Movies This Week: A Strange Warrior Unfinished

This is such a weird week for movies; the Thanksgiving holiday push is over, but it's not yet the heavy-hitting Oscar contender releases that start later in the month. And believe me, there are some incredible movies debuting later this month. But for now, here's the new stuff ... none of which we've seen yet, but we hope to catch a few of these soon.

New Movies in Austin:

A Film Unfinished -- History buffs and misinformation junkies alike will want to check out this doc based on recovered footage of Ghetto, a Nazi propaganda film that was never finished, including some footage not found in the rough cut. (Arbor)

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey -- 160 of Bollywood historical drama.  (Cinemark Tinseltown 17)

Ratha Charithram -- Ram Gopal Varma's latest Bollywood film is based on a leader of Andhra Pradesh, India's fourth largest state. (Cinemark Tinseltown 17)

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields -- This documentary about songwriter Merritt, filmed over 10 years, has a week-long run at Alamo Drafthouse. Sponsored by SXSW. (Alamo Ritz)

The Warrior's Way (pictured above)-- Swordfighting in the American wild west, featuring Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston in this very pretty actioner by first-time director Sngmoo Lee. (wide)

Our Picks This Week:

Don: There are plenty of sociopolitically and culturally important special screenings this week, including Waiting for "Superman"  at the Millenium Youth Entertainment Complex and a Luis Buñuel film  at the Mexican American Cultural Center.  But culture, shmulture -- my pick is obvious: an Airplane! quote-along at Alamo Ritz in honor of the late, great Leslie Nielsen.  In true Alamo form, the screening includes a paper airplane piloting contest and a theme drink, the "Don't Call Me Shirley" Temple.

Jette: You know, if I'm going to watch It's a Wonderful Life again, I'm going to do it in a movie theater, just like the characters in my favorite short story, Bradley Denton's "The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians." (But without the cockroach Junior Mints.) Alamo Lake Creek is giving me that chance next week, showing the classic holiday film Monday through Thursday, Dec. 6-8.