KIDS IN THE HALL: DEATH COMES TO TOWN - No, your eyes are not fooling you, there really is a new Kids in the Hall miniseries! Canada has somehow been hiding this from us, until now. In it, the 'Kids' play various suspects in a political murder in a small Ontario town...

ANTON CHEKHOV'S 'THE DUEL' - This critically acclaimed adaptation chronicles the fall of Laevsky, a bureaucrat who runs away to the provincial life of the Caucasus with another man's wife, only to find himself wasting his days drinking and falling out of love with her.

LOOKING FOR FIDEL - Director Oliver Stone has a candid conversation with one of the most controversial world leaders of our time, challenging him to explain the execution of three political dissidents in April 2003, but taking a balanced approach with both Castro's views and those of dissidents represented. See also: Stone's fascinating, other-side-of-the-story portrait of the South American leaders we love to hate, in SOUTH OF THE BORDER.

GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH - "If John Cassavetes had directed a jazz musical by Jacques Demy, it might have looked something like this." - NPR. The story of a couple's break-up and journey to find separate paths, this acclaimed indie is a retro jazz-loving homage to classics by greats like Demy, Lelouch, and Godard.

TRANSCENDENT MAN - This documentary about futurist and sometime prophet Ray Kurzweil focuses on his predictions about "The Singularity," which is a point when technology becomes self-aware, and the next step in human evolution -- immortality through merging the human body with computers (think cyborgs). Fascinating stuff, and here's a tidbit for readers of The North Coast Journal: you'll notice that one of the commentators in this film is former Editor Tom Abate.

THE BIG BANG - A neo-noir mystery meets quantum physics in this surreal tale starring Antonio Banderas as a gumshoe searching for a missing woman who may or may not exist.

PUBLIC SPEAKING - Martin Scorsese directs this portrait of sharp-witted writer, cultural critic, and Warhol factory regular Fran Lebowitz, often referred to as "the modern-day Dorothy Parker." Expect some of the sharpest one-liners you've heard in years!

BURNING PALMS - This dark comedy from the writer of DISTURBIA has something to offend almost everyone, with critics and audiences wildly divided as to its merits. It features five vignettes about the utter loopiness of life in L.A.

GNOMEO AND JULIET - A retelling of Shakespeare's classic love story, with CGI garden gnomes.

THE SCENESTERS - In this indie satire of attention-starved L.A. hipsters looking for their big break, a young crime scene videographer decides to become "THE Los Angeles crime scene videographer" by taking it upon himself to make an investigative documentary about what may or may not be a serial killer. We're intrigued by the trailers for this strange hybrid of film noir, mumblecore, and mockumentary...

A SMALL ACT - A heartwarming new documentary about how even the smallest acts count: a young Kenyan whose education was sponsored by a Swedish stranger seeks her out years later, while working for the United Nations and attempting to start his own scholarship program.

I AM NUMBER FOUR - This sci-fi tale of teenage aliens hiding out on Earth is based on the young-adult novel by Pittacus Lore, an author who claims to be an "extraterrestrial elder" himself, so we're assuming this is semi-autobiographical.