What are your plans for the weekend? Here in the U.S., most folks are enjoying a long holiday weekend, filled with food, friends, and fireworks -- and maybe a free concert and a movie or two. On a personal note, with local temperatures soaring above 100 degrees for the past week or so, I'm staying inside and out of the weather as much as I can. And so I was pleased to find Jazz on a Summer's Day is available for free online viewing, courtesy of our friends at SnagFilms.

Directed by Aram Avakian and Bert Stern, the film documents the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and the America's Cup sailing tournament, two events which go together like a cool drink on a hot day. Performers at the festival include Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day (pictured), Dinah Washington, Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, and Mahalia Jackson. My knowledge of jazz is extremely limited, so all I can add to that list is that I very much enjoyed listening to all the musicians. As much as anything, I got a kick out of the spectator footage -- nicely dressed folks, a number in business suits (!), stylish sunglasses, bright colors, the whole nine yards -- and the dulcet-toned, super low-key announcer.

Frankly, this is a good doc for watching, and listening to, in the background. We've embedded it after the jump. More information is available at SnagFilms.

After the jump: Watch Jazz on a Summer's Day!

"Slim pickings" is the best way to describe this week's releases. Isn't anyone planning to stay home and watch DVDs?

Two Lovers
Joaquin Phoenix can't decide between Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. Directed by James Gray, this suffocating drama is dark, thoughtful, and "more true to real human existence than most of the dreck that comes out of Hollywood studios," wrote Kim Voynar. I wasn't quite as impressed by it as she was, but it's still my top pick in a slow week. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

12 Rounds
Wrestler John Cena stars in Renny Harlin's latest train wreck (as I described it in my review), a sober drama that resolutely refuses to embrace its loonier plot elements (fire engine smashing through New Orleans, an out-of-control street car). Aidan Gillen (The Wire) provides one of the few pleasures as an exceptionally-nasty master criminal. Also on Blu-ray. The "Extreme Cut" adds less than three minutes of footage. Skip it.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
I was hoping against hope that this might provide some cheesy fun, but Nick Schager slammed that door shut: "Fighting sequences are dreadfully lethargic ... their choreography is of a dull, unimaginative sort." Not even Kristin Kreuk can save this one. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

Also out: Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience.

After the jump: "Indies on DVD" provides several good rental choices, a landmark film by Spike Lee hits Blu-ray, and a long-dismissed effort by director Hal Ashby gets dusted off.

Netflix began a contest in 2006 for coders to win $1,000,000 if they could improve Netflix's Cinematch algorithm by at least 10%, and because coders like a good challenge (and people like money), folks have been steadily tinkering with their 1's and 0's ever since. (You can read more about the contest and its rules here.) Three years later, two teams came together with the winning code, which was confirmed Friday. Netflix's VP of corporate communications Steve Swasey told Wired, "This has been terribly exciting. It's like watching the Belmont Stakes, the Preakness and the Indy 500 all at once -- for geeks."

There are still a few hurdles for the team to jump through; the Netflix contest site states, "your qualifying submissions must have the largest accuracy improvement verified by the Contest judges, you must share your method with (and non-exclusively license it to) Netflix, and you must describe to the world how you did it and why it works."

As Wired points out, Netflix isn't the only company to dip its toes into "so-called Prize economics," which is when these companies offer prize incentives to outsiders to basically do work for free with an outside chance of winning big bucks. But doesn't this say to companies that it's okay to try and get lots and lots of hours from (some) highly skilled professionals for free? It would have cost Netflix far more than $1M to get consultants and coders on the job, especially for full-time gigs with all the benefits and trimmings. I'm not a code geek, but if I were, I'd probably be interested in this sort of challenge as well. On the other hand, perhaps I'd rather have a full-time job at Netflix writing code all day along with, you know, insurance.

If you're a Watchmen fan, you surely know that the slick Director's Cut will be hitting shelves on July 21 in all of its beautiful, retro-crime fighting wonder. I'm already trying to decide if I can finally budget for a Blu-ray player because let's face it -- this is the sort of film that's meant for the highest definition possible.

But for some lucky folks, July won't only mean Watchmen on the small screen. While talking to Collider, Zack Snyder revealed that the film will indeed be re-released in theaters -- but only in selected cities, for one weekend (the weekend before Comic-Con), and one theater. The lucky locales: Los Angeles and New York (of course), plus Dallas and Minneapolis.

Considering the fact that the movie wasn't exactly a box office smash, I get not having a huge re-release. But come on! FOUR screens?? Talk about teasing the rest of the masses, who will have to deal with the 27 minutes of extra violence and sexiness on our modest, small screens. At the very least, it could've been some sort of pre-sale traveling tour. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see the Director's Cut on the big screen without impromptu travel. How about you?

Confessions of a Shopaholic
Perhaps we shouldn't expect anything from a movie about a shopaholic, but this comedy's ditzy heroine and silly story can't even compare to other notable films in the romcom genre. In her review, Jette Kernion said: "Confessions of a Shopaholic tries to have it all ... Unfortunately, it's never as good as the movies it tries to imitate." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Inkheart
Yet another film in Brendan Fraser's ever-growing collection of familial adventure. (Will he ever leave it behind and return to his dramatic roots?) Nick Schager describes the film as "a scattered collection of ideas, most of them cavalierly mixed together and barely fleshed out." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

The Pink Panther 2
It might not seem possible, but as Eric D. Snider wrote in his review of the Steve Martin-starring sequel: "Despite being a sequel that is completely unnecessary, The Pink Panther 2 is actually better than its predecessor," and "It has several funny sequences and a general tone of good-natured frivolity." When fluffy fun is on the agenda, Rent it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Phoebe in Wonderland
Tim Burton's spin on Alice in Wonderland is quickly coming our way. But for now, there's the Elle Fanning-starring tale of a girl trying to find her place in real life. Kim Voynar said: "there are so many rich layers to explore in this carefully crafted story; it's rather like a kaleidoscope, in that what you see and get out of it shifts and changes depending on which character's perspective you're looking at, and what ideas you bring to watching it." Rent it.

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Also out: The Code, Bob Funk, Dragon Hunters, Table for Three, Mr. Troop Mom, Simon Says, Legend of the Bog, Backwoods, He's On My Mind, War Wolves

Indie Roundup looks back at the past seven (or, sometimes, eight) days of news in the indie film community, along with a peak ahead to what's coming soon.

Opening. The highest-profile "indie" is Woody Allen's Whatever Works, wiith Tatia Rosenthal's stop-motion animation feature $9.99, Francois Velle's NYC drama The Narrows, Andy Abrahams Wilson's Lyme disease doc Under Our Skin, and Tommy Wirkola's Nazi zombie flick Dead Snow vying for attention on a limited number of screens. On the festival circuit, CineVegas drew to a close on Monday (Eric D. Snider covered it for us), the same night that Silverdocs opened in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Los Angeles Film Festival starts tonight and the New York Asian Film Festival kicks off tomorrow.

Box Office. Last weekend saw several strong openings, with Robert Kenner's doc Food, Inc. leading the way ($20,171 per-screen), followed by Duncan Jones' sci-fi drama Moon ($17,006 per screen), and Francis Coppola's family drama Tetro ($15,252). The doc Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love ($10,866) and Le combat dans l'ile ($10,217) also debuted nicely, while the expansion of Sam Mendes' Away We Go brought in good business ($12,463). Daryl Wein's very informative AIDS activist doc Sex Positive drew $3,408 at one theater.

Online Viewing. How about a doc about a doc? Keir Moreano's documentary As the Call So the Echo follows an American doctor who unexpectedly finds himself in Vetnam after he decides to donate unused medical equipment. The film is available for free streaming at Babelgum, courtesy of the good folks at Cinetic.

After the jump: How will AFI Dallas the Dallas International Film Festival fare without AFI?

In the wake of the disputed Presidential election in Iran, film fans might find it interesting to take a look at Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution. Directed by Nader T. Homayoung, the documentary provides an overview of Iranian cinema, spending most of its time on milestones -- both positive and negative -- from the past 40 years. SnagFilms has made it available for free online viewing.

Starting in 1997, Iranian cinema became "an international phenomenon," as Jeffrey M. Anderson wrote in his wonderful, extensive primer for GreenCine, "a New Wave on par with the French movement of the 1950s and 60s, the German movement of the 60s and 70s and the Hong Kong movement of the 80s and 90s." But Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution makes it clear that the country's cinema was flourishing in the late 60s and 70s, producing a flock of vital, progressive pictures that received little attention outside the local territory. Tantalizing glimpses of these films are featured, suggesting that further exploration would indeed be worthwhile. That all came crashing down with the ascendance of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

Khomeini's rule led to the idea of "Islamically-correct cinema," or as filmmakers interviewed in the documentary described them, "films about people in absolute poverty," preferably without any women. Some filmmakers found a way to express themselves artistically within the limitations imposed, eventually gaining international recognition, while nearly everyone was frustrated with censorship issues. The doc is very straightforward -- talking head interviews, archival footage, narration -- but the subject carries the day.

We've embedded the film after the jump for your viewing convenience. More information is available at the official site and at SnagFilms.

Diane,

It's June 17, 2009, and I'm coming back to Twin Peaks.

How's this for a shocking piece of news: Seventeen years after Kyle MacLachlan last appeared as Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, WENN reports that the actor wants to resurrect the legendary show on the Internet. The actor says: "I have a crazy idea to bring back Twin Peaks on the net as five-minute webisodes." Should this become a reality, it will be without David Lynch, whose "focus is more on transcendental meditation now."

To be, or not to be ... I can't decide. At the very least, the idea doesn't fill me with revulsion or dread, but rather curiosity and a whole lot of questions. Would Cooper still be the same without Lynch molding him? And what of co-creator Mark Frost -- would he be involved? Even if the other quirky half is too busy meditating, Peaks webisodes are a much more worthy project than Frost's recent stints writing the Fantastic Four movies. Would these just be more tapes to Diane? Would other faces come back? Would it matter? *Spoiler Alert*

There's not many faces that could come back -- and definitely not many of the more desirable ones, unless MacLachlan is looking to dip into the Black Lodge more. Okay, should this get a little bit evil -- I'm sold. Who wouldn't want to see Bob's wicked control of Cooper, plus more Laura, Leland (Ray Wise!!), and of course, The Man From Another Place?

My fangirl has gotten the best of me, but what about you? Are you in for more Twin Peaks if it's without David Lynch?

Friday the 13th
Marcus Nispel directs a rebooted version of the venerable series, which borrows elements from the first four films and adds precious few of its own. I'm tempted to say "skip it," based on my own review, but those first 20-25 minutes are pretty ferocious, and the "Extended Killer Cut" promises more of everything. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
Tyler Perry has grown his beloved character Madea "into a larger-than-life force of nature that is genuinely funny," wrote Eric D. Snider. He noted the writer/director's "tendency toward oversimplification," however, and commented: "Maybe if someone would do a better job of making films targeted at a black, female Christian audience, Perry's half-baked didacticism would suffer in comparison. In the meantime, this is the best there is, so it's nice that Perry is improving, albeit in small increments." Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Ghostbusters
The comedy classic with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver stands ready to imprint itself upon your memory once again, in a new Blu-ray edition. One word to keep in mind before buying, however: grain. "Surprisingly heavy," says DVD Beaver; "heavy wash of grain that never quite dissipates," per IGN; "features plenty of the swirly stuff in most every scene," according to Blu-ray.com. Other than that important factor, which is claimed to reflect the original source print, reviews have been positive. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: What Goes Up, Morning Light, Sword of the Stranger, and a boatload of TV series (a list of the latter at TV Squad).

After the jump: Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner.

What has the combination of YouTube and inexpensive editing software wrought? For one thing, the opportunity for fans to fashion their own movie trailers, recutting footage to honor or, more commonly, ridicule well-known films. The practice has become so commonplace that online video sites are now jam-packed with fan-made, recut trailers that should never have left the privacy of their creator's computer. To help sort out the good from the bad (and the ugly), our friends at Urlesque have compiled a list of "The 10 Best Recut Movie Trailers."

They date the phenomenon back to 2006 and the recut trailer for The Shining, transforming Stanley Kubrick's horror picture into a "fuzzy, family-friendly comedy replete with a Peter Gabriel song to give the whole thing some 'extra polish.'" Their Top 10 includes one that goes the opposite direction, from family-friendly comedy to horror picture (Toy Story), as well as a couple that rescue romantic comedies by emphasizing their more hair-raising possibilities (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle), along with a few surprises. Head on over to Urlesque to watch all ten.

Of course, centuries before motion pictures were invented, the Greeks were parodying epic literature. The first movie parody may have been 1922's Mud and Sand, starring Stan Laurel. Fan-made or recut trailers are simply the latest variation on a theme. Thanks to technology, industrious fans now can crank out amazing, funny, clever, or silly recut trailers almost as soon as the originals appear.

What are your favorite fan-made / recut / remix trailers?