Film Reviews

The first motion picture film by Agnieszka Holland about loneliness, longing for affection, and misfortune. Irena, a postal delivery worker, is struggling with a inadequate housing, a drunk neighbor who wants to take her place, and a heartless boss, knowing that the whole day at work, she is leaving her young son. But the worst is the loneliness, exacerbated by her single mother status. She meets a crippled pensioner Jacek, who appears to be the key to her happiness, but tragedy continues to strike.

Frankie is dying. Irene hasn't forgiven him. And they are racing against time to find their way home. Frankie needs help and Irene is the one he turns to. He must go home one last time. And, like so many times before, Irene is extending herself beyond her common sense. The two set out on a journey that becomes more than getting home; confronting the past, love, understanding, and self discovery. Barking Water is a tale of great love that looks at what brings us all together. It's a tale of home...and what it takes to get there.

The film is based on the story of the same name by Soviet writer Chinghiz Aitmatov. It is set in a remote Kirghiz village during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). A young wife of a soldier, Djamilya, fell in love with Daniar, a wounded war veteran living in her village. Daniar reciprocates her feelings. But suddenly Djamilya receives a letter from her husband with the news of his forthcoming return from the hospital. This forces the lovers to make a final decision. Years later, their young friend, Seid, who was a witness to their beautiful, albeit uneasy, love, reminisces about this wonderful couple…

A pretty Chinese woman, seeking help from San Francisco detective James Lee Wong, is killed by a poisoned dart in his front hall, having time only to scrawl "Captain J" on a sheet of paper. She proves to be Princess Lin Hwa, on a secret military mission for Chinese forces fighting the Japanese invasion. Mr. Wong finds two captains with the intial J in the case, neither being quite what he seems; there's fog on the waterfront and someone still has that poison-dart gun...

A musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel "Notre Dame de Paris" which follows the gypsy dancer Esmeralda and the three men who vie for her love: the kind hunchback Quadimodo, the twisted priest Frollo, and the unfaithful soldier Phoebus.

After a tempest, fishermen do not find only fish in their nets. That is what happens to Jafaar, a poor fisherman who lives poorly in Gaza. And what he hauls in is really upsetting: imagine that, a pig! An unclean animal judged impure not only by the Faith of Islam but also by the Jewish religion. Determined to get rid of the animal, Jafaar tries desperately to sell it, first to a United Nations official, then to a Jewish colony where Yelena raises pigs not for their meat but for security reasons. Of course, going unnoticed in the company of a "forbidden" animal, among his Palestinian brothers, past Israeli soldiers and under the scrutiny of Islamic fundamentalists is no bed of roses and a series of misadventures await Jafaar.

A2 is a continuation of director Tatsuya Mori's film A (1998), an incredible view inside the compound of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult after its leaders carried out the deadly sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway in 1995. Most followers had no idea that the attacks were being planned, or even that their new religion had violent aspirations. After the attacks, these followers were left to rebuild the religion where they had once found peace in the face of overwhelming, and understandable, condemnation from the rest of Japan. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.

An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.

Tormented by guilt over the death of her family Ruth comes to decide that by donating her organs she will placate her utter self-loathing.

The story develops in the Tokugawa era of the 18th century, in a poor district of Tokyo, where impoverished samurai live from hand to mouth among equally poor people of lower social classes. One such ronin (masterless samurai) Matajuro, spends his day looking for work whilst his wife, Otaki, makes cheap paper balloons at home. One rainy night, Shinza, a barber, and equally penniless, impulsively abducts the daughter of a wealthy merchant, hiding her at Matajuros home. Their desperate plan has grave consequences when a ransom attempt backfires. The film, which starts and ends with suicide, is deeply pessimistic, insisting that life in feudal Japan was hellish and short for those at the foot of the social ladder.

An english tv-team discovers a special white flower in the indonesian rainforest, but they never get to investegate it further, before the danish recluse Severin has shot them down. A danish special enforcement with a psychiatrist in front is sent off, and they find out, that Severin claims, that he is 129 years old, and it's the flower, which keeps him young. Soon all hunts the white flower, which apparently gives eternal life.

In Hong Kong's Paradise Cove Sharon (Chrissie Chau) and Rachel (Theresa Fu) work at a restaurant of their kung fu master uncle Tao (Lo Mang) while taking on rivals in beach volleyball matches. The wealthy Bu family has plans to have the beach made into a playground for the rich and getting rid of the youth at the beach. Mrs. Bu's two Eurasian daughters, Natalie (Jessica C) and Phoenix (Phoenix Valen) challenge Sharon and Rachel to a volleyball match which Natalie and Phoenix win. Phoenix and Natalie give Rachel and Sharon a challenge: if the two local girls enter and win the upcoming All Hong Kong Women’s Volleyball tournament, Mrs. Bu will revise her plans to further develop the area. Sharon and Rachel feel they don't have a chance to win the tournament. Their uncle then Tao teaches the girls kung fu skills that they apply to volleyball.

A group of young women teamed together in their youth to run a babysitting business, when one of their friends died suddenly the group fell apart. Now years later they are all going their separate ways as college approaches, but on Halloween night someone is torturing and killing every member of the babysitter club...

A group of young people leaves a disco and bumps into a shepherd who is ready to spend his night worshipping Satan.

Four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship titles, four World Cup tour championships and forty six World Cup circuit victories.Once his career as a professional athlete ended, however, the other side of his personality emerged into public view in all of its vulgarity. An alcohol dependency, several marriages accompanied by numerous marital problems, petty crime, uncontrolled acts of violence, greedy hangers-on… Wherever he roams, drama and catastrophe dog his footsteps. And everything is exposed in the headlines the next day…