After being delayed for over a year, the romantic fantasy Penelope starring Christina Ricci, Reese Witherspoon and James McAvoy finally finds the light of day through newish distributor Summit Entertainment, and they're releasing it into over a thousand theaters, which should allow it to get into the Top 10, helped by its PG rating and Reese's female fans, but its not likely to make much of a dent compared to the other two new movies.

This Week's Predictions -

1. Semi-Pro (New Line) - $32.5 million N/A

2. Vantage Point (Sony) - $12.5 million -45%

3. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon) - $8.9 million -32%

4. Jumper (20th Century Fox) - $6.4 million -50%

5. Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone/Disney) $5.1 million -47%

6. The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony) - $4.9 million N/A

7. Juno (Fox Searchlight) $3.8 million -9%

8. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $3.7 million -44%

9. Definitely, Maybe (Universal) - $3.1 million -40%

10. Penelope (Summit) - $2.9 million N/A

Last year, not being a leap year, this weekend kicked off March with Touchstone Pictures' ensemble road comedy Wild Hogs starring Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen and John Travolta. It topped the box office with an astounding $39.7 million, making it the biggest opening for each of the individual stars. David Fincher's serial killer thriller Zodiac, his first movie in five years, grossed a disappointing $13.4 million for second place while Hustle 'n' Flow director Craig Brewer returned with the controversial Black Snake Moan which had Samuel L. Jackson chaining Christina Ricci to a radiator to the tune of $4.1 million, settling for 8th place. The Top 10 grossed $103 million, which is considerably more than the top 10 will make this weekend, even if Semi-Pro proves to be one of Ferrell's bigger hits.

Semi-Pro (New Line)
Starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, Maura Tierney, Will Arnett, Andy Richter, Rob Corddry, DeRay Davis, Josh Braaten, Jay Phillips, Jackie Earle Haley
Directed by Kent Alterman (directorial debut of the long-time New Line exec. Involved with production); Written by Scot Armstrong (Road Trip, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, School for Scoundrels, The Heartbreak Kid)
Genre: Sports, Comedy
Rated R
Tagline: "The Greatest Fro on Earth"
Plot Summary: Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell), owner, coach and star player of the minor league basketball team the Flint Michigan Tropics, realizes he has to get his team up to snuff if they’re going to be included in the merger with the NBA when their league is dissolved, so he brings on a former hotshot (Woody Harrelson) to get the team into shape.

Mini-Review: At first, Jackie Moon might seem like just another chance for Will Ferrell to ham it up and do his normal schtick, because the trailer certainly makes it look like more of the same. In fact, it’s actually a hilarious sports comedy reminiscent of the classic hockey film "Slapshot," retaining all of the usual cliches of the genre, but exploiting the genre formula and twisting them around for hearty laughs, while also poking fun at the swingin' ‘70s. Surprisingly, the movie is very tightly plotted with far less of the screwball comedy filler that Ferrell loves so much, only using it in the scenes where Jackie Moon is playing promoter/entertainer trying to get people into seats at the games. His performance of his hit song "Love Me Sexy" is the perfect way to kick things off, setting a mood that has you chuckling from the very beginning. Then again, some of Ferrell's funniest moments are when he's sharing scenes with the likes of Arnett and Richter, showing him to be far more generous as a comic than past movies. As much as the movie is about the jokes, the film includes some fine semi-dramatic scenes from Woody Harrelson and Maura Tierney in a relationship subplot that is kept from getting too heavy thanks to Rob Corddry as her basketball enthusiast husband who seems oblivious to his wife’s romance. Even funnier is seeing Jackie Earl Haley following his Oscar-nominated dramatic performance by playing a hilarious stoner who shows up from time to time. However you slice it, the main reason the film works so well is that the R rating allows Ferrell and friends to cut loose and get raunchy without worrying about sensitive younger ears, and for that alone, "Semi-Pro" joins "Anchorman" and "Elf" as one of Ferrell’s funnier efforts. Rating: 7.5/10

For the second year in a row, Will Ferrell offers a cure for the winter/spring blahs with a sports comedy, this time taking on basketball in a retro-comedy offering ‘70s humor that harks back to his popular hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Ferrell’s new comedy Semi-Pro reunites him with writer Scot Armstrong who penned Old School and the Starsky & Hutch remake, as well as reuniting him with the studio that released his biggest comedy Elf, paving the way for so many other big comedies. On top of all that, he’s returning to the R-rated humor of Old School, which many feel is Ferrell’s breakout, that would make it sound like Semi-Pro could be Ferrell’s biggest movie ever, right? Maybe or maybe not.

It certainly is being released in an open and clear time at the movies, where it can do well even if it doesn’t look like his funniest comedy from the commercials, because they can’t show some of the movie’s raunchier jokes. Ferrell has come a long way from his days on "Saturday Night Live" and appearing in SNL-related movies and those of his castmates with Old School and Elf kicking off a series of comedy hits that included Anchorman in 2004 and Talladega Nights becoming his biggest opening movie two years later. Last year’s Blades of Glory proved that Ferrell could take on any topic and bring in an audience, and though it didn’t do as well as Talladega, some of that could be blamed on the fact that NASCAR racing is a far stronger sports vehicle (sorry for the pun) than iceskating. Then again, Ferrell has had a few missteps in his career like his turn as Darrin Stephens in the Bewitched movie, the family soccer comedy Kicking and Screaming and his turn in the failed Producers musical movie, all in 2005.

Although this is clearly Ferrell’s movie and he will be the main draw, he’s continuing the tradition of filling the cast with really funny supporting actors including Will Arnett from the FOX sitcom "Arrested Development," appearing in his second Ferrell movie in a row after Blades of Glory. David Koechner is also returning after his memorable appearance in Anchorman and they’re joined by a couple late-night sidekicks, Andy Richter from the "Late Show with Conan O’Brien" and Rob Corddry from "The Daily Show." The serious actors in the cast include a small appearance by Jackie Earl Haley in his first movie since being nominated for an Oscar for his role in Todd Field’s Little Children (also from New Line). Two of the main secondary roles are played by beloved TV actors Woody Harrelson from "Cheers," who has appeared in hundreds of movies since that show ended decades ago with a presence in four to five movies a year, and Maura Tierney from "E.R." and "News Radio" who’s appeared in a couple of big comedies like Jim Carrey’s Liar Liar and flops like Ray Romano’s Welcome to Mooseport. The star player on Jackie Moon’s team is played by Andre Benjamin AKA "Andre 3000" from the Grammy-winning rap group OutKast, who has starred in movies like Be Cool, John Singleton’s Four Brothers and Guy Ritchie’s Revolver, and another recognizable face belongs to stand-up comic DeRay Davis, who’s appeared in movies like Scary Movie 4 and assorted others.

This is a good time for a strong comedy since there’s so few in theaters right now, something that helped Blades of Glory last year, though the R rating might be somewhat worrying considering that Ferrell’s audience is primarily younger with plenty of teens and younger due to his frequent family films. In the last year, Judd Apatow has proven that one can bring in a large audience of 17 – 30 year olds with the right humor and there’s enough guys in that age range who haven’t had much of interest in theaters, although Semi-Pro is facing the fact that the biggest opening R-rated comedy, Wedding Crashers, only made $33.9 million its opening weekend, and Superbad made slightly less than that, both in the summer. On the other hand, if any comic actor can break that record, it would be Ferrell, since Adam Sandler seems unlikely to venture into that territory with his mainstream comedies.

This is an important movie for New Line, who’ve had a few crushing defeats in recent years, but there are hopes that a sports comedy like this could have a wide enough appeal to do as well as something like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Granted, this will probably appeal more to guys than women, and not opening in the summer means its unlikely to match the opening of Talladega Nights, though last year’s opening for Blades of Glory is well in reach even with the R-rating.

With that in mind, New Line ran a series of high-profile Super Bowl commercials to cater to that audience, including a classic one with Ferrell in character doing a Bud Light commercial, which greatly raised awareness of the movie both among fans of Ferrell’s humor and sports fans in general. In general, New Line has done a good job marketing this one, and there’s little reason why it shouldn’t at least match the opening of Blades of Glory, since Ferrell’s a stronger draw than most of the cast of other big R-rated comedies.

Why I Should See It: Will Ferrell creates another funny character and takes on another popular sport, following his movies about soccer, NASCAR and figure skating.
Why Not: Yeah, it’s pretty much Will Ferrell doing what he always does, so if you hate that, prepare to cringe.
Projections: $31 to 34 million opening weekend and $110 to 115 million total.

COMPARISONS

The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony)
Starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas, Mark Rylance, David Morrissey, Eddie Redmayne, Jim Sturgess, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by Justin Chadwick (Sleeping with the Fishes); Written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland)
Genre: Period Drama
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "The only thing that could come between these sisters... is a kingdom."
Plot Summary: The two Boleyn sisters, Anne and Mary (Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson) are driven by their ambitious parents to win the heart of the current King of England, Henry the VIII (Eric Bana), but their attempts to get him to fall for them and leave his wife Katherine of Aragorn leads to a bitter rivalry that could potentially destroy their entire family.

Dual Review w/"Penelope"

Just a few months after Cate Blanchett returned as Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur’s sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age, here’s another prestigious period costume drama, this one based on the popular series of novels by Philippa Gregory, with a strong cast of box office stars, which effectively acts as a prequel to Kapur’s movies. It’s kind of strange because this movie isn’t produced by Working Title Films, who made those two Oscar-nominated pictures, though it’s written by Peter Morgan, who was nominated for his own Oscar last year for writing The Queen.

All of that is mostly irrelevent compared to the movie’s cast with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson doing their first period costume drama after doing a variety of other films, both big and small, though both of them are coming off fairly substantial bombs, Portman with Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and Johansson for The Nanny Diaries. Still, both actresses are well-respected having given awards-worthy performances in the past, Portman having won a Golden Globe for the drama Closer while Johansson having been nominated for four without ever having won. Portman’s background includes genre films like Luc Besson’s The Professional and George Lucas’ "Star Wars" films, and she made a return to that with V For Vendetta in 2006, but Johansson’s attempt at a genre film, joining Michael Day’s sci-fi flick The Island was a huge failure. Fortunately, she’s become Woody Allen’s muse, appearing in two of his movies, including one of his more successful recent ones, Match Point. The two actresses are also considered to be two of the most desirable women working in Hollywood in every respect with many male fans, although it’s likely that their latest venture will appeal more to women who like period romances than guys.

The supporting cast includes some of Britain’s finest including David Morrissey and newer-comers like Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) and Eddie Redmayne from The Good Shepherd, but the only other significant part is that of Henry the VIII, played by Australian actor Eric Bana, who has headlined a number of big movies like Universal’s Hulk and Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy along with Brad Pitt, though he also starred in Curtis Hanson’s Lucky You, which bombed after years of delays. (Bana also stars in the limited release indie Romulus, My Father, which opens in the Boston area this Friday—see below.)

This is a fairly well known book, much like Marie Antoinette and Memoirs of a Geisha, which were both produced and given a fairly moderate release by Sony, and that continues to be the case with The Other Boleyn Girl, which is only opening in just over a thousand theaters. Back in October, Universal might have gone too big right off the bat by releasing Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2,000 theaters, but with a narrower release, Sony can target the big cities where an artsy period drama like this might do better business, although it might still cap off at the $6 million made by The Golden Age during the fall, generally a better season for something like this.

The big difference is that most of the movies above were released later in the year under the assumption they would be up for awards and Sony isn’t even bothering to deem this film to be awards-worthy, dumping it into late a February release with a suitable amount of promotion but none of the awards hopes that is generally needed to get people to see these movies. There’s a good chance that this will get caught in the backlash faced by Kapur’s The Golden Age with critics being sick of the genre, so reviews probably won’t be particularly favorable. Possibly, there will be female moviegoers who like this sort of thing who’ll see it anyway, but it’s not likely to be a huge box office smash or anything, star power or not.

Why I Should See It: Two hot actresses do their first period costume drama.
Why Not: Though they do fight a lot in the movie, there’s no costume-ripping catfights ala "Dynasty" alas.
Projections: $4 to 6 million opening weekend on its way to $15 million total.

COMPARISONS

Penelope (Summit Entertainment)
Starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, Simon Woods, Ronni Ancona, Nick Frost, Richard James
Directed by Mark Palansky (directorial debut of the 2nd Unit Director, who has done mainly shorts and a series of videos of interviews with screenwriters); Written by Leslie Caveny (TV writer most notably on "Everybody Loves Raymond")
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Rated PG
Tagline: "A fairytale like no other."
Plot Summary: Penelope Wilhelm (Christina Ricci) is a girl from a wealthy family whose family secret forces her to hide most of her face, so she must find a suitor who can help break the curse. An eager tabloid reporter (Peter Dinklage) hoping to get pictures of Penelope’s face hires a good-looking gambler named Max (James McAvoy) to pose as a suitor, although the young man finds himself falling for Penelope for real.

Dual Review with "The Other Boleyn Girl"

Since February has been the month of delayed projects finally getting released—last weekend had three—here’s another one that’s been finished for almost two years and is finally getting released before being shuffled around by another distributor and finally winding up at the fledgling Summit Entertainment as their second U.S. theatrical release after last year’s horror flick P2.

This one is a strange romantic fantasy set in England starring Christina Ricci, who only has two kinds of luck when it comes to her movies, bad and none, with so many movies outright bombing or going straight to cable or DVD without a theatrical release, so it’s actually positive that Penelope is getting any kind of release, let alone a wide one. Ricci first came to attention playing Wednesday Adams in The Addams Family and its sequel followed by a prominent role in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp, followed by the thriller Bless the Child and that’s when things went to pot. A number of her other movies were delayed like Wes Craven’s Cursed or never got a theatrical release like Prozac Nation and The Gathering. Otherwise, she’s mainly appeared in edgy and controversial indie movies like Charlize Theron’s Monster and Pumpkin with a high-profile return in Craig Brewer’s Black Snake Moan, which opened exactly a year ago (after being delayed, of course.) Ricci also guest-starred on the episode of "Grey’s Anatomy" that screened after the Super Bowl a couple years ago, which helped that show find a much larger audience. While Penelope probably won’t change Ricci’s luck, at least she’s returning to big budget mainstream movies, playing Trixie in
the Wachowski’s Speed Racer, which opens in a couple months.

Her romantic lead in the film is played by dreamy (to women, not me) Scottish actor James McAvoy, who is currently appearing in Joe Wright’s Oscar-nominated British drama Atonement, which has greatly raised his status after being mostly ignored for starring roles in The Last King of Scotland and the university comedy Starter for 10, as well as being Anne Hathaway’s love interest in Becoming Jane. Younger moviegoers might remember McAvoy as Mr. Tumnis in The Chronicles of Narnia, a good PG precursor for the audience who might see this, and it’s interesting to see his name being used in the advertising, presumably preparing for his next career move starring opposite Angelina Jolie in the action film Wanted this summer.

Fortunately, they have Reese Witherspoon in the movie, playing a secondary role as Penelope’s friend that might help the movie bring in some younger women and girls, who enjoyed her in her lighter comedy fare like the "Legally Blonde" movies or Sweet Home Alabama, though she’s not doing much promotion for the movie. Despite Reese having starred in some of the biggest romantic comedies, her recent starring role in the political thriller Rendition didn’t keep that movie from bombing, though granted, Penelope is more in line with the movies her fans seem to enjoy. Reese is being prominently featured in the advertising, but she barely appears in the movie, and not at all in the first hour, so her fans might get angry if they go see the movie for her.

The movie seems like a light fantasy film with a whimsical nature like Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie or like Anne Hathaway’s Ella Enchanted, rather than a big high fantasy movie like the recent Spiderwick Chronicles. Then again, it has similar benefits of being a PG-rated film in a market fairly devoid of family friendly fare--something that will change in March with Martin Lawrence’s College Road Trip followed by the animated Horton Hears a Who--but it’s still a movie that will likely appeal more to young and teen girls rather than anyone older. Older women will also have The Other Boleyn Girl if they really want to go to the movies this weekend.

Unfortunately, the movie has already been released in a number of European regions and it’s been playing in England since the start of the month, which means the pirates have already got their hands on it, though reviews from the movie’s festival appearances have generally been good if somewhat mixed. The film played at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and it was picked up by IFC with plans to release it around this time last year, but then it was delayed until the fall and then delayed again until it finally showed up on the roster of the fledgling distributor Summit Entertainment

Despite this only being Summit’s second theatrical release, they’ve been going into overdrive with the marketing with tons of commercials, though it seems they did the same thing for P2, which only made $6.4 million in over 2,000 theaters. That movie might have suffered from being a stalker thriller at a point where America was getting sick of those kinds of movies thanks to Captivity and Hostel: Part II. Summit’s being a bit more moderate with Penelope, though it’s important that they show theater owners that they can fill the seats, since they have other movies coming out this year, including the mixed martial arts drama Never Back Down and the animated Fly Me to the Moon.

Why I Should See It: Surely, some might find Christina Ricci cute with a pig nose, right?
Why Not: Unfortunately, the film won’t be playing in many areas where farmers’ wives might go see it.
Projections: $2 to 4 million opening weekend on its way to roughly $8 million.

COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

City of Men (Miramax)
Starring Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha, Rodrigo dos Santos
Directed by Paulo Morelli ("City of Men" television series); Written by Elena Soarez (House of Sand, A Proper Name, "City of Men" television series)
Genre: Drama, Crime, Coming-of-Age
Rated R
Tagline: An Unforgettable Tale of Friendship and Survival in a City where the Greatest Challenge is Growing Up.
Plot Summary: In the Brazilian favela Dead End Hill, Ace and Wallace (Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha) have been friends since childhood, but as they both turn 18, they look towards their futures, Ace as a father and Wallace, as he looks for the father he never has known.

Interview with Paulo Morelli

Review

Our second Chosen One of the month from Brazil is the follow-up to one of the most well known Brazilian films of the last decade, Fernando Meirelles’ City of God, and it wraps up the story of the characters from the television series that ran for four seasons in Brazil and was collected into an edited form shown on the Sundance Channel. It’s important to bear in mind that with director Paulo Morelli at the helm, this is a very different film in terms of look and feel but it’s just as beautifully shot and crafted with the young cast of City of God having grown into a talented group that shows another side of favela life. Granted, not everyone who loved City of God will enjoy this movie, but those fascinated by this beautiful city and the lives of those who live in its slums will want to give this one a look when it opens in select cities on Friday.

Honorable Mention:

Chicago 10 (Roadside Attractions)
Starring (the voices of) Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, David Boat, David Dellinger, Debra Eisenstadt, Abbie Hoffman, William Kunstler, Nick Nolte, Jerry Rubin, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, Liev Schreiber, Bobby Seale, James Urbaniak, Leonard Weinglass, Jeffrey Wright
Written and directed by Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture, On the Ropes)
Genre: Documentary, Animation
Rated R
Plot Summary: Combining archive footage and animated recreations of the court case, this documentary looks at the protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and how 7 men including Abbie Hoffman (voiced by Hank Azaria) were arrested and put on trial for their involvement in arranging the protests which turned ugly when the police got violent.
Of Note: Documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen tackles the case of the seven war protesters who were imprisoned and put on trial for their involvement in he 1968 Vietnam War protest that bears comparison to the 2004 march in New York in conjunction with the Republican National Convention to protest the war in Iraq. After opening the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, it opens in select cities on Friday.

My Thoughts from Sundance ‘07

Also in Limited Release:

Chop Shop (Koch Lorber Films) - Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart) returns with another tale of New York’s minority population, this one about a 12-year-old Latino orphan living in Willet’s Point, Queens, with his older sister in a small room above a auto body repair shop, sharing dreams of one day owning their own food van. After playing at the Toronto Film Festival (and winning an Independent Spirit Award as "One to Watch"), it opens at New York’s Film Forum on Wednesday.

Bonneville (Sen-Art Films) - Jessica Lange plays Arvilla Holden, a grieving woman drives across the country with her close friends (Joan Allen and Kathy Bates) to deliver her husband's cremated remains to his family in Christopher N. Rowley's directorial debut, which opens in select cities on Friday.

Mini-Review: If you watch the trailer, you'll immediately know what to expect from this aggravatingly monotonous and predictable estrogen-driven Mormon (!) road movie that tries its hardest to be "Thelma and Louise… and Another Louise." It isn't necessarily a badly made film but first-time director Christopher N. Rowley is so obviously in love with the American heartland scenery and the music he seems oblivious to the flat and trite script he's working with. The three legendary talents, four if you include Christine Baranski, try to make the most of the droll and obvious humor by laughing and screaming to make it look as if they're having fun, but it's like a porn flick with faked orgasms, and watching these talented Oscar-worthy actresses following the once-great Diane Keaton into the desperate world of physical comedy to try to get laughs is tragic and depressing, not exactly what the filmmakers were hoping for. (Does anyone REALLY need to hear Kathy Bates playing a character who is always talking about their desperation for sex? Then this movie is for you!) All three women quickly get annoying and wear out their welcome as they get into one silly situation after another, making it seem as if everyone is making it up as they go along, leading to a ridiculous ending that never recovers. Surely, there'll be women out there who like this sort of thing, but anyone under 60 will be cringing at gratingly ridiculous material that's well beneath all the actors involved. This movie is truly a tragic waste of time and talent in every sense of the word. Rating: 4/10

Jar City (IFC Films) – Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur (101 Reykjavic) returns with a crime drama based on the Icelandic bestseller MYRIN or "Tainted Blood" (no, I haven't read it) about the discovery of a body, which leads to an even greater unsolved mystery from 30 years prior. It opens for a one-week run at New York's IFC Center

Mini-Review: While this isn't particularly ground-breaking in terms of police procedural films, never straying too far from "Law & Order" territory, the stark Icelandic setting creates a mood that adds to the tone of the film in the same was as Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" and the Coens' "Fargo." Kormákur uses the beautiful landscapes of his country along with ambient sounds brilliantly to create a moody piece that rarely goes where you expect, though the film moves at a slow and deliberate pace that requires some concentration even though it keeps things light and entertaining despite the gravity of the case. Clearly the best thing going for the movie is the performance by Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson from "Beowulf and Grendel" as Inspector Erlendur, a well-developed character trying to deal with a troubled daughter while getting deeper and deeper into a case that seems to offer little resolution as an apparent open-and-shut case of rape from thirty years leads him into something far more involved than anyone might expect. Amazingly, all of the disparate pieces do fit together by the end, and regardless of however many movies in the genre you've seen, you're not likely to have seen anything quite like this. You'll probably never look at a sheep's head again after one particularly disgusting scene. Rating: 7.5/10

Romulus, My Father (Magnolia) - Eric Bana, one of the stars of this week’s The Other Boleyn Girl, also stars in this film directed by actor Richard Roxburgh based on the memoir of philosopher Raimond Gaita, about the struggles his father Romulus and mother Christina had trying to raise him. It will open in Cambridge, Mass. on Friday.

The Unforeseen (The Cinema Guild) - Laura Dunn’s documentary, exec. produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, takes a very localized look at environmental issues in the form of Austin’s Barton Springs and real estate developer Gary Bradley’s attempts to subdivide the area into commercial plots that would continue the area’s ecological decline. An intriguing look at the development of the earth’s natural wonders into commercial regions like last year’s Manufacturing Landscapes, the documentary (which also just won an Independent Spirit Awrd) will open at the Cinema Village in New York City.

Vivere (Regent) - For those who find Bonneville too American for their tastes, this new romantic drama about three women on the run to Rotterdam comes from German director Angelina Maccarone. It follows the journey of Francesca, whose little sister has run-off with a musician, and as she goes to find her, she picks up a suicidal woman, who becomes her travelmate. It opens in New York at the Cinema Village and L.A. on Friday.

Next week, March enters like a lion or rather a giant sabertooth tiger as Independence Day director Roland Emmerich travels back to 10,000 B.C. (Warner Bros.), Martin Lawrence goes on a College Road Trip (Disney) and Jason Statham tries to pull off The Bank Job.

Copyright 2008 Edward Douglas