Hey campers, it's time for another edition of The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, in which we tell you about the non-blockbuster, non-studio offerings that you can find in theaters this week. In a world where the multiplexes are packed, we proudly say: Chronicles of what now? If you know about something cool happening -- a local festival, repertory films, retrospectives, etc. -- let me know and I'll put it in the calendar! You'll find me at Eric.Snider (at) Weblogsinc (dot) com.

First up, we have a few...

INDIE THEATRICAL RELEASES

• Reprise is a Norwegian film about two friends, both would-be authors, who submit their manuscripts on the same day and go through all the rigors of an artist's life together. Cinematical's James Rocchi lavishes all kinds of praise on it in his review. Opens today in New York and L.A.

• How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer is a comedy about three generations of Mexican-American women enjoying their sexuality (not with each other, gross) one summer. Girl power! Ugly Betty is in it, but the film is from before she became Ugly Betty: It premiered at Sundance in 2005 (!) and is just now finally being released. Opens today all over California, as well as in Chicago, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Amarillo, Phoenix, and Mesa.

After the jump, more theatrical releases, plus our city-by-city rundown of special events taking place this week.

Did the art department at Fox apply some Photoshop to an actual childhood photo of Rainn Wilson? It sure looks like a young Dwight Schrute to me.

This is the poster for The Rocker (click image to enlarge), a comedy starring Wilson that's due this summer. Wilson plays a guy who got kicked out of a hair band in the 1980s and now, 20 years later, joins his nephew's upstart band as a means of reclaiming his former glory. The director is Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), with a screenplay by Maya Forbes (various Larry Sanders Show episodes) and Wally Wolodarksy (various Simpsons episodes).

The release date is Aug. 1, but it's premiering at the CineVegas Film Festival in June, so we should have a review for you then. The premise is good, the cast (which also includes Christina Applegate) and personnel are good, and August has been a fertile month for comedies in recent years (Superbad, Talladega Nights, 40-Year-Old Virgin), so we're keeping our fingers crossed for this one.

(And is it me, or is this poster a tad Apatow-esque?)

The MPAA's rating system is flawed and arbitrarily enforced, and the system itself is corrupt. I urge one and all to see the enlightening This Film Is Not Yet Rated for ample evidence of this -- or, if you prefer, just watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and marvel at how such a violent movie magically got the kid-friendly PG rating.

I didn't know the rating before I watched it, and I didn't remember, off the top of my head, whether the first Chronicles of Narnia was PG. (It was.) As Prince Caspian unfolded, I noted that there was an awful lot of stabbing, throat-slitting, and other killing, though I also noted that it was almost entirely bloodless. I figured it was the lack of gore that had prevented the film from being rated R, and that it was instead a moderately violent PG-13.

So I was flabbergasted to discover afterward that it was rated PG. Mind you, I have nothing against wanton violence and destruction in film -- it just needs to be labeled properly. Prince Caspian has (no spoilers here) several large-scale battle scenes, akin to Lord of the Rings in size and scope, with people and magical creatures slaying one another right and left. In a scene of hand-to-hand combat, someone slices off someone else's head; in the next shot we see the head, still in its helmet, on the ground next to the body. Elsewhere, there's a massive slaughter while good guys are forced to look on, powerless to help.

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was pretty good as far as anti-Bush jeremiads go, but it ended with a cliffhanger. Would George W. Bush be reelected in 2004 despite all the reasons Moore laid out for his dismissal? Or would he overcome the odds, focus the campaign on silly non-issues, and get lucky by having a weak, boring opponent?

We know what wound up happening, and now Variety reports that Moore is making a sequel, as yet untitled but scheduled for release around this time next year. (There's a chance it'll premiere at Cannes, like Fahrenheit and Sicko did.) Moore is working with Paramount Vantage and Overture Films this time around, splitting from the Weinstein Company, which distributed his last two films. We're guessing he wasn't happy with the way Sicko underperformed and has struck out for new territory.

So what will the Fahrenheit sequel cover? Everything that's happening since the last film, apparently. It's interesting how much things have changed in four years. In 2004, Bush and the Iraq War were not terribly popular, but they both had enough supporters to get him reelected. Now, Bush's approval rating is at a record low -- and I mean it's a record not just for him but for all presidents since the polling began -- and a majority of Americans feel the war was a mistake and should be ended ASAP. All of which means Moore's new film will probably find a larger, more receptive audience than the last one did.

Hollywood is fond of cannibalizing old cartoons and children's TV shows, but have you noticed that most of them are programs that no one cared about anyway (ahem Speed Racer ahem)? That's why today's announcement is special, because it looks like they're gonna make a film version of something that actually has a cache of devoted fans: Fraggle Rock.

That's right, children of the '80s! Dance your cares away; worries for another day. The 1983-87 HBO series about an underground race of Jim Henson puppets is on The Weinstein Company's fast track for production. Cinematical reported way back in October 2006 that a writer had been found in Ahmet Zappa (son of legendary rocker Frank Zappa), but that's not who the Weinsteins are going with. (He'll be the executive producer instead.) According to Variety, the film will be written and directed by Cory Edwards, who made the mediocre and long-forgotten 2005 cartoon Hoodwinked.

Fraggle Rock will be live-action; it will be a musical; and it will be produced by the Jim Henson Co., which of course owns the rights to the characters. Variety says the TV show's five central characters, Gobo (whom Variety calls "Gogo"), Wembley, Mokey, Boober, and Red, will still be the focus. It sounds like the Weinsteins aren't interested in deviating much from the TV show's format, which is good.

No word yet on a tentative release date, but we'll definitely keep you posted. In the meantime, what do you think about this news? Are you excited? Apathetic? Apprehensive?

(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

Momma Snider's preferred method of watching TV and movies is to sit on the couch with her laptop or her art projects and keep one eye on whatever my dad is watching. But sometimes a movie grabs her complete attention. She loves scary movies (nothing R-rated, please), and she has a weakness for Adam Sandler. We both loved Waitress and Hairspray last year, a somewhat rare convergence of our opinions. And Mom and I agree on another film, too....

"I love Remember the Titans. It's set in my senior year in high school, so the music reminds me of high school. I'd love to get the soundtrack. [I don't think she intended that as a hint, but I took it as one anyway.] It's such a warm story. I have trouble comprehending that in 1971 in some parts of the country there was still that kind of racial junk going on, but I guess it was like that in the South. It comes on TV a lot, and we have it on DVD -- and VHS -- so every time it comes on we start watching it, and then we get frustrated with the commercials and put on the DVD. And Denzel Washington! I love Denzel Washington."

Hollywood and Broadway have always been kissin' cousins, but their relationship used to flow in a different direction. In the old days, Broadway shows would get turned into movies, and Broadway actors would become film stars. Now it's the other way around: Eleven of the 37 shows currently on Broadway are based on movies, and there are enough movie stars performing on the Great White Way to fill an Oscar ceremony.

Films ranging from Xanadu to The 39 Steps, from Legally Blonde to Cry-Baby, have inspired some of Broadway's current productions. Previous seasons have included new stage versions of Beauty and the Beast, Footloose, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Big, Sunset Blvd., The Wedding Singer, and The Full Monty, to name just a few.

And the occasional flop aside (Big? Seriously?), audiences are eating them up. I needn't repeat for you the phenomenal success of Broadway's The Lion King, Hairspray, and The Producers, the last two of which were so popular that they inspired new film versions. Broadway has often been accused of being too populist and middlebrow, and I guess you need look no further than the success of movie-based musicals for evidence of that. The purists scoff -- but The Producers, which is as broad and "low" a comedy as you can imagine, also earned a record number of Tony nominations and wins. So those scoffing purists are outnumbered, and I suspect a lot of them are secretly as entertained by the shows as everyone else is.

Welcome to another nutritious edition of The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, a weekly roundup of what's happening beyond the multiplexes in this great land of ours. If you know of something cool going on where you live -- a small film festival, retrospective, midnight movies, etc. -- let me know! You can find me at Eric.Snider (at) Weblogsinc (dot) com.

INDIE THEATRICAL RELEASES

• Frontiere(s) is a French horror flick whose history is almost as torturous as its content. It was supposed to be part of the After Dark series last fall, but its NC-17 rating made that impossible due to the contract that the After Dark people had with the theatrical venues. So now it's basically going straight to DVD -- but first it's being deposited in a handful of theaters today in New York, L.A., Denver, Seattle, Philly, Austin, and maybe a few other places. Cinematical's Scott Weinberg gave it a mixed review at Toronto last year.

• The Fall: Remember The Cell, that freaky Jennifer Lopez movie from 2000? I know I do! (I never forget a movie with a vivisected horse.) The director, Tarsem Singh, is back now with The Fall, a visually stunning fable where a man in a hospital tells a little girl a story, and that story is craaaazy. Opens in New York and L.A. today.

More indie releases and a city-by-city list of cool events after the jump....

Cranky Eric© sez ... Hey, people who make movies: Stop putting scenes after the closing credits. If you want me to watch it, put it IN THE MOVIE, not after it.

It has been well established that when a list of names starts scrolling up against a black screen, the movie is OVER. You're done. Whatever story you had to tell, you told it. That's the way movies work.

You want to put something cute after the credits, fine. Knock yourself out. A lot of times that stuff is fun. But it doesn't count as an actual part of the story. If it's something we need to know, tell us. Don't hide it after the list of gaffers and production assistants and humane society certifications.

Oh, what, at the end of the last Pirates of the Caribbean -- after the 37 minutes of credits have rolled -- it turns out Elizabeth has a son and is standing around waiting for her once-in-a-decade evening of romance with Will? No she doesn't, and no she isn't. Because the movie ended 37 minutes earlier, when the closing credits started. Whatever happens after that is just you horsin' around. Doesn't count. It's not canon.

Today is the semi-official start of the Summer Blockbuster Season, but don't despair! The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar is here to fill you in on cool stuff happening outside the multiplexes in the coming week -- the perfect antidote to mainstream ennui. If you know of something interesting going on near you -- retrospectives, special screenings, etc. -- please let me know! Point your e-mail thingee at Eric.Snider@Weblogsinc.com and I'll put it on the calendar.

INDIE THEATRICAL RELEASES

• I don't know if famed critic-hater David Mamet still counts as "independent," but I'm including his new film, Redbelt, here just in case. It's a heady drama about a martial-arts instructor who gets tangled up with a Hollywood film shoot, a misfired policeman's gun, and several other things. ME LIKEY. Opens today on a few screens in New York and L.A.

• Son of Rambow was, hands down, the best film I saw at Sundance last year. It was snatched up by Paramount Vantage, which for some reason sat on it until now. It's a funny, creative, and sweet story about two British kids in the mid-'80s who film their own homemade version of First Blood (aka Rambo I). Cinematical's James Rocchi reviewed it at Sundance 2007 and loved it too, in case my word isn't good enough for you. It's in a few theaters today, with more to come.
  

After the jump, more indie releases in theaters, and a list of special events happening around the country....

I told you a couple weeks ago how THINKFilm had picked up the gritty prison thriller The Escapist, and how the film, which stars Brian Cox, was the last thing I saw at Sundance this year. Well, I actually had a double helping of Cox that January night, because right before The Escapist I watched Red, another film boasting a terrific Cox performance -- and now it's headed for theaters, too.

Via The Hollywood Reporter we learn that Magnolia has picked up Red, with plans to release it late this summer. The film (which I reviewed here) is a thriller along the lines of Death Wish, only instead of avenging his wife's murder, the Cox character is going after the punks who killed his dog. (Do not mess with a man's dog!)

Beards! They're all the rage these days! Conan and Letterman grew facial hair during the writers strike, Ryan Reynolds has been sporting some, Jonah Hill has that scruffy thing going, Jake Gyllenhaal has a beard (and I don't mean Reese Witherspoon) -- and now the trend has even spread to the womenfolk.

Get a load of Salma Hayek, the dazzlingly incomprehensible Mexican beauty who's now shooting a film called Cirque du Freak, in which she plays a sideshow's bearded lady. The film, based on a series of novels, also stars John C. Reilly as a vampire. (I'm sold!) It's set to open in February 2009, two months after that other vampire movie, Twilight.

Hayek is no stranger to unflattering facial hair, of course. She uglied up her eyebrows to play the title role in Frida back in 2002, and that extra bit of hair was just enough to put her over the top for an Oscar nomination. Eyebrows, now a beard -- what next? The lead in the Magnum P.I. movie? Just a thought.

[Via JustJared, which has a few more bearded-Hayek pics, too.]

You know how you've been really, excited about the Lost Boys sequel? OK, just pretend you have been. Seriously, go along with me here. It's called Lost Boys: The Tribe, and some of the various Coreys who were in the 1987 original will appear in it, alongside younger, hotter actors like Tad Hilgenbrinck and Autumn Reeser. Warner Premiere is sending it straight to DVD and Blu-Ray this summer, and the folks over at Bloody Disgusting have the cover art, a bit of which I've sampled here.

Yep, sure enough: That's a DVD cover, all right. The Angus Sutherland referenced is indeed related to Kiefer (they're half-brothers). Why there's a guy on a motorcycle, I don't know. Why not, I guess?

If you were worried that this sequel might deviate in some way from the cult-favorite original, rest easy. Corey Feldman told MTV News: "Once again, you have a fish-out-of-water story of two young folks who move into a new town to visit their relatives and find themselves caught up with a bunch of bloodsuckers.... I really like the script because of the fact that it is very close and very true to the structure of the original film." I take this to mean that, like most DVD sequels, it will be the exact same story as the original, but with different actors. But hey, Coreys! Squeeee!

Saddle up! It's time for another edition of The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, a weekly roundup of movie stuff that's happening beyond the multiplexes. I've got my usual sources that I go to for info on things taking place in some of the major cities, but if you know of a cool event happening where you are, please let me know! You'll find me at Eric.Snider (at) Weblogsinc (dot) com. I'll leave the key under the doormat.

INDIE THEATRICAL RELEASES

• Deal is another gambling movie, this time about the World Series of Poker. It stars Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison, and Shannon Elizabeth, and opens today on a few dozen screens nationwide (mostly L.A., NYC, Chicago, and of course Las Vegas).

• Then She Found Me, which has played at seemingly every film festival of the past six months, is the directorial debut of Helen Hunt, who also stars as a woman whose birth mother (Bette Midler) comes into her life just when it's at its most hectic. Cinematical's Ryan Stewart gave it a passing grade at Toronto last fall. It's in NYC and L.A. as of today.

• Roman de Gare comes to us from France, where the title is a term for popular, disposable novels (think John Grisham). Fittingly, the film is being described as a watchable but forgettable story about a mystery novelist who gets wrapped up in a real-life mystery. Opens today in NYC.

More theatrical releases, plus a city-by-city list of special events, after the jump....

I was one of the hardy souls who endured the recent Larry The Cable Guy atrocity Witless Protection, and when I wasn't bleeding out the eyes or praying aloud for the sweet release of death, I was noticing something peculiar: The film has an FBI character named Alonzo Mosely, which was also the name of an FBI character in Midnight Run. In and of itself, that could be a coincidence. But take into account that both Alonzo Moselys are played by the same actor, Yaphet Kotto, and that both are responsible for tracking down on-the-run witnesses who are supposed to testify against the Mafia, and you realize this was done on purpose.

So that's cute, I thought. I figured they probably hired Kotto, realized how similar the character was to the one he played in Midnight Run, and renamed the new character as a little inside joke. Universal Pictures isn't laughing, though, and not just because they watched a Larry The Cable Guy movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter's law blog (not written by Bob Loblaw, unfortunately), they're suing Lionsgate for copyright infringement and seek to stop all further distribution of Witless Protection, including the DVD release scheduled for June 10.

That's right: If Universal wins the case, the movie will be taken out of circulation. Regardless of the legal ramifications, I see this as a victory for society.