Film Reviews

A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa

Akasen Chitai [Red Light District, aka Street of Shame] sadly, the very last film by Kenji Mizoguchi (Sansho Dayu, Ugetsu Monogatari) presents a vivid portrait of prostitution in 1950s Japan. In a Tokyo brothel named Dreamland an obvious irony given the faded hopes of those who work there the lives of five prostitutes intersect. Each has a very different story for how they entered the profession, but what they share is the struggle to make sense of the red light district and its cycle of exploitation. Filmed shortly before the Japanese government's introduction of an anti-prostitution bill, Akasen Chitai is a compelling study of women torn between financial necessity and questions of conscience.

This movie tells five stories set in a single day at the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York City, involving an ensemble cast of some 30-35 characters.

Mr. Ogata lives a complicated life: he's is a pornographer making two skin flicks per day and trying to stay beneath the radar screen of the local mob; he deeply loves his ailing wife Haru who's cursed by the restless spirit of her dead first husband; he also has a mistress, a step-son who wants to go to university, and a step-daughter entering adolescence. He lusts after his step-daughter, and he asks Haru if he can marry her. Haru agrees to his plan, signs over her business to him, and a crisis ensues when Ogata uses her nest egg to buy equipment so he and his pals can set up their own film processing lab. Surreal images and events weave their way into Ogata's life.

A woman who gets paid to break people up is forced to become a matchmaker when some new competition muscles her out of the break-up business. Now, in order to save her company (and keep her high-priced wardrobe) she'll have to rely on her old nemesis: love.

Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)

Lila Vasileiou is a young architect who is dedicated to her studies and her work. One of her former Professors trusts her to run the construction company he manages while he is away on a business trip abroad for a few months. On her first day to work she is escorted to her office by her father Thomas. On that very day Alekos Samiotakis returns to Athens from Northern Greece where he was on business. He is a well-known playboy and when he finds Lila alone in the office he starts hitting on her thinking that she is the secretary of the new manager. Lila is annoyed and sends him to hell.

Scheming of a way to save their father's ranch, the Alvarez brothers find themselves in a war with Mexico's most feared drug lord.

It is about a music school in Philadelphia, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, run by Paul Green that teaches kids ages 9 to 17 how to play rock music and be rock stars. Paul Green teaches his students how to play music such as Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa better than anyone expects them to by using a unique style of teaching that includes getting very angry and acting childish.

Welcome to 2020: The European Union has collapsed following the fourth Gulf War and massive barricades keep illegal immigrants out of cities that are barely functioning. In the middle of this highly volatile environment is the family of Walter Kuper, an energy conglomerate executive. Walter’s daughter, Cecilia, has joined the Black Storm terrorist group. Her sister Laura must choose between motherhood and the man she loves; their brother Philip has been called into fight for Germany in a hopeless war to secure the last remaining oil fields. Starring leading actors Daniel Brühl, Johanna Wokalek and Jürgen Vogel, "The Days to Come" asks provocative questions about the current state of things as it depicts personal and political realities in a scarily believable near–future.

After decades of laboring as a Glasgow shipbuilder, Frank Redmond, a no-nonsense 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he's too proud to ask for guidance. His best mates - rascally Danny, timid Norman and cynical Eddie - are there for him, but Frank still feels desperately alone. An offhand remark from Danny inspires Frank to challenge himself. Already contemplating the state of his relationships with loving wife Joan and all-but-estranged son Rob, Frank is determined to shore up his own self-confidence. He will attempt the near impossible - swimming the English Channel.

College students and best friends Ginger Matheson, Jim Duncan, and Kyle "Dixie" Canning, pool their cash to buy a "ghost" in an online auction. The three think it's all a goof, but once they open up the antique box to examine their "treasure," they unleash the vengeful spirit of an Irish servant girl who has been wreaking havoc on her owners throughout the generations

A little girl discovers dreams can come true if you really believe. Six-year-old Susan Walker has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle - Santa Claus. Her mother told her the 'secret' about Santa a long time ago. But after meeting a special department store Santa who's convinced he's the real thing, Susan is given the most precious gift of all something to believe in.

A group of Union Army soldiers is charged with protecting a box of gold and getting it to its rightful place within the government coffers.

Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there, and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. Herzog's voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins", but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.