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Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

From “School Ties” to “Live By Night” and this weekend’s “The Great Wall,” Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have each — for better and worse — left a considerable and ever-increasing footprint in the cultural landscape. But while the world is wide enough for both of them, our hearts are not. And so, we forced our panel of critics to choose: Ben Affleck or Matt Damon?

There can be only one.

Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse), Freelance with Rolling Stone, Vulture, Vox

This is a toughie. In terms of looks, both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s faces remind me of between forty and fifty of my least-favorite classmates during...

Award-winning director Vanessa Roth tends to look deeply into social justice issues in her documentaries -- the effectiveness of the foster care system in Aging Out, the repurcussions of that film in No Tomorrow, equal rights for a lesbian couple in Freeheld (Roth produced), and schools and education in American Teacher and The Third Monday in October. Her most recent film, The Texas Promise, hits close to home as it peers into the state budget cuts to education in Texas. This new documentary from Roth will debut at Austin Film Festival later this week.

Roth answered a few of my questions via email about her work.

Slackerwood: Why is education a recurring theme in your works?

Vanessa Roth: I have so much to say about this that I don’t know where to begin... education as a theme is what all my work focuses on because it is the...

He’s one of the top-25-selling musicians of all time in the U.S. His name arguably defines an entire genre of music for many listeners. He reportedly holds the record for the longest sustained note ever played on a saxophone. But it turns out that what Kenny G really wants to do is break into movies.

That’s in part the premise of Kenny: A Documentary in G, an in-the-works film by directors Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn about the smooth jazz icon, chronicling his attempt to launch a second career as a feature film composer. Fittingly, it...

Directors: Vanessa Roth, Brian McGinn Narrator: Matt Damon We all have at least one teacher we can think back to as being a highly important person, not just as an educator but as someone that truly made a difference. American Teacher, a documentary directed by Vanessa Roth, looks at the status and treatment of teachers in this country. By interviewing current and former educators around the United States, Roth is able to present a well-balanced look into the lives of American teachers. The statistics presented with regard to public education is astounding. Money can be a highly motivating factor for entering one profession over another. And sadly, education in the United States is increasing annually. With degrees from Harvard and Princeton, Rhena Jasey, a former teacher of Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey was making $40,900. Teaching is an incredibly underpaid profession considering the long hours teachers must put...

Hitting theatres on this final day in September we have a handful of interesting films to choose from including an acclaimed (and potentially Oscar-worthy?) Seth Rogen comedy and the first wave of October horror flicks. 50/50 starring Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will attempt to overcome the stigma of being a comedy about cancer, as it goes up against Jim Sheridan's Dream House starring Daniel Craig, the Anna Faris comedy What's Your Number? and religious drama Courageous (from the director of Fireproof... enough said). In select theatres we also have Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon, Margaret starring Matt Damon and Anna Paquin, and the horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, plus Nick Broomfield's Sarah Palin documentary. Do any of these have a shot at taking down The Lion King? I wouldn't bet on it, although something tells me Courageous could actually come the closest. What are your box...

Title: American Teacher Director: Vanessa Roth An inoffensive but hardly essential piece of occupational boosterism, “American Teacher” provides a look at the public education crisis in the United States through the eyes of those often lambasted or pilloried as somehow being a bigger part of the problem than of the solution. Helmed by Academy Award-winning director Vanessa Roth, the documentary spotlights the extraordinary personal sacrifices that a lot of instructors make by choosing to teach — as well as how qualified and otherwise passionate people are sometimes driven from the field by the rocky shoals of hard-knock financial reality. Many of the subjects here are inspiring, but, sadly, “American Teacher”...

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? The Awakening Trailer I've found my attention drifting when it comes to what I find interesting in horror films nowadays. My definition has grown looser over time,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: A handful of stellar titles with Oscar aspirations have been programmed into this year’s Austin Film Festival schedule, which begins on Oct. 20 with an as-yet-unnamed Opening Night selection.

In between, Aff audiences will get their first looks at Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – all films with awards hopes that will screen as part of the festival’s Marquee category.

“We’re proud to be taking our program in some exciting new directions while maintaining our focus on strong writing and engaging stories,” said new Film Programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu.

In addition, the fest has set up special screenings of “Toy Story” (presented by John Lasseter), an “Edward Scissorhands” screening, and a tribute to Polly Platt...

Title: American Teacher Directed By: Vanessa Roth Written By: Vanessa Roth Cast: Erik Benner, Jonathan Dearman, Jamie Fidler, Rhena Jasey Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 9/8/11 Opens: September 30, 2011 Vanessa Roth’s documentary, which focuses on three teachers from diverse areas, is the kind of movie meant to serve as uplift-to remind us about how saintly the characters really are and how the society tramples on these idealistic folks by affording them low prestige and even lower wages. Though the film undoubtedly has its heart in the right place, it is flawed by repetition, by a refusal to explore its hypotheses instead of merely presenting them, and of a nature...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: “Albert Nobbs,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” and a regional premiere of DreamWorks’ anticipated animated sequel “Puss in Boots” are the highlights of the first wave of programming for the Austin Film Festival, which were announced this morning.

The first two films harbor serious awards aspirations, and will stop in Austin after screening at such prestigious festivals as Cannes and Toronto.

The 2011 film lineup includes several world, U.S., and regional premieres in all genres ranging from comedy to horror, documentary to drama. Filmmakers from around the world and Texas alike will showcase everything from obscure indie films to big-budget Oscar-bound productions.

This year’s festival runs October 20-27 in Austin, Texas.

The complete list of films screening at Aff this year, including short films and competition titles, will be announced in mid-September. Cast and crew attendance is subject to change and...