Film Reviews

A young girl seduced by a boy's affluent seemingly idyllic family and goes to extremes to gain acceptance.

Sara Novak is an introverted college student with a few skeletons in her closet. Shying away from classmates, she prefers to spend time with Vern, an older comic store owner who shares her passion for mind games and riddles. But when the riddles she solves lead to the deaths of those around her, she realizes the riddles are more than a simple game.....

Diego's job is counting people as they enter a large government building. After work, he and his wife Blanca lie on the couch...

Alice hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.

A street-gang leader challenges a handsome young skater in a championship contest at the local roller-disco rink.

Jeong Yoon is a caring wife and mother and a sensitive woman who finds herself plunged into a legal ordeal thousands of miles from home. After years of planning, she and her husband Jong Bae open an auto body repair shop, only to see everything they've worked for stripped away when a loan Jong Bae had guaranteed defaults. Facing financial despondency, the couple gets into a vicious fight about money, sending Jeong Yeon away, leaving only a cryptic note saying she'll be back in a few days. When she turns up looking nervous at Orly Airport in Paris with over 30 kilograms of cocaine in her luggage, it is the beginning of a globe-spanning nightmare that began with an old friend and a tempting proposition.

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," and "Prom Night." The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, "Nightmare on Elm Street" revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when "Scream" brings humor and TV stars into the mix. Although some criticize the genre as misogynistic (Siskel and Ebert), most of the talking heads celebrate the films: as long as there are teenagers, there will be slasher films, says one.

In the beginning of a new century the capital of Russia is just amazing and full of poets, beautiful women and arts...

The story of a man who murdered thirty-two people, gained power, and then got afraid because too many people wanted to kill him. One August morning, he disappeared. For fifteen years, everyone believed him dead.

While on detention, a group of misfits and slackers have to write a letter to the President explaining what is wrong with the education system. There is only one problem, the President loves it! Hence, the group must travel to Washington to meet the Main Man.

Jean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularize the study of gender representation in advertising. Her award-winning Killing us Softly films have influenced millions of college and high school students across two generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With wit and warmth, Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and TV commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By fostering creative and productive dialogue, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a new way, that moves and empowers them to take action.

George McWhirter Fotheringay, while vigorously asserting the impossibility of miracles, suddenly discovers that he can perform them. After being thrown out of a bar for what is thought to be a trick, he tests his powers and eventually sends a policeman to Hades by accident. Worried, he sends the police officer to San Francisco, and seeks advice from the local clergyman, Mr Maydig. Maydig, after having Fotheringay's powers demonstrated to him, quickly planning for reform of the world by means of miracle, but eventually Fotheringay orders a miracle which, due to clumsy wording, backfires. He relinquishes his power and returns to the time before he had it.

Fragments of several (mostly) silent films are shown. They're guided by quotes from, among others, Plato and Sappho and a soundtrack.

Geppetto the carpenter carves the object of his hidden desires out of a log: a puppet that will keep him company and will be like a son to him. He will call him Pinocchio. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the puppet moves, as if by magic, and is gifted with a life on its own.

A blind sculptor and his mother kidnap a young woman and use her as a model. In the darkness of an abandoned warehouse, she suffers at the hands of the artist, eventually losing both her sight and her mind as whips give way to knives and knives give way to meat cleavers.