Steve Buscemi's obvious love for indie film coupled with his often fearless role choices means that on occasion his choices end in a miss, not a hit. In the case of Saint John of Las Vegas, it's more miss than hit.

A quirky near-morality tale of a recovering gambler on the verge of a change in luck and love, insurance agent John Alighieri (Buscemi) is up for a promotion if he helps prove fraud on an insurance claim. While he leaves a budding romance with a smiley-obsessed co-worker (Sarah Silverman) behind, he embarks on a surreal journey to the outskirts of Las Vegas with Virgil (Romany Malco), his new mentor in insurance fraud investigation.

On Thursday, HBO and Austin Film Festival (AFF) teamed up for a special regional premiere of the locally shot HBO's new docudrama, Temple Grandin, the story of a woman who pioneered changes in cattle management and turned into a powerful advocate for understanding autism. 

The reception was held in the same exhibit hall as SXSW at the Austin Convention Center, but used the entire space, with one half a reception area with open bar and several food stations. The stations included some film-specific themed concoctions, including Jello shots (shown above) and sliders. The sliders were tasty, and I hate to admit it, but so was the Jello.

The red carpet was very casual, with Grandin frequently approached by people thanking her for her work, making it less of a spectacle than normal, especially since it was an indoor red carpet. All were grateful for that, as it was a rainy night. Despite the rain, there was a high turnout; the reservation list was closed a week early as the response was so strong. Several groups were invited, not just AFF members and those associated with the production, but a local autism group and cattle association as well.

Dear John is a romantic drama directed by Oscar nominee Lasse Hallstrom (Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog) and based on the bestseller by Nicholas Sparks, best known for The Notebook. Screenwriter Jamie Linden (We Are Marshall) collaborated with Hallstrom to adapt Sparks' story of a quiet young soldier who falls for an idealistic college girl.

The story begins during spring break in 2000, when Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) meets John Tyree (Channing Tatum) while staying at her parents' beach house. John is home on leave from Army duty with Special Ops to visit his coin-collecting obsessed father (Richard Jenkins). It's love at first sight for Savannah and John, who spend two weeks together before the lovers are parted as he returns to duty. They continue their romance through letters exchanged as she makes her way through college and he fulfills his tour of duty in Africa and the Middle East. Just as John prepares to return home 9/11 occurs, and he chooses to join his outfit in extending his enlistment. His choice of duty over love adversely impacts their relationship, and Savannah makes decisions that change the course of both their lives.

Please welcome guest reviewer Elizabeth Stoddard to Slackerwood.

Sometimes trailers work as they should; they give you a taste of a film and leave you wanting more. Others give the movie away in a 60-second spot, usually inspiring the thought, "Why should I pay to see the film when I just saw the whole plot?" Then there's When in Rome, for which the trailer shows the weaker points of the film and makes the movie look awful. Please don't judge When in Rome by its lousy trailer!

In the film, Kristen Bell plays Beth, the youngest curator at the Guggenheim Museum (which means there are some great shots at the Guggenheim). Beth is super-dedicated to her work, we're told, but this movie isn't really about that. It's not about her younger sister's quick marriage to a man she's only known two weeks. It's also not really about her relationship with her mother (Peggy Lipton) or womanizing father (Don Johnson). The movie instead focuses on the very fantastical idea that Beth's picking up people's coins from a beloved (fictional) Roman fountain after her sister's wedding would make them fall in love with her.

After a self-imposed seven-year hiatus, Mel Gibson returns to the screen as the lead in the thriller Edge of Darkness. The film's screenplay was written by William Monahan (Body of Lies, Kingdom of Heaven) and Andrew Bovell (Strictly Ballroom), but the real backbone of the plot comes from the BBC miniseries written by the late Troy Kennedy-Martin, who is best known for war classic Kelly's Heroes (1970) and The Italian Job (1969 and 2003 remake).

Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven (Gibson) should have seen enough violence and bloodshed to be desensitized after so many years on the force. When his 24-year-old daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is gunned down on the front steps of his house, the impact is devastating -- not only because Craven has lost his only child, but apparently he was the intended target. However, while trying to identify who would have wanted him dead, he discovers that he knows very little about his daughter. Why was she violently ill before her death, and carrying a gun for protection? He begans to uncover evidence that his daughter was more than just a "glorified intern." As a nuclear research assistant for military contractor Northmoor, she'd stumbled onto something sensitive enough to national security to have her flagged as a potential terrorist.

Could I possibly have picked two martial arts films further apart on the ratings scale than Wushu and Fireball? On one end of the spectrum is the first "family" martial-arts film I've ever seen that wasn't American in origin, and on the other end is pure martial-arts porn, in which whatever plot is present serves to string hard-core brutal action sequences together. Both films are now available on DVD from Lionsgate Films.

Jackie Chan Presents Wushu

As executive producer of Wushu, martial-arts legend Jackie Chan introduces a new generation of talented martial artists in such a way that this film will please fans young and old. Antony Szeto -- known for his animated fantasy film Dragonblade -- directed Wushu and also choreographed all the stunts.

Talented and seasoned actor Sammo Hung Kam-Bo (Kung Fu Hustle, The Medallion) supports the young cast as Li Hui, father to brothers Li Yi (Wenjie Wang) and Li Er (Fei Wang). Szeto discovered Wenjie Wang at Sonjiang Wushu College, which is where Wushu was later filmed.

Werner Herzog's latest film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is already opening in a few theaters while his previous film, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, is still playing first-run houses. Who can explain the minds of film distributors. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done may benefit from the buzz of the other film and gain more interest than it deserves. The movie opens Friday at Alamo Ritz.

A psuedo-cop procedural smashed with a psychological drama, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is the tale of a murdered woman that turns into a standoff with her disturbed son. Werner Herzog wrote the screenplay with Herbert Golder, but it feels more like a partnership with Executive Producer David Lynch, right down to the casting of Grace Zabriskie (Twin Peaks, Inland Empire) as the murder victim. 

My favorite subgenre of science fiction is dystopian tales, including Children of Men, Fahrenheit 451, and Mad Max. Therefore I was intrigued by The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic tale of a lone traveler making his way across the wasteland of America. This man carries with him a sacred book that has the power to change the world -- but will that power be used for good or not?

The future painted in The Book of Eli by the Hughes brothers is a sepia-toned brutal one, hot and dusty with little protection from the elements and murderous hijackers and marauders. Eli (Denzel Washington) has been traveling for 30 years, and remembers the time before "The Big Flash" and the war, when people threw away items that are now killed for. He can't remember how old he is but can read, while younger generations are illiterate and desperate. Food and water are scarce, and many survivors have resorted to cannibalism. Eli is well-armed and extremely skilled with his weapons, but his senses are his real survival tools.

Alice Sebold's hauntingly beautiful story of life after death, the The Lovely Bones, has made it to the big screen, adapted as a motion picture by Peter Jackson, the current king of adaptations. Unfortunately, it doesn't translate as well as Jackson's adaptations of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie doesn't deliver on the novel's albeit complex and poignantly beautiful tale of limbo, tragedy, grief and healing.

Susie Salmon (Saorise Ronan) is a young teenager, in the throes of young love when tragedy strikes, devastating her family and leaving her in limbo. Ronan, who owned every one of her scenes in Atonement, does the same in The Lovely Bones. She continues to grow as an actress, but this time instead of a little girl, she's a coltish young teen, awkwardly bridging the gap between child and young woman, and madly infatuated with a boy at school. When her life is cruelly cut short, it's not just her family -- and her murderer -- who have to learn how to live in the aftermath. Susie has to learn how to move on after her death.

Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, opens in Austin on Friday. Ford and David Scearce adapted the script from a novel by Christopher Isherwood, whose "Berlin Stories" were the basis for Cabaret. At times I wondered if I was watching Sally Bowles and her young British friend (the name changes depending on the version) if they had travelled back to London together at the end.

A Single Man is structured on a day in the life of George (Colin Firth), a British professor living and working in 1962 Los Angeles. As he proceeds through his day, he flashes back to memories of Jim (Matthew Goode), his longtime lover, who died suddenly in a car crash. It becomes evident that George is feeling too crushed by his loss of Jim to want to live any longer, and intends to take his own life -- this will be his last day. His friend Charley (Julianne Moore) seems to realize something is amiss and invites him over for evening drinks; his student Kenny (Nicholas Hoult) also is sensitive to his professor's mood.