Film Reviews

The Day After Trinity (a.k.a. The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb) is a 1980 documentary film directed and produced by Jon H. Else in association with KTEH public television in San Jose, California. The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the theoretical physicist who led the effort to build the first atomic bomb, tested in July 1945 at Trinity site in New Mexico. Featuring candid interviews with several Manhattan Project scientists, as well as newly declassified archival footage, The Day After Trinity was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of 1980, and received a Peabody Award in 1981.

Unassuming and single thirty-three year old Tillie Shlain is at that phase of her life of being known as a soon to be spinster if she doesn't marry soon. She isn't looking forward to meeting the latest in a long string of blind dates, his name being Pete Seltzer. Pete and Tillie are not a match made in heaven, he using wisecracking and constant flirtations with women to mask his own insecurities about his average looks and not wanting to deal with life head on. Despite Tillie's guard being up with regard to Pete, he is able slowly to chip away at her defenses. They do embark on a relationship which ends up in a straightforward and somewhat mutual declaration that they will get married despite their fundamental differences. But can their relationship survive these fundamental differences, which don't change during the course of their marriage, and as they deal with the terminal malignant tumor diagnosis of their nine-year old son, Robbie?

Our figurine sized supermen hero embarks on an epic surreal journey that will take him across the Ethiopian post apocalyptic landscape in search of a way to get on the hovering spacecraft that for years has become a landmark in the skies.

A man is tasked with driving his embittered 80-year-old father-in-law cross country to be legally euthanized in Oregon, while along the way helping him rediscover a reason for living.

An old Viking is determined to reach Valhalla, the warrior's afterlife full of excessive drinking and debauchery. To gain entry he has to die honorably in battle, but he discovers that the right death isn't so easy.

To avoid the life-threatening dangers of manned space exploration, Professor Nordstrom creates highly advanced form of artificial intelligence capable of piloting a starship to other worlds. In order to transmit alien data, the extraordinary robot is infused with a powerful telepathic device that enables it to instantly read and even feel emotions. Danger strikes when a sinister band of covert agents kidnaps Gadge, the professor's 10-year-old grandson. But Gadge has a powerful ally. For he has developed a psychic, emotional bond with his grandfather's robot. And now Gadge's captors must suffer the wrath of his protective friend. They must face a mechanical monstrosity bent on a killing rampage of revenge and destruction.

A nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous.

The last piece of the trilogy, following Katatsumori and Seen the Heaven, filming her grandma and herself. Her gazes and insights are cast on the lovable beings in front of her eyes.

The Party Animal is a documentary-style comedy about a sex-starved man, Pondo Sinatra, a 26-year-old college student whom everyone agrees is doomed to die a virgin. Desperate to break what seems to be a cosmic curse, he tries ever more bizarre schemes to seduce one the sexy, scantily-clad women who seem to be everywhere, taunting him and enjoying his misery. Despite his best efforts, however, he is rejected everywhere, even at the local cathouse. When Pondo threatens to kill himself, Studley, his ladykilling best friend, tries to help him in his quest to "get him a little", as does Studley's mentor, a wise old janitor named Elbow.

Juha Berg is a 30-year-old hopeless drunk in the Kallio neighborhood of Helsinki. Juha doesn't have the first intention of changing his way of life - just the opposite. He really enjoys sundry sexual relationships, adrenalin-inducing violence and, of course, alcohol for which he gets money even if by collecting bottles. But the hilarity in a drunken haze soon gets a run for its money as the passionate Juha falls in love with his AA group leader. The relationship with Tiina progresses quickly to dating and Juha has to make pivotal decisions. Juha has to begin balancing between maintaining a functional intimate relationship and his old lifestyle. Juha's best friend Kristian does his best to sabotage the relationship, and Juha's shaky decision to stay sober is further hindered by Mikael, an expert on German erotica. But how far can you go before there is only one solution left?

In the harsh terrain of the Mexican desert, a mortally wounded man is left for dead in the heat of the desert sun. This is Jay. Once a street smart, carefree young guy. Now, a wanted man. As death looms, the only thing that keeps him alive is the quest to find the love of his life, Natasha. A woman betrothed to another man, but surely destined for Jay. A woman who comes into his life like a bolt of lightning and changes it forever.

A man buys a painting depicting witches being burned at the stake, one of whom bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife.

Kenny Roger's leaves his good-guy image behind as the rugged, gutsy Quentin Leach, a bounty hunter with a quick temper and a trigger finger to match. If you're an outlaw with a price on your head, Leach is the last man you'll want to meet. Travis Tritt, in an impressive acting debut, stars as Benjamin Tabor, a man out for blood after a gang of murderous bank robbers flee with his beautiful young bride. Together, Tabor and Leach take to the Trail with guns blazing in search of the same outlaws. And they're not going to stop until they find them - dead or alive.

While in medieval Korea, a young girl sets out to revenge the betrayal and the death of her mother. But therefore she must face one of the most powerful men and warriors of the Goryo Dynasty.

A WW2 deserter holes up on a farm with disastrous results. Overlooked gem with Glenda Jackson in one of her best roles and Oliver Reed playing a part he was made for.