In Limited Release: Religulous, Rachel Getting Married, Ballast

Religulous [watch the trailer & clips] (Oct. 1)
Bill Maher, who hosts a controversial HBO news and debate show called Real Time, is now taking his act to the big screen. He’s taken a page out of Michael Moore’s book by doing a documentary with no pretense of being objective. He’s long held the belief that religion in general is a completely ridiculous concept, and he’s incensed a lot of religious leaders in the process, as they tend to be very, very touchy. Maher reins in his tendencies toward smug self-satisfaction (or maybe director Larry Charles reined it in for him), and this film is often compelling viewing - you just don’t see these arguments anywhere else, and you never see them brought up in honest discussion with the faithfully devoted. Maher asserts that 16% of the American populace does not wish to be affiliated with any organized religion, and that many people can no longer be ignored.
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Ballast [watch the trailer]
A unique Sundance-award-winning showcase of powerful cinematography from first time writer/director Lance Hammer, focusing on a mother in the rural Mississippi Delta who tries desperately to keep her 12-year-old son away from the drugs and violence that threaten to consume him after a suicide rocks their family. She’s forced to live in the home of a man with whom she fights bitterly, but eventually they have to learn how to move forward with their lives redefined.
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Rachel Getting Married [watch the trailer]
Anne Hathaway has earned herself some Oscar buzz from the early reviews of her darker departure from her usual upbeat milieu in Jonathan Demme’s portrait of familial turmoil. She’s playing an ex-addict who leaves rehab to attend or possibly destroy her sister’s wedding, as her acidic and combative attitude forces her family to face issues with each other that they’ve long been ignoring. It’s been appropriately dubbed a “drama with an aggressive sense of humor.”
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