Film Reviews

In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.

The final feature by Hiroshi Teshigahara. A direct sequel to his preceding film, Rikyu (1989).

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

Accident on Hill Road is a cunning and energetic thriller that takes its premise from the real-life incident of a woman who hit a man, then drove home and parked the car in the garage with the man wedged halfway through her windshield. Celina Jaitly stars as Sonam Chopra, a hard-partying, overworked nursing assistant in this delicious, darkly humorous psychological thriller.

Lassiter is a handsome jewel thief operating in London in the late 1930s. One day he is arrested and told that if he wishes to avoid prison, he must break into the heavily guarded German Embassy in London and steal millions in Gems. Written by John Vogel

Taking all that was great from the first installment, ABCs OF DEATH 2 aims to be a wilder, leaner, faster paced and even more entertaining anthology this time around, with a new crop of award-winning, visionary filmmakers from around the globe.

Tsukiko is part of the photography club at school, but has always felt less than her sister Tomie. She's cute and very popular among boys. However, one day, Tomie dies in a horrible accident, triggering endless nightmares for Tsukiko. One year later, right when Tomie was supposed to turn 18, someone knocks on the door. Tomie is back. Little by little, Tomie will start to show her darkest side to Tsukiko, making her nightmares come to life.

An action-adventure story focused on the lives of express deliverymen, traffic cops and lonely beauties.

An ex-gambler is lured back into the game by a veteran insurance-fraud investigator.

Stanley Kramer's WW-II character study has Lee Marvin as the Sergeant of a small squad laid over during fighting in Italy. During the otherwise boring time between battles, tensions arise as they are ordered not to rescue a squad mate pinned down by the enemy, for fear of risking more lives. Based on the stage play "A Sound of Hunting", by Harry Brown.

On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.

Mehmet, a young Turkish man newly migrated from the village Tire, takes a job searching for water leaks below the surface of the streets of Istanbul. Due to a strange set of events, he is mistaken for a Kurd, imprisoned, and brutally beaten. Upon his release a week later, he becomes an outcast marked as a Kurd, losing his apartment, his job, and eventually his girl friend, Arzu. When a Kurdish friend, Berzan is killed in a street protest triggered by a hunger strike, Mehmet takes a trek to return the body to Berzan's home village near the Iraqi border, and learns why so many Kurds are refugees.

Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.

Always the mama's boy, or in this case a grandma's boy, Sonny joins a posse after a tramp accused of robbery and murder. He is unable to conquer his cowardice until Grandma tells him of his grandfather, also a coward, who overcame his fears with the help of a magic amulet. With new courage (and the charm), Sonny captures the fugitive and becomes the hero of the day. [Written by Herman Seifer]

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.