In these supposedly progressive times, gender equality is one of those touchy issues relegated to the last paragraph of a trend piece nobody reads. When Katherine Heigl suggested to Vanity Fair that Judd Apatow's movies were sexist, the assertion came across like an after-the-fact shrug of acceptance. Ever the galvanizing provocateur, New York Times critic Manohla Dargis confronts the issue head-on with a thorough analysis of the gender bias in this year's summer blockbusters.

With "Iron Man, Batman, Big Angry Green Man" and other massive expressions of virility invading the box office, female roles appear to be relegated to the back of the multiplex. Dargis touches on the rumors that Warner Bros head Jeff Robinov believes no woman has been able to sell a movie since Julia Roberts (a point that Natalie Portman might contest, but not Paris Hilton) before sizing up numerous upcoming studio releases, with particular attention paid to Anna Faris, "who could be the next Judy Holliday but without the right material will, alas, probably end up the next Brittany Murphy." It's the kind of pronouncement that hits you in gut.

Some indie nibbles for the new week:

• Before Totally F***ed Up or The Doom Generation, Gregg Araki filmed The Living End. The 1992 film followed a gay hustler and a movie critic, both with HIV, who head out on a dangerous journey with the motto: "F*** the world." Over 15 years later, indieWIRE reports that Strand Releasing and Fortissimo Films have teamed up to bring together The Living End: Remixed and Remastered. The film screened on Friday at Sundance, and will be screened again at Berlinale. Since the DVD has pretty much disappeared since its release in 2002, I imagine that this new remastered copy will soon hit those shiny little discs -- hopefully with some tasty special features to boot.
• Back in April, I told you about Finnish band Lordi's upcoming monster movie called Dark Floors. Set in a hospital, the masked band members play monsters who stalk the film's heroes. Now Variety reports that their English-language flick is getting its world premiere February 6, at the Energia Areena in Oulu, before hitting Finnish screens on February 8. On these shores -- well, you'll have to wait and see what happens at Berlin, where the movie will be shopped around. In the meantime, you can check out the trailer through last month's Trailer Park.
  
• Finally, Vertigo Films has been busy buying up a couple of features. First, Variety reports that they've signed on for writer/director Rupert Wyatt's film The Trail, which will shoot this spring in New Mexico. There's no word on what the film is about, but there's a ton of coverage on Polish sites that I (unfortunately) can't read, so I'm wondering if that's a sign. Beyond this mysterious, new, $10 million movie, there's also Wyatt's directorial debut, The Escapist, which Vertigo also picked up. (The world premiere was yesterday at Sundance.)

Friday Night Double Feature had been lingering in my brain for a while before its December release, stemming from memories of insatiable video rentals, and double or triple-movie theater-going when it was too hard to pick between the films screening. However, it has come to our attention that our friends over at Cinema Blend have their own Friday Night Double Feature. (Nuts!) To differentiate the two, this column is now Cinematical's Friday Night Double Feature, and I definitely urge you to check out their own double-feature picks for more viewing options.

Now, onto the 3-ways. Two of my favorite movies of the '90s, a decade that I spent indulging in hordes of cult movies and youth cinema, happen to both dip into alternative sexual relationships -- Gregg Araki's Splendor and Andrew Fleming's Threesome. What is so great about these films is that they are not stunning, pitch-perfect examples of cinema, but rather, awkward, flawed, and endearing glimpses into expanding sexuality. The characters fail to find one person who can fulfill all of their idiosyncratic desires, and come to realize that if they cannot merge two people, perhaps one person is not enough.

Splendor



When Splendor came out in 1999, it was a bright, fun, and candy-coated surprise from Gregg Araki, the filmmaker who always knew how to deliver humor and romance, but always in a dark and disturbing package. With this story, Araki showed that he was more than f-bombs and Rose McGowan, and used his modern sensibility to revisit retro, pulpy romance. The story is simple -- Veronica has been suffering from a romantic dry spell when she meets two guys in the same night -- the light, carefree and sweet Zed, and the dark, pensive, and serious Abel. Thinking she'll date both and then choose, she quickly discovers that she wants them both, because each man has his own special appeal. Neither romantic choice wants to back down, so they decide to try an open-to-two relationship, which has its sexy perks, and its dramatic troubles.

It's dysfunctional, unlikely, and all sorts of fun. Casting Kathleen Robertson, Johnathan Schaech, and Matt Keeslar was step one. Adding an incredibly-vibrant and colorful world was step two. The final, finishing touch -- a great soundtrack that featured the likes of Everything But the Girl, My Bloody Valentine, and New Order. It's the sort of flick you can laugh with, swoon with, sing with, and just be goofy with.

Watch Kelly McDonald rant on the phone, dubbed-style.

A bottle of alcohol, a love triangle, and a game of Dare can only turn out one way.

Before Splendor, there was Rose, Traci, and Shannen as Valley Girls in Nowhere.

Gregg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face (pictured) mysteriously received only a token theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York after receiving favorable reviews (including two from our own Jette Kernion and Monika Bartyzel) from a short run on the festival circuit. Now the rest of us can see it. The DVD from First Look includes a "making of" featurette; look for Erik's review of the DVD later on today.

Danny Boyle's 'space mission to repair the biggest star in the sky,' better known as Sunshine, inspired Nick Schager to describe it as "a gorgeously crafted intergalactic saga sorely lacking in originality or profundity." You know what that means -- it should be perfect on DVD! Fox Searchlight's release includes an audio commentary by Boyle, two short films with intros by Boyle, deleted scenes, web production diaries and an alternate ending.

I loved Emanuele Crialese's Respiro, which featured a great performance by Valeria Golino, so I'm eager to catch up with his latest film, The Golden Door. Eric D. Snider said that this "story of an Italian family emigrating to America circa 1900 ... completely immerses us in the images and sounds of its world." The Miramax DVD has a "making of" feature and an introduction by Martin Scorsese.

Black Irish should play very well on the small screen. As I've written before, the film "revolves around a sterling, thoroughly engaging performance by Michael Angarano as a high schooler in Boston coming to grips with his family and his future; the script and direction by Brad Gann is solid and features a few surprising, gentle twists." The DVD from Anywhere Road Entertainment includes a commentary track and a "behind the scenes" feature.

Also out this week: Eagle vs. Shark, "(in some ways) even better than Napoleon Dynamite," per Scott Weinberg, DarkBlueAmostBlack, "a subtle, rewarding exploration of family," according to Martha Fischer, and Klimt, an unconventional bio-pic by Chilean director Raúl Ruiz.

New Yorkers just got an extra Christmas present this year from the IFC Center: Gregg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face will actually get a one-week run at the arthouse theater beginning December 26. This is exciting news considering it was previously believed (with good reason) that we'd only get to watch the movie on DVD. Back in September, it was announced the movie would only get a quick theatrical shot in L.A. and then go straight to video, crushing hopes for many who would like to smoke up and attend a midnight show. This was disappointing news considering how many festival-goers enjoyed the thing (see Jette and Monika's reviews for two such favorable receptions) and how popular Araki's previous film, Mysterious Skin, was (with critics, at least, if not box office). Even career-wise, Araki has been as big a cult favorite as some other filmmakers who receive better distribution. But I guess in an era when well-known indie directors are left only with iTunes exclusives without any theatrical run, and other midnight movie comedies destined to become cult favorites are dumped in the back alley by their studios, it isn't that surprising what happened to Smiley Face.

The Reeler's Stu Van Airsdale points out the short NYC run may have been arranged in order to garner " a fistful of blurb-ready reviews" that will help in the marketing of the DVD. Of course, the film's distributor could have easily gotten some DVD-cover-friendly quotes from festival reviews if that was truly all it was after. And then it also could have dumped the movie into one of Manhattan's less-prestigious arthouse theaters. Not that I disagree that the run will benefit the DVD release (set for January), but there's also good reason to think the people at IFC enjoy the movie and are simply interested in screening it at their theater. Smiley Face had a decent box office take from its one screen in L.A., and its presumed it will do just as well if not better in New York. After all, we don't have to worry about leaving the theater too stoned to drive.

Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding did smashing business at two theaters in Manhattan, earning a per-screen average of $39,800, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Was it the sparkling dialog, the witty performances, the star wattage of Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black? The critics were mixed: our own Ryan Stewart opined that the film was "torpedoed by its own self-indulgence." A. O. Scott of the New York Times was kinder ("frequently brilliant, finally baffling") and Lou Lumenick of the New York Post was not ("I've had root canals that were more enjoyable"). Check Metacritic for more critical coverage.

Opening in a single Manhattan theater, What Would Jesus Buy? performed quite nicely according to Box Office Mojo, making $11,600. Personally, I thought Rob VanAlkemade's documentary was timely and entertaining, although quite scatter-shot in its approach.

Opening in a single Los Angeles theater, Smiley Face earned an estimated $5,700 over the weekend, according to Mr. Klady. Distributor First Look has been criticized for changing their plans from a wider release last April; filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake comments: "It is sad to see a film that screened at 4 incredibly well known festivals [Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, Toronto] being released in only 1 theater." Amen! Both Jette Kernion and Monika Bartyzel reacted positively to Gregg Araki's stoner comedy starring Anna Faris; the movie hits DVD in January.

Redacted ($1,760 per screen; 13 theaters) and Southland Tales ($1,780 per screen; 63 theaters) appeared to fall victim to bad buzz. Everyone kept saying that no one would want to go see Brian DePalma's Iraq War project and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Critical response was lukewarm overall, though a number championed it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. (Ryan Stewart felt it "doesn't ever truly gel.") The same site estimated that only 34% of the Southland Tales reviews were positive; its champions are fewer but no less appreciative -- but not Nick Schager, who called it "monumentally vapid."

The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men expanded into 148 theaters and soared into the overall Top 10, scoring a scorching per-theater average of $20,540.

Despite having a familiar cast and an easily digestible concept, Gregg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face has been dumped to the same status as a modern Steven Seagal vehicle. That's right, according to MTV, it's going straight to DVD, following a barely-even-limited run in Los Angeles, that is. The movie, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, stars Anna Faris (Scary Movie), John Krasinski (The Office), Jane Lynch (The 40 Year-Old Virgin), Danny Masterson (That '70s Show) and Danny Trejo (Grindhouse), none of whom are apparently good enough for a theatrical release. Maybe it's the fact that it can't be sold to Araki's typical fans, or maybe it's the fact that nobody likes to admit that Up in Smoke, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Dazed and Confused, Knocked Up, Half Baked and Dude, Where's My Car? were all fairly popular and successful movies -- because then maybe it will seem like an admission that marijuana is cool.

Smiley Face stars Faris as a woman who starts her day by smoking up and then mistakenly taking care of her munchies with a batch of pot cupcakes. Then ... hilarity ensues. During its Sundance premiere, crowds were reportedly laughing non-stop (though Karina claimed that it received some awful buzz) and it seemed to be well-enough-received at later festivals, too. Jette reviewed the movie at SXSW, pointing out that it's "the kind of movie that will be more fun to watch with a big audience than alone on your DVD player." So much for that idea. Earlier this month, Monika saw the film in Toronto, where she confirmed its worth. "Araki's comedy gives us the best of many comedic worlds in an incessantly funny, easily-quotable serving," she said in her review. "From discussions of Marxism to love of lasagna, Smiley Face serves it all -- with some weed and a very, very stoned smile." Well, at least we can be sure it will develop a cult following on video; aside from that we can only hope our local art-house cinema will give it a midnight screening somewhere down the line.

While Gregg Araki's early films have been the subject of much debate, the tide began to change with his impressive Mysterious Skin -- delving into the troubling world of molestation with class and depth. His accomplishments continue with Smiley Face, in a light and stoned capacity, of course. For his latest, Araki has dipped into the world of comedy and shows that he can leave many of his usual, challenging themes behind and make an easy-to-serve, and completely fun, mainstream comedy.

Anna Faris is Jane -- a struggling, pothead actress -- who somehow travels from point A -- her couch, to point Z -- the top of a ferris wheel. How she got there is a strange melange of events that puts Dude, Where's My Car to shame. Earlier that morning, Jane fired up her bong and got nicely stoned. In a munchie daze, she looks in her fridge and discovers a platter of cupcakes on which her roommate (Danny Masterson) has written a note for Jane to keep her hands off. Thinking she'll just eat the cupcakes and make more, Jane devours each and every one -- and only after does she realize that the cupcakes had pot in them. From there, Jane exists in a sea of stoned stupidity and verbose clarity (at least, in her own mind).

I'm not ashamed to admit I have a weakness for stoner humor. One reason is that until recently, it seemed to have died out from TV and film, on the grounds that you can't tell kids "Just Say No" and then show characters having a good time saying yes. I liked Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and in the same vein of goofy pothead movies, I liked Smiley Face, the latest film from Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin.) This is Araki's first time directing someone else's script, written by actor Dylan Haggerty.

Smiley Face is about Jane (Anna Faris), a sweet-faced blonde woman who isn't sure exactly how she ended up on a Ferris wheel, but is sure she's feeling pretty baked. The movie then flashes back to Jane's day -- after a quick bong hit, she gets the munchies and scarfs down her roommate's cupcakes. She then realizes that she's eaten an entire batch of pot-laced cupcakes. Wow. Although she's in no shape to do much of anything, Jane realizes that by the end of the day, she has to go to an audition, bake more cupcakes, pay the electric bill so the apartment power won't be cut off, obtain money to pay Steve the Dealer (Adam Brody) so he won't take her brand new luxurious bed away and meet Steve in Venice (we're in So. Cal here) at 3 pm to pay him off.

It happens every year: films go to Sundance, play to packed crowds, win Jury prizes and/or score big deals ... and then essentially disappear. It happened in 2005, when Ira Sachs' Forty Shades of Blue took home the Dramatic Grand Jury prize, only to open nine months later on just three screens and eventually gross barely $75,000 in its 84 day release. It happened again last year, when The Darwin Awards and Right at Your Door landed multi-million dollar deals with major distributors, only to be shelved indefinitely. I guess if you're an acquisitions exec, it's easy to get carried away up there on the mountain, but sometimes the same picture that thrilled a packed crowd at the Racquet Club looks downright unmarketable back at the office in L.A. So, with the caveat that I have neither a crystal ball nor any sort of reliable inside information, here are my picks for five Sundance '07 films that will actually see a meaningful release sometime before Sundance '08.


1) The Ten (Cinematical review)


Stu Van Airsdale thinks Manohla Dargis was talking about this film in the NY Times, when she described a distributor who sat through a "bad comedy that features a clutch of low-level film and television actors" whilst fantasizing about "all those recognizable [actor] names once they are printed on a DVD box." I'm actually convinced Ms. Dargis was referencing Gregg Araki's Smiley Face, a stoner comedy starring Anna Faris and half the cast of That 70's Show, which was apparently so awful that even die-hard Araki fans couldn't sit through it. I think if Dargis had attended a public screening of The Ten -- or if she had even caught a glimpse of the hundreds of high school and college kids lining up for the wait list as long as eight hours in advance of the picture's second-to-last show -- she would have a hard time condemning a distributor for trying to cash in on it.

The movie, which was written and directed by David Wain of Wet Hot American Summer fame, consists of ten short segments, one representing each of the ten commandments, strung together by some filler involving Paul Rudd not being able to decide if he'd rather screw Jessica Alba, Famke Janssen or (this is not a typo) Dianne Wiest. It may be less engaging than a 90-minute stint watching old clips of The State on YouTube, but it's got huge college-campus potential, where boys and girls have been known to consume comedy without bothering to consult the second film critic for the New York Times to see if she approves. With savvy marketing, and maybe a few structural tweaks, this could be the sleeper comedy hit of the summer.

Whoa. Gregg Araki, best known for serious, frequently haunting looks at American youth in films like Mysterious Skin and The Doom Generation, is making a "stoner comedy" called Smiley Face. In another break for his usual pattern, Araki will be working for someone else's screenplay for the first time - the script was written by Dylan Haggerty, and is about an actress/slacker who accidentally eats a pot brownie. Jesus, seriously? Hasn't this been the plot for enough sitcoms that it doesn't need a full, 90-minute treatment?

The stoned actress will be played by Scary Movie queen Anna Faris, and she's joined in the cast by John Krasinski (Jim from The Office), John Cho, and Jane Lynch. The movie, which is being produced by First Look and Anonymous Content, goes into production this week - hopefully, Araki can work some of his demented magic on the thing and save it from cliche hell.