“Robert Altman’s America” series

If you’re like us, you couldn’t help but wince at Gosford Park director Robert Altman’s loss to Richie Cunningham at this year’s Academy Awards, if only because Altman must have an all-time classic Oscar acceptance speech in him that’s just dying to get out. With any luck, he’ll get another shot before the decade is out, and not just in the guise of some lifetime-achievement retirement trinket. Thanks to the Independent Film Channel and waning suggested-retail-prices on digital cameras, there’s no shortage of convention-bucking filmmakers out there, and despite the fairweather mainstream accolades, Altman remains a worthy hero for any commercially challenged artisan. In the process of giving some of Hollywood’s finest actors (Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins, Sissy Spacek) the most distinctive showcases of their careers (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Player, 3 Women), he’s developed the kind of uncompromising yet wholly malleable aesthetic that can turn any movie genre into a gently experimental playground. Critics like to swipe at his overlapping narratives and restless pans and zooms, and there have been more than a few stinkers on his C.V. over the years. But jeeze, even Opie Howard had a couple of Gung Hos and Far and Aways en route to A Beautiful Mind. Oak Street Cinema’s month-long Altman salute sticks to the good stuff, from M*A*S*H to Nashville to Short Cuts, including several newly restored prints. Oak Street Cinema, (612) 331-3134