While the famous 1974 Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman is particularly well documented, at the same time as that fight was to take place a “black Woodstock” soul music festival was booked to accompany the fight in Zaire. Featuring a bevy of stars, including world renowned headliners like James Brown, Bill Withers and BB King, it was meant to be yet another showcase for Africans and African-Americans. Unfortunately, the festival hasn’t garnered quite the reputation that the boxing match has, and it seems the documentary Soul Power has set out to correct this unfortunate oversight.

Interest level: Mild
Soul Power will open at the Lagoon Theatre on July 31st.

$9.99 is the latest film based on the short stories of Etgar Keret, the previous being the solid Wristcutters: A Love Story. Rather then examining the afterlife, $9.99 focuses instead on the meaning of life, as the film focuses on a booklet that promises to answer all of life’s questions, all for the bargain basement price of $9.99. Complete with a solid cast (Joel Edgerton, Claudia Karvan, Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush) and the nice twist of using stop-motion claymation makes $9.99 one of the more eye catching and potentially original films to be released this year.

Interest level: Pliable
$9.99 opens exclusively at the Lagoon Theatre on July 31st.

I apologize for the terrible trailer, for what I hear is a pretty good movie. I only hear because I didn’t attend the screening of In the Loop this morning, because I was too busy watching The Hurt Locker until 4 am last night. Which is a good movie, and certainly better then this terrible trailer.

Interest level: Exhausted

In the Loop opens exclusively at The Uptown Theatre on July 31st.