More Articles By Ed Grant

• Racing Daylight
  VANGUARD Street: Dec. 23 Prebook: Nov. 14 > Unconventional chick flick toys with time-travel. A clever variation on Akira Kuro-sawa’s Rashomon, this time-traveling romance presents three points of view on events in present and post-Civil War America. The film is smartly scripted by director Nicole Quinn, but its strongest suit is its cast. More
  
• Irma Vep: Essential Edition
  ZEITGEIST Street: Dec. 9 Prebook: Nov. 4 > Cat thief Maggie Cheung prowls Paris in this cult pic. Olivier Assayas' 1996 post-mod masterwork concerns an eccentric filmmaker (Jean-Pierre Léaud) remaking a silent cliff-hanging serial with a Hong Kong star (Maggie Cheung). This second DVD edition of the film includes supplements that outline Assayas' philosophy of filmmaking and his fascin... More
  
• Toots
  INDIEPIX Street: Nov. 18 Prebook: now > Affectionate toast to Manhattan bar owner Toots Shor. The golden age of Manhattan nightlife is recalled in this affectionate portrait of celebrated restaurateur-barkeep Toots Shor. Director and Shor's granddaughter Kristi Jacobson wisely emphasizes the parade of notables—entertainers, sports heroes, newspapermen and gangsters—who frequente... More
  
• Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest
  BBC/WARNER Street: Nov. 18 Prebook: now > Space and time-traveling doctor hunts for a lost starship in this animated adventure. The evergreen BBC franchise turns animated with this fast-moving cartoon feature, which first saw the light of day as a serial on a British Doctor Who children’s series. More
  
• Another Life
  BFS Street: Nov. 25 Prebook: Oct. 28 > British wife contemplates disposing of her stuffy hubby in this true-crime period piece. A true-crime murder case from the ’20s is transformed into a full-blown soap opera in this high-toned and well-acted but predictable 2001 British feature. Julianne Moore lookalike Natasha Little plays Edith Thompson, a woman who corresponds at length with her... More
  
• A Woman Under the Influence
  CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Nov. 4 Prebook: now > Criterion breaks John Cassavetes’ masterwork out of the 'box.’ John Cassavetes’ simplest and most powerful film finally becomes a stand-alone release from Criterion, as do the other four films contained in the John Cassavetes: Five Films box: Shadows, Faces, Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night. More
  
• The Trouble With Dee Dee
  MONARCH Street: Dec. 30 Prebook: Dec. 8 > Sitcom-like farce about a rowdy, chaotic heiress. This 2005 comedy plays like an amiable and amusing sitcom pilot stretched out to feature length. Character actress Lisa Ann Walter (Drillbit Taylor) stars as a rowdy middle-age heiress whose funds are cut off by her no-nonsense father (Kurtwood Smith). More
  
• The Director’s Series: Rossellini 2-Disc Collector’s Edition
  LIONSGATE Street: Nov. 11 Prebook: now > Double bill of lesser-known films by Italian Neorealist Rossellini. Roberto Rossellini tried out different filmmaking styles after the Italian Neorealist movement (which he helped start with Open City) died out in the early ’50s. Two such efforts are contained here, and surprisingly for a master dramatist, the wartime drama Era Notte a Roma (Es... More
  
• Santa and Pete
  VANGUARD Street: Nov. 25 Prebook: Oct. 22 > Holiday tale of Santa’s sidekick. Jolly St. Nick has a sidekick in this whimsical and pleasant bit of holiday family fare. James Earl Jones stars as a granddad who tells his inquisitive grandson the story of Pete (Flex Alexander), a Moor who traveled with Santa (Hume Cronyn) to the “new world” of America. More
  
• Up the Yangtze
  ZEITGEIST Street: Nov. 18 Prebook: Oct. 21 > Documentary about Chinese farmers affected by a controversial government project. The Chinese farmers being displaced by the building of a giant dam along the Yangtze River are spotlighted in this quiet, emotional documentary. Filmmaker Yung Chang studies two workers aboard a luxury tourist cruise ship that sails down the Yangtze, showing their c... More
  
• Change My Life
  SKD USA/KOCH Street: Nov. 11 Prebook: now > French actress Fanny Ardant suffers exquisitely in this “woman’s picture.” Best known for her initial work with late husband Francois Truffaut, Fanny Ardant has established a strong reputation for her exceptional performances in what might have otherwise been middling movies. More
  
• Shiver
  DARK SKY/MPI Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Fright gives way to familiar plotting in this uneven Spanish horror movie. A killer is loose in the woods around a small town in this half-terrific creepfest from the producer of Pan’s Labyrinth. Frankie Muniz-lookalike Junio Valverde plays a boy whose inability to tolerate light causes his mother (Mar Sodupe) to move to a village that is pr... More
  
• Billy the Kid
  ZEITGEIST Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > The travails of a high school outsider are given the cinema-verité treatment. Filmmaker Jennifer Venditti offers a slice-of-life look at Billy, a high school outsider, in this touching but conclusion-less documentary. The teen is talkative, mostly avoided by his schoolmates and unnaturally smart. More
  
• Death Defying Acts
  WEINSTEIN/GENIUS Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce in a classic-style romance involving Houdini. Filmmaker Gillian Armstrong (Charlotte Gray, My Brilliant Career) depicts fictional incidents involving master magician Harry Houdini in this old-style Hollywood romance. More
  
• Run for Your Life
  SCREEN MEDIA/UNIVERSAL Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Sentimental tribute to Big Apple marathon man Fred Lebow. The founder of the New York Marathon, running enthusiast Fred Lebow, is profiled in this well-crafted and moving documentary. A “transplanted Transylvanian,” Lebow started the marathon in 1970 and expanded it in 1976 from a run around Central Park to a grueling journey... More
  
• Fraulein
  FILM MOVEMENT Street: Nov. 4 Prebook: Oct. 7 > Female bonding saga involving Slavic women. This bittersweet tale follows three women from the former Yugoslavia who befriend each other in modern-day Switzerland. The youngest (Marija Skaricic) is a drifter, another (Ljubica Jovic) is a waitress and the third (Mirjana Karanovic) owns the cafeteria where they both work. More
  
• A Technicolor Dream
  EAGLE ROCK Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Pink Floyd members and others remember (sort of) a legendary ’60s psychedelic event. The old line that “anyone who remembers the ’60s wasn’t really there” holds very true here, as a number of individuals who produced, attended or performed at an event called “the 14-hour Technicolor Dream” offer their hazy r... More
  
• Ken Russell at the BBC
  BBC/WARNER Available now > Ken Russell’s wildly imaginative biopics on classical composers, artists and poets. Before he made his breakthrough feature films (Women in Love, Tommy, The Devils), perennial enfant terrible Ken Russell made a series of inventive biopics of composers and artists for the BBC series Monitor and Omnibus. More
  
• The Wu-Tang Clan: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 2007
  EAGLE VISION Street: Oct. 7 Prebook: now > The reunited rap supergroup puts on an energetic, nasty rhyme-filled show. In this concert release, the rap posse known as Wu-Tang Clan ignites a Swiss audience with a selection of their group and solo tunes. More
  
• Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
  ARTS ALLIANCE AMERICA Available now > Well-crafted intro to influential but little-seen works of underground icon. The life and times of underground filmmaker Jack Smith are detailed in this colorful, clip-filled documentary. Best known for his controversial, landmark Flaming Creatures (1963), Smith is depicted as an eccentric soul who influenced those around him, including his one-time col... More