Film Reviews

A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance.

Two thieves, who travel in elegant circles, try to outsmart each other and, in the process, end up falling in love.

The French computer programmer Laura inherits the task of making a computer game of the Battle of Okinawa in Japan during World War 2. She searches the Internet for information on the battle, and interviews Japanese experts and witnesses. The extraordinary circumstances of the Battle of Okinawa lead Laura to reflect deeply on her own life and humanity in general, particularly the influence of history and memories.

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.

In 1942, a cargo ship jammed with British evacuees from Singapore is sunk by a Japanese sub. A small lifeboat carries a beautiful woman, an army officer, a bigoted administrator, and a black seaman. Only the seaman knows the woman is a nun. The men reveal their true selves under the hardships of survival. Told in a too-long flashback frame.

A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

A grand and patriotic tale of Poland's struggle for freedom just before Napoleon's war with Russia. Written in poetic style by Adam Mickiewicz, this story follows two feuding Polish families as they overcome their old conflicts and petty lives. However, they are able to unite as one with their patriotic and rebellious efforts to free the country they deeply love from Russian control.

Man tries to recover a horse stolen from him by a Mexican bandit. The Appaloosa (also known as Southwest to Sonora) is a 1966 American Western film Technicolor (set in the 1870s) from Universal Pictures starring Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer and John Saxon, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Mexican bandit. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie, shot in Mexico. The 2008 Appaloosa film (starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen) is not related nor a remake of this film, although it has almost the same title.

The original TV Addams Family members prepare for Halloween.

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

The samurai Moritoh Enda (Kazuo Hasegawa) performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) from a violent uprising. The warrior falls in love with Kesa, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is already married to a man named Wataru Watanabe (Isao Yamagata). Unable to shake his obsession with Kesa, Moritoh grows increasingly unstable and will not stop in his pursuit of her, no matter what the consequences.

A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.

A brother, Earland Josephson, returns to his family home to visit his sister in the Italian countryside. He brings with him his young male lover. In the house with the sister are two women, one of whom, Mariangela Melato, takes care of the farm. The two women are friends and lovers since childhood and one senses that Melato's relationship is shadowed by the relationship she had with her mother shown through wonderful flashbacks. The brother also has wonderful memories of his and his sister's childhood in that same house with their father who was a magician. Following a night out at a lovely restaurant in the woods, other memories of the past are aroused in the Brother. The next day they all plan to drive to Venice where his sister sang opera in her youth for a holiday. Fate intervenes.

Director John Webster convinces his wife and two small children that the whole family should go on an oil diet, yet without having to give up their a middle class suburban lifestyle. All the everyday things that we don't do, or that we can't help doing, make up recipes for disaster. In this comedy of errors they find themselves questioning their values and putting to test their will power and ultimately, their happiness.