Just so everyone is on the same page, Speed Racer comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray September 16th. Mark your calendars, put in for vacation time at work, whatever it takes. If you have yet to acknowledge your need for this film, I can be patient.

Primo Levi’s Journey
“Around us, everything is hostile. Above us the malevolent clouds chase each other to separate us from the sun; on all sides the squalor of the toiling steel closes in on us. We have never seen its boundaries, but we feel all around us the evil presence of the barbed wire that separates us from the world. And on the scaffolding, on the trains being switched about, on the roads, in the pits, in the offices, men and more men, slaves and masters, the masters slaves themselves. Fear motivates the former, hatred the latter, all other forces are silent. All are enemies or rivals.” – From “Survival in Auschwitz”, by Primo Levi

I know next to nothing about this film but it is my top choice this week. A combination documentary/travelogue, it’s narrated by Chris Cooper and retraces the journey that Holocaust survivor Primo Levi took after being released from Auschwitz, when he traveled 1000 miles on foot to reach his home in Italy.

Recommended if you the selection I chose moved you in the slightest.

Recount
Featuring an unbelievably star-studded cast (Kevin Spacey, Denis Leary, Laura Dern, John Hurt, and Tom Wilkinson) this HBO film tackles all the political hoopla around the Florida recount. Quite frankly, any film that ticks off both Republicans and Democrats is worth a looksee in my book.

Recommended if the current political brouhaha hasn’t worn you out already, and if Oliver Stone’s W. can’t arrive soon enough.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
Who doesn’t love charming English comic-romances filled with whimsy? (and if you just raised your hand, why don’t you go make some more babies cry while you’re at it?) Marge from Fargo (Frances McDormand), Giselle from Enchanted (Amy Adams, who totally rocks), and Ned from Pushing Daisies (Lee Pace, and how freaking long before that show is on again?) all star. Count me in.

Recommended if you liked Finding Neverland, Nanny McPhee, or Calendar Girls,

The Life Before Her Eyes
Despite the pedigree of its cast (Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood), this one appeared to get middling reviews. It cross-cuts two stories about one woman, one narrative from her past and one narrative from the present. It involves a school shooting and (I’m just guessing here) a Twist that I could see coming from a mile away in the trailer, but it could be a pleasant surprise. House of Sand and Fog, the director’s previous outing, was one of the best films I saw that year, so this does have that going for it.

Recommended if you liked House of Sand and Fog and Elephant (albeit with less verite and more stars)

Hit the jump for the rest of your choices.

Street Kings –
“Whoa. I can shoot people.” That pretty much sums up Keanu Reeves’ acting in this turgid dirty-cop melodrama filled with double-crosses that your 3 year old son could have figured out. As guilty pleasures go, I guess you could do a lot worse, but not by much.

Recommended if you liked Dark Blue, Training Day, or if Johnny Mnemonic was the greatest thing that happened to you in 1995.

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Quid Pro Quo –
This was going to be much higher on my list until I read Sam’s review, taking it down quite a few notches. Nick Stahl and Vera Farmiga star in this perverse psycho-drama about people who fetishize paraplegics, get together to use braces and wheelchairs, and even try to get doctors to amputate their limbs. Wait, I wanted to see this? What was I thinking?

Recommended if the Paralympics are your idea of a peepshow (oh geez, I can’t believe I just wrote that).

An American Crime –
Despite the presence of Ellen Page and Catherine Keener, who are almost uniformly incredible in any film that they are in, the heavy abuse/torture/true crime aspect to this nightmare of a film has me placing it way, way, way down on the list. I’m not sure my fragile psyche can take a dose of human evil like this, although it is most certainly a film that needed to be made.

Recommended… no, not really recommended. Read Phillip’s review and if you’re still interested in this, then by all means take the plunge.

Bin Of Shame
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
Prom Night