Arrives March 19 at a Redbox near you.

Perhaps unfairly, the term "straight to DVD" is often the source of ridicule in the movie business. People tend to think of those big-budget Hollywood flops that prove to be so unwatchable that the studio execs pull them from theatrical release in the hopes of avoiding additional embarrassment.

Then there are independent films like St. Louis' own, 23 Minutes to Sunrise.

For them "straight to DVD" is an accomplishment, which is why director Jay Kanzler is absolutely beaming about the release this month of his movie on Redbox, Netflix and Amazon.com. The film, starring Eric Roberts and a few lesser-known celebrities, was shot almost entirely in the metro East St. Louis town of Sauget in the summer of 2011.

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Photo: Jen Silverberg

Tom Kavanaugh's "No Sweat" will trace five articles of clothing to the factory where they were made.

Tom Kavanaugh realizes his documentary on sweatshops in the clothing industry won't be an easy one to make. For starters, the companies he plans to profile -- Walmart and Nike, to name a few -- aren't likely to cooperate. Then there are the language barriers and other logistical challenges of shooting a documentary that will largely take place in Southeast Asia and Central America.

But the biggest hurdle, for the moment, is financial. The 35-year-old SLU grad estimates the movie will cost at least $150,000 to make. So last week the budding filmmaker turned to Kickstarter to help raise part of those funds.

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Will Argo win Best Picture?

With the 2013 Academy Awards (Sunday, February 24) a month out, we've decided to hold this contest in conjunction with the benevolent Joe Edwards empire for our fellow movie geeks.

If you consider yourself a film expert (or even if you just think you could make a few winning picks), you could win what sounds like an excellent night out.

Here's the lowdown from our marketing department...

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The "luxury" seating at MX

Wanna shed some fat in 2013? Be more active? Spend less time gaping at a screen and more time in the bright sunshine?

Then stay clear of Washington Avenue and 6th Street next weekend. Because the new movie theater opening right there in the renovated Mercantile Exchange building is apparently designed to cater to the pasty blob-person you're trying not to be.

How are you going to make it to hot yoga when, according to MX Movies website, you'll be staring slack-jawed at one of "three screens with crystal clear digital projection"?

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Ecto Con is coming to STL.

"Ecto Con" -- a convention for fans of the Ghostbusters franchise -- will take place at the Holiday Inn in Sunset Hills from Friday through Sunday. Yeeepp.

It's being organized by a group called Kawa Con, which specializes in geeky gatherings; they say it's the first of its kind in St. Louis. They expect about 75-100 people.

Here are five incredible facts/tips/warnings issued by the organizers on the event website.

1) There Will Be Security

We'd like to give you a chance to show off your handiwork, so bring your favorite GB props to display in our prop room 6:30-10:00 p.m. Friday. The room will be guarded.

Really? Now we're intrigued. 
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"I drink Bud in this movie and you're saying you DON'T like that, A-B InBev?"

Oh, those devilishly clever execs at Anheuser-Busch InBev.

First, they discover that Robert Zemeckis' brand-new film Flight contains scenes where Denzel Washington's character -- an alcoholic airline captain -- swills bottles of Budweiser.

Let's put that another way: They figure out that millions of people will be gaping at one of Hollywood's handsomest actors as he holds their product. Man, what a PR disaster!

So the A-B InBev execs send a whiney letter to Zemeckis' production company, Image Movers, as well as Paramount Pictures, saying:

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John Cusack should NOT play Rush Limbaugh in the "Rush" biopic

John Cusack's production company, New Crimes, has announced it's going to make a biographical film based on the life of conservative radio firebrand (and Cape Girardeau native) Rush Limbaugh.

Sounds like a fruitful idea, for Cusack is a died-in-the-wool loony liberal, while Rush is a paranoid reactionary gasbag. Ingredient one plus ingredient two = explosion!

But Cusack himself wants to play the role of Rush, apparently.  Big mistake. He's not right for the part, and Daily RFT has thought of someone even better.

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Scott Hutcheson had no idea he'd made a terrible mistake when he changed his Facebook status to "in a relationship" without consulting his then-girlfriend.

Hutcheson, a local filmmaker and graphic designer, recently went through a divorce and emerged on the other side like Rip Van Winkle -- the dating world was utterly different.

"I didn't realize how popular or important the Facebook relationship status had become," he says. "She got offended. She was like, 'Why are you doing this?'"

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The video below -- "Morning St. Louis" -- was just uploaded to YouTube yesterday.

It very much reminds us of "Here is St. Louis" by Anastasis Films that made the rounds several weeks ago.

This one was filmed by David DeNagel on nothing fancier than his iPhone4s.

In Daily RFT's opinion, this is the kind of stuff that will cure our city's long-bemoaned inferiority complex.

Watch it below.

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Film critic Karina Longworth is reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival this week.

As the summer of self-plagiarism comes to a close, add Terrence Malick to the list of those accused of this debatable crime: The auteur's quick follow-up to last year's The Tree of Life, To The Wonder, is a romance set in present-day Paris and rural America starring Ben Affleck as an American man who has relationships with a French single mother (Olga Kurylenko) and a local rancher (Rachel McAdams). The film literally and figuratively recycles material from that Cannes-winning, dinosaur-conjuring Best Picture nominee.

Malick cops to using actual footage from Life in the new film's credits, but I think the critics who allegedly booed Wonder in Venice last week, and/or the many members of the press who walked out of the Toronto screening I attended before the movie ended, were probably more aggrieved by Malick's unofficial self-appropriation.

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