To Limited Releases With Love

June 22, 2012

There are quite a few interesting films on this week's list. Leading the way is To Rome With Love, which is earning the most buzz and will likely be the biggest hit, but its reviews are only mixed. On the other hand, The Invisible War is one of the most powerful films of the year, but might be too hard to stomach for a lot of people. Those looking for a more light-hearted documentary should check out Kumare.

BRO' - Reviews
A young college student falls in with the wrong crowd and his education and path to prosperity is washed away is a deluge of motocross, drugs, and women. There's only one review on Rotten Tomatoes and it is negative. BRO' opens tonight at the AMC Theatre in Orange County.

Grassroots - Reviews
Jason Biggs stars as a journalist who was just fired from his music critic job, so he decides to put all of his time and effort into getting a novice politician, Joel David Moore, elected to city council. The film is inspired by a real election that took place in Seattle, and if you know about it, it might be a bit more intriguing. However, with only one review on Rotten Tomatoes, it's hard to judge if it will find a wider audience. Grassroots opens tonight at the Landmark Harvard Exit Theatre in Seattle, Washington.

The Invisible War - Reviews
A documentary about rape in the military. I recently read a statistic that said a female soldier serving in Iraq or Afghanistan was more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by an enemy. Ugh. This is a depressing documentary, but a very, very powerful one and one that should earn an Oscar nomination. On the positive side, it helped change the rules and hopefully it will really improve people's lives. The Invisible War opens tonight in four theaters in New York City; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Santa Monica.

Kumare - Reviews
Director Vikram Gandhi pretends to be a New Age Guru to show how easy it is to convince people to have faith in the ridiculous. The film is earning very good reviews and many are comparing it to Borat. This is a film that I really hope succeeds, as I have a great deal of disdain for a lot New Age stuff, which tends to use a few terms borrowed from Quantum Mechanics to justify whatever they are selling. Kumare opened in Wednesday at the IFC Center in New York City.

The Last Ride - Reviews
The look at the final days of Hank Williams, or at least a fictionalized account of the final days of the country singer. The film was originally released last fall and struggled at the box office, and I see no reason why it will do better this time around. The Last Ride re-opens tonight at the Cinema Village in New York City.

Nate & Margaret - Reviews
A 19-year old gay man and a 52-year old woman have good friendship, that is until he starts dating and she decides to focus on her amateur stand-up career. I did hear some advance buzz for the film, but not really loud buzz. More of a quiet mumbling that the film might be really good and not predictions that it would be a huge hit. The reviews do suggest the buzz was right; they are overwhelmingly positive, but there are only six of them on Rotten Tomatoes. Nate & Margaret opens tonight at the reRun Theater.

To Rome With Love - Reviews
The latest film from Woody Allen and the first he's appeared in since Scoop. Unfortunately, this anthology is only earning mixed reviews. Still, it is Woody Allen and he has enough fans that it should do relatively well in limited release. To Rome With Love opens tonight in four theaters, split between New York City and Los Angeles.

Stella Days - Reviews
In a small town in Ireland in the 1950s, there's a conflict between the Catholic church and a local cinema that wants to see the latest Hollywood movies. The Church wants to make sure nothing that would harm the faithful gets through. The film's reviews are only mixed, and when I first heard the setup, my mind immediately jumped to Cinema Paradiso, which is a much better movie. Stella Days opens tonight at the Quad Cinema in New York City.


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Filed under: Limited Releases, The Last Ride, To Rome with Love, Kumaré, Stella Days, The Invisible War, Grassroots, BRO', Nate & Margaret