David Mamet’s Redbelt is a kind of Karate Kid for the intellectual, philosophical set; a sober, action peppered drama that asks what value there is in honor when one’s opponents - and even adversaries - are willing to deceive and destroy lives in order to make a quick buck. It’s a cynical meditation on the themes of nobility, integrity, and truth that successfully sidesteps the clichés of the typical action drama, while still managing to deliver everything that audiences love about those films – the struggling underdog, the serpentine villain, and the knockout final brawl – all in ways that are sure to pleasantly surprise.

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Kimberly Peirce’s follow-up to her award-winning debut Boys Don’t Cry, shows that many of her interests have remained even though the director might have taken nearly a decade to serve up a sophomore effort. Like her first film, Stop-Loss works best when dealing with the heightened emotions experienced by inarticulate blue-collar Americans. Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt both shine when the screenplay gives them things to do, but not to say. They have both been emotionally wounded by their experiences in the Iraq War, and now that they are home they are unable to find a healthy release for their pent-up stress. When a third friend and fellow veteran sees his new marriage fall apart, the trio sit around with some fellow Texas good ol’ boys, and use the wedding gifts for target practice. It’s an image that seems full of meaning, but this sequence is presented without any edge. Peirce seems unsure what she feels about these guys, even though she never questions their bravery or loyalty.

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A 2 Disc Collector’s Edition of Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant There Will Be Blood hits stores April 8, making it the first of last year’s Best Picture nominees to receive the multiple DVD treatment. The transfer is superb, which should come as no surprise to those aware of Anderson’s admiration for DVD. Although some may quibble with there being only eight chapter stops for a 160 minute film, the truth is that each of the eight has been perfectly chosen and titled so any viewer can easily find what they need. The most interesting of the extras on the bonus disc is The Story of Petroleum, a silent movie from the 1920s made to educate the public about various aspects of the oil industry. Jonny Greenwood, whose musical compositions contributed greatly to the overall effect of Anderson’s film, created a wholly new soundtrack for this nearly one-hundred year old short.

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Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant’s first film since his aesthetically and thematically linked death trilogy (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days), represents yet another moment when Van Sant sheds his most recent style and takes inspiration in something new. Adapted from a book by Blake Nelson, Paranoid Park is a coming-of-age tale about Alex (Gabe Nevins) a teenage skater who responds to the world around him with a humble disinterest. He is unmoved by everything, be it the war in Iraq, his parents divorce, or the sexual advances of the cute girl who calls herself his girlfriend. Only when he makes his first visit to the title skate park - a place so intimidating that, at first, he’s not sure he can handle it - does the young man discover something that alters his perception of both himself and the world.

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Paul Thomas Anderson’s award winning drama There Will Be Blood arrives on DVD April 8. Viewers have their choice between a conventional single disc edition, and a two-disc version that includes behind-the-scenes featurettes, trailers, deleted sequences, and other goodies. Considering the quality of the extras on both the Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love DVDs, this disc should be as memorable as the film itself.

The passing of Anthony Minghella leaves a void in the world of filmmaking that few people are equipped to fill. Minghella was of course an award winning director capable of high-gloss Oscar bait efforts like The English Patient and Cold Mountain, and he could infuse genre pieces such as The Talented Mr. Ripley and Truly, Madly, Deeply with doses of penetrating psychological insight. Alongside producing partner Sydney Pollack, a fellow multi-faceted hyphenate, the man helped bring a number of interesting projects to the big screen including the recent Best Picture nominee Michael Clayton and the underrated Catch a Fire.

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The most effective thrillers and horror films are the ones that place sympathetic characters in precarious situations and then make the audience watch helplessly as those characters do everything that the viewer would in order to survive. If we, as an audience are lucky – and the filmmaker is only trying to entertain us – then perhaps one or two of those characters emerge from the conflict alive. On the other hand, if the filmmaker is operating by a different set of rules or trying to deliver a distinct message with their film, then the audience might be in for a bit of a rough ride. This said, anyone familiar with the name Michael Haneke knows that by no means is he simply trying to entertain us: Haneke’s films are persistently polarizing, consistently challenging, and never forgiving – and his English-language remake of his own 1997 film Funny Games is as bleak, nihilistic, and as difficult to endure as the original.

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Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium: Zach Helm attempts to out-Gondry Michel Gondry in his G-rated directorial debut starring Dustin Hoffman.

Awake: What is something you will not be by the end of this movie?

Into the Wild: Emile Hirsch stars as a young man who decides to live in the Alaskan wilderness, presumably after seeing Awake and giving up on humanity.

Things We Lost in the Fire: Of the two 2007 Halle Berry movies that I’ve forgotten even exist, this is the one I’ve forgotten most. Except for the other one.

Also out this week: Mrs. Doubtfire [Special Edition] and 12 Angry Men [50th Anniversary Edition]

Beowulf: If you thought The Polar Express was great but would have been better with graphic violence and cartoon nudity, then here’s the flick for you, guy who only exists in Robert Zemeckis’s mind.

30 Days of Night: This film tells the terrifying tale of a small-town in Alaska that’s forced to spend a month in the dark with Josh Hartnett. Fortunately, a group of merciful vampires comes along to put them out of their misery.

The Darjeeling Limited: Easily among the top-nine best Darjeeling-centric movies of 2007.

Also out this week: Death at a Funeral, Slipstream, Goya’s Ghosts, Day Zero and The Last Emperor: Criterion Edition

American Gangster: Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe reunite for this long-awaited unofficial sequel to Virtuosity.

Michael Clayton: Finally a movie with George Clooney playing a loyal servant to The Man who grows a conscience and stops playing ball. It’s about time.

Margot at the Wedding: If you see just one Jack Black nude scene this year, make it this one.

Kurt Cobain - About a Son: Mulattos, albinos and mosquitoes all agree that this way better than the Krist Novoselic documentary.

Also out this week: Rendition, Lust, Caution, In the Valley of Elah, Zebraman and Nightmare Detective

Gone Baby Gone: Ben Affleck directs Casey Affleck in this well-received drama that I can only assume was scored by Ulysses Affleck and catered by Geppetto Affleck.

Martian Child: If you loved K-Pax, then this one is for you, Mrs. Spacey.

We Own the Night: Probably the closest I’ll ever get to realizing my dream of watching Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch duet with Johnny Cash.

Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married: Writer/director/producer/actor/gaffer Perry performs out of women’s clothing opposite Janet Jackson. [Insert 3-year-old Super Bowl joke]

Also out this week: No Reservations, The Amateurs and Becoming Jane

Daddy Day Camp: If you squint, the leads in this look a lot like Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garland. And if you squint harder and plug your ears, watching it might not make you want to jump out a window.

The Comebacks: If you’re one of the people who propelled Meet the Spartans to the top of the box-office over the weekend… well, you probably aren’t able to read this, are you?

Ricco the Mean Machine: The English translation of the original Italian title for this 70s exploitation flick is Some Guy with a Strange Face is Looking for You to Kill You. And yes, the movie pays off on the promise of that title.

King of Kong - Fistful of Quarters: See the film critics have called one of the fifteen greatest documentaries about Donkey Kong released in the second-half of this decade so far.

The Nines: Two better than Se7en, half better than 8 1/2, but not quite as good as The Ten and far worse than 300.

The Invasion: Nicole Kidman stars in this film about cold, unemotional humanoids. It is not a documentary.

Also out today: The King of California, Right at Your Door, Feel the Noise and Rocket Science

The Ten: Say what you will about David Wain’s disappointing follow-up to Wet Hot American Summer, but it’s still the best new comedy on DVD this week.

Mr. Woodcock: Say what you will about this cinematic root-canal starring Billy Bob Thornton and Stifler, but it’s not the worst new comedy on DVD this week.

Good Luck Chuck: Say what you will about this crime against humanity, but it makes Mr. Woodcock look like The Ten.

Also out today: He Was a Quiet Man

Here’s a taste of what’s hitting home-video today:

The Bourne Ultimatum: The third outing cements the Bourne saga as one of the most satisfying and consistent trilogies in recent history. There’s also a four-disc Safe Deposit Gift Box out, so grab a case of Red Bull and see if you can watch all three back-to-back-to-back.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: After five installments, I’m starting to lose track of the plots of these movies. I’m pretty sure this is the one with all the magic and whatnot. There’s also a 12-disc box-set being released today featuring all five Potter flicks.

December Boys: If that aforementioned dozen-discer somehow doesn’t quench your thirst for Daniel Radcliffe, then you’ll be interested in this Australian coming-of-age flick starring the billion-dollar kid. You might also be served with a restraining order by Radcliffe’s reps.

Everything’s Cool: Taking the message of An Inconvenient Truth and adding a spoonful of sugar, this documentary out of Sundance is billed as a global-warming comedy.

Ask any true crime enthusiast about the most harrowing and heartbreaking case they’ve ever researched, and chances are the name Sylvia Likens will come up at some point in the conversation.

An Indiana teen who, along with her disabled younger sister Jenny, was left in the care of an overburdened and destitute single mother as their parents were working in a traveling carnival, Sylvia became the target of abuse not only by her deeply-disturbed guardian, but, perhaps most shockingly, the children of the neighborhood as well. The details of the case are enough to shake even the most well-read true crime buff, making it a most unlikely candidate for feature film adaptation. Oddly enough, not one but two films concerning the Sylvia Likens case are now set for distribution: The Girl Next Door and An American Crime. The former an adaptation of author Jack Ketchum’s fictionalized account of the crime and the latter a by-the-books recreation drawn from actual court transcripts, both films dare to present a case that is excruciatingly difficult to read about much less see realized on the big screen. Still, it’s an important story that should remain in the collective conscious of the public. There’s no question that with Catherine Keener, James Franco, and Ellen Page aboard An American Crime has the star-power needed to draw in reluctant viewers, though by contrast the manner in which The Girl Next Door explores the mechanisms that would make such a tragedy possible make it a compelling – yet wholly unpleasant – study in mob mentality and the inherent responsibility of adults to protect children at all costs.

In the end, regardless of which film is considered more successful, the important thing is that the memory of Sylvia Likens lives on to ensure that no other children need ever fear meeting the same tragic end as the vibrant young girl from Indiana whose name has become a somber reminder of mankind’s true capacity for evil. The only question that remains now is whether or not filmgoers are willing to subject themselves to such horrors, or if the harsh realities of such a reprehensible case will simply prove too much for audiences to endure.

Check out the trailers for both films after the jump.

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Here are two of the most sizzling new trailers for the most interesting and unusual films of the season, and no two could be more different or dissimilar in terms of approach, strategy, visual texture or content, but both wax equally compelling. Perhaps it is only a reflection on the differences inherent between a teaser and a full trailer, but (even taking that distinction into account) the discrepancy still feels quite astonishing.

The currently-released spot for Youth without Youth – Francis Ford Coppola’s
first directorial outing in ten years and his first “personal” movie in almost two decades – gives us no idea (and I mean no idea) of what the film might be about; a series of dissociative images – of clocks ticking, a surrealistic upside-down trip through an orange-colored forest after nightfall, followed by a series of almost expressionistic close-ups of the actors’ faces and bodies – do little more than establish a foreboding mood. (Though we do get a charismatic Nazi salute signaling us to the general time period and backdrop). No matter: Zoetrope and Sony Pictures Classics correctly realize that the union of Coppola, Tim Roth and Bruno Ganz is enough to magnetize viewers to any release, putting the concerns of director and cast far ahead of the story. Devotees of the trades will invariably note that this film has been netting fairly poor advance reviews for a Coppola movie; nonetheless, his admirers (I among them) will doubtless be happier with an interesting experimental failure that at least bears an individualistic stamp than we would with another generic studio product like Jack or The Rainmaker.

Youth Without Youth Trailer

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The trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, on the other hand, virtually lays out the entire narrative arc and conveys a cutting, bilious, acid-infused tone that will doubtless characterize the entire movie. To be blunt: as played by Daniel Day-Lewis, the lead character of Daniel Plainview is so thoroughly grotesque and inhuman, and appears so willing to swindle, manipulate and destroy others, that he cannot help but recall the whole seduce and destroy bit propagated by Anderson’s vile and sociopathic T.J. Mackey character (from Magnolia). Here, it looks as if Mackey has virtually received his own entire narrative – which isn’t to say that Anderson sacrificed a full display of his filmmaking bravura or that the picture will fall short of completely enthralling. Bottom line: if any director-actor team can take the tale of a psychopathic oil baron chewing up and spitting out American folks like tobacco and make it engaging, Anderson and the magnificent Day-Lewis can. Three cheers for revisionist American historical epics. Take a look for yourself:

There Will Be Blood Trailer

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