Beyond the Reel 8

Coming in August. Quentin Tarantino’s Summer Blockbuster for the Indie World.

The divisive Lars von Trier returns with his latest contentious work, “Antichrist,” and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times plays devil’s advocate as he pens a thoughtful essay on the film and the divergent reaction to the Danish enigma, which can be summed up by an enthralled First Showing’s Alex Billington exclaiming I had a blast watching this while Todd McCarthy of Variety says the auteur cuts a big fat art-film fart.

Opening on July 17, the postmodern, bittersweet love story “(500) Days of Summer” stars the adorable pair of “The Lookout”‘s Joseph Gordon-Levitt and “Tin Man”‘s Zooey Deschanel.

Kenneth Turan of the LA Times revels in Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” poetry while the New Zealand Herald’s Helen Barlow lauds the film as “Campion’s poetic comeback.”

One Film Wonder: “This is Spinal Tap” — the greatest mockumentary ever made — boasts not one but two one film wonders. David Kaff played the band’s loopy keyboardist, Viv Savage, and in the subsequent quarter century he has landed a half-dozen roles, mostly on Aussie telly. As the band’s latest ill-fated drummer, R.J. Parnell portrayed Mick Shrimpton with ciggy-dangling-from-the-lip rock and roll insouciance. Parnell was summarily typecast in his only other role; he was “Drummer” in 2004’s “The Devil’s Due at Midnight.” In Spinal Tap’s uproarious final credit sequence, both Savage and Shrimpton impart their succinct philosophies.