Freedom Film—The traveling Freedom Film Festival will be making a stop in Albuquerque Aug. 13, 14 and 15. The Hiland Theatre (4804 Central SE) will host four films from the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía including the political thriller Francisca (Sat. 2 p.m.), the drama Ciudades Oscuras (Sat. 4 p.m.), the political drama Pachito Rex (Sun. 2 p.m.) and the comedy Las Caras de la Luna (Sun. 4 p.m.). All four have English subtitles and tickets are a mere $3.50. Assets Grille & Brewing Company (6910 Montgomery NE), meanwhile, will screen a couple cool indie films on an outdoor screen. Films featured there will be the British sports comedy Blackball (Fri. 9 p.m.) and the Scottish/American crime comedy American Cousins (Sat. 9 p.m.). Tickets for the Assets screenings are $5. For more info, log on to www.freedomfilmfest.com

Cruise finds himself outfoxxed in director Michael Mann's new “hack” job

After several years of panning for Oscar gold (Ali, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans), director Michael Mann returns to his crime film roots (Thief, Manhunter, “Miami Vice”) with the intimate adult thriller Collateral.

Two teens are coming to America in culture shock doc

Lost Boys of Sudan is something of a novelty. It represents the first occasion, perhaps in months, on which a self-proclaimed “documentary” has indeed turned out to be what it claims. Finally, after a summer of supercilious arm-twisting, we are graced with the arrival of a modest, elegant, humane little documentary--one that, in all solemnity, achieves a weight of relevance that seemed to be missing from the rest (Fahrenheit 9/11, Supersize Me, The Corporation, etc.). Perhaps this is due to Lost Boys' reliance on observation, when everyone else is adamant about providing “facts.” Instead of forcing guilt on the audience's conscience, the film allows us the opportunity of discovery--or, more specifically, the feeling of discovery, of being there first. And that is the most beguiling of all the pleasures found in documentary-viewing.

“XXVIII Summer Olympics”

The 2004 Summer Olympics represent a rare opportunity for Americans to prove that, not only are we ready, willing and able to bomb any county on Earth to Kingdom Come, but we're also fully capable of kicking their asses in most of the sports we invented.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth