Films on Hold

You can't always get what you want. Although Houston is a major city and shows its share of first run films there are a few titles that are not skedded to appear in Space City. Namely Lake of Fire, Redacted and Southland Tales.
Lake of Fire is a black and white documentary by Tony Kaye (American History X) on the history of abortion in America. This docu will probably show up on screens after award noms are announced since it's one of the best, after No End in Sight, non-fictional films in many a moon. Kaye interviews the real Jane Roe and Noam Chomsky among others. There are some disturbing moments where the audience is asked to deal with actual abortion procedures, plus a very exact chronology of abortion clinic shootings.
Redacted serves up the Iraqi war in a reality mode. From Brian De Palma the film is at once experimental and gripping. We see an army unit plan and execute the rape of an Iraqi teen. The action unfolds as a continous series of video moments - embedded reporters; soldiers with camcorders and a French documentary that are blended together. De Palma used a similar plot for Casualties of War but in Redacted the immediacy of the situations are impacted by the video point of view. I realy enjoyed this latest De Palma film although its small scale has kept it playing in limited art house engagements.
Southland Tales is the follow-up feature from Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). After playing in a longer version at the 2006 Cannes Festival the film was bounced by Universal and picked up by Sameual Goldwyn, a small distributor. It has yet to screen but the promise of post apocalyse West Coast sci fi adventure will keep me up nights awaiting its unwinding.

Superbad revisited

Superbad never stops providing laughs. The Superbad double disc DVD release, my favorite comedy (right behind Hot Fuzz) of the year, keeps the extras front and center. The film itself has additional dialogue in many key scenes and runs longer than the theatrical version. Disc 2 has so many menu items you have to take a breather and then dive back in. Highlights include script readings from several years ago by the writers (Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) and with the present cast, a press junket interview (a joke set up by the producers) that causes Jonah Hill to elevate to level five meltdown, and Cop Car Confessions an improv style series with actors from various Judd Apatow films going one-on-one from the backseat of Rogen and Bill Hader's patrol vehicle. There's also a great commentary track and a preview of the upcoming Pineapple Express.

Hearts of Darkness DVD

The film Apocalypse Now can be found on many peoples short list of favorite films. In the early 1990s the documentary Hearts of Darkness made a brief theatrical appearance after being shot as a cable docu. Hearts of Darkness was comprised of material shot by Eleanor Coppola and then assembled by Fax Bahr (with additional input by George Hickenlooper). The DVD of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse hits the streets running although in the years since it was made Bahr has only written and produced cable shows; Coppola has been in a creative slump that's only seen a couple of films while his daughter has hit Oscar gold (script for Lost in Translation); and Hickenlooper has gone from docus to some interesting feature films like the recent Factory Girl.
Watching Hearts of Darkness only makes you want to once again see Apocalypse Now (preferably in a 35mm Technicolor print). The film was a personal odyssey into creative madness where actors dropped more acid off screen than the characters that were tripping on screen. Harvey Keitel was replaced in the lead after a week, while his replacement Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack during the protracted shooting schedule. The docu goes into all this and most of the time maintains an objective edge that allows for the fact that even a creative genius can get lost on the journey to perfectionism.
Red wine should be served at 58-degree, have been opened for a couple of hours to breathe before being poured Coppola can be heard saying behind the scenes of the French plantation sequence, one of the memorable scenes cut and later restored (in the 2001 Apocalypse Now Redux). If you have questions about this film Hearts of Darkness will likely have the answer.
Disc extras include commentary by both Coppolas although as Eleanor points out they were recorded separately. There's also a one-hour making of Youth Without Youth, the new ultra-low budget film by Francis Coppola being released by Sony Pictures Classics next month.