Iron Man opens this week, and thus the summer movie season has officially arrived. I love a good summer movie as much a the next guy, but this morning I found myself looking back at some of the little films that cropped up during the summer; some of them managed to get a "summer" feel on a much lower budget and without all the advertisement and hype. My absolute favorite summer art house movie has to be Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1999). I saw it three times that summer, and each time I clutched my seat, my heart pounding. I was amazed at how brilliantly Tywker had mapped out his three possible storylines and how lovely the small, quiet interludes were. I loved Franka Potente, and I loved his throbbing score, which practically entered into your bloodstream and pumped up your adrenaline by hand. Every color, movement and cut was designed for maximum effect (I've always been puzzled how Tykwer's movies since have seemed so long and sluggish.)

Also that same summer, John Sayles delivered his baffling adventure/suspense film Limbo, which had several people trapped on an island awaiting rescue and stalked by bad guys. The ending had everybody in an uproar and caused the film to die a quick death. The summer before that one, Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi gave me a good dose of sci-fi thrills, as well as a few head-scratching puzzles (which were actually real). 2000 was a particularly bad summer, but John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented provided a mischievous little oasis in the middle of it all. In that film, renegade filmmakers kidnap a Hollywood starlet and force her to be in their indie production; each team member has a tattoo of a maverick filmmaker's name. (I've often wondered which filmmaker's name I would pick for a tattoo? Maybe David Cronenberg...)

I just got back from a brief Christmas holiday to the distant land of relatives and limited Internet access, so my column is just a tad late this week. Nevertheless, I'd like to pick up where I left off last week, in my celebration of those smaller films that lost their way in 2007, either misunderstood, or misjudged, or just never found.

I saw Hal Hartley's Fay Grim in May as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. It was a sequel to his 1998 film Henry Fool and it had one of those strange near-simultaneous releases in which it debuted on DVD just a few days after it opened in theaters. This technique didn't work at all for Steven Soderbergh's superb Bubble last year, so I can't imagine why anyone would try it again. I found Henry Fool too long with too much navel gazing to be of interest, but somehow Fay Grim worked for me. I felt it was all a huge, deadpan joke that these pathetic writer-types would now be involved in international intrigue. And who is better for a deadpan joke than Jeff Goldblum, with his glaring eyes and sharp delivery?

The Golden Globe nominations were released this morning, and I take it you first read all about it right here on Cinematical, right? Because you love us, right? Anyway, there weren't any major surprises to be found. I'm happy to see The Simpsons Movie land a nod for best animated feature, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story came away with two nods ... which should help bolster its box office take. Same goes for the other films on the list that still haven't arrived in theaters; most notably Sweeney Todd, The Great Debaters, There Will be Blood and Charlie Wilson's War. Thankfully, Amy Ryan was thrown a bone for her excellent supporting performance in Gone Baby Gone (though the film as a whole was missing from the other, larger categories) and -- whaddya know -- Juno got a whole lotta love.

Atonement looks to be this year's "Best Film That No One Will See," while it almost sickens me to see John Travolta (for his drag performance in Hairspray) listed in the same category as Javier Bardem (for No Country for Old Men). The best motion picture drama category features a whopping seven films, though Michael Clayton and The Great Debaters probably could've been left off. Shockers? How about Don Cheadle coming away empty following his terrific performance in Talk to Me? Personally, and I know a lot of people will argue against this, I thought Joaquin Phoenix in Reservation Road was better than Viggo Mortenson in Eastern Promises. How many lines did Viggo actually have in that film? Seven? I imagine Across the Universe hypnotized people into believing it belonged in the best motion picture (musical or comedy) category, with all its wacky colors and what not. Once is not even mentioned, well, once. And where is the nomination for Waitress? Did I miss it. Oh wait, it's not there. But Cate Blanchett is there -- twice -- for both I'm Not There and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. You're telling me both Hairspray and Across the Universe were better than Waitress? And where's Zodiac? Do you agree with this? Should we write a letter?

So, what do you think?

And for much much more on this year's Golden Globes, be sure to check out Moviefone's official Golden Globes page.

Spider-Man 3
The many flaws of Spider-Man 3 have been well-documented: The elevated cheese factor, the overabundance of baddies, that absurd 10-minute stretch of song, dance and unsightliness where it suddenly feels like we're watching some strange mash-up of Willard vs. The Mask... But it's not like this is a bad movie. Underwhelming compared to its pair of astonishing predecessors? Sure, but still entertaining enough for a Sunday afternoon slouchfest. Yes, a movie that costs $250 million (or more?) should make our eyes pop and our remaining senses tingle (and possibly even leave us a craving a cigarette and a shower afterward), and Spidey 3 has moments of such bliss. Its single biggest flaw is that when it needs to get really dark, it gets really hokey -- perhaps catering to a younger audience, but losing a whole lot of credibility in the process.

Talk to Me
About a month back we ran a feature speculating (guestimating, too) over early Oscar contenders, and a few of our readers astutely inquired, "Where the f*** is Don Cheadle?" Our bad. Cheadle does indeed deserve to be part of the discussion in the Best Actor race, as crowded a field as it looks this year. Shoot, even Cate Blanchett wants in. Cheadle begins chewing the scenery faster than you can say Chiwetel Ejiofor as Civil Rights-era radio talk show host Ralph "Petey" Greene in this honest and engaging portrayal. Also thoroughly impressive -- and who I wish would also get mentioned in awards chatter -- is Taraji P. Henson. The Hustle & Flow breakout has a vibrancy about her to match Cheadle at every turn, AND she's got a killer Afro to boot. Though unexpectedly conventional at times, the film is a rare treat for folks who appreciate thoughtful yet feel-good, socially relevant entertainment.

This week features a trio of intriguing indie DVDs. In her review of the dramatic and poignant Journey From the Fall, our own Kim Voynar wrote: "The journey of the 'boat people' of Vietnam has never before been documented in an American film, but if it took this long to do it right, it was worth the wait." She notes that "writer/director Ham Tran did countless interviews with Vietnamese refugees and survivors of the re-education camps to make certain his script for Journey from the Fall was authentic." The effort certainly sounds like it paid off. Look for the DVD from ImaginAsian Home Entertainment.

Cinematical's very busy Kim V. also reviewed Charles Ferguson's documentary No End in Sight when it debuted at Sundance earlier this year. She acknowledged the many other Iraq War docs that have been made recently, yet felt "the difference with No End In Sight is that it takes a ruthlessly fact-finding, information-based approach, simply in finding the right people to talk to and listening to what they have to say, that ultimately paints a very different picture of the Iraq War than the one spun by the folks currently in the Bush administration." Magnolia's DVD includes a flock of extras.

Talk to Me reportedly features a galvanizing performance by Don Cheadle, playing an ex-con who became a very popular radio personality in Washington D.C. Jeffrey M. Anderson was duly impressed, expressing his opinion that director Kasi Lemmons' major achievement "is the way that she has been able to trace nearly 20 years of history while still allowing the film to live in its current moment." The DVD from Universal Studios includes deleted scenes and two featurettes.

Other releases of interest include the five-disk set The Cinema of Peter Watkins, Russian action fantasy Day Watch and romantic comedy In the Land of Women. Oh, and a box set of some television show co-created by the dude that made Eraserhead.

Strictly on the basis of its estimated per-screen average, Talk to Me was the star of the weekend. As listed by Box Office Mojo, the period biopic added 79 theaters for a total of 115 and brought in $6,982 on average, earning an estimated total of $1,886,000 for distributor Focus Features. In his Cinematical review, Jeffrey M. Anderson praised the direction by Kasi Lemmons and thought that the film might "stir up some enthusiasm over its amazing performances" and that seems to be the case. The great Don Cheadle stars; he has the kind of magnetic appeal that makes him stand out and gets people talking.

Opening with a very robust estimate of $16,000 per screen in New York and Washington, DC, Charles Ferguson's Iraq war documentary No End in Sight showed that interest is still strong for independent viewpoints on the subject. Reviewing it at Sundance for Cinematical, Kim Voynar acknowledged other Iraq war docs, but felt "the difference with No End In Sight is that it takes a ruthlessly fact-finding, information-based approach, simply in finding the right people to talk to and listening to what they have to say." James Rocchi just interviewed Ferguson and it's a fascinating read. Magnolia Pictures will roll out No End in Sight to more cities in the coming weeks.

Two other new releases did fine in limited engagements; period drama Moliere and nature doc Arctic Tale averaged north of an estimated $5,000 per screen. Expanding in their screen count, Sunshine ($2,750 per screen) and Rescue Dawn ($3,304 per screen) performed quite respectably. Sicko lost 267 screens and the per-screen estimate at the remaining 850 locations dropped 39.4% to $1,338, indicating a slowdown in its sixth week, along with summer favorites Waitress and Paris je t'aime (under $1,000 per screen in the 13th week of release for each). Meanwhile, La Vie en Rose and Once remain steady.

From surfing through the early mixed reviews, I had the impression Danny Boyle's meditative science fiction drama Sunshine was not generating much excitement, a feeling reinforced by Nick Schager's Cinematical review ("a gorgeously crafted intergalactic saga sorely lacking in originality or profundity"). While it may not be winning unqualified raves, Rotten Tomatoes estimates that 68% of reviews were positive, more than 12,000 IMDb readers have rated it as 7.3 out of 10 and US theater-goers flooded into the ten theaters where Fox Searchlight opened it on Friday. Leonard Klady at Movie City News estimated that Sunshine earned $223,400 over the weekend for a healthy $22,340 per-screen average. It will expand to more than 400 screens next Friday.

Sicko expanded even wider into "scores of cities that never have a documentary come to their local theater," according to director Michael Moore; it dropped only 30% from its previous week of release and has now grossed more than $19 million, overtaking Waitress to become the top-grossing "limited grosser" for the year. Sicko is playing more than 1,100 locations. In its second week of release, Talk to Me averaged a very good $9,250 per-screen average, dropping just 17% while adding three theaters.

Cashback played on nine screens and earned an estimated $12,800 for Magnolia before its DVD release on Tuesday. As Kim Voynar wrote in her review, it's a funny movie well worth seeing, and I was glad I got to see it at a festival screening last fall. Among the other new limited releases, Klady estimates that the French-language comedy My Crazy Aunt had the second highest per screen average ($4,030), playing on 35 screens -- looks like it's only playing in Quebec, Canada. Distributor IDP sent Goya's Ghosts out onto 49 screens; Milos Forman's biographical costume drama starring Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman pulled down an estimated $150,000.

Michael Moore is not as popular a magician as Harry Potter, but he can still draw a crowd. Sicko made an estimated $2.6 million over the weekend, according to Variety, reflecting a downturn of just 26% from the previous weekend. In view of the expansion by distributor The Weinstein Co. to 756 screens, the relatively small percentage drop-off in box office indicates that word of mouth is good. So far, Sicko has earned $15.8 million, which puts it on pace to overtake Moore's earlier Bowling for Columbine and last year's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

My Best Friend, the latest from French director Patrice Leconte, had the highest per-screen average among indie releases, chalking up $15,508 each at three screens. Not far behind was Talk to Me, which had an average take of $11,841 from 33 screens in its opening weekend. Also in its first weekend of release on six screens, Interview made an estimated $41,620, while Rescue Dawn averaged more than $9,000 on 38 screens. Introducing the Dwights sank to $2,600 per screen. The weekend's financial stars include You Kill Me ($620,288; cumulative total $1.5 million), La Vie en Rose ($545,693; $6.9 million) and Once ($325,000; $5.0 million). All of these films -- except one -- have been covered at Cinematical, either with reviews or an interview, and I've linked to our coverage so you can have a look at what our critics had to say.

More on Sicko: Kim Voynar just posted her Film Clips column this morning, in which she puts the earnings of Sicko in broader perspective, among other things. As a further point for discussion, Variety notes that The Weinstein Co. avoids box office comparisons to Fahrenheit 9/11 -- and rightly so, as that film was a phenomenon not likely to be repeated -- but then adds its own opinion that Fahrenheit had a topic "much broader in appeal." Is that true for you? Did you see Fahrenheit 9/11 but decide to skip Sicko because its topic isn't as appealing?

Radio has to be one of the most un-cinematic things on the planet; it's a guy sitting in a booth for four hours talking into a microphone, or maybe playing some music. And yet radio has a kind of special magic about it. A person's voice comes sailing through the airwaves and landing in our homes, and it has the power to captivate, to soothe and to make sense of the world. Radio has appeared in a surprising number of good movies: Wolfman Jack and Stephen Wright, respectively, provided atmosphere in American Graffiti (1973) and Reservoir Dogs (1992), Robin Williams brought humor to the troops in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Christian Slater brought hope to high school students in Pump Up the Volume (1990).

It's probably a great deal more difficult to make a movie about podcasting, and so with her new film Talk to Me, director Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou, The Caveman's Valentine) returns to the past for the story of Ralph "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle), an ex-con who became one of Washington DC's most recognizable personalities in the 1960s and all the way up to his death in 1984. Lemmons starts her movie with a bang, with Petey's signature line: "Wake up, Goddammit!" as Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) rolls out of bed, puts on his suit and makes an excursion to prison to visit his brother (Mike Epps). Lemmons intercuts Dewey's progress while Petey "raps" about imprisonment. Dewey may be free, but he's trapped, too.

Focus Features has some pretty good films under their belt, some of which they start their upcoming film preview with -- a collection of clips that has found its way to YouTube. There's Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, to name a few. But after a re-cap of some of their past successes, the collection offers some footage -- equipped with that cheesy, uber-positive voice over designed to pump you up -- of their upcoming offerings: Evening, Talk to Me, Eastern Promises, Lust, Caution, Reservation Road and Atonement.

Some of the films Cinematical has already shown you glimpses of before. Jessica Barnes and Chris Ullrich previously led you to trailers of Talk to Me, the Don Cheadle biopic about Ralph "Petey" Greene, and in April, I posted about a trailer for Keira Knightley's Atonement, so there's nothing new to see for those films. However, there are some moving glances at the other up-and-coming films that should be worth our attention. Evening, which is the latest Michael Cunningham adaptation, again brings together a huge female cast from Glenn Close and Meryl Streep to Vanessa Redgrave and Toni Collette. All you get in the preview are glimpses of their faces, but there's also a trailer here that you check out, before the ten-hankie film is released this week. There's also David Cronenberg's dark drama Eastern Promises, which looks visually great, and I imagine will be all the better in the right mood, without the PR speak narrating it. The same goes for Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, that geared up last May. Finally, there's Reservation Road, which has possibilities considering the cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly, but all you get in this blip are a few quick shots before seeing each one of them looking super-somber.

Having survived criticism for agreeing to showcase Michael Bay's Transformers and, on the other end of the artistic spectrum, losing the US premiere of a Romanian prize-winner, reportedly due to an anxious distributor, the Los Angeles Film Festival prepares to open on Thursday with the world premiere of Talk to Me. The latest film by Kasi Lemmons, Talk to Me stars Don Cheadle as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., an "underappreciated hero of the civil rights movement." Lemmons is a member of the Board of Directors of Film Independent, the organization behind the festival, but she's also an acclaimed filmmaker in her own right, having made the excellent Eve's Bayou and The Caveman's Valentine, and the trailer for Talk to Me looks great. A rich variety of entertainment -- including live music, filmmaker talks and free outdoor screenings -- has been arranged throughout the festival, which runs from June 21 through July 1.

Still, the heart of any festival is the film programming, and the line-up is stellar. The Narrative Competition includes August Evening, which has the potential to be exceptional; it features lyrical photography and a hypnotic sense of place as an older man faces the dissolution of his family. Owl and the Sparrow also looks promising; from the trailer it appears to be a lively tale of a young girl who runs away to Saigon and gets involved with a flight attendant and a zookeeper. Summer Previews include Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris and Steve Buscemi's Interview, while the International Showcase will screen Ad Lib Night from South Korea ("amazingly powerful," according to one knowledgeable reviewer) and Guilty Pleasures will give audiences the chance to see Flight of the Living Dead; all you need to know is "zombies on a plane." About 40 trailers are available for viewing on the festival's web site; in all, more than 230 features, shorts and music videos will screen before the Closing Night presentation of Danny Boyle's Sunshine.

Consummate pro Don Cheadle is an actor who seems like he should be getting leading roles in huge Hollywood blockbusters. But instead, he often gets second, third or, in the case of Ocean's Thirteen, fifth billing in the credits. Well, no matter his position on the poster, he's always been tops with me as an actor to watch. And even if he hasn't quite achieved "household name" status, he's still managed to become one of the most successful and well-regarded actors working today with several projects in the works including the previously mentioned Oceans' Thirteen, a Miles Davis biopic and the soon-to-be-released Talk to Me -- the comedic yet uplifting and poignant story of ex-con turned radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene.

Previously on Cinematical, we brought you word of the film and included some background on the story and other details like who are the film's co-stars and director (Martin Sheen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kasi Lemmons, in case you don't want to click). There was also a trailer at that time as well. And now, thanks to Rope of Silicon, we can bring you a new trailer for the film to help encourage you to go out and see it. Its a good story featuring an interesting and compelling character portrayed by an actor who deserves attention and respect. It's ok to watch something else besides movies like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: AWE sometimes. It won't hurt you, I promise. So, do yourself and Mr. Cheadle a favor: watch the Talk to Me trailer, get interested in the movie and then go see it when it opens in July.

I'll admit that the only Don Cheadle project I had been keeping track of was the Miles Davis biopic; so it was no surprise that Cheadle's Talk To Me had flown completely under my radar. That is until I noticed the new trailer up on Yahoo! Movies. Also starring is Martin Sheen, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inside Man) and Cedric The Entertainer -- who might be looking to redeem himself with audiences after the reception Code Name: The Cleaner received.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is the biography of Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became an Emmy winning broadcaster and social activist. Greene passed away in 1984 at the age of 53. The movie looks to be dripping with nostalgia and even manages to work in a shot of a burning flag in case you think this period comedy doesn't have a serious point to make. Luckily, Cheadle has the uncanny ability of walking away with his dignity intact no matter what the rest of the movie is like; if you don't believe me, watch Swordfish and tell me he doesn't save himself from total embarrassment, if only John Travolta had managed to do the same. Talk To Me opens July of this year.

Odds and ends from Friday:

• Though the President has left the building, he's currently making plans to stick around town a little while longer. Martin Sheen, who played TV President on The West Wing, will take on a role in the film Talk to Me for Focus Features. Pic, which will be set in 1960s Washington D.C., tells the real-life story of a radio station owner (Sheen) who hires controversial black on-air personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green (Don Cheadle). Green would ultimately go on to be somewhat of an icon in radio at a time when racial tension was at its peak across the country.
• Universal Pictures have teamed up with Boom Entertainment to bring the horror comic book Tag to the big screen. Talk about an intense and deadly way to play the game tag, story revolves around some average Joe who, while out with his girlfriend one night, falls victim to an ancient curse when a random stranger "tags" him. The curse makes it so this poor dude slowly begins to die, his body literally decomposing, forcing him to either give up and move on to a higher place or find someone else to pass on the curse to. Yikes, imagine explaining that one to your girlfriend: "Um, honey, I'm dying to see you tonight but, well, I'm actually dying ... so, yeah -- rain check?"
• Luc Besson is one of those directors who likes to float somewhere between worlds of crime and fantasy, giving us films like The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, Angel-A and the upcoming Arthur and the Minimoys. While Fifth Element was probably his most commercial hit here in the States, Besson's Léon (or The Professional) has garnered a large following and some think it's his best film. Besson recently squashed rumors of a sequel to Léon saying he has no plans to make one and is pissed people keep sending him scripts for an idea that's not theirs. He does admit, however, if there is going to be a sequel, he will write it. Damn, I guess my script for The Not So Professional will have to remain in my draw, where it belongs.