Bruce Campbell's newest film, My Name Is Bruce, is a mini-masterpiece that fans will no doubt rank near his Evil Dead trilogy and up with Bubba Ho-Tep (2003). It's a kind of post-modern, meta-film, in which Bruce plays "Bruce Campbell," a B-movie star who is called upon to help battle a real-life monster, though he believes he's just putting on a show. As with his best work, it's a combination of sheer enthusiasm for the horror genre, some clever jokes, and some sidesplitting, infectiously stupid jokes. It comes out on DVD this week, complete with the requisite Campbell commentary track, and in tandem with that: Jeffrey Anderson chatted with Bruce about the film. Read more >>

Frozen RiverRent  

Melissa Leo, so good years ago as a detective on TV's Homocide, was nominated for an Oscar for her stellar performance in Courtney Hunt's impressive debut feature. "In the end, you feel that Frozen River gives about as truthful a picture of American bleakness as it's possible for a movie to present," wrote Richard Schickel in Time. "It is a movie that asks something of an audience, but it richly rewards our curiously rapt attention." Adds Kenneth Turan: "[L]et its bracing drama and the intensity of its acting restore your spirits as well as your faith in American independent film." Read more here >>

W.Rent  

Remember George W. Bush? He was our prez up 'til, oh, less than a month ago. While Oliver Stone's biopic came while the man was still leader of the free world and thus perhaps lacked historical perspective, it's still "fascinating," wrote Roger Ebert. "No other word for it." Adds Manhola Dargis: "The pleasure of Mr. Stone's work has never been located in restraint but in excess, a commitment to extremes that can drown out the world or, as in this film, give it newly vivid, hilarious and horrible form." No matter what you think, hard to ignore the spot-on cast, especially Josh Brolin as Dubya.

Also out today: The Exterminating Angel (Criterion) and Simon of the Desert (see below); My Name Is Bruce [read article >>]; Nights in Rodanthe; Miracle at St Anna; Days & Clouds [read review >>]; Chocolate ("Do whatever it takes to see this," says Den of Geek, "JeeJa Yanin [is] awesome beyond words"); Blindness; Death Note Movie II: The Last Name; The Whole Shootin' Match; Sleaze In The '70s Grindhouse Collection; Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave + Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (back in print!); Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection (includes Young and Innocent and other previously OOP titles); Romance of Astrea and Celadon; Soul Men; What Makes Sammy Run? (1959 cult fave); Ode to Billy Joe; Otto; Or, Up With Dead People; Cross Creek (was OOP; multi-Oscar noms); Tales from the Darkside: Season 1 ; Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season 2.

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Black Is...Black Ain't Rent  Read 

In the nearly fifteen since the death of black filmmaker Marlon Riggs, a whole lot has happened in and to America -- most remarkably the election of a mixed-race President -- an event about which Riggs would have been immensely pleased, I think. Probably best known, at least in gay circles, for his documentary Tongues Untied, Riggs died of AIDS-related causes while making his final film, Black Is...Black Ain't, which strikes me as the superior work due to its immense reach and enormous humanity. Released to coincide with last month's' Black History week, the movie should find a lot of new, young fans, while proving a rich trove of memory and deeper meaning for those who've already seen it...Read review >>

More like this Absolutely Positive | Pride Divide

Days and Clouds Rent  Read 

It's not that we need another reminder of the demoralizing economy, but Bread and Tulips director Silvio Soldini's modest new captivator -- about a middle-aged Genoa couple whose relationship begins to buckle under the weight of financial duress -- exposes the tenuous politics of potentially every marriage with perceptive nuances, not the archetypal plate-throwing hysteria or maudlin austerity of countless European art-house dramas...Read review >>

More like this Agata... | My Brother Is an Only Child

Simon of the Desert (Criterion) Rent 

"[Luis] Bunuel does more in 45 minutes of Simon of the Desert than most directors do with films that have a regular, twice-as-long feature-length running time," raves Jamie Rich in DVDTalk of this important new release from Criterion. "A parable, a satire, a Rod Serling-esque puzzler, this tale of a saintly ascetic trying to resist the temptations of a sexy devil honors the principled, skewers the inconsistent, and reminds us that being good may be honorable, but being bad looks a lot more attractive, as well as more durable." Extras include a hefty documentary called "A Mexican Buñuel" and a new interview with actress Silvia Pina.

More like this Viridiana | The Milky Way

GreenCine Daily presents dispatches from the ongoing Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), including a podcast interview as well as reviews from Andrew Grant, who starts us off with the already contentious film Ricky.

Also: We've created a series of lists of Oscar winners for Best Picture, starting with the 1930s. Check 'em out here >>. And while you're poking around lists, why don'tcha make one of your own? And speaking of the Oscars, here's our weekly reminder leading up to the big show that we'll be live blogging them! Cool special guests! Sign up for your reminder now.