Film Reviews
Waking Life |
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life. |
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The Saddest Music in the World |
In Depression-era Winnipeg, a legless beer baroness hosts a contest for the saddest music in the world, offering a grand prize of $25,000. Contestants flock in from around the globe. Representing America is Chester Kent, a theatre producer who thinks he's an American despite being Canadian; representing Serbia is his brother, Gavrilo the Great, who is succumbing to madness over the death of his son; and representing Canada is their father, a pathetic drunkard. As the competition builds toward its climax, these estranged characters are brought together to express their deep feelings of pain and ultimately give in to treachery. |
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Wild Palms |
A multi-national corporation attempts to take over America while small pockets of resistance hold out against rampant technology. |
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Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema |
The film is set just before Poland's communist regime came to an end, and the central character is a provincial censor (Janusz Gajos), a tired, sloppy, lonely man, whose wife has long since left him. For him, censorship is both an art and a game, but he does not enjoy it. During a screening of a sentimental Polish melodrama called "Daybreak" at the Liberty cinema across the road from the censor's office, the actors start to rebel and refuse to speak their lines. There is anarchy and when the censor is unable to control the situation, senior party officials are called in. Eventually a film critic notes that the situation reminds of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" by Woody Allen and brings a reel of the film to demonstrate. The officials watch the film with amusement until another mix-up occurs: the second projector is turned on accidentally and superimposes "Daybreak" over "Purple Rose". |
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The Prisoner of Zenda |
The classic tale of a king and an everyman switching places. |
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The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello |
Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, this gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself. |
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East, West, East: The Final Sprint |
An amateur cycling team from Albania heads to France to take part in a tournament only to discover on the way that revolution has broken out back home. |
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Daddy Longlegs |
After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York City. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives. |
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Living on Love |
A man and woman, who've never met, are forced by circumstances to share the same apartment. A remake of the 1933 film "Rafter Romance". |
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In a Heartbeat |
A closeted boy runs the risk of being outed by his own heart after it pops out of his chest to chase down the boy of his dreams. |
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Nightjohn |
Charles Burnett directs this movie about John, a man of many talents, including one forbidden skill: he can read. When he teaches a young slave girl named Sarny to read and write, she learns an unforgettable lesson about the power of words and the true meaning of freedom. A wonderful movie about the power of literacy and the risk it took to educate slaves in the Ante-Bellum South before the heartbreak of the Civil War. |
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Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer |
As a child Jack Brooks witnessed the brutal murder of his family. Now a young man he struggles with a pestering girlfriend, therapy sessions that resolve nothing, and night classes that barely hold his interest. After unleashing an ancient curse, Jack's Professor undergoes a transformation into something not-quite- human, and Jack is forced to confront some old demons... along with a few new ones. |
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Forbidden Kingdom |
Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world. |
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Lope |
A chronicle of the life of Spanish playwright and poet Lope de Vega, who dominated Spain’s early Golden Age of Theatre in the 16th Century. Lope returns home from war and enters the theatre world when a producer’s beautiful daughter takes a shine to him. They embark on a passionate affair as his plays begin to win popular acclaim. |
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Humboldt County |
Peter is a medical student about to graduate and begin his residency. When his professor fails him, he winds up in bed with an actress and singer named Bogart rolling through Los Angeles. He accompanies her to the redwoods of northern California, where he encounters her eccentric family of pot farmers. But when Bogart runs away without a word, Peter is thrust into the picturesque and bizarre world |
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