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Under discussion:

51 Birch Street  (2005)

One of my favorite movies of 2005 is now available on DVD. I became so enamored with 51 Birch Street after I saw it at SXSW 2005, that Spout hosted a grassroots screening to a packed  theater near my house.

51 Birch Street is a little documentary made by Doug Block about his parents. He’s the kid in the family who makes movies, and–much like me–he’s volunteered to cover all family events. Then his mom dies and he keeps his camera with him as a way to make conversation with his old man. His camera winds up seeing more than he ever expected, capturing what looks like a tea cup filled to the brim with tornado. It’s a small story of your average American family having average problems that quake with cataclysmic force when the truth rises. It’s a pitch perfect telling of how–no matter where you are–family is a black hole always pulling you back to the core.

Yesterday, TMZ breathlessly announced that they’d landed the tightly-guarded list of the cast and alternates for the upcoming season of ABC’s reality competition, Dancing With the Stars. Then the page view whores made us click through a maddening gallery to confirm earlier rumors that one of those alleged dancing stars is indeed Mark Cuban, the brash billionaire who owns the Dallas Mavericks and who, as owner of Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures, is also at the forefront of the movement to close the theatrical/DVD distribution window.

I’m willing to bet that Mark Cuban is not on the final list, which is set to be announced on ABC’s Good Morning America tomorrow. My reasoning is three-fold: First, according to an interview that appeared late last week in Portfolio, Cuban is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery. Second, he already did the reality TV thing once, and it didn’t go so well. Third (and probably most compelling), today TMZ published a blurb covering their collective asses if the official cast list fails to match their gallery: “Well placed on-set sources tell us that execs, fearing someone would leak the cast to TMZ, gave the show’s staff and crew names that may or may not be 100% accurate.” Looking at TMZ’s list, Cuban and one of the two former Beverly Hills 90210 babes seem like the easiest names to scratch off.

So here’s the deal: If Mark Cuban is *not* on Dancing With the Stars, I win the satisfaction of being correct in my assumptions. If it turns out that the part-time movie mogul *is* on the show’s official cast list, as punishment for being wrong about this I promise to live-blog Cuban’s Dancing performance for as long as he manages to stay on the show. I’ve convinced myself that either way, I win on this — I mean, if Louis B. Mayer had entered a dance marathon, we would have wanted a document of it, right?

Under discussion:

Billy the Kid  (2007)

Matt Dentler points to this post on the official Billy the Kid blog, with details on the film’s upcoming 13-city Oscar-qualifying tour. New academy rules (which AJ Schnack has covered in depth at his blog) state that a film has to screen in at least 14 cities, in addition playing for one week in Los Angeles, in order to qualify for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination. Billy, which just took the top documentary prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival, already completed its LA week, but starting this weekend it will embark on a tour through 12 unlikely locales, such as Grass Valley, CA and Montpelier, VT. The first stop is Bantam, CT, where Billy the Kid screens tomorrow through Friday at the Bantam Cinema. For more on Billy the Kid, check out Kevin and Paul’s podcast about the film, which lives here.