Film Reviews

A wandering swordsman named Lu Fang (Jimmy Wang Yu) who is returning from battle discovers that several farmers have kidnapped the local magistrate’s daughter. He sides with them after learning that this is an act of desperation to improve their low standard of living. The magistrate hires bandits and another fighter named Huang Liang (Cheng Lui) to get his daughter back. Huang recognizes Lu as a comrade in arms and joins him in fending off the bandits. The standoff comes to an abrupt end when the magistrate uses one of the farmer’s daughters as leverage to get his own daughter back. Lu convinces the magistrate to punish him in place of the farmers, but he’s lied to. The magistrate’s daughter (Chin Ping) and a fighter in his employ (Lo Lieh), along with Huang help Lu to escape. Once recovered, our heroes return to see that a petition from the farmers gets to a higher-ranking official.

Recently escaped from reformatory, Reinaldo struggles to get by in the streets of Havana in the late 90s, one of the worst decades for Cuban society. Hopes, disillusionment, rum, good humor and above all hunger, accompany him in his wanderings, until he meets Magda and Yunisleidy, survivors like himself. In one or the other's arms, he will try to escape the material and moral misery surrounding him, living love, passion, tenderness and uninhibited sex to the limit.

Georgian bush pilot Valentin (Valiko) Mizandari a.k.a. Mimino works at small local airlines, flying helicopters between small villages. But he dreams of piloting large international airlines aircrafts, so he goes to Moscow for refresher courses. There in a hotel he meets truck driver Robik who is given a place in that hotel by mistake, and they have a lot of adventures in Moscow. Always amicable and open to people, Mimino does not feel at home in the big city. Nevertheless, he becomes a pilot of a supersonic jet liner, the Tupolev Tu-144, flying all over the world. But feeling homesick, he finally comes back to his native town of Telavi in Georgia, to his family and friends.

An artist struggles to finish his work while a storyline about a cult plays in his head.

Long time ago, there lived a man whose name was Gustaf Mannerheim, better known as the Marshal of Finland. He was given this title following his courage as an army man; he fought for the freedom of his small country, struggling to keep its independency. As small nations always do, this nation needed a true hero, and Gustaf was the true hero of them: brave, ambitious, successful. But what are the things a hero must always sacrifice? How can you live normal life if you think your country needs you more than your family? Gustaf became the most beloved person in his country and the nation loved him, he had succeeded to become the greatest soldier there ever was, but he still had lost the most important thing in his life – love. This is the story about an extraordinary man captured inside the great legend, who was longing for ordinary life, love and peace. But as we know it, life is like a mountain – there are ups and there are downs.

A witty and clever comedy that follows four longtime curling friends reunited by the last wishes of their recently deceased coach and set out to win the Golden Broom. Realising that the out of shape crew will be hard-pressed to win without a coach, Cutter swallows his pride and calls upon a retired curling champion - his estranged father. Now, these men with brooms, along with their new eccentric coach and Cutter's new romantic interest Amy, set off on a comedic journey which takes them from frozen lakes to huge arenas, searching for perfect stones, lost loves and second chances.

In Naples, in the Second World War, the wolf businessman Domenico Soriano meets the seventeen years old whore Filumena Marturano in a brothel during an allied bombing. Two years later, in the post-war, they meet each other by chance and begin a long affair. For twenty-two years, Filumena is his mistress and administrates his shops in Naples while Domenico is traveling. When Domenico decides to marry the young cashier of his bakery, Filumena lures him as if she were near to death and he marries her. Later he annuls their matrimony, and she tells him that she has three sons that she raised secretly, one of them is his legitimate son but she does not disclose his identity. The middle-age Domenico uses the most different subterfuges trying to find which teenager might be his son.

Hollywood careers are full of make-or-break moments. For Clint Eastwood, one such moment came when studio powers agreed to let him make his directing debut. That story and others comprise this portrait of the famed Hollywood icon. His career is explored via an array of film clips, interviews and more.

An inspiring, triumphant and wickedly funny portrait of one of comedy’s most enigmatic and important figures, CALL ME LUCKY tells the story of Barry Crimmins, a beer-swilling, politically outspoken and whip-smart comic whose efforts in the 70s and 80s fostered the talents of the next generation of standup comedians. But beneath Crimmins’ gruff, hard-drinking, curmudgeonly persona lay an undercurrent of rage stemming from his long-suppressed and horrific abuse as a child – a rage that eventually found its way out of the comedy clubs and television shows and into the political arena.

An astronaut exposed to cosmic rays outside of Saturn's rings returns to Earth and begins to melt away. Escaping from the hospital, he wanders around the backwoods looking for human flesh to eat.

Each year, 60,000 people from around the globe gather in a dusty windswept Nevada desert to build a temporary city, collaborating on large-scale art and partying for a week before burning a giant effigy in a ritual frenzy. Spark takes a peek behind the curtain with Burning Man organizers and participants, revealing a year of unprecedented challenges and growth.

Hannibal is a Chicago native, currently living in New York City where he regularly performs and lives alone with no pets. Animal Furnace was recorded in December of 2011. Hannibal's credits include writing for 30 Rock, SNL and performing in several basements of bars in NYC and Chicago. His jokes cover topics like personal stories, current events, the streets and even food.

On the heels of the mesmeric “Bluebeard” comes this wonderfully idiosyncratic, heady and erotic exploration of another classic Charles Perrault fairy tale by French cinema’s endlessly probing and brilliant provocateuse. Time-tripping with a truly precocious heroine, we follow a once-cursed six-year-old princess as she awakens a century later at the ripe old age of 16.

For five men, the opportunity to share a penthouse in the city -- in which to carry on extramarital affairs -- is a dream come true, until the dead body of an unknown woman turns up. Realizing that her killer must be one of their group, the men are gripped by paranoia as each one suspects another. Friendships are tested, loyalties are questioned, and marriages crumble while fear and suspicion run rampant.

Eight of the world's most legendary monsters, along with their diabolical managers, compete in a wrestling tournament deathmatch to determine the most powerful champion of all time. Interviews, pre-fight breakdowns, trash talking, and monster origin segments round out this ultimate fight of the living dead.