fulfill their dreams of becoming successful rockers. "Heavy Load" premiered at the 2008 SxSW Film Festival, and has its first gig on IFC Monday, June 23rd at 9pm ET/10pm PT.

PREMIERING IN JUNE:

• "Made" The much-anticipated Vince Vaughn/Jon Favreau reunion after their indie darling "Swingers," "Made" takes the duo on a comedic journey into organized crime. The famous phrase "You're so money!" from their original teaming takes on new meaning in the follow-up. Saturday, June 7th at 9pm ET.
• "Body of Evidence" The one "body" of film work Madonna actually did a decent job with, this film is pure erotica as she plays a woman engaging in a dirty affair with the lawyer hired to defend her. Monday, June 9th at 9pm ET.
• "Stay" Ryan Gosling ("Half Nelson," "Lars and the Real Girl") is in it. 'Nuff said. Thursday, June 12 at 8:50am ET.
• "Mistress" While some still deny the casting couch ever existed, this one argues otherwise. A screenwriter shopping his script around to potential financiers runs into the same obstacle with them all: each wants his own mistress to star in the film. Danny Aiello and Robert DeNiro are just a few of the noteworthy performances. Friday, June 20 at 6pm ET.
• "Scanners" Eccentric director David Cronenberg takes psychosis to an extreme in this film about a man with superior mental powers on the hunt to find others just like him. Thursday, June 26 at 10:35pm ET.

By Joanna Varikos | Link | 4 Comments | Recommended (9)

Tags: Grindhouse, Heavy Load, June, schedule