Synecdoche New York

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my picks below, you can now watch Cadillac Records, Let the Right One In, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in the comfort of your own home.

Milk
If you still haven't seen Milk after all the months of accolades and awards, now's your chance to learn what all the fuss is about. In addition to being an incredibly moving story based on the real life of San Francisco gay activist Harvey Milk, it's wonderfully acted and directed. It's everything a biopic ought to be, right down to beautifully recreating the events of such an extraordinary life.

The cast is full of talented, adorable actors, like Sean Penn (who won the Oscar for his portrayal of Milk), James Franco, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, and Emile Hirsch. I am anxious to watch it again, even though it's so heartbreaking.

Special features include deleted scenes, a featurette about remembering Harvey, and another titled "Hollywood comes to San Francisco."

So much more to recommend, so read more

Synecdoche, New York, is a haunting film. In the weeks since I saw it, I'm not sure a day has gone by that I haven't thought about it. It's also a humongous, confusing mess. But I'm willing to forgive Charlie Kaufman that; the high points are too high not to.

As the writer of such films as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman has become known for his surreal — and, yet, ultimately, very real — explorations of humanity. Synecdoche, New York, his directorial debut, is maybe his most precise work on that theme, tracing his main character through years of middle age, declining health, and the potent desire to do something while there's still time. Kaufman may be suffering from a bit of that desire himself, as he tosses all kinds of twists into his story, some of which lead it astray. But that doesn't keep it from being a moving mood piece of a film.

Synecdoche, New York actually has a mostly logical main story: Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden Cotard, a local theater director producing a lowish-rent production of Death of a Salesman and struggling to maintain his marriage with his more-famous wife, Adele (Catherine Keener). When she takes off for Germany with their daughter and Caden receives a MacArthur grant, he decides to stage a giant-scale theater piece about life (yes, just that: life), setting it inside a towering replica of New York. Everything else spins off from there, so just read more

Michelle Williams smiled big at a screening of her new movie Synecdoche, New York in, where else, NYC last night. The screenwriter, director, producer for the film Charlie Kaufman posed next to his stars Michelle and Catherine Keener. Afterward, the group was off to the after party where Michelle and Spike Jonze held hands and cuddled close while chatting with friends, even sneaking a few kisses on their way out. Kaufman's directional debut looks like a visually stunning and thought provoking masterpiece — just the kind of film where Michelle Williams will shine. With another heart wrenching movie coming soon, it looks like we have some amazing performances on the way from Michelle, which will be something to savor if she really takes a deserved break from work.

To see more from the premiere including Spike, Michelle, Charlie and Catherine just read more

Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York, has been generating positive buzz ever since it premiered at Cannes this year. Time Magazine calls it "A miracle movie," while Variety claims it is "a wildly ambitious and gravely serious contemplation of life. The picture exerts power and artistic mystery." If this new trailer is any indication, I am starting to see what all the fuss is about.

Philip Seymour Hoffman leads a hugely talented cast (including Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis and many more) in this story in which "[a] theater director (Hoffman) struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play."

Synecdoche, New York will start with a limited release on Oct. 24. To check out the trailer, read more

Yesterday Michelle Williams lit up the red carpet at the premiere of Adoration at Cannes and today she was promoting her own film, Synecdoche, New York with co-stars Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman by her side. (Buzz has a couple of movie clips here) Michelle went casual for the photocall before slipping into another gown for the big premiere. It's great to see her out at events again, and while she's only in town for a quick two days, she's looking to make a few memories. She said, "[It's] something you can look back on at the end of your life and think, 'That was a cool thing I did when I was 27.'" Considering how much film festival fun the celebrities have been having, we can't argue with Michelle on that one.

To see a lot more images of Michelle and her co-stars, just read more

Did you like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? How you answer this question will probably indicate whether or not you'll be interested in Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York. The movie is premiering at Cannes and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams and Jennifer Jason Leigh, among a ton of others.

IMDB describes the movie's plot like this: "A theater director (Hoffman) struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play." If it's similar to the movies Kaufman has written in the past, Synecdoche, New York will be darkly bizarre and incredibly self-aware (and self-referential). The clips from the movie already indicate this for the most part, and will probably make more sense within the full context of the movie. To check out the clips from Synecdoche, New York, read more