Something like the Dead Sea Scrolls of 1960s (and '70s) underground comedies, the five films assembled in the new Criterion Collection Eclipse set Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr. have been out of sight for so long that their release last week marked a major rediscovery. Deliriously imaginative and madly subversive, black-and-white romps like Babo 73 and Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight deploy manic pacing and counter-cultural absurdity to critique Mad Men-era America while inhaling deeply on their own stoned grooviness. In this interview, Steve Dollar to talk about the films in this set, getting tossed out of Yankee Stadium—twice—in order to shoot a scene, his abbreviated pitching career and giving some kid named Robert Downey Jr. his first shot at stardom. Read more >>

The Aggression ScaleRent 

This indie actioneer was given the honor of being the best high concept film of SXSW '12 for its "Home Alone-meets-Rambo scenario," and kinetic, punk rock aesthetic. Ryan Hartwig plays a disturbed young man who must protect his sister and home from four hardcore hitmen after $500,000. Rife with deadly booby traps and sprinkled with moments of comical carnage, "the movie as it exists is filled with energy and a deranged sense of fun, all fueled by (Director) Steven Miller’s undeniable visual eye and flair," notes Devin Faraci.

Requiem for a VampireRent  

Remastered by Kino and Redemption Films from the 35 mm negative comes this erotic vampire thriller lifted from Jean Rollin's subconscious. While some may find the nearly wordless film tedious, others can relish the balance the film strikes between "the horror films that Rollin made out of love and the sex films that he made out of financial necessity. Slow moving, bizarre and at times rather ridiculous, it's an acquired taste maybe, but definitely a unique and original work of horror/erotica blended with that odd art-house sensibility that Rollin has used to make so many of his films," writes DVDTalk's Ian Jane.

Also out today: We Need to Talk About Kevin; Coriolanus; Gone; Yellow Submarine (and on Blu-Ray); Igmar Bergman's Summer with Monika and Summer Interlude (Criterion) (reviewed below); Man on a Ledge; In The Realms Of The Unreal; Hello Lonesome (reviewed below); and John Cassavetes' Too Late Blues.

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Summer InterludeRent Summer with Monika (Criterion)Rent Read 

Watching Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude and Summer With Monika back-to-back has somewhat conflated the two films in my head. The films explore young love during the titular season and both are set in the wind-swept dreamland of Stockholm’s outer archipelago. However, there’s a sharp line that divides the Bergman of Interlude from the Bergman of Monika. Only two years (and one other film – 1952’s Secrets of Women) separate Bergman’s two Summers but it’s clear that that period represented a major shift in the august filmmaker’s sensibilities. Read more >>

More like this  A Letter to Three Wives | Eva

Hello LonesomeRent Read 

Loneliness is not the easiest quality to capture on film, at least not without boring us by offering up the usual visual clichés of the figure, alone in a landscape, or within but separated somehow from the world around him/her. Loneliness when you're with other people is a harder thing to pinpoint, and one of the treats of the new film Hello Lonesome is that its writer/ director Adam Reid manages this odd and tricky task very well. Read more >>

More like this  Harold and Maude | 3

Certified Copy (Criterion)Rent  Read 

A film open to dual interpretations gets two reviews! Philip Tatler IV gives a spoiler-less review, and pays special attention to The Report, Kiarostami's 1977 feature also included on the disc. Vadim Rizov praises the artistically exiled filmmaker for finding "new possibilities, new types of performances and a fresh start to his fourth decade of work while still insisting that the decision to (not) take events and locations at face value is an active choice." Read Philip's Review>> Read Vadim's Review>>

More like this  Before Sunset | My Night at Maud's

Inspired by the aliens-and-cops sequel Men in Black III, this week's Retro Active is The Hidden. "An aliens-among-us thriller containing social and gender critiques within its body-invasion exterior, The Hidden blends various influences into a fast, funny and surprisingly sharp B-movie. That's not necessarily what you'd expect from helmer Jack Sholder, whose credits include the abysmal A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Yet his direction has a fleet, no-nonsense quality—highlighted by a few extended handheld shots that give the material some jazzy energy—that's perfect for this tale of L.A. cop Tom Beck (Flashdance's Michael Nouri), who's introduced trying to stop the robbery-and-murder rampage of a trenchcoated everyman (Chris Mulkey)."   Read more >>

Audiences everywhere are buzzing over Moonrise Kingdom, the new movie directed by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson. "Beguiling and endearing," (Joe Morgenstern), the film is now playing in theaters. Here's your chance to win an awesome prize pack thanks to our friends at Focus Features! Read more >>