Tabloid
After a string of more politically-pointed documentaries (including the Oscar-winning The Fog of War) invaluable non-fiction filmmaker Errol Morris returns to the kinds of offbeat true-life stories he explored in such terrific films as Gates of Heaven, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and Mr. Death. Tabloid recounts the Case of the Manacled Mormon, an incident that dominated the London tabloids for much of the early '70s and is all but forgotten today. The facts are these: Unhappy about being jilted by her Mormon boyfriend, ex-beauty queen Joyce McKinney followed the poor guy across the pond and, depending on who you believe, "liberated" (or "kidnapped") him from his LDS minders. She then transported him to a remote cottage, where he was chained to the bed and, again, depending on who is telling the story, "willingly" (or "forcibly") had sex with her over and over again. And that's just the jumping-off point for a tale that gets even wilder and more improbable as it unfolds. Morris expertly weaves together McKinney's testimony with anecdotes from veterans of England's tabloid culture as well as an ex-Mormon who fills us in on some of his former church's stranger beliefs. At its best, Tabloid is a vivid reminder that truth is almost always stranger than fiction. (Available via IFC On Demand; also playing in limited theatrical release.)
Best Scene: Hard to pick just one, but a vintage promotional video that shows McKinney reading from a never-published self-penned novel about her life is a doozy.

The Myth of the American Sleepover
If Dazed & Confused was the '90s answer to American Graffiti, than David Robert Mitchell's debut feature The Myth of the American Sleepover is the 2010s answer to Dazed. It's not quite as good as Richard Linklater's film (or George Lucas' for that matter), but it's still a nice piece of work, distinguished by a talented young cast (who actually look and talk like teenagers) and low-key, but still stylish direction. Set over the course of one long summer night just before the school year commences, Mitchell's script follows a variety of familiar teen archetypes, including the never-been-kissed boy that's hunting for his dream girl, the nervous freshman that strikes up a flirtation with a handsome upperclassman, the new girl that runs afoul of the most popular girl in school and a college student that seeks out an old high-school crush. While these story arcs aren't exactly original, they are told with the right amount of conviction without giving way to preachiness. Based on this film, Mitchell is definitely a director worth keeping an eye on. (Available via IFC On Demand.)
Best Scene: A dreamy moment in a supermarket where the romance-challenged teen first lays eyes on his dream girl effectively captures the magic that occurs when you spy someone that rocks your world.

YellowBrickRoad
Such a great concept, such disappointing execution. Proving that they haven't seen The Blair Witch Project, a group of researchers decide to investigate a piece of mysterious folklore involving the residents of a small New Hampshire town. In 1940, the citizens of Friar, NH all followed a trail out of their burg and deep into the woods. Only one of them ever returned from that trip alive. Now, author Teddy Barnes (Michael Laurino) decides to find and follow that trail in an attempt to discover what may have happened to the missing residents and publish his findings in a best-selling book. No sooner have he and his squad of investigators started marching through the forest that they notice strange things beginning to happen, including big band music that seems to emanate from the sky and hallucinogenic moments of death and dismemberment that flash before their eyes. Needless to say, it isn't long before all of them start to go a little bit mental. While directors Andy Mitton and Jesse Holland conjure up a few effectively creepy moments, the inconsistent performances and clunky pacing make this a snoozy -- rather than a scary -- movie. (Available via iTunes and other digital VOD platforms; debuting on TV VOD services on September 2.)
Best Scene: The final sequence inside an abandoned movie theater nicely channels Kubrick's horror classic The Shining.

Autoerotic
If it wasn't already claimed, Sexual Perversity in Chicago would be a good title for this anthology film of four short, sex-themed stories set in the Windy City. Co-directed by one of the big names of so-called "mumblecore" cinema (i.e., movies about young white twentysomethings that sit around complaining about their lives and relationships), Joe Swanberg, Autoerotic can also be viewed as a contemporary companion piece to Woody Allen's 1973 sketch-comedy film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask, although the humor here tends to be a lot less broad, one giant-dick gag notwithstanding. The first story involves a guy whose hang-up about his tiny penis is ruining his relationship with his live-in girlfriend; the second follows a woman who decides to enhance her frequent masturbation sessions with some auto-asphyxiation; the third finds a husband allowing his pregnant wife to have a lesbian experience with her best friend in the hopes that she'll achieve that elusive orgasm; and the fourth and final chapter features a guy who demands an odd favor from a now-engaged ex-girlfriend in exchange for deleting the sex videos they recorded together. Like all anthology films, these shorts are a mixed bag (the third is probably the strongest of the bunch, although the first is the most overtly comic) but there are enough amusing or truthful moments contained in each one to keep your hands off the fast-forward button. Just don't watch it with your parents around. (Available via IFC on Demand.)
Best Scene: The aforementioned dick joke that closes out the first sketch. It's crude and obvious, but also pretty funny.

Also on VOD This Month
Magnolia On Demand: Recent Oscar winner Colin Firth heads up an ensemble cast that includes Orlando Bloom, Patricia Clarkson and Ellen Burstyn in Main Street, the story of a small North Carolina town that's suddenly faced with some drastic changes.
Movies on Demand: Kelly Reichardt's moody Western Meek's Cutoff is a compelling tale of survival set against the unforgiving backdrop of the harsh Oregon wilderness circa 1845.
IFC on Demand: After a failed bank robbery leads them trapped inside the locked-down building, hostages Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd try to figure a way out of their predicament while also falling in love in the indie comedy Flypaper. Because nothing says romance like grand larceny.