Michael Moore

Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (far left) accelerated the downfall of the Nixon administration by leaking the Pentagon Papers.

Courtesy First Run Features

When Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island had its long-awaited October 2009 release unceremoniously delayed by Paramount, it was only natural to assume the legendary director's new thriller, starring favorite son Leonardo DiCaprio, might have missed its mark. Hardly. (The studio blamed the decision on the economy and DiCaprio's lack of availability to the foreign press.) It opens today at the Sundance Kabuki for what should be a long, well-attended run, befitting one of the most cleverly confounding thrillers in recent memory.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play a star-crossed couple in Mark Webb's '(500) Days of Summer.'

Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures

For those seeking alternatives to this weekend's surefire blockbuster – the teenage romance New Moon – there are plenty of worthy options now playing at the Bay Area's indie theaters. Among them:

Jigsaw and his demented minions are back to their old, cranium-crushing tricks in 'Saw VI.'

Courtesy Lionsgate

Lionsgate Films declined to screen Saw VI for critics, but perhaps they should have. Despite employing the same media-blackout strategy for prior sequels to the 2004 original, time and an increasingly lackluster on-screen product seem to have finally caught up with the franchise. The latest installment has underperformed at theaters, where horror fans are embracing a fresher alternative, Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity.

George Clooney plays a high-flying exec who specializes in giving corporate lackeys their pink slips in Jason Reitman's 'Up in the Air.'

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

After an open weekend highlighted by the regional premieres of Lone Scherfig’s An Education and Katherine Dieckmann’s Motherhood, which helped earn star Uma Thurman a festival award, Mill Valley’s annual celebration of cinema from all corners of the globe continues through next weekend.

Michael Moore takes aim at capitalism in his powerful new 'Love Story.'

Courtesy Paramount Vantage

No stranger to controversy—on the contrary, he courts it with the passion of a man possessed—Michael Moore has never minced words in his rabblerousing tirades against on-screen targets including the NRA, America’s private health-care providers and the Bush administration. So it should come as no surprise that the Michigan-born documentarian, 55, is equally blunt in his assessment of American economic policy in his latest offering, Capitalism: A Love Story.

The onetime King of Pop will hold court for a posthumous two-week celebration of his work in Kenny Ortega's This Is It.

Courtesy Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures announced yesterday that Michael Jackson’s This Is It would be released exclusively for a limited two-week engagement worldwide on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Tickets will go on sale in San Francisco beginning Sunday, Sept. 27.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times (left) and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, the new hosts of At the Movies.

Courtesy ABC Entertainment

Ladies and gentlemen, set your DVRs. At the Movies, the beacon of televised film criticism founded by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel in 1975, is about to undergo a much-needed makeover.

For those who have followed the syndicated weekly show since Ebert and latter-day partner Richard Roeper left Disney-ABC Domestic Television last summer, the introduction of Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott as the latest pair of critics to occupy the vaunted balcony should come as welcome news.

Farmer and author Joel Salatin emerges as an outspoken proponent of alternative farming practices in Food, Inc.

Photo Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

Now playing at the Embarcadero Center Cinema, one of the year’s most important films, Food, Inc., traces the industrial food revolution from its mid-20th century beginnings, when new, profoundly influential restaurant chains like McDonalds introduced the factory-inspired concept of line cooking in their kitchens, to the present, when supermarkets are routinely stocked with genetically engineered meats and vegetables.

Monkey Business: Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt take a mental vacation in Terry Gilliam's oddball masterpiece.

Courtesy Universal Pictures

For those seeking an alternative to the Super Bowl this weekend, here's a list of some of the finest films currently in rotation at an indie theater near you.