edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

Upcoming

July 2

Hancock

July 3

The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

Transsiberian

July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

With Basic Instinct 2 arriving

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With Basic Instinct 2 arriving this Friday, here's an amusing piece about unwanted sequels by L.A. Daily News critic Glenn Whipp. One of the the misbegotten is Oliver's Story, a 1978 sequel to Love Story. I remember this film's poster fondly, or rather a dialogue- added variation. I saw it on a New York subway station wall just after the film opened in December '78. The graffiti dialogue made me laugh, and I've told people about it for years and they've laughed, so I'll try it out on the readership. This isn't a family column, but I'm going to use polite language anyway because it won't be very funny if I use the original terminology. Consider the image on the poster and that famous "love means never having to say you're sorry" line from Love Story. The dialogue balloons had O'Neal saying to costar Candice Bergen, "I'm sorry but since we're already in this position may I have sex with you in a way that's guaranteed not to get you pregnant?" And Bergen answered, "I'd prefer another method of sexual congress that's just as much of an assurance in that regard."