Terry Gilliam

The wild rumpus returns to the big screen this Sunday at the Red Vic.

Courtesy Warner Brothers

Same story, different week: The weather outside remains frightful, but the movies playing at your local indie theaters are delightful enough to justify the trip. Among them:

Chris Rock (far right) investigates the importance of 'Good Hair.'

Courtesy Roadside Attractions

The weekend forecast calls for cloudy skies and scattered showers, but you can always take refuge at the city's indie theaters, where Peter Jackson's Lovely Bones makes its long-awaited debut and former Saturday Night Live star Chris Rock investigates the lifestyles of the rich and follically fashionable.

Juliette Lewis, as the hellacious Iron Maven, roughs up Ellen Page's fleet-footed roller-derby novice in 'Whip It.'

Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures

January is traditionally a time for Hollywood studios to empty their storage lockers, tossing out the trash (like last winter's Bride Wars) and dusting off movies previously unreleased due to scheduling conflicts. No matter.

Heath Ledger makes his final screen appearance in Terry Gilliam's 'Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.'

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

You’ve got to admire Terry Gilliam even when his madcap experiments shatter the test tubes. The former Python is the ultimate independent filmmaker. He has worked within the studio system before, often frustrating the moneymen, but you get the feeling he’d rather burn the negatives than conform to their whims. He is not, as they say, a company man.

The Clay Theatre serves up some San Francisco Spice this Friday and Saturday at midnight.

Courtesy Columbia Pictures

Here's a list of some of the finest films currently in rotation a San Francisco indie theater near you.

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.

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.