Film Reviews

A quartet of young neo-Fascists terrorise the Milanise locals while the Police mostly look the other way.

Peace Officer is a documentary about the increasingly militarized state of American police as told through the story of Dub Lawrence, a former sheriff who established his rural state's first SWAT team only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law in a controversial standoff 30 years later. Driven by an obsessed sense of mission, Dub uses his own investigation skills to uncover the truth in this and other recent officer-involved shootings in his community, while tackling larger questions about the changing face of peace officers nationwide.

All The Best is a rib-tickling comedy based on hilarious situations resulting from mistaken identities and goof ups.

People in a small German village in the last valley to remain untouched by the devastating Thirty Years' War try to exist in peace with a group of soldiers occupying the valley.

A Milan pimp faces off against a ruthless and greedy French gangster whom wants to unite organized crime in Italy.

Alternating between the past and the present, a precocious little girl sues her selfish, career-driven parents for emancipation, surprising them both.

The complex life of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that "all men are created equal" yet owned slaves, is recounted by master filmmaker Ken Burns in this probing documentary. Covering Jefferson's diplomatic work in France, his two presidential terms, his retirement at Monticello and more.

After Billy Jack in sentenced to four years in prison for the "involuntary manslaughter" of the first film, the Freedom School expands and flourishes under the guidance of Jean Roberts. The utopian existence of the school is characterized by everything ranging from "yoga sports" to muckracking journalism. The diverse student population airs scathing political exposes on their privately owned television station. The narrow-minded townspeople have different ideas about their brand of liberalism. Billy Jack is released and things heat up for the school. Students are threatened and abused and the Native Americans in the neighboring village are taunted and mistreated. After Billy Jack undergoes a vision quest, the governor and the police plot to permanently put an end to their liberal shenanigans, leaving it up to Billy Jack to save the day.

Ma Barker (Theresa Russell) and her sons rob banks, shoot people and wind up at the top of the FBI's "most wanted" list in the 1930s.

Public Defender Eddie is a widower with a 13 year-old daughter, Naomi. A classic workaholic, Eddie has been M.I.A. for most of Naomi's big moments. But when an unfortunately timed accident gives Eddie the opportunity to become the "Team Mom" for the Killer Bees, Naomi's team in the Spring Action Classic at camp Hulka's Rock, he grabs it.

When the moral values of a longtime wetwork black ops agent is tested during his last operation, he receives an unfavorable psych evaluation. Now he is given a break and a seemingly uncomplicated assignment of simply protecting the security of a young female code announcer, code resources and remote station they are assigned to. After an ambush and one phone call later, it becomes a complicated fight for their survival.

Colin (Barry McEvoy) is a Catholic and George (Brian O'Byrne) is a poetry-loving Protestant. In Belfast in the 1980s, they could have been enemies, but instead they became business partners. After persuading a mad wig salesman, known as the Scalper (Billy Connolly), to sell them his leads, the two embark on a series of house calls

Neelakantan, heir to his father's fortunes, is an apparent menace to society. He once belittles a dancer but later they fall in love. Shekharan, an arch enemy, kidnaps his lover due to an old enmity.

A mother and her young son release unimaginable horrors from the attic of their rural dream home.

One man wronged by a racist law enforcement system takes a highly unusual route to street justice in this bizarre, expressive urban drama. Definitely not your ordinary '70s blaxploitation feature, Soul Vengeance (released theatrically as Welcome Home, Brother Charles) was one of three feature films Jamaa Fanaka wrote, produced, and directed while studying film production at U.C.L.A. (The other two were Black Sister's Revenge, also known as Emma Mae, and the first installment in Fanaka's popular Penitentiary series). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi