Darren Aronofsky

Soto stars as a Spanish-speaking pitching prospect in the 2008 Sundance favorite Sugar.

Courtesy Journeyman Pictures

As always, here's a list of some of the finest films currently in rotation at a San Francisco indie theater near you.



1. Sugar
Where: Embarcadero Center Cinema, 1 Embarcadero Ctr., 415-352-0835
When: All Week

Cena, a four-time W.W.E. world champion, returns to the big screen in 12 Rounds.

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

John Cena may be a four-time W.W.E. world champion and an accomplished hip-hop star – his 2005 debut, You Can’t See Me, was certified gold, and helped earn him the distinction of being the only professional wrestler ever to perform on BBC’s Top of the Pops – but that’s hardly sapped his seemingly boundless ambition.

As Watchmen's March 6 release date draws near, neither Fox nor Warner Bros. seems inclined to wave the white flag.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

By now, it’s hardly news that Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is a potential casualty of a bitter dispute between rival studios - ts March 6 release date in jeopardy as Twentieth Century Fox attempts to prove that the Warner Bros. project infringes on Fox’s copyright, first acquired in 1986. But the biggest surprise in a case that has already inspired some Web-savvy fans to call for boycotts of upcoming Fox tent-poles including May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that neither studio appears willing to back down, whatever the cost.

Mickey Rourke enjoys (another) career resurgence as an aging ring warrior in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler.

Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures

Fresh off his disappointment at the tepid reception that greeted The Fountain, his 2006 tale of immortal love starring fiancée Rachel Weisz, director Darren Aronofsky went back to the drawing board and perused a list of ideas he’d come up with in film school. It was there that The Wrestler, his astonishing new drama about a W.W.E.-style ring warrior sputtering down the stretch of a hard life and punishing career, was born.