Film Reviews

After a series of small tremors in Los Angeles, Dr. Clare Winslow, a local seismologist, pinpoints the exact location and time of when the long awaited earthquake--"The Big One"--will strike southern California. With this information, she must battle city officials to release this information to the general public. Also, she hopes that her family is out of harms way when the quake strikes. Subplots show how other families and people cope with the the tremors that strike before the impending "Big One."

For old friends Roger (Peter Fonda) and Frank (Warren Oates) and their wives (Lara Parker of Dark Shadows and Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H), it was supposed to be "the best damn vacation they ever had." But their RV road trip takes a deadly detour at a secluded campsite when they accidentally witness a Satanic orgy and brutal human sacrifice. Now horror hits the highway as the couples are chased by blood-crazed cultists through some of the most intense crash-and-burn mayhem of the decade and into one of the greatest twist endings in drive-in history.

Culled from the real life experiences of its star/co-writer/producer Stephanie Bennett, and starring some of her real life ex-lovers, this is the story of Samantha (Bennett), a twenty-something Los Angeles schoolteacher, searching for excitement and an elusive happiness.

Riyo, an orphaned 17-year old, sails from Yokohama to Hawaii in 1918 to marry Matsuji, a man she has never met. Hoping to escape a troubled past and start anew, Riyo is bitterly disappointed upon her arrival: her husband is twice her age. The miserable girl finds solace with her new friend Kana, a young mother who helps Riyo accept her new life.

An episodic satire of the political and social status of Italy in the seventies, through the shows of one day of a television channel. An English language lesson turns into a killing of a black dignitary of an embassy by a CIA agent and then into his own killing by another colleague. In a television film, the police are befooled by a fake bomb and put a real one in order not to be derided by the public. In a film inquisition show, the bishop of Naples speaks highly of the importance of the family, but a child who lives a miserable family life kills himself. In the debate that follows it is proposed that they should eat the children, as Swift had said. In the next episode, a general who is in the toilet is called for the NATO parade, but the flasher breaks and in his effort to fix it, he dirts allover and kills himself. In a children's show an inspector finds excuses and delays the arrest of a powerful man...

Christmas Eve, London. While the snow-clad city gets ready to celebrate the festival of peace and joy, a series of bizarre incidents shatter the Christmas calm. A couple of luckless Indians find themselves hauled by the London police and made scapegoats. Or are they?Chocolate unfolds a web of sinister plots, slowly unearthing true and mystifying personalities of seven individuals. Seven high-strung, distinctive people who've chosen to remain in the foreign land hoping to make or break their lives.

On his downfall from Heaven to Hell, Lucifer passes through the earthly paradise, a village in Mexico, where elderly Lupita and her granddaughter Maria live. Lupita's brother Emanuel pretends he's paralyzed so he can drink and gamble while the two women tend to the sheep. Lucifer senses an opportunity and plays the miraculous healer. He forces Emanuel to walk again, seduces Maria and makes Lupita doubt about her faith. He didn't bring bad luck, he only illuminated the line between good and evil, where it didn't exist before.

A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early '70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to Russia.

Dive head-first into the world of independent pro wrestling as we follow a group in Lincolnton, North Carolina over the week leading up to a big show.

Malraux went to Spain in 1936 like thousand of others from all other the world, revolted by France and Great Britain's refusal to break the "non-intervention" pact and supply arms to the loyalists when both Hitler and Mussolini, in principle also bound by this pact, openly armed Franco's troops... Malraux began shooting his film in 1938 and finished it the following year when the loyalists' hope had definitely dwindled. Espoir is a requiem for republican Spain, a committed film without any references whatsoever to ideology. --Le monde, 1970 (extract)

The Psychological thriller directed by Hiroaki Matsuyama dethroned US movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians at number 2 following its release this week at Japan Box Office. Starring Shota Matsuda and Erika Toda (Death Note). Based on a manga created by Kaitani Shinobu, this movie is set where the 2nd season of the drama series left off. In the first series, a college student Nao Kanzaki is lured into a mysterious game by tricking other players to win. However Nao got tricked by her former sensei, desperate for help, she enlisted the aid of person named Shinichi Akiyama. In the second series, the duo is faced against new opponents with the help of a rival player named Fukunaga . In Liar game: Final Stage, Players are encouraged to trust each other to win the tournament. However, a mysterious player named X is secretly plotting to sabotage everyone of their chances to win the LGT.

In this violent spaghetti western a murderous robber hijacks a payroll train, murders everyone aboard and then stashes his loot. A gunslinger learns about it and decides he wants the money for himself and so hatches an elaborate plot to get at it. He lures the crook into a rigged poker game, and afterward a gunfight ensues. The quick-drawing gunman makes short work of the robber, then teams up with an insurance agent to look for the hidden fortune. Unbeknownst to them, the robber had an ace up his sleeve...

SG-1 searches for an ancient weapon which could help them defeat the Ori, and discover it may be in the Ori's own home galaxy. As the Ori prepare to send ships through to the Milky Way to attack Earth, SG-1 travels to the Ori galaxy aboard the Odyssey. The International Oversight committee have their own plans and SG-1 finds themselves in a distant galaxy fighting two powerful enemies.

This world war two story depicts the personal war between a Soviet sniper and a German sniper. Their feud continues after the war in Soviet occupied Germany. At the same time a Nazi rocket scientist continues his research while a Soviet secret police team arrives from Moscow to find hidden Nazi rocket research documents and rocket propulsion systems.

Lem goes to Chicago to sell the wheat his family has grown on their farm in Minnesota. There he meets the waitress Kate. They fall in love and get married before going back to the farm. Kate is accepted by Lem's mother and kid sister but is rejected by his father, who believes she married for the money. (And the fact that Lem didn't get a fair price for the wheat is her fault too). The reapers arrive and quickly they make things even more complicated by making their move on Kate. Lem misunderstands the situation and believes Kate is actually interested. In despair Kate leaves the farm and Lem goes looking for her.