Preview of Limited Release Movies Scheduled for April 6-13

Not every movie makes it to wide release. I have many theories about this, which I can't really be bothered to go into, and which all poke rather liberally at the human race, especially those who don't reside in New York or Los Angeles. Those residing in Augusta, Ga., for instance, have a tradition of preventing me from seeing anything in the theater not powered by explosions and jokes best understood with the reptilian portion of the brain.

Here is a list of movies coming soon to theaters very far away from you. Put them on your "Movies To Watch for in Video Stores" list.

"The TV Set"- April 6 - New York, Los Angeles

"The TV Set" explains the recently posed question of where the heck David Duchovny went. He's playing an idealistic writer, which is a creature that exists only in fiction. He's coddling a TV pilot and dealing with television production bureaucracy.

Sigourney Weaver plays Lenny, the president of the station that could make or break Mike Klein's (David Duchovny's character) career, has it in for the premise of the pilot, which is, of course, very dear to the author. Richard, a BBC hire played by Ioan Gruffudd, wants to support Mike, but is employed by the bureaucracy. So he's torn. He's also going to wind up on someone's Top 100 Hottie list at some point if he hasn't already, so there's a good reason to put this movie on your flick list.

To make things even more interesting, Mike's wife is pregnant, and if this pilot doesn't take off, he's out of a job. Not sure how realistic that is, unless he's had a string of ideas that bombed. One thing that is definitely not realistic, is the part about Mike getting to cast the actors. Writers don't cast actors. Casting directors cast actors.

But this is fiction, so we should get over it and enjoy the story.

"The TV Set" stars David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Justine Bateman, Willie Garson and Judy Greer. It is a THINKFilm comedy written and directed by Jake Kasdan, and is rated R for language. It is 89 minutes long and will be released in New York and Los Angeles on April 6.

"Whole New Thing" - April 6 - New York

If you are one of those people who has a problem with silly things, go away this instant. This is a movie about a 13-year-old kid who has a crush on his English teacher. His teacher is a him. The kid also bears a remarkable resemblance to Harry Potter.

Played by Aaron Webber, Emerson Thorsen starts life with three strikes against him - his name, being home-schooled by his hippie parents, and being gay. At least I assume he's gay if he has a crush on Mr. Grant the English teacher, who is officially gay.

Don't worry. It's probably all fluffy-bunny stuff about a kid finding acceptance.

"Whole New Thing" stars Aaron Webber and Daniel MacIvor. It is directed by Amnon Buchbinder, and co-written by Buchbinder and Daniel MacIvor. It is a comedy-slash-drama by Picture This! Entertainment. It is thus far unrated, but you know it's going to get at least an R for dealing with homosexuality. If the moviemakers are lucky, there will be pickets and fires and gnashing of teeth. Visit picturethisent.com for more details. Scheduled to hit New York theaters April 6.

"Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis" - April 11 - New York

Jack Smith was a "flaming creature," a mad artist, a wild spirit. He lived from 1932 to 1989 on the Lower East Side. He dabbled in every type of art imaginable, even performance art, staging one-man plays in his bohemian digs. The reason you won't be seeing this film outside New York is, it is a film about an artists' artist, and regular people don't like that sort of thing. If you are not one of the regular crowd, or if you like stories about artistic wizards who fashion beauty out of nothing, put this documentary on your list.

"Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis," being a documentary, stars Jack Smith. It also stars Tony Conrad, Gary Indiana, Ken Jacobs, Judith Malina, Jonas Mekas, Mario Montez, Andrew Sarris and John Waters. It is a Film Forum offering with no official site and no rating. Written and directed by Mary Jordan. Due to open in New York on April 11.

"Lonely Hearts" - April 13 - Limited Release

"Lonely Hearts" is a true story about a pair of 1940s-era serial killers, Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, and promises to be the most disturbing romance-of-sorts since "Natural Born Killers."

Here's their M.O., a term you should be familiar with from "CSI": Raymond seduces lonely women who hand over their money for him, and then kills them in gruesome, disturbing ways. (Cleverly avoiding all those non-gruesome serial-killer ways of offing someone.) Martha, of course, convinces herself he's doing it all for her and falls madly in love with him.

As engaging and delightful as I'm sure the Lonely Hearts Killers are, the story is actually about Detective Elmer C. "Buster" Robinson, who was sufficiently angst-filled to inspire a crime thriller. He is portrayed by John Travolta. He is also the grandfather of the film's director/writer, Todd Robinson.

"Lonely Hearts" stars John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Scott Caan, Alice Krige and Laura Dern. It is a crime drama thriller by Roadside Attractions, Samuel Goldwyn Films. It carries an R rating for strong violence, sexual content, nudity and language. Scheduled for limited release April 13. Visit cstar.com for more info.

"Red Road" - April 13 - New York, Los Angeles

"Red Road" is an international film, created by the Scottish Tartan Films studio. Its main character seems to be a minion of Big Brother, who watches a CCTV screen, "protecting" the people she sees. One day the inevitable happens: She sees someone with whom she has a history. Now there will be confrontation, upheaval and drama.

"Red Road" stars Kate Dickie and a bunch of people with three names: Jackie Tony Curran, Clyde Martin Compston, Stevie Nathalie Press and April Andrew Armour. It is a drama written and directed by Andrea Arnold. There is no rating available.

CYA Portion/Disclaimer: If all the dates in this article don't quite match up with the actual release dates of the films, that is because movie release dates depend on weird domino effects and things having to do with the space-time continuum, bureaucracy and the contents of executives' PDAs. Those things are under the dominion of the butterfly effect and I have absolutely nothing at all to do with it. This is the information as it presented itself on the day this article was written, said article being meant as a starting point for your very own movie release date research.