Crunk Films/MTV Films
Taraji Henson (from left), Paula Jai Parker, Terrence Howard and Taryn
Manning star in “Hustle and Flow,” a story about a pimp who dreams of
becoming a rap star. It's scheduled to open here July 16.

Sony Pictures Classics
Daniel Craig gets hot and heavy with Sienna Miller in “Layer Cake.” The
film is directed by Matthew Vaughn, who worked with Guy Ritchie on
“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” Vaughn also is
directing the next “X-Men” movie.

Between the blockbusters

It won't be all ‘Batman' and candy on movie screens

By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star

W hat … you have no interest in Darth Vader or Batman or Willie Wonka?
You say your idea of a good popcorn movie has subtitles?

Don't fret. While the megaplexes this summer will be jammed with
big-star, big-f/x titles aimed at a mass audience, the art houses will
have their own assortment of documentaries, independent flicks and
foreign films.

Here's a look at some of the out-of-the-mainstream titles that should
be appearing on local screens the next three months (dates to be
announced):

• “Broken Flowers”: Cult director Jim Jarmusch and his “Coffee and
Cigarettes” star Bill Murray reunite in this comedy about a veteran
womanizer who learns he has a grown son. He sets off to track down his
old girlfriends in the hope of understanding why he is like he is. With
Julie Delpy, Jessica Lange, Chloe Sevigny, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton.

• “Hustle and Flow”: Terrence Howard (“Crash”) proves himself a star
in
this gritty tale of a Memphis pimp who dreams of becoming a rap star.
With Anthony Anderson and Ludacris. A huge hit at Sundance in January.

• “Layer Cake”: Daniel Craig (rumored to be the next James Bond) shines
as a Brit drug dealer who finds himself drawn ever deeper into gang
subculture (the “layer cake” of the title).

• “Mad Hot Ballroom”: What “Spellbound” did for spelling bee
contestants, this documentary does for dancers, following several teams
of pre-adolescent student hoofers from New York City schools as they
train for the fiercely competitive American Ballroom Theater “Dancing
Classrooms” program

• “Apres Vous”: A Gallic “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” with Daniel
Auteuil as a successful writer “adopting” Gergio Garcia's depressed sad
sack and helping him mend his miserable life.

• “My Summer of Love”: In a lazy summer before college, two dissimilar
English women meet and fall in love. With Natalie Press, Emily Blunt
and Paddy Considine (“In America”).

• “It's All Gone Pete Tong”: In the vein of “This Is Spinal Tap” we
get
a mockumentary about a club DJ and dance song composer whose music
makes him deaf. Part satire of the dance-music world, part cautionary
drug tale, part empowerment lesson for those who are hearing-impaired.

• “Mondovino”: Wine lovers will find months of cocktail conversation in
this documentary that looks at the world of wine from the perspectives
both of little European vinters and the corporate giants who are taking
ever bigger bites of the business.

• “Mysterious Skin”: Cult director Greg Araki (“The Living End,”
“The
Doom Generation”) has been called “the American Almodovar,” a rep he
lives up to with this tender/troubling tale of two boys from a small
Kansas town. One is sexually abused and grows up to be a gay hustler in
NYC. The other believes his health problems stem from an alien
abduction in his childhood. With Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Elisabeth Shue.

• “Murderball”: It takes leather balls to play rugby. Yes, but can you
play it in a wheelchair? “Murderball,” winner of the audience award for
best American documentary at Sundance this year, follows a wheelchair
rugby team to the world playoffs in Athens.

• “Yes”: The latest from director Sally Potter (“Orlando,” “The
Tango
Lesson”) is a tale of illicit love. Joan Allen plays an American
scientist in London who embarks on an affair with a Middle Eastern man
(Simon Abkarian), setting off religious, political and sexual tremors.
With Sam Neill and Shirley Henderson.

• “Rock School”: A doc about a real-life “School of Rock” where
teacher
Paul Green gets through to his misfit kids through rock 'n' roll.

• “Me and You and Everyone We Know”: Offbeat love story between a
lonely shoe salesman (John Hawkes … he's Sol Star on HBO's “Deadwood”)
and an eccentric performance artist (Miranda July).

• “Saving Face”: A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist
mother both are reluctant to reveal their love lives to their
conservative community. With Joan Chen, Lynn Chen and Michelle Krusiec.

• “Short Cut to Nirvana”: A documentary about the Kumbh Mela, the
world's largest religious festival, in which as many as 70 million
Hindus — gurus, disciples and everyday citizens — descend on the Indian
city of Allahabad.