Indie Picks: At The Movies This Weekend

The Weinstein Company

Submarine (Regal Arbor)
First-time director Richard Ayoade honed his skills in television comedy with hit British shows like The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd. More recently he's crossed the pond to direct a few episodes of NBC's Community.

For his debut feature, he adapts Joe Dunthorne's 2008 novel about a socially awkward teenage misfit dealing with falling in love and some bizarre family problems. Roger Ebert recently praised the film by saying "Submarine isn't an insipid teen sex comedy. It flaunts some stylistic devices, such as titles and sections and self-aware narration, but it doesn't try too hard to be desperately clever." Recommended for fans of Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry and Arctic Monkeys (whose frontman, Alex Turner, contributed five original solo songs to the film's soundtrack).

Trollhunter (Alamo South Lamar)
The first public screening of this Norwegian film happened last fall during Fantastic Fest and it was presented as a "work in progress." The response from those hardcore genre fans was good enough for the film to get picked up domestically by Magnet Releasing. In most corners of the country, this is a film that you would only be able to watch on PPV or when it hits DVD later this year, but the Alamo has picked it up for select screenings over the next week. This 'found footage' film follows a group of college students working on a documentary who uncover the secret world of a man who indeed hunts down different kinds of trolls in the countryside. Also available on-demand from most local cable systems.

Also this weekend:
-Oscar-nominee Incendies expands to Regal Arbor. It continues its run at Violet Crown Cinema.
-A brand new 35mm print of Taxi Driver screens at the Alamo Ritz on Saturday and Sunday as part of the Big Screen Classics series.
-One last chance to check out Love Exposure at the Alamo Ritz on Sunday afternoon.