| |
| THE
STRAIGHT STORY |
| 010100 |
| Alvin Straight (RICHARD FARNSWORTH) was 73
when he got the call about his brother. Alvin couldn't see well
enough to hold a driver's license. He walked only with the support
of two canes. He didn't much care for anybody else helping him
out. But when he got the call that his brother Lyle (HARRY DEAN
STANTON) -- separated from him by hundreds of miles and a decade
of proud silence -- had suffered a stroke, Alvin knew he had
to reach him. So, with little money but abundant determination,
he climbed on his lawnmower and set out. |
 |
| |
| THE SIXTH SENSE |
| 010100 |
| In M. Night Shyamalan's THE SIXTH SENSE, Bruce
Willis plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a successful Philadelphia child
psychologist who is haunted by the sudden reappearance and suicide
of a former patient. Months later Dr. Crowe encounters Cole
Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, withdrawn young boy who
bears a striking similarity to his earlier patient. Dr. Crowe
is compelled to help Cole, not only for the boy's sake, but
for his own redemption. As Dr. Crowe struggles to determine
what torments Cole, he must also come to terms with his increasingly
distant relationship to his wife (Olivia Williams). Meanwhile,
Cole is unable to describe the horrible things he sees even
to his worried mother (Toni Collette). The scene where Cole
finally tells Dr. Crowe about his supernatural secret is one
of the 1990s most quoted and well-known cinematic moments. |
|
| |
| LUCIE ALBRAE |
| 010100 |
| Based on the inspiring autobiography of French
freedom fighter Lucie Aubrac, Berri's film chronicles the way
that Aubrec and her husband involved themselves in World War
II, taking primary roles in the French resistance. Set in Lyons,
France in 1943, this suspenseful political drama depicts the
loving couple as they faught for survival during the dark days
of the third Reich's invasion of their homeland. Gerard Depardieu
stars as Raymond Samuel, a courageous leader of the French resistance
with fierce devotion to both to his wife Lucie (Carole Bouquet)
and his young child. While working to undermine the Gestapo,
he is betrayed by a fellow freedom fighter and imprisoned. Tortured
and beaten in a Nazi prison, Samuel is sentenced to death for
war crimes. It is up to the beautiful and cunning Lucie to find
a way to save her husband's life before it is too late. She
is determined to keep a promise of passion made when the young
lovers first met. This beguiling love story depicts the astonishing
bravery and determination of Lucie to save her husband at any
costs while continuing to fight for personal and political freedom
in France. A thoughtful and passionate period piece that brings
a heart-stopping true story of great courage to the screen. |
|
| |
| BRINGING
OUT THE DEAD |
| 010100 |
| Martin Scorsese exhilaratingly adapts Joe
Connelly’s novel about Frank (Nicolas Cage), a paramedic
working among the filth and mental desolation of New York City's
Hell's Kitchen in the early 1990s. Lately he has been haunted
by the visions of a newborn baby whom he was unable to resuscitate.
Soon after, another image begins to torment him, that of Mary
(Patricia Arquette), a recovering drug addict who enters Frank's
life when he attempts to save her father. His spiral into even
further confusion is paralleled with his three driving partners:
Larry (a boisterous John Goodman), whose advice to Frank is
not to think about all the death and violence; Marcus (a scene-stealing
Ving Rhames), a religious fanatic who uses his medical skills
as propaganda for the Lord; and Walls (a maniacal Tom Sizemore),
a loose cannon who has no sensible grounding whatsoever. In
order to escape the madness that is consuming him, Frank asks,
unsuccessfully, to be fired. He must ride out the nightmare,
trying to redeem the lives of Rose, Mary, and himself in the
process. Scorsese uses his camera to capture Frank’s wavering
mental state with tilted angles and fast-speed photography.
In portraying the tormented Frank, Cage dives wholeheartedly
into character, delivering another fiery performance. |
|
| |
| LEGEND OF 1900 |
| 010700 |
| The story of an individual who is born and
raised on a ship, learning about people and the outside world
through interactions with the ship's rotating passengers, THE
LEGEND OF 1900 comes from director Guiseppe Tornatore. When
a deckhand, Boodman (Bill Nunn), discovers a newborn baby on
January 1, 1900, he Christens him Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900.
A freak accident takes the life of the older Boodman, and 1900
(Tim Roth) is looked after by other members of the ship's crew.
As he grows up, he learns to accept the crew as his family and
the ship as his home. A glimpse of an individual playing a piano
intrigues 1900, and before long he's a well-accomplished adult
pianist. The legend reaches land and eventually earns 1900 visits
from Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III) and a member
of the music industry who wants to record him. The song that
1900 plays is dedicated to a beautiful young woman (Melanie
Thierry) who threatens to lure him off the ship. Sheepishly,
he stays. All of this is told in flashback, remembered by 1900's
despondent friend Max (Pruitt Taylor Vince) as he prepares to
pawn his trumpet. When he discovers that the ship is about to
be sunk, he is convinced that 1900 is still on it somewhere
and the frantic race is on to save his friend. |
|
| |
| AMERICAN
BEAUTY |
| 010700 |
| AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester
Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he
becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham
lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this
is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach),
a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings
and keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim,
Lester quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood,
lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering
the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best
friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening),
has her own midlife crisis of sorts. A real estate agent, she
experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane
(Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora
Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued by Ricky (Wes Bentley),
the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around
with him at all times. When Ricky's militaristic father, Colonel
Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying
on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions
boils over, the time bomb finally explodes. |
|
| |
| DOGMA |
| 010700 |
| Imaginative theology and a bigger than usual
budget make Kevin Smith's fourth film a kind of post-Catholic
fantasy that only a comic-book enthusiast of his caliber could
dream up. The plot is set in motion by two banished angels,
Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck). After a few millenia
in Wisconsin, they've discovered a loophole in Catholic doctrine
that would allow them back into heaven--but prove the fallibility
of God and destroy the universe. Unaware of the peril, they
make their way to New Jersey to receive a plenary indulgence.
Meanwhile, God has dispatched a seraphim (Alan Rickman) to recruit
lapsed-Catholic Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) to stop the angels.
She finds help in muses, prophets (Jay and Silent Bob), and
the forgotten 13th apostle, Rufus (Chris Rock). Before long,
all hell breaks loose (literally), and God (Alanis Morrisette)
has to put in an appearance of her own. The success of the film
is in the juxtaposition of Smith's trademark acerbic attitude
and witty dialogue against the enormous canvas of Christian
iconography and apocalyptic conflict. |
|
| |
| BOYS DON'T CRY |
| 011400 |
| From the middle of America emerged an extraordinary
double life, a complicated love story and a crime that would
shatter the heartland. In Falls City, Nebraska, Brandon Teena
(Hilary Swank) was a newcomer with a future who had the small
rural community enchanted. Women adored him and almost everyone
who met this charismatic stranger was drawn to his charming
innocence. But, Falls City's hottest date and truest friend
had one secret: he wasn't the person people thought he was.
Back home in Lincoln just seventy-five miles away, Brandon Teena
was a different person caught up in a personal crisis that had
haunted him his entire life. Like many young people, he made
costly mistakes and when he inadvertently trespassed between
his new love Lana (Chloe Sevigny) and her reckless friend John
(Peter Sarsgaard), the mystery unraveled into violence. In a
single, short life Brandon Teena was at once a dashing lover
and a trapped outsider, both an impoverished nobody and a flamboyant
dreamer, a daring thief and the tragic victim of an unjust crime.
Boys Don't Cry explores the contradictions of American youth
and identity through the true life and death of Brandon Teena.
What emerges from a dust-cloud of mayhem, desire and murder
is the story of a young American drifter searching for love,
a sense of self and a place to call home. |
|
| |
| THE SOURCE |
| 011401 |
| The story of three young men who defined the
"Beat Generation" in the mid '40s through poetry and
prose. Jack Kerouac (Depp), Allen Ginsburg (Turturro), and William
S. Burroughs (Hopper) are the subject of this insightful documentary
by Chuck Workman (SUPERSTAR: The Life And Times Of Andy Warhol)
who utilizes interview footage, feature film and television
clips, performances of fellow beat artists, and dramatized readings
to further examine the story of these cultural icons. |
|
| |
| EARTH |
| 012800 |
| Deepa Mehta's epic tale of the hateful religious
and civil wars that took place in India and Pakistan in the
1947 battle to gain independence from the British, EARTH is
the second movie in a trilogy from the director, preceded by
FIRE (1996) and followed by WATER (due in 2001). The story,
which is based on an autobiographical novel entitled CRACKING
INDIA, by Bapsi Sidhwa, is told through the eyes of a little
girl, Lenny (Maia Sethna), who has one leg in a brace. The impediment
keeps Lenny from being very active, so she spends her time sitting
and talking with her loving nanny, Shanta (Nandita Das), whose
beauty attracts a faithful following of about six male friends.
Lenny and Shanta sit in the park, fly kites, take long picturesque
walks through the ruins outside their village, and all the time
Lenny is absorbing the conversations around her. Between Shanta's
Muslim and Hindu suitors--one of whom is a Sikh--and Lenny's
parent's varied group of Parsee and Catholic friends, the debates
about the futures of India and Pakistan, including a litany
of stereotypes, fearful opinions, and hateful feelings about
all parties involved, become more and more heated. Finally,
Lenny watches as the warring begins. A horrific trainload full
of the bodies of massacred Muslims arrives in their town. Gangs
march through the streets raging with violence. Hindu tenements
are burned to the ground. Lenny is terrified, and as she struggles
to understand all that is happening--and why--the tragedy only
gets worse. EARTH is an intense and moving film that illustrates
beautifully the terrifying political and cultural atmosphere
of 1947 India. |
|
| |
| LAST NIGHT |
| 012800 |
| Writer/director/actor McKellar's take on the
always intriguing "end of the world" concept is a
thoughtful, engaging effort that uses dialogue instead of action
to discuss this premise intellectually. The inhabitants of a
Canadian city quietly accept the news that the world is going
to end at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2000 (wisely,
an explanation is never given). Rather than succumb to obscene
hysteria, the various assembled characters come to terms with
their situations thoughtfully and reasonably. McKellar's film
is a pleasant change of pace from Hollywood's recent barrage
of action-packed visions of the apocalypse. |
|
| |
| HARLAN CO. USA |
| 020400 |
| If Barbara Kopple had made no other film than
this documentary account of the 1974 strike of Kentucky mine
workers, arguably one of the finest documentaries ever made
in the U.S. and possibly the best on the problems of organized
labor, her place in film history would be assured. The strike
began when the miners working for the Eastover Mining Co. joined
the UMW, and its corporate parent, Duke Power, refused to sign
the standard union contract. By living with the 180-odd families
involved in the strike, Kopple shows the backbreaking burdens
of the miners' life in the best of times and the looming fear
of destitution in the worst. As the strikers strive to remain
united through a difficult year, Kopple photographs the picketing,
the company's use of state troopers to keep the roads open for
scabs, the showdowns between the miners and strikebreakers brandishing
firearms. After several shootings, one miner is finally killed.
During the man's wake, a memorable sequence, his mother collapses.
While the film is unabashedly partisan, it's worth remembering
that the company's refusal to sign a contract was condemned
by the National Labor Relations Board and that the corporation
agreed to sign only under heavy pressure from federal mediators.
The Oscar-winning HARLAN COUNTY, USA is a landmark in the history
of American documentary filmmaking. |
|
| |
| BOUND FOR GLORY |
| 020400 |
| Hal Ashby's film of Woody Guthrie's autobiography,
BOUND FOR GLORY, recounts the protest singer's life starting
when he's a young man with a wife and two children, trying to
find work as a sign painter in the Dust Bowl-ravaged Texas of
the 1930s. He leaves his wife, Mary (Melinda Dillon), with her
family and, like thousands of others, rides the rails to California.
Along the way he sees the brutal treatment of men by the railroad's
hired thugs before being thrown into a hard life in the migrant
workers camps of the San Fernando Valley. He begins to write
songs about everything he's seen and joins Ozark Bule on the
radio, not just singing about union organizing, but actually
going to meetings and brawling with union-busting goons. When
the radio station management, as a result of pressure from its
advertisers, tells Woody--who's now attracting a following with
his protest songs and ballads about the lives of oppressed people--that
he can't do those songs, he gives up the radio program and decides
to ride the rails to New York to seek a larger audience for
his music. David Carradine, as Guthrie, does his own singing,
giving an intimacy to the songs that might have been lost by
dubbing. The award-winning cinematography by Haskell Wexler
captures both the bleakness of the Great Depression and the
beautiful grandeur of America, exactly what Guthrie expressed
in his songs. |
|
| |
| AMERICAN MOVIE |
| 020400 |
| Smith's film is a poignant commentary on what
it takes to make an independent film. It also happens to be
a genuinely hysterical, crowd-pleasing romp. Trying to get his
masterpiece, NORTHWESTERN, off the ground, but failing miserably
due to lack of funding and support, struggling Midwestern filmmaker
Mark Borchardt instead turns his attention to COVEN, an abandoned
37-minute horror film that he began filming in 1990. His hopes
are to sell enough copies of the video to enable him to clear
his current debts and begin moving forward with his real baby,
NORTHWESTERN. The painstaking effort to get COVEN in the can
and onto the screen for the film's world premiere provides the
greatest laughs in this undeniably entertaining documentary. |
|
| |
| ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER |
| 021100 |
| Cecilia Roth stars in this celebrated film
from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. Distraught over
the death of her teenage son, Manuela drives to Barcelona to
find the boy’s father, an itinerant transsexual named
Lola (Toni Canto). While combing the city's less reputable districts,
she also meets up with Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a sassy transvestite
prostitute, and Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a pregnant nun
on her way to El Salvador. She also becomes the manager for
Huma (Marisa Paredes), the actress her son idolized, and helps
her through a run of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Together these
great ladies bond through various heartrending crises, enduring
the pain and celebrating the beauty of being women (or almost
women). Considered to be one of Almodóvar's most fully
realized works, this charming and unique film blends his earlier
gender-bending irreverence with the mature grace and compassion
of his later work, striking a perfect note of humor and pathos. |
|
| |
| SLEEPY HOLLOW |
| 021100 |
| In Tim Burton's stylish, creepy retelling
of the classic Washington Irving story, SLEEPY HOLLOW, Ichabod
Crane (Johnny Depp) is a squeamish, bookish 18th century New
York City investigator sent to a small town in lower Westchester
county to look into three mysterious decapitations. When the
always rational Crane arrives at the little Dutch village, he
finds that most of the townsfolk believe the culprit to be the
Headless Horseman, the ghost of a monstrous Hessian soldier
(Christopher Walken), who seems to be mysteriously tied in to
one of the town's most prominent families. Burton's natural
instincts for campy humor, combined with the hauntingly gorgeous
technical work (Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography and Danny
Elfman's score included), collide to create a work of exhilarating
entertainment and poetic storytelling. Miranda Richardson, Casper
Van Dien and Christina Ricci help make up an ensemble cast that,
combined with the historically accurate village sets and dreamlike
magic of the haunted Western Woods--created on the largest sound
stage in film history--makes SLEEPY HOLLOW a visually stunning,
gripping, and, at times, chilling film. |
|
| |
| DEUCE BIGALOW |
| 021100 |
| Schneider is Deuce Bigalow, a bumbling fish
tank cleaner. When Antoine, a successful gigolo with a sick
fish, has to leave the country for a few weeks, he offers Deuce
the opportunity to housesit for him. Predictably, Deuce manages
to trash the place and must enlist the aid of pimp TJ (Griffin)
to help him pay for the damages. TJ turns him, in a series of
absurd preparations, into a prostitute. The subsequent encounters
with self-conscious females provide the film with its biggest
laughs, and eventual moral: enable a woman to feel confident
about herself and she will learn to love you no matter what
you look like. |
|
| |
| SWEET
AND LOWDOWN |
| 021800 |
| Allen's pseudo-biopic about 1930's jazz guitarist
Emmet Ray (Penn) is a personal tribute by the director to a
period of musical history that has inspired and influenced him
greatly. Penn immerses himself into the role of the boozing,
womanizing Ray with his usual intensity (this time, with a comic
slant). Cameos by Allen and author Henton give the film a TAKE
THE MONEY AND RUN feel, but it is Zhao's rich photography, as
well as the solid musical sequences, that provide the film with
its depth. Overall, though, this is a lighthearted effort that
aims solely for the funny bone. Morton steals the show as Ray's
silently suffering wife in a breakout role that should elevate
her to the forefront of Hollywood actresses. |
|
| |
| GIRL INTERRUPTED |
| 021800 |
| It's 1967, and 17 year old Susanna Kaysen
(Winona Ryder) is like a lot of American teenagers her age—confused,
insecure, struggling to make sense of the rapidly changing world
around her. The psychiatrist she meets with (courtesy of her
parents), however, gives this behavior a name—Borderline
Personality Disorder, "manifested by uncertainty about
self-image, long-term goals, types of friends or lovers to have,
and which values to adopt"—and whisks her away to
Claymoore. Here, Susanna discovers Lisa, Daisy, Georgina, Polly
and Janet—a group of offbeat young women who not only
become her closest friends, but light Susanna’s way back
to someone she had lost—herself. |
|
| |
| GENGHIS BLUES |
| 022500 |
| In 1995, blind bluesman Paul Pena, who has
played with Muddy Waters, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Jerry
Garcia, and Merl Saunders and wrote the Steve Miller Band hit
"Jet Airliner," traveled to Tuva, a small land in
Northern Mongolia, with a small film crew and radio DJ Mario
Casetta. Pena had become fascinated with the Tuvan practice
of harmonic throat singing, in which singers are able to make
incredible, almost magical sounds flow from deep in their throats.
Pena's tour of the country leads him to the 1995 Throat singing
Competition and Symposium, in which he competes in the kargyaa
section, and the crowd is thrilled to see an American blues
musician throat singing and talking to them in the Tuvan language.
Brothers Adrian and Roko Belic document the trip, alternating
between scenes of Pena's experiences with the people and shots
of the beautiful Tuvan landscape and culture, from lush fields,
stunning mountains, and hot deserts to dancing, a form of sumo-like
wrestling, and a brutal sheep slaughtering ceremony. This majestic
film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 1999
Academy Awards as well as the Audience Award at the Sundance
Film Festival. The music in the film is literally incredible
and it has to be seen and heard to be believed. |
|
| |
| SPIKE
& MIKE'S SICK & TWISTED |
| 030300 |
| |
| |
| |
| TUMBLEWEEDS |
| 030300 |
| Mary Jo Walker (McTeer) is a Southern mother
who hides her self-consciousness by overcompensating. She drinks,
wears revealing outfits, and says things that other people would
never even consider. Fleeing her latest abusive relationship,
she and her daughter, twelve-year-old Ava (Brown), head out
west. They eventually settle in Starlight Beach, California,
and seem to be getting along just fine on their own, but it
isn't long before the cycle threatens to repeat itself. McTeer's
portrayal of Mary Jo is so seamless that one might forget she
is even acting. Reminiscent of the character driven films that
made 1970s Hollywood so exhilarating. |
|
| |
| BOILER ROOM |
| 030300 |
| Welcome to the infamous "boiler room"
- where twentysomething millionaires are made overnight. Here,
in the inner sanctum of a fly-by-night brokerage firm, hyper-aggressive
young stockjocks peddle to unsuspecting buyers over the phone
- and are rewarded with mansions, Ferraris and more luxury toys
than they know what to do with. In this unassuming Long Island
enclave, Gen Xers chase the green at breakneck speeds, sometimes
one step ahead of the law. |
|
| |
| HOLY SMOKE |
| 031000 |
| In this wildly inventive film from director
Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong
Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to
join a group marriage to her guru. Her family, hoping to break
the cult leader's psychic grip on Ruth, hires P.J. (Harvey Keitel),
a macho American deprogramming expert teetering on the brink
of a nervous breakdown. A no-holds-barred battle of the psyches,
cultures, and sexes ensues as P.J. and Ruth fight, connive,
and eventually fall into bed together in what becomes a mutual
search for individual truth. The strong performances of the
two stars, a hilariously offbeat script (cowritten by Campion
and her sister, Anna), and a wealth of delicious, texture-enhancing
flourishes (including some surreal bits of computer animation,
Pam Grier's work in a small role as P.J.'s partner, and a wild
opening sequence set to Neil Diamond's "Holly Holy")
combine to make HOLY SMOKE! a weird, winning blend of goofy
comedy and hallucinatory mysticism. |
|
| |
| MAGNOLIA |
| 031000 |
| In a single day in Los Angeles, a number of
interconnected lives are changed forever. A lonely police officer
(John C. Reilly) falls in love with a disturbed cocaine addict
(Melora Walters). Her father (Philip Baker Hall), the host of
the game show "What Do Kids Know?" has terminal cancer
and tries to make amends for his past mistakes. A former champion
of the show (William H. Macy) struggles to find love while the
current champion (Jeremy Blackman) suffocates under the pressures
of being a boy genius. An elderly man (Jason Robards) lies on
his deathbed, tended by nurse Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman),
while his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) wrestles with grief and
guilt, and his estranged son (Tom Cruise), an infomercial host,
teaches workshops on how to trick women into having sex. Throughout
all of this, past deeds are lamented and strange forces loom
in the air. |
|
| |
| TOPSY TURVEY |
| 032400 |
| Topsy-Turvy is the new film from award-winning
writer/director Mike Leigh. The British filmmaker has, in his
works, brought filmgoers into intimate contact with ordinary
Londoners navigating extraordinary emotional territory. With
Topsy-Turvy, Leigh leaps back in time to grant filmgoers an
audience with two Londoners whose lives were marked by extraordinary
creativity: Gilbert and Sullivan. |
|
| |
| GALAXY
QUEST |
| 032400 |
| For four years, the crew of the NSEA Protector
donned their uniforms and set off on thrilling and often dangerous
missions in space--then their series was canceled. Twenty years
later, the five stars of the classic '70s TV series Galaxy Quest
are still in costume, making appearances at science fiction
conventions for their legions of die-hard fans. But some of
those fans are a little more far out than the actors could ever
have imagined. A group of aliens who have mistaken intercepted
television transmissions for "historical documents"
arrive at a convention and whisk "Commander Peter Quincy
Taggart" (Tim Allen) and his crew into space to help them
in their all-too-real war against a deadly adversary. With no
script, no director, and no clue about real interstellar travel,
the make-believe crew of the Protector has to turn in the performances
of their lives to become the heroes the aliens believe them
to be. |
|
| |
| REINDEER GAMES |
| 032400 |
| Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) is a small-time
car thief about to be released from jail in time for Christmas.
When his cellmate, Nick, is suddenly killed, Rudy decides to
take on his identity in order to meet Nick's beautiful pen-pal
girlfriend, Ashley (Charlize Theron). The couple has fun until
her psychotic brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise), shows up. Gabriel
and his gang want to hold up a casino where Nick had once worked,
and they blackmail Rudy/Nick into going along with the scheme.
Rudy has to bluff his way through the crime, pretending to be
Nick in order to avoid being killed while trying to sabotage
the plans of the bad guys. Will Rudy be able to outsmart the
bad guys, or will he end up facedown in the snow? |
|
| |
| MR. DEATH |
| 033100 |
| The story of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., a man
whose complete belief in himself as an expert in anything he
devoted his time to ended up ruining his professional career.
Growing up in the American prison system, where his father was
an employee, Leuchter literally stumbled into his first position
as the individual who perfected the electric chair, making capital
punishment run more smoothly for the officials, as well as victims.
This improvement convinced other prisons that he could make
the same adjustments to their chosen outlets: lethal injections,
gas chambers, and gallows. Soon, Leuchter was the country's
predominant expert on the maintaining and designing of execution
equipment. The trial of one Ernst Zundel would change all of
this, however. Charged in Canada with the publishing of historical
lies in the form of a pamphlet which firmly refuted the reality
of the Holocaust and proposed that the gas chambers at Auschwitz
were an invention by Jewish sympathizers, Zundel needed the
support of an expert who could prove that this was, in fact,
the case. Enter Leuchter, who traveled to Poland (on his honeymoon!)
and collected samples from various sites to prove, for himself,
whether or not these chambers existed. His results, which appeared
to everyone except the revisionists and himself as being utterly
ridiculous and inaccurate, ruined his marriage, personal life,
and career in the penal system. All of this due to his stubborn
belief that everything he did was perfect and unflinching. A
truly sad story. |
|
| |
| THE WAR ZONE |
| 033100 |
| Tim Roth's directorial debut, based on the
novel by Alexander Stuart (who adapted the screenplay), is not
for the faint of heart. When a seemingly normal family moves
from London to rural Devon, 15-year-old Tom (Freddie Cunliffe)
stumbles into a shocking secret concerning his father (Ray Winstone)
and 17-year-old sister, Jessie (Lara Belmont). Afraid of breaking
up the family and upsetting his mother (Tilda Swinton), who
has just given birth to a baby girl, he crawls into a shell
and remains there, confused and alienated. Eventually, the situation
boils over and the truth is exposed. Roth shows that he has
the ability to draw extremely emotional performances from professional
actors Winstone and real-life partner Swinton, as well as from
newcomers Belmont and Cunliffe, who provide the film with its
true heart. A brilliantly harsh and tragic family drama. |
|
| |
| THE CUP |
| 040700 |
| Inspired by a true story, THE CUP (written
and directed by Buddhist monk Khyentse Norbu) is set in a monastery-in-exile
in the foothills of the Himalayas where hundreds of young boys
study the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Arriving from their homes
in the Chinese-controlled country, two refugee boys, Nyima and
Palden, are accepted into the monastery and immediately become
involved the daily routine of monastic life, meeting others
like the soccer-obsessed Orygen and the easy-going Lodo. Against
the wishes of their master Geko, the determined Orygen convinces
Palden and Lodo to sneak out of the monastery to watch a soccer
match in a nearby town. After the boys are caught, Geko brings
this growing soccer craze to the attention of the Abbot, the
head of the monastery. Together the two elders ponder how to
deal with the boys' interest in such modern attractions in the
midst of their Buddhist studies. Meanwhile, despite being reprimanded,
Orygen is determined to see the impending World Cup match, even
if it means bringing the match into the monastery. |
|
| |
| WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? |
| 040700 |
| The year is 2,999. Four solar systems and
three generations away from Earth lies a highly evolved world
populated by what appears to be male life forms. When one of
them, Harold, is sent to Earth on a mission to impregnate a
woman and have a child, he quickly learns that traveling halfway
across the universe was the easy part. Upon his arrival to Earth,
Harold befriends Perry Gordon (Greg Kinnear), a horny, morally
challenged specimen of the human male, and together they scope
Phoenix for women. To Harold, however, female Earthlings prove
to be an immensely diverse and complicated species. On the prowl
for the ideal woman with whom he can mate, the alien encounters
a wide spectrum of potential candidates: a charming, almost
frigid stewardess (Judy Greer), a topless waitress (Anastasia
Sakelaris), Perry's sexually aggressive wife, Helen (Linda Fiorentino),
and finally, Susan (Oscar® nominee Annette Bening), a recovering
alcoholic who's about to embark on a new life. |
|
| |
| THE THIRD MIRACLE |
| 040700 |
| Agnieszka Holland directs this reflective,
moving drama, which was based on the novel by Richard Vetere,
who also adapted the screenplay with John Romano. THE THIRD
MIRACLE tells the story of Frank Shore (Ed Harris), a priest
currently undergoing a crisis of faith. Investigating a deceased
woman upon whom he has the ability to bestow sainthood, he begins
to fall for the woman's agnostic daughter, Roxanne (Anne Heche),
confusing his purpose even more. Seeing his only chance for
redemption in canonizing the woman, he must dig deep within
himself to convince the cynical Archbishop Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl)
that she is, in fact, worthy of sainthood. |
|
| |
| THE
WHOLE NINE YARDS |
| 041400 |
| Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (MATTHEW
PERRY) is a nice dentist living in suburban Montreal. His new
next door neighbor, Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (BRUCE
WILLIS), is a hit man hiding out from a dangerous Chicago crime
family. Despite their differences, Oz and Jimmy have one thing
in common: someone's trying to kill them both. For Jimmy, avoiding
a couple of hired killers is child's play. But for Oz, it's
a whole new ball game. |
|
| |
| THE
MATRIX |
| 041400 |
| Neo (KEANU REEVES) is desperately seeking
the truth about The Matrix - something he's heard of only in
whispers - something mysterious and unknown - something, Neo
is certain, that has unimaginable and sinister control over
his life. What is The Matnx? |
|
| |
| THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN |
| 041400 |
| In the third century B.C., Ying Zheng (Li
Xuejian), the powerful king of Qin province, struggles to unify
China and become the country's first emperor. In an effort to
make himself seem untouchable, he sends his lover, Lady Zhao
(Gong Li), to her homeland, Han, to recruit a professional killer
who will intentionally botch an assassination attempt on him.
Once in Han, Zhao meets Jing Ke (Fengyi Zhang), an infamous
assassin who has given up the sword. Zhao's plans change after
Ying begins ruling with an increasingly brutal hand--and she
starts to fall in love with Jing. Shakespearean in its riveting
presentation of tragic power plays on the battlefield and behind
the closed doors of royal chambers and featuring wondrous costume
and set designs that breathe life into a magnificent chapter
of China's rich history, Chen Kaige's film--at the time of its
release the most expensive ever produced in his home country--is
a sweeping, beautifully shot, visionary epic. |
|
| |
| MY BEST FIEND |
| 041400 |
| Werner Herzog directed this documentary about
the puzzling relationship between himself and actor Klaus Kinski.
Beginning with their apocalyptic first meeting at age 13 and
continuing through AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD and their subsequent
films together, MY BEST FIEND reveals the deep trust involved
in maintaining such a powerful love-hate relationship as the
glue that keeps them from following up on their plans to murder
each other. Candid and intimate interviews with Kinski’s
costars are interspersed with rare and compelling behind-the-scenes
and behind-the-camera footage from such classic Kinski/Herzog
collaborations as AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD and FITZCARRALDO.
Herzog himself dryly narrates as the magnetic and destructive
energy that resulted when Herzog and Kinski clashed is contrasted
with footage depicting their, at times, gentle and brotherly
love, in this portrait of two artistic visionaries feeding off
each other. From his early days as an aspiring and intense young
actor to stints as a ranting and raving performance artist taunting
audiences with claims that he was Jesus, Kinski’s extraordinary
and extravagant persona comes across strongly in Herzog's double-edged
love letter of a film. |
|
| |
| NOT ONE LESS |
| 042100 |
| NOT ONE LESS is the heartwarming tale of a
13-year-old girl, Wei Minzi (Wei), who is a substitute teacher
living in a poor village in rural China. She is given a month-long
assignment to teach a classroom of 28 students, ages 6 through
10, with instructions to make sure that all the students, "not
one less," stay in school. Wei approaches the job as any
13-year-old might--like a sullen teenager--but because she's
close in age to her students, they respond to her with playful
attentiveness. This film is a clear departure from director
Yimou's dramatic and controversial earlier films JU DOU (1990),
and RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991). In NOT ONE LESS, Zhang uses
a straightforward documentary style enriched with scenic shots
of Wei walking over the dusty footpaths of her village, backed
by lush, cascading mountains. The children, including Wei, are
non-actors who play themselves. As the story goes, Zhang Huike
(Zhang), the class troublemaker, is sent to the city to find
work and pay off his parents' debts. Teacher Wei sets out to
find him and bring him back. Wei puts herself on the line for
her tiny school and its impoverished community, and miraculously,
her message travels farther than she'd ever imagined it might. |
|
| |
| MIFUNE |
| 042800 |
| Kresten (Berthelsen) is a Copenhagen businessman
who has just married Claire (Grabol), his boss's beautiful daughter.
When he receives a call the very next morning informing him
of his father's passing, Claire is confused. Apparently, Kresten
has told everyone in Copenhagen that he has no living relatives.
This is due to the fact that he was raised in the country and
was ashamed to confess to his unprosperous rural upbringing.
Nervously, he assures Claire that the burial will be handled
swiftly and that she needn't bother travelling with him. Arriving
at his father's decrepit farm, Kresten encounters his handicapped
brother Rud (Asholt). He reconnects with him by pretending to
be the samurai actor Toshiro Mifune, a game they played throughout
their childhood. When Kresten realizes that the paperwork is
going to take longer than expected, he places a newspaper ad
for a housekeeper, disgusted with their filthy living conditions.
He gets more than he could have hoped for when the strikingly
gorgeous Liva (Hjejle) arrives. Liva has been working as a prostitute
in order to pay for her younger brother's private school tuition,
but when she begins receiving threatening phone calls, she flees
the city. As genuine feelings begin to emerge between Kresten
and Liva, the truth unavoidably rears its mischievous head,
teaching everyone involved a very powerful lesson about family
and love. |
|
| |
| LIBERTY
HEIGHTS |
| 042800 |
| Returning once again to the Baltimore of his
youth, director Barry Levinson adds another installment to his
Baltimore Trilogy (DINER, TIN MEN, AVALON), tackling the emotionally
charged subjects of anti-Semitism and racism--in addition to
his standard themes of family, friendship, and loyalty--in LIBERTY
HEIGHTS. In 1954, Ben Kurtzman (Ben Foster), a Jewish teen from
Baltimore, is intrigued by the new girl in his class. The problem?
Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson) is one of the first African American
students to attend his school. While Ben and Sylvia pursue a
forbidden friendship in the early days of desegregation, Ben’s
older brother, Van (Adrien Brody), is smitten with Dubbie (Carolyn
Murphy), a beautiful wealthy WASP who may as well live in another
world. As the Kurtzman brothers struggle with their budding
relationships and new cultures, their father, Nate (Joe Mantegna),
is busy dealing with his own problems. His failing burlesque
show is a front for running numbers, and he owes a huge payout
to Little Melvin, a small-time African American drug dealer
who is certain that Nate is trying to stiff him because of the
color of his skin. Levinson once again employs a subtly entertaining
visual style that allows the terrific dialogue and serious story
lines to play out with realism and depth. |
|
| |
| GHOST DOG |
| 050500 |
| Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) lives simply,
apart from the world in a homemade shack on the roof of an abandoned
building. His only true companion is the trusted carrier pigeon
that serves as his primary means of communication with the outside
world. He studies the early eighteenthcentury Japanese warrior
text Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai. Each morning, he bows
to the altar he has constructed and practices the ancient disciplines
of the samurai. Ghost Dog is a contract killer, a master of
his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through
this world like a phantom, stealthy and evanescent. In the spirit
of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a small-time mobster
named Louie (John Tormey), who saved his life many years before. |
|
| |
| ME MYSELF I |
| 050500 |
| A frustrated single woman thinks back to her
past and wonders what her life would be like if she had married
the love of her life in this charming romantic comedy from Australia.
When she finds herself face to face with the self that actually
did marry him, she gets to see the life that particular path
would have presented. Rachel Griffiths (HILARY AND JACKIE) delivers
a supremely engaging performance that reaffirms her status as
one of the world's finest actresses. |
|
| |
| ROMEO
MUST DIE |
| 050500 |
| ROMEO MUST DIE is the story of fathers and
sons, of the importance of blood, of star-crossed lovers willing
to risk their lives for their love. Two warring families, one
Chinese, one African American, are fighting for control of the
Oakland waterfront. It's an eye for an eye as members of each
gang keep turning up dead--including the son of Ch'u Sing, the
Chinese gang leader, which escalates the war to epic proportions.
Into this fray comes Han Sing (Jet Li), Ch'u's other son, a
cop who has escaped from a Hong Kong prison where he was serving
time for not arresting his father and brother. Han soon becomes
a little too friendly with Trish O'Day (Aaliyah), the daughter
of Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo), the leader of the African American
gang. The growing romance between Han and Trish parallels the
growing body count. |
|
| |
| VIRGIN
SUICIDES |
| 051200 |
| Based on the 1993 novel by Jeffrey Eugenides,
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES tells the dreamlike tale of the Lisbons,
a family living in a sheltered 1970s suburbia. When Cecilia
(Hannah Hall), the youngest of the five teenage Lisbon daughters,
inexplicably commits suicide, the rest of the family--Mr. Lisbon
(James Woods), an awkward high school math teacher; Mrs. Lisbon
(Kathleen Turner), a stern, humorless housewife; and the four
remaining sisters: Lux (Kirsten Dunst), Bonnie (Chelse Swain),
Mary (A.J. Cook), and Therese (Leslie Hayman)--recedes into
a morbid cloud of repression and denial. As the girls are forced
to retreat from everyday life by their conservative mother,
they become the subject of fascination for a group of neighborhood
boys, who narrate the story and hope to rescue the girls from
their listless confinement. |
|
| |
| FINAL DESTINATION |
| 051200 |
| Death is coming and Alex Browning (DEVON SAWA)
is blessed with the curse of knowing when, how and where the
grim reaper will strike. Alex's bone-chilling gift reveals itself
just as the teenager embarks on a trip to Paris with his high
school French class. In the plane's cabin, buckled-in and ready
for take-off, Alex experiences his first powerful premonition.
He sees the plane explode in a fiery blaze moments after leaving
the ground. Sensing imminent doom, Alex panics and insists that
everyone get off the plane. In the melee than ensues, seven
people including Alex, are forced to disembark. |
|
| |
| CIDER HOUSE RULES |
| 051900 |
| THE CIDER HOUSE RUES, an expertly crafted
and intelligent adapation of John Irving's novel, explores themes
of disappointment, ideas of moral ambiguity, and, indeed, lessons
about life itself, woven into a dramatic story that is neither
slow nor sentimental. Tobey Maguire is the immensely likable
Homer Wells, a lifelong resident of a Maine orphanage who comes
of age during WWII under the auspices of its director, Dr. Wilbur
Larch (Michael Caine). Larch is pragmatic, progressive, highly
intelligent, and loathe to let Homer go out into the world.
He sees him as a son, and the only one whose medical training
allows for him to take over when he retires from his job as
physician, obstetrician, and illegal abortionist. When ingenue
Candy (Charlize Theron) and air force adventurer Wally (Paul
Rudd), come to Larch for help with an abortion, Homer befriends
the couple and, against Larch's wishes, sets off with them to
see the world, or at least the rest of Maine. Working at an
apple orchard owned by Wally's mother (Kate Nelligan), Homer
lives and works with a group of African-American migrant workers,
among them the morally ambiguous Mr. Rose Delroy Lindo and his
beloved daughter Rose Rose (Erykah Badu in a stunning debut).
When Wally goes off to war, and Rose Rose gets into a complex
and frightening situation, Homer is faced with serious choices
and dilemmas that can only be solved by the wisdom he has learned
from Larch. A classic, old-fashioned-style American film that
deals directly with sensitive and taboo issues, THE CIDER HOUSE
RULES is a beautifully acted, carefully paced story full of
substance. |
|
| |
| COLOR OF PARADISE |
| 051900 |
| In THE COLOR OF PARADISE, an eight-year-old
boy named Mohammed attends a school for blind children in Tehran.
When summer vacation arrives, the parents of the other children
arrive to take them home. Mohammed's widowed coal worker father,
Hashem, however, arrives hours late, then asks a teacher if
Mohammed can stay at the school permanently. When his request
is refused, Hashem takes his son on a cross-country journey
to their family home in northern Iran. While Hashem is dour
and visibly burdened, Mohammed's senses are overloaded with
the sounds, scents, and textures of the lush natural surroundings
along the way. At the family farm, Mohammed is reunited with
his two young sisters and his adoring Granny, with whom the
young boy has a spiritual bond. When Hashem is given the chance
to marry a young woman from a strict Islamic family, he worries
that his son will destroy his chance of approval from her family,
so he sends the boy off to a remote part of Iran to be a carpenter's
apprentice. Initially, the boy feels abandoned but eventually
grows accustomed to his new environment. Back at the family
farm, however, Hashem's selfishness destroys the bucolic peace
as it touches each member of his family in a different destructive
manner. THE COLOR OF PARADISE is an intelligent, moving experience,
featuring outstanding direction from Majid Majidi and a terrific
cast. |
|
| |
| TIME CODE |
| 052600 |
| TIMECODE was filmed using four separate digital
cameras that--in one unedited take--capture a series of loosely
intertwining characters who live and work in Los Angeles at
the end of the 20th century. That establishes it as the first
legitimate commercial real-time motion picture (ROPE, CLEO FROM
5 TO 7, and NICK OF TIME were falsely constructed re-creations).
What's more, Figgis broke the screen into blocks, letting all
four stories unfold at the same time. The story is a surprisingly
lighthearted satire of Hollywood, featuring a parade of potentially
cliched characters: the spineless company heads, the coked-up
actress, the jealous girlfriend, the pretentious director, etc.
Fortunately, Figgis has assembled an accomplished and attractive
cast, which keeps the content from succumbing to the visual
onslaught. The result is a strikingly original motion picture
that will be remembered historically for its bold attempt at
creating a new cinematic language. |
|
| |
| JACKS |
| 052600 |
| You can pick your friends, but you can't pick
your cards. |
|
| |
| EAST IS EAST |
| 052600 |
| Set in the early 1970s, EAST IS EAST, directed
by Damien O'Donnell, follows the lives of a Pakistani-English
family living in Northern England. George Khan (Om Puri), a
proud Pakistani immigrant, and his British wife, Ella (Linda
Bassett), run a fish and chip shop, while raising their seven
children. George is determined to honor Pakistani tradition
by arranging marriages for each of the children, whether they
like it or not. When the Khan kids, including the nightclubbing
Tariq (Jimi Mistry), the artsy Saleem (Chris Bisson), and the
shy, parka-wearing Sajid (Jordan Routledge), begin to rebel
against their forceful father, their mother also joins the household
mutiny. During an awkward nuptial arrangement meeting with the
snobby Shahs and their two unappealing daughters, the family's
conflict hits its peak with surprising results. |
|
| |
| JOE GOULD'S SECRET |
| 052600 |
| Based on the New York City friendship between
journalist Joseph Mitchell and Greenwich Village bohemian Joe
Gould, JOE GOULD'S SECRET takes the viewer on a nostalgic journey
back to 1940s New York. In 1942, an article entitled "Professor
Seagull" by Joseph Mitchell (Tucci) was published in The
New Yorker magazine. It told the story of Joe Gould (Holm),
a homeless man who touted himself as an intellectual and the
author of a massive work-in-progress called THE ORAL HISTORY
OF OUR TIME. Mitchell, who first perceived Gould to be one of
"the great, genuine, original American writers," learned
in the course of their long-term friendship that much of the
profile he'd written for THE NEW YORKER was false. Over 20 years
later, Mitchell penned a second article, "Joe Gould's Secret."
Director Tucci reconstructs a quaint 1940s New York City, complete
with old-fashioned studded subway cars, beautiful brownstone-lined
streets, dark moody pubs, and old-fashioned diners. Also included
are a couple of cameos that add flavor to this basic New York
tale--Sarandon plays artist Alice Neel, and Martin appears briefly
as publisher Charlie Duell. |
|
| |
| THE FILTH AND THE FURY |
| 060200 |
| A documentary about the British punk rock
band the Sex Pistols, THE FILTH AND THE FURY puts the band's
story in the context of 1970s Britain. Depicted as a time when
pop culture was clownish and sociopolitical divisions were exacerbated
by hypocrisy in the government and angst among the people, the
film mixes archival footage of 1970s television broadcasts and
commercials with live footage of Sex Pistols concerts, interviews
with the band, and animated excerpts from director Julien Temple's
classic 1980 documentary, SEX PISTOLS: THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL
SWINDLE. This filmic collage also provides comic relief when
the band's nihilistic mantra gets heavy. Which is not to say
that the movie makes light of the Sex Pistols story. Its intelligent,
reflective narration is given in current-day voice-overs from
band members John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), Paul Cook, Steve
Jones, Glen Matlock, and manager Malcolm McLaren. Also included
are interviews with bassist Sid Vicious, who died of a heroin
overdose in 1979. The film puts the British punk era into 21st-century
perspective, hitting on everything from management discrepancies
to "over-partying" to the how and why of the way the
Sex Pistols wielded such enormous influence with their anti-establishment
venom. |
|
| |
| THE BIG KAHUNA |
| 060900 |
| First-time feature director John Swanbeck
teams up with producer-actor Kevin Spacey for this big screen
adaptation of Roger Rueff's play HOSPITALITY SUITE. The story
concerns three lubricant salesmen who have gathered in a Witchita,
Kansas hotel room in order to throw a cocktail party for prospective
buyers. They are Larry (Spacey), a harsh, cocky veteran; his
partner Phil (Danny DeVito), a passive recovering alcoholic;
and Bob (Peter Facinelli), a naïve new colleague whose
ethics drive Larry into fits of disbelief. The trio waits for
the night's arrivals--most specifically, "The Big Kahuna,"
a man so wealthy that he has the ability to single-handedly
revive Larry and Phil's struggling careers. After the party,
Larry and Phil are dumbfounded when they discover that Bob actually
spoke to him, only their conversation consisted solely of religious
dialogue. Larry sends Bob in search of "The Big Kahuna"
with the order that he discuss business if he wants to remain
employed. The subsequent hours provide each individual with
the chance to exorcise his inner demons once and for all. Limited
in its usage of locations, Rueff's big-screen adaptation of
his play contains inspired performances from Spacey, DeVito,
and Facinelli. |
|
| |
| HIGH FIDELITY |
| 060900 |
| A male-perspective confessional about being
an adult--but not acting like one--HIGH FIDELITY is the story
of Rob Gordon (John Cusack), the thirty-something owner of Championship
Vinyl, a record store in the suburbs of Chicago. Rob is in the
throes of a difficult breakup with his girlfriend, Laura (Iben
Hjejle), and he creates a list of the ex-girlfriends who qualify
as his Top Five Worst Breakups, then tracks them down one by
one. At work, Rob's relationship with the geeky guys who help
run the store, Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), is
hilarious and juvenile: the three espouse encyclopedic knowledge
of records while making lists of everything from the Top Five
Side 1s and Track 1s to the Top Five Songs About Death. Director
Stephen Frears works from a script based on the 1996 Nick Hornby
novel of the same title and adapted by D.V. DeVincentis, Steve
Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg. Frears integrates Cusack's
signature goofball antics and gives him a series of talk-to-the-camera,
Ferris Bueller-style monologues that Cusack delivers with personal
ingenuity. |
|
| |
| U-571 |
| 061600 |
| Jonathan Mostow's (BREAKDOWN) World War II
submarine thriller about a crew of inexperienced American mariners
forced to pilot a disabled German U-boat through hostile waters
delivers plenty of action while paying homage to such war genre
greats as DAS BOOT and DESTINATION TOKYO. Matthew McConaughey
(EDTV) leads the rag tag American crew as Lt. Andrew Tyler,
a young officer determined to prove himself a capable leader
after being denied command of his own ship. His fellow seamen
include Jon Bon Jovi (MOONLIGHT AND VALENTINO), Bill Paxton
(A SIMPLE PLAN) and a cross-section of American society, featuring
a hot-headed Brooklyner, an earnest farm boy, a wise black cook,
a pack of fresh-faced young sailors, and Harvey Keitel as a
salty old sea dog. Working with a lean plot, Mostow employs
Oliver Wood's (FACE/OFF) detailed, claustrophobic cinematography
and an exceptional sound design to create a series of engaging
and genuinely tense action sequences that take the rickety submarine
to crushing depths in order to outrun German attacks. While
his attention to hard historical facts may be a bit leaky, Mostow's
ability to sustain suspense rewards viewers with a tight genre
piece with no shortage of action or good old American patriotism. |
|
| |
| COMMITTED |
| 061600 |
| Ever since Joline (HEATHER GRAHAM) married
Carl (LUKE WILSON), she's madly in love, emotionally bonded
and totally committed... even though Carl walked out on her
two weeks ago. Convinced she can save her marriage, she drives
two thousand miles west on a comic adventure to track down her
wayward husband. Along the way, she has close calls with a pair
of highway robbers, a Mexican witchdoctor and more than one
cactus. But the real odyssey begins when Joline winds up in
El Paso, Texas, finds Carl and stakes out his new life...from
her car. With a little help from her brother Jay (CASEY AFFLECK)
his new girlfriend Carmen (PATRICIA VELASQUEZ) and Neil (GORAN
VISNJIC), her tantalizing "neighbor," she discovers
the ups and downs of being the most committed woman in America. |
|
| |
| HUMAN TRAFFIC |
| 061600 |
| The Ecstasy-fueled youth culture of England
is examined in this buoyant, good-natured film from 25-year-old
newcomer, Justin Kerrigan. A group of young Welsh revelers,
including Jip (John Simm), Lulu (Lorrain Piliongon), and Koop
(Shaun Parkes) endure their mundane jobs all week, and then
cut loose on a typically wild Friday night of dancing, drinking,
drugging, shagging, and then recovering in order to deal with
their parents come Sunday. The film's guileless pro-drug stance
may prove off-putting to more jaded and conservative American
audiences, but as a "peak" at England's thriving 1990s
counterculture, it's a fun, fascinating document, and a cheery
companion to TRAINSPOTTING (which was obviously a huge inspiration).
Kerrigan fills the film with lots of surreal and fantastical
digressions, direct addresses to the camera, and quote-worthy
bits of British slang. Energetic electronica pulses throughout
for a dynamite score, which combines with the high-spirited
performances of the cast and makes for good time, whatever your
"buzz" may be. Its honesty about the good, great,
and not-so-great aspects of the lifestyle should ring true to
those familiar with the scene, and provide others with a thrilling,
propaganda-free glimpse into club-kid nightlife. |
|
| |
| 42 UP |
| 062300 |
| Director Michael Apted's evolving film, the
longest-running documentary project in history, began as a study
of the influence of class on schoolchildren in England. In SEVEN
UP (1963), Apted interviewed 14 seven-year-old children from
vastly different backgrounds. He visited the same group of children
every seven years, charting the changes in their lives. In 42
UP, the sixth film in the series, the subjects have grown up,
entered the middle of their lives, and experienced dramatic
reversals of fortune. Although three of the participants have
removed themselves from the spotlight, the remaining voices
paint an enlightening, honest picture of love, life, death,
success, and failure. Going beyond the notion of merely recording
history, the documentary is unusual in the effect that it has
had on the participants' lives. In some cases, friendships have
formed between the subjects; in most other cases, the documentary
has forced them to be more reflective and aggressive as they
anticipate the seven-year ritual. A simple but powerful portrait
of 14 lives, the SEVEN UP series is Apted's most groundbreaking
work; the documentary has already inspired similar projects
in many other countries. |
|
| |
| 28 DAYS |
| 062300 |
| Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) is a successful
New York writer living life in the fast lane and everyone's
favorite party girl. She shares this roller-coaster lifestyle
of hopping from dance club to bar to hangover with boyfriend
Jasper (Dominic West) -- handsome, magnetic and equally attracted
to life on the wild side. Life is just an exercise in debauchery
-- until Gwen's ungraceful display at her sister Lily's (Elizabeth
Perkins) wedding, when she gets drunk, commandeers the limo
and earns herself a DUI and 28 days in court-ordered rehab. |
|
| |
| EAST WEST |
| 062300 |
| A historical drama that recreates the brutal
events of 1946 Russia, in which Stalin, having tricked expatriates
into returning to their native land, murders and imprisons them
as they cross the border. The film focuses on a married couple
and their seven-year-old son. The father, a Russian immigrant
living in France, decides to move his family back to Russia.
Landing, they are only kept alive due to the fact that he is
a doctor. Eventually, the mother becomes fed up and searches
for a way to return to France. Regis Wargnier's film is a powerful
and sobering effort. |
|
| |
| CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL |
| 063000 |
| An offbeat horror-comedy-musical based on
the true story of Alfred Packer -- an 1870's trail guide who
was convicted of killing and then eating five prospectors. Packer
is hired by the future victims to help them find gold in the
frontier, but he murders them instead. Filmmaker Trey Parker
mixes gore and comic production numbers to tell this unusual
tale. |
|
| |
| BOSSA NOVA |
| 063000 |
| This movie was adapted from a novel by Brazilian
author Sergio Sant'anna. Set in Rio de Janeiro, it is mostly
in Portuguese, with conversations involving American characters
occasionally rendered in English. Amy Irving plays Mary Ann
Simpson, an American expatriate who has been teaching English
classes at a private school in Rio ever since her husband died
in a tragic accident. Lawyer Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes)
has just been left by his wife, and becomes enamored of Mary
Ann after a chance meeting. He spontaneously decides to court
her by signing up for one of her courses. These two, along with
several of Mary Ann's other students, Pedro's brother, his ex-wife,
and a vivacious young law intern, become entangled in an extensive
web of romantic attachments and disappointments, and only at
the very end of the movie do we find out who ultimately ends
up with whom. |
|
| |
| ROAD TRIP |
| 063000 |
| University of Ithaca College freshman Josh
(Breckin Meyer) misses his childhood sweetheart, Tiffany (Rachel
Blanchard), who is going to school in Austin, Texas. Josh makes
a tape proclaiming his love for her, but one of his friends
accidentally mails the wrong tape; he instead sends the tape
of Josh having sex with the beautiful Beth (Amy Smart). Josh
had slept with Beth only after assuming that Tiffany had found
someone else. So Josh, E.L. (Seann William Scott), Rubin (Paulo
Costanzo), and Kyle (DJ Qualls), the geek with a car, set off
in a powder blue Ford Taurus to intercept the tape before Tiffany
can see it. They leave behind the insane Barry (Tom Green),
who is on the multiyear graduating plan and would rather stay
in the dorm and feed a live mouse to Mitch the snake. The group's
1,800-mile trip will feature encounters with exploding cars,
crazy motel clerks, too-hip grandparents, stealing from the
blind, the wrong fraternity, and that old stand-by, chef's revenge.
The story is told in flashback, as the always frightening Tom
Green leads a group of prospective students and their parents
through an absurdly hilarious tour of the Ithaca campus, selling
Josh's story as a reason to attend the school. ROAD TRIP is
good raunchy fun, starring a likable cast of characters, told
by director Todd Phillips with a charm that places it above
the standard teen exploitation flick. |
|
| |
| UP AT THE VILLA |
| 063000 |
| With UP AT THE VILLA, director Philip Haas
offers an intriguing cocktail of romance, melodrama, and suspense.
The setting is Italy in the late 1930s--fascism is on the rise,
and British expatriate Mary Panton (Kristin Scott Thomas), a
penniless young widow, is searching for a new husband who will
be able to support her. She has all but made up her mind to
accept wealthy Sir Edgar Swift's (James Fox) proposal when the
situation is complicated by the arrival of a debonair American
playboy, Rowley Flint, played by Sean Penn (who is cast against
type here). A flirtation develops between the two--but it is
yet another suitor, Austrian war refugee Karl Richter (Jeremy
Davies), whose amorous advances Mary finally succumbs to out
of pity. When Richter realizes that a continuation of their
love affair is out of the question, he commits suicide. Now
it's up to the rakish Rowley to save Mary from the consequences
of her fateful one-night-stand, even if it means being arrested
for murder. Directed with Haas’s trademark flair for beautiful
scenery, UP AT THE VILLA is an elegant cinematic adaptation
of a novella by Somerset Maugham. |
|
| |
| KIKUJIRO |
| 070700 |
| In Takeshi Kitano's KIKUJIRO, the actor/writer/director
(billed as "Beat Takeshi") portrays the brash, mischievous
title character, a middle-aged man living with his wife in Tokyo.
When Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi), a sullen neighborhood boy, embarks
on a quest to find his estranged mother, Kikujiro's wife instructs
him to accompany the child. Unfortunately, before they even
leave town Kikujiro squanders all of their travelling money
by gambling at the cycle races and as a result these two unlikely
companions must hitch a series of rides on the open road. As
Kikujiro and Masao trek along the Japanese countryside, they
encounter strange characters and circumstances, leading to a
series of misadventures. |
|
| |
| 8 1/2 WOMEN |
| 070700 |
| Another erotic comedy from Peter Greenaway,
8 1/2 WOMEN takes its inspiration from one of cinema's greatest
films. After a businessman (John Standing) tragically loses
his wife, his son (Matthew Delamere) returns to Geneva from
managing a series of Pachinko Parlors in Kyoto, Japan. When
the pair screen Fellini's 8 1/2, the resulting experience inspires
them to set up their own brothel. Greenaway once again uses
his striking visual skills to craft an entertaining, deeply
enjoyable motion picture. |
|
| |
| SHANGHAI NOON |
| 070700 |
| When the lovely Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu)
is kidnapped from China, the Emperor dispatches three of his
most fierce and noble Imperial Guards to deliver the ransom
in gold to her kidnappers in America's Wild West. Chon Wang
(Jackie Chan) isn't among the chosen. However, he manages to
tag along anyway by offering to carry the luggage for his uncle,
the Interpreter. |
|
| |
| HAMLET |
| 071400 |
| Ethan Hawke stars in this modern update of
Shakespeare's classic play. He portrays a young filmmaker in
New York City who struggles to gain power of his deceased father's
company, even as the new boss (Kyle MacLachlan) manages to take
total control of the proceedings. Michael Almereyda's (NADJA)
film is another stylized adaptation of the Bard's words, featuring
standout performances by the entire cast. For other modern Shakespeare
adaptations, see Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO AND JULIET and Julie Taymor's
TITUS. |
|
| |
| TITAN
AE |
| 071400 |
| The story is a classic bildungsroman, following
the journey of Cale, a young man who holds the destiny of humankind
in his hand--literally. Opening with the stunning destruction
of earth as seen from space, the film launches the audience
into a seamlessly imagined universe in which the alien Drej
have turned humans into homeless émigrés, searching
desperately for a new world. Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is
haunted by the legacy of his father, who abandoned him but created
the spaceship Titan, which holds the key to the new home of
humankind. With the plan for Titan imprinted in his hand, Cale
is swept from a life of lonely drudgery devoid of female companionship
into the colorful crew of mysterious Captain Korso (voiced by
Bill Pullman). On the Valkyrie ship, Cale enjoys Korso’s
crew, including the kind, beautiful, and expert woman pilot
Akima (voiced by Drew Barrymore) along with a strange but fascinating
band of aliens. |
|
| |
| GRASS |
| 071400 |
| Using snappy, comic book-like graphics, great
newsreel and film footage, stills, and music, GRASS chronicles
the history of the American government's relationship with marijuana
and marijuana users. A slick, entertaining, witty documentary
narrated by known grass activist Woody Harrelson, the film is
a fast-paced, coherent (if somewhat biased) illustration of
the absurdity of drug laws and the untruthful coercion tactics
and propaganda campaigns the government has used since the 1900s
to convince the public that pot causes everything from insanity
and murder to rape and Communism. The film tells how marijuana
was traded by migrant workers over the Mexican border in the
early 1900s, and how laws passed to control the drug were also
used to control immigrants. Soon, a series of "truths"
were set loose on the public by the government to deter people
from using grass (shown in the film as hilarious, but true,
headlines deemed "The Official Truth": If you smoke
it, you will kill people! and, If you smoke it, you will go
insane!) More importantly, perhaps, is the film's examination
of how drug laws and the drug war were first formed. Rather
than passing the problem of drug addiction on to the Health
Department, it was relegated to the Treasury Department, which
formed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which imposed taxes
on marijuana instead of implementing rehabilitation programs
for users of the more serious heroine and cocaine. |
|
| |
| BOYS
AND GIRLS |
| 071400 |
| This charming romantic comedy reinforces the
idea that love sometimes finds individuals where they're least
expecting it. Ryan (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is an Industrial Engineering
major at the University of California at Berkeley. He and his
best friend Jennifer (Claire Forlani) have known each other
since they were twelve, although their relationship has always
been rocky. As graduation nears, the two begin to realize that
they may have been standing beside their perfect partner from
the very beginning. An attractive cast, highlighted by the two
leads, makes this a movie that audiences will undoubtedly fall
in love with. |
|
| |
| CROUPIER |
| 072100 |
| CROUPIER tells the complex story of an aspiring
writer who must take a job in order to pay the bills. Experienced
as a professional croupier, Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is hired
by an upscale casino in London, where he intends to silently
observe the goings on while continuing to work on his latest
novel. Tensions begin to emerge between Jack and his girlfriend,
Marion (Gina McKee), when he finds himself succumbing to the
temptations that the gambling world presents; most notably,
the gorgeous Jani (Alex Kingston), whose mysterious intentions
eventually make themselves clear. As the story unfolds, Jack
begins to realize that he is becoming the immoral hero of his
novel, and is, in fact, giving in to these temptations to provide
him with subject matter that will make for a memorable work
of fiction. |
|
| |
| GROOVE |
| 072100 |
| San Francisco's rave scene is exposed in this
exciting independent drama from writer-director Greg Harrison.
Colin Turner invites his brother David, a struggling writer,
to a party named GROOVE, sending both brothers on an adventure
they will never forget. After Colin shockingly proposes to his
girlfriend and everyone's ecstasy begins to kick in, new relationships
are formed while old ones are challenged. The resulting encounters
teach everyone involved a valuable lesson about their place
in the world. |
|
| |
| X |
| 072800 |
| The story takes place in 1999, the Year of
Destiny, and the beginning of the end of the world. The future
of the universe rests on one young man, Kamui Shiro, who must
destroy either the Dragons of Earth or the Dragons of Heaven
- two opposing armies. He alone must decide whether humanity
should be destroyed to create a purified universe, or whether
it should be protected to preserve civilization. Two oracles,
the sisters Hinoto and Kanoe foresee the coming of the Dragons
and predict opposite outcomes. Each sister gathers strength
and ammunition to insure her own vision for the future. However,
neither sister realizes that there is one man who has an even
greater power than the Dragons, and that ultimately he will
determine the fate of the earth. Which sister will prevail and
how does Kamui fit into their struggle? The answer to this question
will forever affect humanity. |
| |
| |
| TRIXIE |
| 072800 |
| Director Alan Rudolph and producer Robert
Altman are up to their usual tricks with this quirky farce starring
Emily Watson. She plays Trixie Zurbo, a naive would-be detective
who takes a job at an upstate casino and finds herself on the
outside of a possible cover-up scheme and murder. She also finds
romance with Dex (Dermot Mulroney), the swaggering donkey breeder
for shady local powerbroker W. "Red" Rafferty (Will
Patton). Also figuring into the case are Nathan Lane as a besotted
lounge singer, newcomer Brittany Murphy as an attractive ex-girlfriend
of Dex's, Lesley Ann Warren as Red's sexpot wife, and, best
of all, Nick Nolte in a perfectly hilarious turn as a double-talking
senator. |
|
| |
| PASSION
OF THE MIND |
| 072800 |
| Moore plays two women in this psychological
drama from acclaimed director Berliner (MA VIE EN ROSE). Marie
is a solemn American widow living in the south of France with
her two daughters. In her dreams, she creates a gloriously magnificent
world for herself. Marty is a confident New York City woman
who dreams of moving to Provence. As the film unfolds, the question
emerges: are Marie and Marty in fact the same woman? Are they
distinct individuals? PASSION OF MIND confronts serious issues
about identity with a highly original twist. |
|
| |
| LIFE
AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG |
| 080400 |
| Following the career of Jewish baseball star
Hank Greenberg from his beginnings in the Bronx to his success
in the Texas minor leagues to his signing to the Detroit Tigers
in the 1930s, this documentary recounts the inspirational tale
of an American hero. Including nearly 50 interviews with Greenberg
himself, his family, other players, celebrities, fans, and public
figures, the film uses older film clips and excerpts from Hollywood
movies popular in Greenberg's day, accompanied by a spirited
soundtrack of songs from the 20s and 30s. |
|
| |
| SHAFT |
| 080400 |
| Crooked cops on the take … small-time
drug lords … sleazy informers and sadistic rich kids ready
to kill -- for police detective John Shaft, it’s just
another night in the underbelly of New York City, another shift
facing down cops and criminals who want him dead and a legal
system that thrives on money, not justice. |
|
| |
| BUT
I'M A CHEERLEADER |
| 081100 |
| The girls wear pink and the boys wear blue
in BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, a film billed as a comedy about sexual
disorientation. Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is a happy-go-lucky cheerleading
teenager in the suburbs when suddenly her fairly normal behavior
(vegetarianism, Melissa Etheridge poster, reluctance to make
out with her boyfriend) makes her suspect in the eyes of the
community. Megan's super straightlaced parents (Mink Stole of
John Waters fame and Bud Cort from HAROLD AND MAUDE), fearing
that their precious "little poodle" may be a lesbian,
promptly ship a befuddled Megan off to True Directions, a homosexual
rehabilitation facility. Unable to take the first step required
by the program--admitting that she is in fact gay--Megan butts
heads with camp leaders Mary (Cathy Moriarty) and Mike (RuPaul
out of drag). Soon enough, Megan finds proof of her heretofore
unknown attraction to girls when she falls for Graham (Clea
DuVall), a sexy tomboy and fellow inmate at True Directions.
Megan's brightly colored and slightly unreal world gets even
odder as an unlikely romance blossoms in the least likely of
places. As Graham and Megan grow closer, the film's unique comic
twists and visual stylization expose the absurd nature of society's
rigid social and sexual codes and create an endearing and hysterically
funny love story at the same time. |
|
| |
| LOSER |
| 081100 |
| Amy Heckerling (CLUELESS, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT
HIGH) directs this romantic comedy starring Jason Biggs as Paul
Tannek, a nerdy college freshman with a heart of gold, and Mena
Suvari as Dora Diamond, the girl of his dreams. Small-town boy
Paul goes to the big city to attend college with high hopes
of fitting in and making friends. But from the start, he's fighting
an uphill battle. His dorky hat and earnest mannerisms drive
his cosmopolitan, ultra-hip roommates crazy, and he finds himself
labeled a loser, kicked out of their dorm suite, and living
in a room in a veterinary hospital. Meanwhile, Paul falls for
Dora, a quirky free spirit who is having a clandestine affair
with their professor, Edward Alcott (Greg Kinnear). Despite
his feelings for her, Paul does his best to protect Dora from
the fact that Alcott doesn't care about her nearly as much as
she thinks he does. LOSER also includes brief cameo appearances
by Dan Akroyd, David Spade, Andy Dick, Steven Wright, Andrea
Martin, Colleen Camp, and Taylor Negron. |
|
| |
| MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE 2 |
| 081100 |
| John Woo raises the action bar in this violent,
romantic sequel to Brian De Palma's 1996 original. Tom Cruise
is back as Ethan Hunt, this time battling wits with rogue IMF
agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott). Hunt is ordered to recruit
Ambrose's former lover, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), to infiltrate
his hideout. But Hunt never expected to fall for the lovely
young thief he must use for bait. The romantic triangle that
ensues gives the film a unique emotional balance that is unusual
(and most welcome) for an action picture. Ambrose is after the
killer Chimera virus and its antidote, Bellerophon; in the old
days Ambrose would have been after world domination, but in
this new world order of day trading and Internet stocks, all
he wants is to corner the market and make a fortune. |
|
| |
| SUNSHINE |
| 081100 |
| Beginning with Emmanuel Sonnenschein, who
builds a business around the family product (a Taste of Sunshine
tonic), the film follows the lineage from his son Ignaz (Ralph
Fiennes), a political conservative loyal to the Hungarian Republic,
to Ignaz's son Adam (also played by Fiennes), an olympic fencer
who is victimized by the Nazi genocide, to Adam's son Ivan (Fiennes
again), a member of the Hungarian communist regime who manages
to divorce himself from it and be free. Through these transitions,
it is Valerie (played by both Jennifer Ehle and her real-life
mother, Rosemary Harris), the cousin and wife of Ignaz, who
becomes mother to Adam and grandmother to Ivan, supplying moral
support, a family backbone, and photographs: a signature snapshot
technique is used in the film to round out each major chapter
or event. A beautiful film with easy transitions, dramatic scenery
and costumes, and admirable performances, SUNSHINE's themes
of family, history, and Hungarian pride resonate far beyond
the big screen. |
|
| |
| BIG
MAMA'S HOUSE |
| 081800 |
| FBI agent Malcolm Turner is known best for
being a brilliant, master of disguise. Malcolm's latest assignment
sends him to small-town Georgia, where he's assigned to trap
a brutal bank robber (and a recent prison escapee) who they
suspect will be coming down to visit his ex-girlfriend Sherry
and her son. Malcolm sets up a stakeout across from the home
of a larger-than-life southern matriarch known as Big Momma,
who's about to be visited by Sherry. It's a simple plan, but
there's one big problem: Unbeknownst to Sherry, Big Momma has
unexpectedly left town. So Malcolm, decides to impersonate the
cantankerous Southern granny. Using a few tricks of disguise,
he completely transforms himself into Big Momma, even taking
on the corpulent septuagenarian's everyday routine-from cooking
soul food to delivering babies to "testifying" at
the local church. In the mean time, Malcolm starts falling for
Sherry, who may or may not be hiding some stolen cash. Now,
Malcolm/Big Momma must somehow find a way to nab his criminal
and the girl. |
|
| |
| GLADIATOR |
| 081800 |
| Ridley Scott (BLADE RUNNER, ALIEN) transports
Hollywood to second-century Rome in this rousing historical
epic that proudly harkens back to such films as BEN-HUR and
SPARTACUS. Russell Crowe plays Maximus, a Roman general who
leads the troops in conquering Germania for the empire. When
an aging Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) tells Maximus that
he'd like him to rule Rome once he's gone, a classic confrontation
ensues between the brave and charming soldier--who wants to
return home to his wife, son, and farm--and the jealous and
conniving Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the emperor's only son,
who is thirsty for power. Bought as a slave by the profiteering
Proximo (Oliver Reed, in his last role), Maximus must kill or
be killed in the ring, battling to save not only himself but
the future of the very empire that he loves and honors. The
film features a terrific battle sequence (that recalls the beginning
of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN), huge crowd scenes of thousands of people,
and even a little romance, albeit mostly taboo. The impeccably
choreographed gladiator scenes are violent yet thrilling, flashing
by like lightning. GLADIATOR is a glorious spectacle filled
with heart and soul. |
|
| |
| JESUS'
SON |
| 082500 |
| Alison Maclean's (CRUSH) exhilarating adaptation
of Denis Johnson's acclaimed short story collection is a deeply
compassionate portrait of one man's descent into drug addiction,
filled with a potent blend of surreal imagery and gritty realism.
Remaining true to Johnson's original text, and in keeping with
the film's substance-soaked subject matter, the film is structured
in a blurry, fractured fashion. Billy Crudup stars as FH, a
Midwestern twenty-something in the 1970s who has decent intentions,
but only seems to make things worse for everyone, including
himself. When he meets Michelle (played with ferocious intensity
by Samantha Morton), he finds himself falling deeper into the
dangerous, desperate world of drug abuse. A tragic event forces
FH to confront his destructive lifestyle head on, even when
it appears it might be too late. Landing in Arizona, he gets
a job writing the newsletter for an assisted living facility,
and finds redemption when he's least expecting it. Crudup and
Morton, both incredibly engaging screen presences, make JESUS'
SON a powerful, darkly comic, and ultimately uplifting motion
picture. Holly Hunter, Jack Black, and Denis Leary all make
brief appearances as quirky characters FH meets along his journey. |
|
| |
| THE
PATRIOT |
| 082500 |
The emotionally charged adventure The Patriot
tells the story of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), a reluctant
hero who is swept into the American Revolution when the war
reaches his farm and the British endanger what he holds most
dear. He takes up arms alongside his idealistic patriot son,
Gabriel, and leads a rebel American Militia into battle against
a relentless and overwhelming Redcoat army. In the process,
he discovers that the only way to protect his family is to fight
for a young nation's liberty. But his dark past haunts him.
In 1763, the lengthy French and Indian War ended. England controlled
Canada and all the territory between the Appalachian Mountains
and the Mississippi River. In many ways, the men who lived on
and fought for this land had stronger ties to it and to each
other than to Britain. The hardy settlers formed Great Britain's
13 colonies in the New World. After years of warfare, they reclaim
their ordinary lives in the burgeoning cities and countryside. |
|
| |
| EYES
OF TAMMY FAYE |
| 090100 |
| In this quirky documentary, codirectors Fenton
Bailey and Randy Barbato catch up with the infamous Tammy Faye
Messner (formerly Tammy Faye Bakker) 12 years after the Jim
Bakker embezzlement scandal and the collapse of the PTL (Praise
the Lord) network. The Bakkers launched PTL back in 1974 and
within a short time found themselves at the head of a vast televangelist
empire raking in millions of dollars in member contributions.
When Jim's affair with Jessica Hahn came to light, the couple
was ousted from the network by Jerry Falwell. Jim ended up going
to prison for fraud, and Tammy found herself alone, grappling
with cancer, the aftereffects of her addiction to prescription
drugs, and estrangement from her family. Abruptly removed from
the public eye and virtually forgotten, Tammy Faye has since
attempted several as yet unfruitful media comebacks, which are
documented here. Of course, there's also the more frivolous
side to Tammy's story, such as some hilarious early TV appearances
involving singing hand puppets and revealing background information
on her obsession with mascara. The film (narrated by drag icon
RuPaul Charles) is a campy yet ultimately loving portrait of
Tammy Faye, who comes across as surprisingly sympathetic, a
cheerful and irrepressible survivor of many calamities. |
|
| |
| X-MEN |
| 090100 |
| Based on the long-running Marvel comic book
series, X-MEN takes place in the near future, as certain humans
are evolving into mutants with special powers. In the Canadian
wilderness, a young runaway mutant named Rogue (Anna Paquin)
and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), a bad-tempered, quick-healing
mutant with retractable metal claws, are suddenly attacked by
the powerful Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his lackeys. Fortunately,
Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry), students of
the compassionate Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart),
interfere and bring them back to Xavier's School for Gifted
Youngsters. Here Wolverine and Rogue learn more about the conflict
between Xavier and the militant Magneto, who wants to power
a device that will genetically alter humans, with possibly deadly
results. Only Xavier's students can stop Magneto's plans. |
|
| |
| CHUCK
AND BUCK |
| 090800 |
| Miguel Arteta's (STAR MAPS) sophomore directorial
effort is the disturbing, heartbreaking, and comic tale of Buck
O'Brien, a 27-year-old with a serious case of arrested development.
Buck, played by Mike White, who also wrote the screenplay, is
a man with the social skills of an 11-year-old, still living
in his childhood past surrounded by toys, his favorite candy
(Blow Pops), and photos of his one and only friend, Chuck. After
his mother's death, Buck writes to Chuck, whom he hasn't seen
since they were boys. Chuck, played by director Chris Weitz
(AMERICAN PIE), comes to the funeral with his fiancée,
Carlyn (Beth Colt), only to discover that Buck has developed
an eccentric, intense fixation on him. When Chuck, now called
Charlie, makes an offhand invitation for Buck to visit them
in L.A., Buck packs up his toys and moves there. He begins stalking
the increasingly wary and angry Charlie, a handsome, successful
record producer who feels his perfect life threatened by Buck's
hints about their past. A funny, discomfiting tale of sexual
obsession with a twist, CHUCK & BUCK continually engages
and surprises viewers with Buck's frantic, yet oddly sympathetic,
quest for love. |
|
| |
| SHOWER |
| 090800 |
| This festival favorite from China tells the
touching story of a father whose oldest son leaves him. He remains
in Beijing, raising his retarded son and running the local bathhouse.
When the elder son mistakenly hears that his father has passed
away, he returns to Beijing, only to discover the extreme relevance
of the bathhouse and its integral role in the community. SHOWER
is an extremely heartwarming film that successfully confronts
the issue of changing times in the modern world, while retaining
its personal edge at the same time. |
|
| |
| PERFECT
STORM |
| 090800 |
| Billy Tyne is a sword-fishing-boat captain
out of Gloucester, highly competitive and stung by a string
of poor outings. His crew is hardly back in port when he tells
them he's going out again, even though it's October and the
weather can turn ugly. Five join him: the young Bobby, newly
in love; Murph, a devoted father recently divorced; Sully, a
guy Murph despises; Bugsy, who's finally met a woman who likes
him; and Alfred, a quiet Jamaican. They catch little, so they
sail east, with Tyne ignoring storm warnings behind him. Finally,
the fish bite, but the ice machine fails. Should they head home
through the storm of the century, or wait it out and lose their
catch? Fearful, the women wait. |
|
| |
| BLOOD
SIMPLE |
| 091500 |
| When a bar owner discovers that one of his
employees is having an affair with his wife, a complex web of
deceit and double crosses ensues in a small Texas town. The
Coen brothers' first picture is an intricately plotted film
noir filled with surprises at each turn. The cast, largely unkown
at the time, includes Dan Hedaya as the cuckolded bar owner,
Frances McDormand as the cheating wife, John Getz as the adultering
bartender, and the fabulously creepy M. Emmett Walsh as the
slimy, sweaty private detective who should not be trusted. The
film is a marvel to experience; director of photography Barry
Sonnenfeld has created stunning compositions filled with open
spaces, and the sound--from the slightest footsteps or dripping
water to a sudden shotgun blast--reverberates ominously, as
if it is a character unto itself. Directed by Joel Coen and
cowritten by Joel and his brother Ethan, BLOOD SIMPLE is an
eerie testament to the limitless possibilities of low-budget
filmmaking. |
|
| |
| HOLLOW
MAN |
| 091500 |
| Washington D.C. scientist Sebastian Caine
(Kevin Bacon) is under contract with the U.S. government to
formulate a serum which will render human beings invisible.
When his test serum makes a laboratory gorilla disappear and
then successfully brings her back, Caine decides that it is
time for him to be the next guinea pig. He and his team are
ecstatic when the serum work. When the antidote fails to work
as it did on the gorilla, however, Caine finds himself in the
initially enviable, but ultimately horrifying predicament of
being permanently undetectable to the human eye. Faced with
the opportunity to perpetrate any crime he desires without fear
of apprehension, Caine gives in to his basest desires. But when
he learns that his that his ex-girlfriend and assistant, Linda
McKay (Elisabeth Shue), is involved with their fellow co-worker
Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin), Caine goes over the deep end,
and is willing to kill anyone who tries to stand in his way,
including his trusted fellow researchers. Director Paul Verhoeven
(BASIC INSTINCT) puts a contemporary spin on the classic INVISIBLE
MAN tale, turning it into a funhouse-style stalk-and-slash film
with some of the most impressive visual effects the screen has
seen. |
|
| |
| IN
THE CROWD |
| 091500 |
| Adrien Williams (Heuring) enters the "in
crowd" when she is hired by a posh East Coast country club
and befriended by Brittany Foster (Ward), the charismatic leader
of a clique of wealthy college students who are home for the
summer. Brittany takes Adrien under her wing, attempts to show
her the benefits of the good life and introduces her to other
members of her inner circle, including the object of Brittany's
affection, tennis pro Matt Curtis (Settle). When Matt shows
an interest in Adrien, Brittany begins to reveal her dark side
and Adrien slowly starts to learn that Brittany and her pack
of friends will do anything to protect their circle and the
dark secrets they harbor. |
|
| |
| CHICKEN
RUN |
| 092200 |
| Facing imminent death while laying eggs at
Tweedy's English farm, a group of chickens led by the determined
Ginger (Julia Sawahla, BBC-TV's ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS) plan to
escape their prisonlike coop. The situation goes from bad to
worse when the sinister Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) decides
to stop selling eggs and use the hens as the main ingredient
in chicken pot pies. However, some hope literally falls from
the sky in the form of Rocky (Mel Gibson), an American rooster
who promises to teach the chickens how to fly. As the hens begin
their struggle to get airborne, the monstrous pie-making machine
arrives, giving the chickens precious little time to make their
great escape. |
|
| |
| BUTTERFLY |
| 092200 |
| Moncho (Manuel Lozano) is a curious little
boy who lives with his loving family in rural 1930s Spain. Sitting
in his bed reading at night while his older brother practices
his saxophone, Moncho is afraid of starting school and afraid
especially that the teacher will beat him. To the contrary,
teacher Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernan Gomez) fascinates Moncho
with lessons about nature and freedom. Taking long walks by
the stream in the beautiful countryside--catching butterflies,
listening for the sounds of crickets, peeking at the local girls
swimming nearby--Moncho and his brother learn to appreciate
the beauty of nature, and through it achieve a better understanding
of their own coming of age. |
|
| |
| WONDERLAND |
| 092200 |
| Michael Winterbottom’s WONDERLAND is
a grittily realistic drama that follows the members of one South
London family over the course of a four day period. The parents,
Eileen (Kika Markham) and Bill (Jack Shepherd), are defeated,
weary rivals whose relationship has all but disintegrated. Their
children are not much better off: Debbie (Shirley Henderson)
is a foul-mouthed hairdresser with an eleven-year-old son, Jack
(Peter Marfleet); Molly (Molly Parker) is about to have a baby
with Eddie (John Simm), who has just become unemployed; and
Nadia (Gina McKee) is a lonely waitress who has stooped to meeting
prospective mates through the personals. As the weekend unfolds,
the sisters walk through the sad streets of London, waiting
for happiness to return to their lives. |
|
| |
| CECIL
B. DEMENTED |
| 092900 |
| In Baltimore, guerrilla filmmaker Cecil B.
Demented leads a band of cinema revolutionaries who kidnap Honey
Whitlock, a bitchy and aging movie star of big-budget froth.
Cecil wants her in his movie, a screed against Hollywood they
film during blitzkrieg attacks on a multiplex, a Maryland Film
Commission press conference, and the set of a Forest Gump sequel.
He insists on celibacy: cast and crew channel sexual energy
into the production. With a family-values coalition, aggrieved
Teamsters, and the police on their trail, Cecil needs help from
porno, kung-fu, and drive-in audiences. What about Honey? Will
she bolt, or refuse to act? Or, will she hit her marks and light
up the screen? |
|
| |
| SAVING
GRACE |
| 092900 |
| Set in the beautiful misty fishing town of
Port Liac in Cornwall England, SAVING GRACE--an easy-going comic
gem--centers on Grace Trevethan (Brenda Blethlyn), a sweet and
modest middle-aged lady, whose husband commits suicide, leaving
her with his grave financial problems. While real estate agents
from London prey on Grace, trying to take away her home to settle
the debts, she and her faithful gardener, Matthew (Craig Ferguson),
devise a plan to grow enough marijuana in her greenhouse to
break even. Wiring the greenhouse with super-bright growing
lamps that cause the locals to wear sunglasses at night, having
the ladies for "tea" resulting in fits of laughter
and silly behavior, and pulling the wool over the local vicar's
eyes, the whole town gets involved in this secret "joint
venture." Once Grace harvests her crop, she hits the high
road to London as a pusher, trying to sell the dope to a major
dealer and cash out. Director Nigel Cole has hit the nail on
the head with this film. The musical score from Mark Russell
has a folky, feel-good beat, and the careful filming is colorful
and clear. Never once does SAVING GRACE frown on its illegal
subject matter, which makes its story all the more entertaining. |
|
| |
| BLESS
THE CHILD |
| 092900 |
| Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no
place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe.
Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York
hospital, until one rainy night, her sister Jenna abandons her
newborn, autistic daughter at her home. Maggie takes the baby
in, and she becomes the daughter she never had. Six years later
Jenna suddenly re-appears with a mysterious new husband, Eric,
and abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal
rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis (Jimmy Smits), an expert
in ritual homicide and occult-related crime, takes up her cause
when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several
other recently missing children. The little girl, it soon becomes
clear, is more than simply "special." She manifests
extraordinary powers that the forces of evil have waited centuries
to control, and her abduction sparks a clash between the soldiers
of good and evil that can only be resolved, in the end, by the
strength of one small child and the love she inspires in those
she touches. |
|
| |
| COYOTE
UGLY |
| 092900 |
| In COYOTE UGLY, an aspiring songwriter, Violet
Sanford (Piper Perabo), leaves her small-town home and her supportive
father (John Goodman) for New York City in hopes of starting
a music career. But life in the big city is harder than she
imagined. Feeling defeated, and unemployed, she hears about
a job opening at a bar called Coyote Ugly, and persuades the
bar owner, Lil (Mario Bello), to give her a chance among the
bar's beautiful brigade of bartenders. When Violet arrives for
work the bouncer tells her it's a quiet night, but when she
goes inside the bar she is hit by a wall of throbbing music
and howling men. Two women are atop the bar, pulling a customer
back over it, pulling up his shirt, and pouring beer on his
chest. Welcome to COYOTE UGLY. How will Violet deal with the
bar? How will it deal with her? What of her songwriting plans?
Inside this raucous, raunchy movie, coproduced by Don Simpson
and Jerry Bruckheimer (FLASHDANCE), is a sweet romance between
Violet and Kevin (Adam Garcia), a refreshing escape from the
chaos of the bar. |
|
| |
| TAO
OF STEVE |
| 100600 |
| Dex (Donal Logue), an overweight slacker living
in Santa Fe, excels at charming women. The reason behind his
success is apparently "the Tao of Steve," a pseudo-philosophy,
largely about dating women, developed by Dex and his drinking
buddies. While this lazy lifestyle with no commitment seems
to work, Dex gradually begins to realize there’s something
more meaningful missing from his life. When he meets Syd (Greer
Goodman), a beautiful set designer, Dex discovers the Tao of
Steve isn’t a foolproof way of thinking, and must get
in touch with his real emotions to get the girl of his dreams. |
|
| |
| SCARY
MOVIE |
| 100600 |
| In the tradition of such genre parodies as
AIRPLANE!, THE NAKED GUN, and SPACEBALLS, Keenen Ivory Wayans
takes on the teen horror flick with SCARY MOVIE, a campy, riotous
send-up of everything from the SCREAM and HALLOWEEN franchises
to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, CARRIE, and THE BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT. In a small town, a copycat is reenacting the SCREAM
murders, and local reporter Gail Hailstorm will do just about
anything to get the story. The six high school students who
ran over a man on a sharp curve the year before think the killer
is out for revenge, but sweet and innocent Cindy Campbell believes
that the madman might just lurk a lot closer to home. |
|
| |
| FIVE
SENSES |
| 100600 |
| THE FIVE SENSES is an ambitious drama that
covers three days in the life of several Toronto residents.
As the search for a missing child captures the city's attention,
five individuals who live in the same apartment building each
explore the five senses--touch, smell, taste, sound, and sight--and,
in doing so, come to terms with issues that have recently plagued
them. With its overall belief that love is the most important
sensation of all, Jeremy Podeswa's film is thoughtful and engaging,
featuring another standout performance by Mary-Louise Parker. |
|
| |
| THE
WAY OF THE GUN |
| 101300 |
| Two professional criminals, Parker (Ryan Phillippe)
and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro), think they've devised the
plan of a lifetime: Kidnap Robin (Juliette Lewis), a pregnant
surrogate mother, then collect on the ransom money from the
parents-to-be. However, when Parker begins to take a shine to
the kidnapping victim, the plan begins to crumble. But it is
not until a heavily armed group of mob hit men arrive with the
ransom money that Parker and Longbaugh realize they've cooked
up a spicy stew of chaos, violence, and confusion. The unborn
baby tops it off, making Christopher McQuarrie's THE WAY OF
THE GUN a terrifically tense nail-biter. |
|
| |
| ALICE
AND MARTIN |
| 101300 |
| When ALICE ET MARTIN begins, Martin (Alexis
Loret) is a young boy living a pleasant life with his hairdresser
mother, when he learns that he is to go to live with his father,
whom he hardly knows. Once in the care of his father--a cruel
and cold man--Martin is extremely unhappy and attempts to fake
illness in order to escape. When the film continues, it is ten
years later and Martin is hurtling out the front door of his
father's estate. Running recklessly into the French countryside,
he spends the next several weeks living like an animal, feverish
and hungry. Finally, he arrives at his brother Benjamin's doorstep,
only to find Alice (Juliette Binoche), Benjamin's best friend
and roommate practicing violin and annoyed at Martin’s
unannounced appearance. As Martin acclimates to Paris, he begins
to fall in love with Alice, and once declared, their passion
runs fast and wild, leaving Martin's brother and everyone else
behind. While on a trip to Grenada, Alice reveals to Martin
that she is pregnant and Martin falls sick with guilt and fear
over elements of his past that he cannot reveal. As the two
attempt to fight for their love, Martin faces his past and Alice
realizes that her love for Martin is the most important thing
in her life. |
|
| |
| REPLACEMENTS |
| 101300 |
Success is often a matter of blind luck, and
some deserving people, talented in their own right, never get
a crack at it. Such has been the fate of Shane "Footsteps"
Falco (KEANU REEVES), once a hot All American prospect on the
football field. Shane can only regret what's behind him, and
can't even begin to imagine what's ahead.
But Fate is not through with Shane. When League players decide
to strike, leaving the prospect of empty fields (and equally
empty stadiums) for team owners to contemplate, the Washington
Sentinels scramble for a solution. When they bring contentious
and self-retired head coach Jimmy McGinty (GENE HACKMAN) back
into the fold, McGinty seeks out players who will play with
their hearts rather than their wallets. |
|
| |
| PHISH:
BITTERSWEET MOTEL |
| 102000 |
| This film follows the band, Phish, through
a year of its life; from the Great Went concert in Limestone,
ME in August 1997 through the subsequent touring in the next
year, leading up to August 1998. The director, Todd Phillips,
said, "We weren't looking to make 'Tie-Dyed'; I wanted
to concentrate on the music." |
|
| |
| GIRL
ON THE BRIDGE |
| 102000 |
| In his magical, erotic eighteenth feature,
French director Patrice Leconte (RIDICULE, MONSIEUR HIRE) captivates
viewers from the first elegant black and white frame. In the
prologue, fragile beauty Adele (Vanessa Paradis) recounts her
wayward, sadly promiscuous past in a comically matter-of-fact
manner. Despite the lighthearted telling, Adele sees her life
(all twenty-two years of it) as a tragic run of bad luck, leading
her to a bridge on the Seine. She is saved from suicide by the
arrival of Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) who jumps in after her. After
the rescue, Gabor whisks Adele away to be the new assistant
for his knife-throwing act. She blooms under his tutelage, and
Gabor reaches new heights of his craft conceding that before
Adele, he too, was lost. They happily traverse the Mediterranean,
performing for thrilled crowds, and find they share a mystical,
telepathic bond that comes in handy in casinos. As their feelings
deepen, the knife-act becomes an erotic substitute, fraught
with sexual tension (particularly in the beautiful scene beneath
a railway bridge set to Marianne Faithful). Will the two realize
in time that like the torn half of a dollar bill that Gabor
gives Adele, each is useless apart? |
|
| |
| BALLAD
OF RAMBLIN' JACK |
| 102000 |
| Ramblin' Jack Elliott ambled through the folk
movement as a true free spirit and the ultimate follower of
his dreams. He had dreams of trains, boats, the road, rodeos,
and he wrote songs about all of these things. He was also the
unheralded but unmistakable link between folk legends Woody
Guthrie and Bob Dylan. On the other hand, Ramblin' Jack abandoned
his family and was an absentee father to his daughter. |
|
| |
| ORIGINAL
KINGS OF COMEDY |
| 102000 |
| When four of the world's funniest black stand-up
comics came together to celebrate their crownings as the "Kings
of Comedy," acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee decided to film
two of their most memorable shows. The result is THE ORIGINAL
KINGS OF COMEDY, a raucous concert film that takes its cue from
classic performers such as Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. The
host of the evening, Steve Harvey, spends most of his time criticizing
modern music--namely hip-hop--for forgetting to include love
in its songs, missing the days when black music was passionate
and romantic. D.L. Hughley focuses on universal topics such
as work, as well as taking his time to criticize certain unfortunate
audience members. Cedric "The Entertainer" makes a
series of clever points about the differences between white
and black people in addition to using his large frame to dance
and run around the stage to hilarious effect. Capping off the
film is Bernie Mac, a frustrated 42-year-old who is sick of
sex and believes that people should tell it like it is, no matter
whom they might offend. As funny as each individual is, they
also take the time to make poignant observations about race,
relationships, and popular culture, giving the film a sincerity
that is truly refreshing. |
|
| |
| PSYCHO
BEACH PARTY |
| 102700 |
| PSYCHO BEACH PARTY was scripted by playwright
Charles Busch (author of the long-running off-Broadway hit VAMPIRE
LESBIANS OF SODOM), adapted from his 1987 play of the same title.
Florence Forest (Lauren Ambrose) is a perky but unfulfilled
teen. After witnessing the antics of a gang of strapping young
surfer dudes at the beach one day, she decides surfing's the
thing for her, and asks the group leader, the "Great Kanaka"
(Thomas Gibson), to give her lessons. But Kanaka won't give
Florence (or rather "Chicklet," as she is soon dubbed
by the boys) the time of day--until her alter ego, S/M dominatrix
Ann Bowman, unexpectedly makes an appearance. Meanwhile, a mysterious
killer is offing the town's teens one by one. Detective Monica
Stark (played by Busch himself) is on the case, but soon her
investigation is complicated by an overabundance of suspects:
Could the killer be Florence's frustrated mom, who disapproves
of the company her daughter's been keeping? There’s also
B-movie babe Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies), in town incognito
after running away from her studio. And then, of course, there's
schizophrenic Florence herself. Expertly mimicking the corny,
frantically upbeat tone of 1960s teen flicks, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY
is a campy (and occasionally raunchy) alternative treat. |
|
| |
| GIRLFIGHT |
| 102700 |
| In GIRLFIGHT, Diana Guzman (Michelle Rodriguez)
is a tough high school girl with a violent streak. Between problems
at school, a father who belittles her, and a lonely social life,
she searches for some way to find respect, love, and challenge.
Diana finds all those things in the boxing ring at a gritty
Brooklyn gym, where she begins training against her father's
will and eventually earns the gym's championship for female
boxers. |
|
| |
| TROMA
FEST |
| 102700 |
| a selection of the troma film companies fine
films shown as late nights all week at the Bijou. |
| |
| |
| BRING
IT ON |
| 110300 |
| The Toro cheerleading squad from Rancho Carne
High School in San Diego has got spirit, spunk, sass and killer
routine that's sure to land them the national championship trophy
for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain
Torrance (Kirsten Dunst), the Toros' road to total cheer glory
takes a shady turn when she discovers that their perfectly-choreographed
routines were infact stolen from the Clovers, a hip-hop squad
from East Compton, by the Toro's former captain. While the Toros
scramble to come up with a new routine, the Clovers, led by
squad captain Isis (Gabrielle Union) have their own problems
- coming up with enough money to cover their travel expenses
to the championships. With time running out and the pressure
mounting, both captains drive their squads to the point of exhaustion:
Torrance, hell bent on saving the Toros' reputation, and Isis
more determined than ever to see that the Clovers finally get
the recognition that they deserve. But only one team can bring
home the title, so may the best moves win. |
|
| |
| SMILING
FISH AND GOAT ON FIRE |
| 110300 |
| Kevin Jordan's debut feature is a shining
example of what independent filmmaking is all about. Shot in
just 12 days for $40,000, the film tells the story of two brothers
living together in Los Angeles, affectionately nicknamed Smiling
Fish and Goat on Fire by their grandmother. Tony (Smiling Fish)
is a happy-go-lucky ne'er-do-well who spends his time hanging
out on roofs throwing boomerangs, writing silly songs, and basically
taking life as it comes in between the rare acting audition.
Chris (Goat on Fire) is the serious older brother, an accountant
who is trying to rekindle his relationship with his high school
sweetheart. Into Chris's life walks Anna, a beautiful animal
wrangler, and Clive, an elderly man who used to work sound in
the early days of black cinema. Into Tony's life marches Natalie,
a charming nine-year-old budding actress, and her mailwoman
mother, Kathy. Suddenly Tony and Chris must reevaluate their
relationships, their careers, and just what it is they want
out of life. Chris and Tony are played by real-life brothers
Derick and Steven Martini, respectively, who both cowrote the
film with Jordan. The closeness of the brothers is what drives
the film, as even the simplest of scenes are filled with a subtle
charm. The film is nearly stolen by longtime actor and singer
Bill Henderson as Clive, who serves as a model of stability
and sensibility for Chris and Anna while regaling them with
fabulous stories of the days of Paul Robeson. |
|
| |
| DANCER
IN THE DARK |
| 111000 |
| The final installment in Lars von Trier's
Golden Heart trilogy (which includes BREAKING THE WAVES and
THE IDIOTS), DANCER IN THE DARK takes the director's original
blend of heightened pseudorealism, fabricated melodrama, and
the priciples of the Dogme 95 genre to a dangerously intense
level. The story concerns Selma (Björk), a Czech immigrant
living in 1964 Washington State with her 12-year-old son, Gene
(Vladan Kostic). On the verge of blindness, Selma spends her
days working in a factory, as well as performing other odd jobs,
in order to save up enough money to pay for an operation that
will cure Gene of the same disease. To pass the time, Selma
fantasizes that her own life is a musical, one in which her
friends join her in sweeping song-and-dance routines. After
her neighbor Bill (David Morse) discovers Selma's hidden savings
and steals them from her, she is forced to perform an act of
salvation that will condemn her forever. As the innocent Selma,
Björk is one of the most fragile and heartbreaking presences
the screen has ever seen. Her unbearably moving performance
is enough to keep the viewer mesmerized throughout, even amid
the story gaps and inconsistencies. Featuring compassionate
supporting turns by Catherine Deneuve and Peter Stormare, DANCER
IN THE DARK is an unrelenting gut punch that will have sympathetic
audiences quivering with uncontrollable emotion. |
|
| |
| THE
EXORCIST |
| 111000 |
| With a digitally remastered soundtrack including
new sound effects and new music along with never-before-seen
restored footage, THE EXORCIST: THE VERSION YOU'VE NEVER SEEN
pays tribute to this terrifying film, originally released on
Christmas Day in 1973. It tells the story of Regan (Linda Blair),
a little girl who becomes possessed by the devil and undergoes
a violent exorcism conducted by two priests: an aging man at
the end of his career (Max Von Sydow) and a young man having
a crisis of conscience (Jason Miller). A blood-chilling film
directed by William Friedkin and written by William Peter Blatty,
this enhanced restoration of the original will thrill audiences
anew. |
|
| |
| WONDERWALL |
| 111000 |
| An eccentric, lovable scientist falls in love
with the girl next door - in an unusual way. Set in 1960's London
(aka Swinging London), WONDERWALL tells the story of a reclusive
professor who becomes obsessed with a stunning model called
Penny Lane. A psychedelic fantasy steeped in voyeurism, this
film features a musical score by George Harrison with musical
contributions from Eric Clapton and Ravi Shankar. |
|
| |
| BROKEN
HEART'S CLUB |
| 111700 |
| Focusing in on a close group of single gay
pals living in Hollywood, California, THE BROKEN HEART'S CLUB
is a poignant film about the ways that these friends both support
each other and annoy each other, guiding each other through
trials and tribulations with relationships, careers, getting
older, and life in general. The film was written and directed
by Greg Berlanti who previously wrote episodes of the popular
television show DAWSON'S CREEK. THE BROKEN HEART'S CLUB is a
timeless comedy that really tells it like it is. |
|
| |
| GOYA |
| 111700 |
| In GOYA IN BORDEAUX Carlos Saura tells the
life story of the 18th Century Spanish painter Francisco de
Goya. Actually, working with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro,
he attempts to "paint" the story. Elaborately staged
and beautifully photographed recreations of Goya's canvases
come to life as Goya (Francisco Rabal), lying on his death bed,
tells his daughter Rosario (Daphne Fernández) the story
of his life. After a mysterious illness left him deaf, he changed
from a craven, though immensely talented court painter of Spanish
royalty, to a passionate painter focusing on the plight of Spain's
poor during Napoleon's invasion. After the restoration of the
monarchy, he went into exile in France. But he was still haunted
by his love affair with the beautiful Duchess of Alba (Maribel
Verdú), who the film portrays in flashbacks with the
young Goya (played by José Coronado.) Their scenes together
are bathed in the soft glow of candlelight, giving the feeling
of a cherished erotic memory. These sequences are a direct contrast
to the figures of death from his later paintings--some quite
ghoulish--who leap from their canvases near the end of the film
to almost literally scare the old man to death. |
|
| |
| YARDS |
| 112400 |
| Director James Gray's second film is a dark
and atmospheric exploration of the corruption that lies underneath
both the surface of a New York City railway manufacturing company
and the family that runs it. Mark Wahlberg turns in an impressive
and quietly intense performance as Leo, a 24-year-old who has
just been released from prison and is in need of a job. Leo
gets a job working for his uncle Frank (James Caan) in the railway
business, where his best friend, Willie (Joaquin Phoenix), shows
him how to bribe politicians by day and sabotage the competition's
work by night. Almost immediately Leo and Willie run into trouble
when they go down to the railway yards to damage their competitor's
work. Leo is soon on the run, hunted for a murder that Willie
committed. |
|
| |
| LEGEND
OF DRUNKEN MASTER |
| 112400 |
| Returning home with his father after a shopping
expedition, Wong Fei-Hong is unwittingly caught up in the battle
between foreigners who wish to export ancient Chinese artifacts
and loyalists who don't want the pieces to leave the country.
Fei-Hong's father has taught him a style of fighting called
"Drunken Boxing", which makes him a dangerous person
to cross. |
|
| |
| TWO
FAMILY HOUSE |
| 112400 |
| Set in the urban backwater of Staten Island
in the 1950s, TWO FAMILY HOUSE tells the story of Buddy Visalo
(Michael Rispoli), who dreams of singing stardom but is forced
to face the struggles of an ordinary life. After his one shot
at making the big time is nixed by his fiancée, Estelle
(Katherine Narducci), he tries to settle into married life,
but he never manages to subdue his overarching ambition to be
a star. Buddy launches a string of failed ventures before eventually
pinning his hopes on a run-down house, where he plans to open
a bar and be the star attraction. But between his wife's control-freak
urges and his tenants' refusal to vacate the house, nothing
goes as planned. However, in his campaign to evict the couple
that rents from him--a pregnant young Irish beauty (Kelly Macdonald)
and her abusive, drunk husband (Kevin Conway)--he finds the
one sympathetic soul in his life. And again he is forced to
choose between his sense of duty and his heart. |
|
| |
| ALMOST
FAMOUS |
| 112400 |
| Writer-director Cameron Crowe brings the 1970s
music scene to life with his semiautobiographical story of a
teen journalist who goes on the road with a rock band. Uncool
15-year-old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is living every teenager's
dream. He's touring with Stillwater, an up-and-coming rock band
featuring lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and charismatic
lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and writing about
it for Rolling Stone magazine, whose editors are unaware of
his young age. Though Miller's mentor, legendary rock critic
Lester Bangs--portrayed with humor and heart by Philip Seymour
Hoffman--cautions him not to befriend the musicians, Miller
takes it a step further and befriends both the band and the
Band-Aids--the girls who hang around with the band because they
love the music. Newcomer Fugit is the perfect William Miller:
baby-faced, slightly gawky, and an awestruck observer. Kate
Hudson sparkles as Penny Lane, the leader of the Band-Aids,
and Frances McDormand delivers a stellar performance as Elaine,
Miller's protective and mildly paranoid mother. In the tradition
of SAY ANYTHING and JERRY MAGUIRE, Crowe's coming-of-age tale
is intelligent, well written, and infused with humor in unlikely
places. |
|
| |
| AIMEE
& JAGUAR |
| 120800 |
| In 1943, as World War II's Battle of
Berlin rages, with air raids forcing families into their cellars
for shelter and bombs exploding all over the city, Felice Schragenheim
(Juliane Köhler) and Lilly Wust (Maria Schrader), fall
in love. Director Max Färberböck's AIMEE & JAGUAR
tells the true story of this passionate, forbidden love affair,
adapted from the 1998 book of the same title by Erica Fischer. |
|
| |
| I'M THE ONE THAT
I WANT |
| 120800 |
| In 1994, Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho had parlayed
her winning streak as a stand-up performer into a deal with
ABC television, which lead to her starring in "All-American
Girl"--the first US television series about an Asian-American
family. The short-lived sitcom saw ABC attempt to force Cho
to compromise everything from her stage persona to her weight.
The experience left her both mentally and physically distressed,
sending her into a period of drug and alcohol abuse. I’M
THE ONE sees the triumphant San Francisco homecoming of her
1999 one-woman show of the same name, in which she reflects
on the experience that saw her become a part of television history,
ruining her health in the process. Along with this experience,
Cho ruminates on other topics such as sex, drugs, alcohol, her
mother, and her search for validation, all things which those
familiar with Cho have heard her discuss before. Never one to
mince words, Cho’s frankness is her greatest asset, and
it suits her show wonderfully. Those who are easily offended
should stay away, but I’M THE ONE combines raucous humor
with a lot of honesty and heart--two things that most films
could use a bit more of. |
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| REQUIEM FOR A DREAM |
| 121500 |
| For his follow-up to his darkly brilliant debut, PI, director
Darren Aronofsky chose to adapt a tough and meaty piece of work:
Hubert Selby's 1968 novel REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, a dark spiral
into the abyss of barren fantasies doomed to extinction. However,
in Aronofsky's frenetic, visionary, unique, and disturbing style
lies the perfect setting for this story of four people whose
intertwined lives are filled with eternally hopeful despair.
This is a different sort of horror film. Harry Goldfarb (Jared
Leto) and Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly) are lovers in Brooklyn
with dreams of setting up a small business and spending the
rest of their lives in love--their version of the American dream.
The two are also desperate heroin addicts, a compulsion that
darkens their lives and leads Harry to repeatedly pawn his mother's
television. His mother, Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), is addicted
to television, which is why she keeps replacing the stolen set.
One day she receives a call from her favorite show, the surreal
TAPPY TIBBONS SHOW, and learns that she has been selected to
appear on an upcoming broadcast. When she can't fit into her
best red dress, her doctor prescribes diet pills (uppers), to
which she swiftly and painfully becomes addicted. Harry's cohort,
an intelligent hustler named Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), completes
the foursome. With its unflinching dissection of addiction,
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is a psychologically disturbing, visually
captivating depiction of lost hope. The last half hour of the
film is among the most harrowing of any film ever made. |
|
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| SOLAS |
| 121500 |
| Like Satyajit Ray's APARAJITO or Yasujiro Ozu's TOKYO STORY,
director Benito Zambrono's SOLAS is a quiet, realistic film
that examines relationships between parents and children, the
decline of traditional values, and urban anomie. While waiting
for her husband to recover in a hospital, a mother (Maria Galiana)
stays with her estranged daughter, Maria (Ana Fernandez), who
fled her parents rural home in Andalusia because she could no
longer bear her father's abusiveness and her mother's passivity.
As the daughter struggles to find dignity in her job and her
relationships with men, her mother quietly tries to brighten
the life of her daughter and an elderly neighbor with only a
dog for a companion. Gradually, Maria realizes that behind her
mother's passivity is a strength and compassion that is rare
in modern Spain. SOLAS, which means alone, is a low-budget film
using little-known actors; it's strong and moving, however,
with emotionally wrenching performances from the entire cast.
Setting a high standard with his feature-film debut, Zambrano
suggests that the solution to loneliness and poverty lies in
remembering how to care for others. |
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| REMEMBER
THE TITANS |
| 121500 |
| While on the surface, high school football may seem like an
innocent game played by the young, for the young, it is, in
fact, much, much more. For millions, including many fans who
are well removed from their high school years but who love to
sit in those creaky bleachers every Friday night/Saturday morning,
it is something akin to a religion. Director Boaz Yakin's REMEMBER
THE TITANS captures the heart of high school football while
tackling the sins of its fathers, chronicling the true story
of the undefeated 1971 T.C. Williams team of Alexandria, Virginia,
which was the first integrated high school team in the state. |
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| CHARLIE'S ANGELS |
| 122200 |
| Charlie's private investigation company is addressed by programmer
Eric Knox, owner of Knox Technologies, whose revolutionary voice-recognition
software has been stolen. Charlie's Angels Natalie, Dylan and
Alex are sent to place a bug in the system of bitter rival Roger
Corwin, who is under strong suspicion. But after the deed is
done, the Angels and their boss Bosley face the fact of a destroyed
home base as well as Charlie's life in immediate danger. But
how do you protect someone you never met? |
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| LITTLE
NICKY |
| 122200 |
| Continuing in the tradition of his hits THE WATERBOY and HAPPY
GILMORE, Adam Sandler stars in LITTLE NICKY, a supernatural
comedy about Satan's geekiest son. Nicky (Sandler) is relieved
when his father (Harvey Keitel) decides to continue as ruler
of the underworld for another 10,000 years instead of picking
one of his bullying brothers, Adrian (Rhys Ifans) or Cassius
(Tom "Tiny" Lister), to reign. Adrian and Cassius,
hungry for power, decide to travel to New York City in order
to spread Hell on Earth. Only Nicky can stop them and save his
father--and the world--from his brothers' evil schemes. But
Nicky has no idea what to expect from New York City, and he
has to deal with new activities such as eating, sleeping, and
meeting a new girlfriend, Valerie (Patricia Arquette). His friends
Mr. Beefy, a talking bulldog, and John and Peter, a pair of
hardcore heavy metal fans, try to help Nicky stand up for himself
and eventually save the universe. LITTLE NICKY features a cast
of regulars from other Adam Sandler movies, plus a hilariously
bizarre sense of humor that allows all sorts of odd and twisted
things to happen. |
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| ALL THE PRETTY
HORSES |
| 122500 |
| Billy Bob Thornton's ALL THE PRETTY HORSES is about John Grady
Cole (Matt Damon), a young rancher growing up just after WWII.
After his mother sells the family ranch, John convinces his
best friend, Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), to accompany him
to Mexico, where ranching is still a big part of life. Along
the way they meet Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black), a winningly enthusiastic
boy with a volatile nature. Eventually, John and Lacey end up
on a huge ranch south of the border, where John falls for the
wealthy rancher's daughter (Penélope Cruz). This leads
to deadly trouble for the two young men, but John won't be dissuaded
from pursuing his new love. Thornton has made a credible modern
Western with this film, which gets strong performances from
Damon, Cruz, Thomas, and, in a star-making turn, Black as the
fiery Blevins. ALL THE PRETTY HORSES is at its best when focusing
on the dusty details of the ranchers' hard existence. Barry
Markowitz's cinematography and Ted Tally's script (based on
Cormac McCarthy's much-loved novel) capture a sweet and melancholy
flavor in depicting a way of life that seemed long since lost
even while a hardy few were still living it. |
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| BOUNCE |
| 122900 |
| When Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) decides to have a casual fling
with a woman he meets in an airport, he gives up his ticket
to Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), an earnest man on standby for
the flight who is desperate to get home to his wife and child.
But when the plane crashes because of snowy conditions, killing
everyone on board, Buddy plunges into a sea of despair and confusion.
At the edge of a nervous breakdown, Buddy seeks out Abby Janello
(Gwyneth Paltrow), Greg's widow. He approaches Abby, who works
as a real estate agent, under the pretense of finding a new
location for his advertising agency. But, he never reveals that
he knows about her husband's death. While his only intention
is to do a good deed for the grieving Abby, Buddy slowly finds
himself falling in love with her and she responds to him with
a similar sincerity. The only thing keeping them apart is the
dark secret that Buddy is hiding. |
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