At The Movies: Indie Picks This Weekend

If there's a lesson to be learned from our weekly indie picks column, it's that if you find yourself interested in some of the movies we feature, you probably should check them out as soon as you can. All three films we mentioned last week (Leaves Of Grass, Lebanon and A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop) were booted off of their local screens last night.

For those of you who aren't in a full-on film coma after Fantastic Fest, there are a few solid widespread releases (David Fincher's The Social Network and the horror remake Let Me In) and then some select indie titles for those of you who'd like to dig a little deeper this weekend.

Freakonomics (Alamo Ritz)
It's kind of hard to imagine a film based on the bestselling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, but it's been turned into an omnibus-style documentary from the award-winning creators of films like Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Jesus Camp and SuperSize Me. The movie begins a limited one week engagement at the Alamo downtown today and is also available through iTunes and as a "now in theaters" on demand option from most cable providers.

Jack Goes Boating (Regal Arbor)
While it hasn't performed too well in other markets so far, Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut hits town this weekend. It is an adaptation of Bob Glaudini's Off Broadway play which Hoffman starred in back in 2007, and most of the cast from the original production reprise their roles for the film version, although Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) is a new addition. Poor box office aside, many critics liked the film, including Rolling Stone's notoriously cranky Peter Travers, who called it "a sublimely acted movie, hilarious and heartfelt."

Red White & Blue (Alamo South Lamar)
Here's a film fresh off the Fantastic Fest schedule that is opening for a proper engagement this week. The production notes call this one a "slacker revenge movie" and it stars acclaimed Australian actor Noah Taylor (Shine, The Year My Voice Broke), Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter, and a host of Austin extras. This locally-shot production has the Alamo's Tim League as an Executive Producer and is a part of the IFC Midnight series which is also available on demand from Time Warner Cable.