Film Reviews

An agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese soldiers stranded in a strange land during World War II, Kon Ichikawa’s Fires on the Plain is a compelling descent into psychological and physical oblivion. Denied hospital treatment for tuberculosis and cast off into the unknown, Private Tamura treks across an unfamiliar Philippine landscape, encountering an increasingly debased cross section of Imperial Army soldiers, who eventually give in to the most terrifying craving of all. Grisly yet poetic, Fires on the Plain is one of the most powerful works from one of Japanese cinema’s most versatile filmmakers.

To his mute sister's dismay, a young boy puts a dying rabbit out of its misery with a brick -- and soon the siblings end up in a world of nightmares.

Two con artistes and car thieves, Vicky (Devgan) and Sakshi (Zinta), are faced with death when they accidentally kill Bhanwarlal's (Deep Dhillon) brother. Bhanwarlal and his other brother (Mayur) both swear to avenge the death of their brother and mistakenly kill Rohit Verma (also Devgan), who is a look-alike of Vicky.

A guy with a talent for cards makes his way into the dangerous world of underground gambling in this crime thriller from South Korea. Go-ni (Jo Seung-woo) is a small-town guy with a big appetite for gambling. Convinced he?s on a hot streak one evening during a card game, Go-ni bets his life savings on a hand of hwatu, only to lose to a crooked cardsharp. Determined to get revenge, Go-ni sets out to find the guy who cheated him and win back his money.

After overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherworldly adventure in the far North, unaware that it's part of her destiny.

A comedy of manners, its cast of characters devouring each other in a small world awash with big money. Set against the backdrop of contemporary London and the international art scene, it casts an eye over the appetites and morality of some of its major players. Dealers, collectors, artists, wannabees vie with each other in a world in which success and downfall rest on a thin edge.

International terrorists get a surprise when their cargo turns out to contain living dinosaurs. The army commando team now have to think fast, if they want to prevent the extinction of the human species, instead of the reptiles.

Artifact is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, a recurring character in the Dr. Seuss universe. The film is a documentary about the making of the 30 Seconds to Mars album This Is War and the band's battle against record label EMI. Included in Artifact are several interviews, including the one with neurophysicist Daniel Levitin, author of the popular science book This Is Your Brain On Music. The film won the BlackBerry People's Choice Documentary Award at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Troubled psychotherapist Peter Bowers is suffering from nightmares and eerie visions. When he uncovers a horrifying secret that all of his patients share, he is put on a course that takes him back to the small hometown he fled years ago. There he confronts his demons and unravels a mystery 20 years in the making.

Julia and Rich are about to get married, but Rich has a hairy secret. Will Julia still marry him when she finds out about the monster "inside"?

Two brothers are brought together again by the death of their father. They try to distract the mother from her loss by convincing her to make dumplings for them and their friends. They fake an enormous demand just to keep her busy, not knowing what to do with all the dumplings …

On his sprawling country estate, an aging writer matches wits with the struggling actor who has stolen his wife's heart.

A month after the Wall Street occupation, a number of protesters follow their example and set up their tents in front of the Ljubljana stock market. The protesters are united in the critique of representative democracy and global financial capitalism under the slogan ‘nobody represents us’. Their organisation is based on the principles of direct democracy. In absence of other social alternatives, a community starts to emerge in the camp in front of the stock market where everyone has an equal say, and everyone is united in their diversity. After the initial euphoria the great idea of direct democracy clashes against the contemporary individual; antagonisms surface, similar to those of the system which the protesters fight against. The story about the Slovenian version of the ‘occupy’ movement is portrayed with the stories of a few protagonists, who despite several defeats do not lose hope in a different world.

Teenage lovers Tony (Richard Panebianco) and Tyan-Hwa (Sari Chang) tip the balance of power in New York's Little Italy and Chinatown.

A rich businessman is fed up with work, family, society, and goes with a friend to Africa, in search of another friend who had vanished there in mysterious circumstances. They will find him alright - as a tribal chief, surrounded with lots of topless, shapely wives. They are going to return to civilisation, but will their friend come with them?