Film Reviews

Starting with the image of a tour bus warming its engine in the stillness of an empty lot, this haunting, personal portrait of music legend Levon Helm evokes the mood of a lifetime spent on the road. Jacob Hatley's extraordinarily intimate documentary finds Helm, a founding member of The Band, at home in Woodstock in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. The ultimate survivor, he's overcome drugs, bankruptcy, the bitter breakup of The Band and a bout of throat cancer -but then, as the rueful title indicates, he wasn't in it for his health

London has always been a source of influence, inspiration and curiosity - Finisterre tries to identify the dreams that London holds for so many. Presented and scored by Saint Etienne, the film enraptures with a journey through the ultimate city of possibilities - from John Nash and Berthold Lubetkin to Hendon FC and Hampstead Heath via the New Piccadilly cafe. A genuinely moving meditation on the capital in all its tawdry glory, with extra features and deluxe booklet

The mystery stage play by Anthony Shaffer was adapted by the author into this stylish film from director Joseph L. Manciewicz. Laurence Olivier stars as Andrew Wyke, a best-selling author of detective fiction living in a grand 16th century mansion. Andrew is visited by Milo Tindle (Michael Caine), owner of a hair salon chain, and reveals to his guest that he's aware of Milo's affair with his wife Marguerite. Rather than being vengeful, however, Andrew professes he's glad to be rid of his troublesome spouse. To avoid paying heavy alimony, Andrew suggests that Milo disguise himself as a clown and steal his wife's expensive jewelry. That way Marguerite and Milo can obtain financial security while Andrew claims the loss on his insurance and all walk away rich. Andrew's plan is a devious one, however, designed to toy with his wife's lover, and a series of deceptions and counter-deceptions are launched in which nothing is as it seems.

In 1902 London, unhappily married Philip Marshall meets young Mary Gray, who is unemployed and depressed. Their deepening friendship, though physically innocent, is discovered by Philip's wife who threatens him with exposure and scandal, driving him to kill her. Thereafter, fortune seems to smile on Philip Marshall; but does fate have a surprise in store?

Henry Wilton is an elderly millionaire saddled with his selfish young second wife Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton and a pair of spoiled grown children (Peggy and Eddie). To test his family's mettle, Henry pretends to have gone broke. Just as he suspected they would, his children rally to their father's side and change their ways: Peggy forsakes the fortune hunter George Struthers for the nice young man she's really in love with, the polo coach Larry Rivers; while Eddie applies for a demanding job and performs admirably. Only Sweetie seems to desert Henry.

The film follows the story of young teen April whose troubled life began in a dustbin - a new born baby, abandoned and alone, not celebrated, not wanted but discarded and left like so much rubbish in an industrial bin behind a pizza parlour. On the morning of her fourteenth birthday April has a devastating row with her foster mother, Marion and leaves the house determined to find out where she really comes from, who she really is and maybe, just maybe, find her real mother. Telling no-one what she's up to or where she's going, April skips school and begins the search she's dreamed about all her life. It's a blur of social workers, children's homes and special schools as April revisits and recalls the key scenes of her fragmented past. It's a painful journey, sometimes frightening but there's also friendship and love and laughter. And now she's started, there's no going back - April must find her mother.

A close-up look at the turbulent world of women's professional wrestling as a New York City waitress decides to become a professional wrestler.

DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation is a film project based on a remix of D.W. Griffith's infamous 1915 film Birth of a Nation. The original film was based on a novel and theater play by Thomas Dixon entitled The Clansman - essentially what Dj Spooky is doing is applying dj technique to cinema in a way that parallels, deconstructs and remixes the original. Thus Rebirth of a Nation DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation has been touring for several years and has drawn acclaim around the world. From the Herod Atticus Theater at the base of the Acropolis in Greece, to the London IMAX - Europe's largest movie screen - Dj Spooky has presented the remix as an engagement with film, music, and contemporary art. He likes to think of it as "film as found object" in the same sense that artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, and David Hammons, amongst many others, have fostered creative investigations into the idea of found objects, cinema, and "appropriation art."

Ted Ryker is the top salesman in the New York office of a business machine company; the corporate stock lives by quarterly sales numbers, the competition is keen, and the economy may be in a downturn. Ted's company is marking time until a new product is ready - probably in a few months. Into the mix comes a new hire, a callow Midwesterner named Jamie, who's come East with his fiancée Belisa.

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year is a once-over-lightly evocation of a slate of classic films unmatched before or since. In a year permitting 10 Best Picture nominees, the final cut included Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Love Affair. Shut out: The Roaring '20s, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Intermezzo, Destry Rides Again, Idiot's Delight, Young Mr. Lincoln, Gunga Din. This hour-long film finds room to acknowledge a few of these non-starters, but its brevity means a lot gets left out. This includes the absence of anything that doesn't celebrate the studio system, including the practices of the shrewd tyrants who ran them, seen in brief archival footage.

A portrait of five St. Petersburgians and their connection to The Hermitage.

In the city of Santiago, four characters struggle to reach their goals: a psychologist who wants to help other women and save their lives, a hairdresser who wants to buy a car, a musician who wants to play in a philharmonic orchestra, and a young woman who simply survives in the city, but each of them obtains something unexpected and different from what they wanted.

A vivacious actress needing work becomes a housekeeper for a crusty retired politician, and gives his life the shaking-up that it needs.

A slacker hatches a million-dollar idea. But, in order to see it through, he has to learn to trust his attractive corporate counterpart. Based on Max Barry's novel.

Young writer Sam has a crush on Birdie, the cute and quirky barista at his local coffee shop. When his conventional attempts to woo her crash and burn, he takes his efforts online, creating an Internet profile embellished with all of the details that would make him Birdie’s dream guy. When the harebrained scheme is a surprise success and Birdie falls for his exaggerated alter ego, Sam must keep up the act or lose his dream girl forever.