Film Reviews

After serving time in prison, former drug addict Sherry Swanson returns home to reclaim her young daughter from family members who have been raising the child. Sherry's family, especially her sister-in-law, doubt Sherry's ability to be a good mother, and Sherry finds her resolve to stay clean slowly weakening.

Kurz vor Weihnachten ist das einst erfolgreiche Fotomodell Valerie, 29, in ihrer Heimatstadt Berlin gestrandet. Zwar hat sie ein Zimmer im exklusiven Hyatt, aber eigentlich ist sie völlig pleite und ohne Perspektive. Valerie ist unfähig, sich auf die neue Situation einzustellen. Ihrer befreundeten Kollegin Isa lügt sie eitel Sonnenschein vor, und weder der Chefin ihrer Agentur noch ihrem reichen Gönner Isenberg offenbart sie iher existenzbedrohende Lage. Als Valerie ihr Hotelzimmer verlassen muss, hat sie nicht einmal mehr das Geld, um die Gebühren der Tiefgarage zu bezahlen. Valerie landet Heiligabend in einer einfachen Bar, in der sie die etwas heruntergekommene 40-jährige Charlotte kennenlernt. Völlig betrunken findet sie ihren Wagen in der Tiefgarage nicht mehr. Der junge Tiefgaragenwärter André hilft ihr.

In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison for 15 years for murder. The Haydens head for Nevada and when Colby gets out of prison he heads there also seeking revenge. The head of the Hayden family tries to avoid more killing but the inevitable showdown has to occur, complicated by Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby's plans to marry.

After watching a documentary about the suffering of women forced into prostitution during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Markova decides to tell his own painful story to reporter Loren Legarda. Escaping the torment of growing up with an abusive older brother, he and his friends found further suffering at the hands of Japanese soldiers, forced into sex work to survive. But even after the war, Markova's struggle continued.

A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life.

Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird is an insightful profile of the legendary cartoonist. For over fifty years, Gahan Wilson has been known for his ghoulish, twisted visions that combine horrific elements with comedy, as well as political and ecological cartoons. His cartoons have appeared in Playboy Magazine, The New Yorker, National Lampoon, The New York Times, Colliers, and Look. Wilson sees monsters and irony in ordinary, everyday situations and turns them into explosive cartoons. The documentary takes an intimate look at Wilson's bizarre and personal inspirations, the inner workings of the cartoon world, and how his quirky creations have profoundly affected legions of fans, including some surprising celebrities.

With marriage, graduation, and the real world looming on the horizon, fifth year senior Caleb Fuller reassembles the ol' team of misfits for one last epic run in Intramural football.

Zheng Zhou is the most feared warrior from the Shaolin Dynasty in China. His fighting and weapons skills are legendary. But when his parents are killed and sister kidnapped, he turns to a life of drugs and crime that will almost kill him. With the help of Hong Kong's notorious Dragon Triad syndicate, Colombia's biggest drugs cartel hatches an elaborate plan to traffic two tonnes of crack cocaine through the Port of Miami in America and ultimately into Australia and China. But when the partnership turns sour after the Cartel holds a Triad family member hostage, the Triads recruit Zhou to rescue the girl and kill the Colombians. What ensues is a bloodied street war across three countries. Zhou turns international Hitman with an arsenal of hi-tech surveillance devices, explosives, high powered weaponry and an array of fighting skills dating back fifteen hundred years. But just as Zhou rescues the hostage and takes control of the entire drugs shipment...

Nebbishy filmmaker Joanna Arnow documents her yearlong relationship with racially charged poet-provocateur James Kepple. What starts out as an uncomfortably intimate portrait of a dysfunctional relationship and protracted mid-twenties adolescence, quickly turns into a complex commentary on societal repression, sexuality and self-confrontation through art.

Budapest International Chess Tournament. The most likely winner: Cal Fournier (22), French champion, immature genius, socially awkward, compulsive player. But this time, an unusual 9-years-old Hungarian opponent disrupts this smooth-running routine.

Koch Brothers Exposed is a hard-hitting investigation of the 1% at its very worst. This full-length documentary film on Charles and David Koch—two of the world’s richest and most powerful men—is the latest from acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed, Rethink Afghanistan). The billionaire brothers bankroll a vast network of organizations that work to undermine the interests of the 99% on issues ranging from Social Security to the environment to civil rights. This film uncovers the Kochs’ corruption—and points the way to how Americans can reclaim their democracy.

What happens when America's most joyous, dysfunctional city rebuilds itself after a disaster? New Orleans is the setting for Getting Back to Abnormal, a film that serves up a provocative mix of race, corruption and politics to tell the story of the re-election campaign of Stacy Head, a white woman in a city council seat traditionally held by a black representative. Supported by her irrepressible African-American aide Barbara Lacen-Keller, Head polarizes the city as her candidacy threatens to diminish the power and influence of its black citizens. Featuring a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, the film presents a New Orleans that outsiders rarely see.

Ryan and Jennifer are opposites who definitely do not attract. At least that's what they always believed. When they met as twelve-year-olds, they disliked one another. When they met again as teenagers, they loathed each other. But when they meet in college, the uptight Ryan and the free-spirited Jennifer find that their differences bind them together and a rare friendship develops.

Pete is a football enthusiast, who plays as a goalkeeper for FC HeMan, a team playing in the lowest possible league. His girlfriend, Anna, hates the whole sport. Pete and his teammates are planning to travel to watch the Football World Cup held in Germany. Anna is not excited about Pete's plan to leave her alone for the summer. Therefore Anna decides to present a challenge to Pete: She will form a team from the wives and girlfriends of the FC HeMan players, and then the women's team (FC Venus) would play against FC HeMan. If the women's team wins, the men will have to give up football, and if the men's team wins, the women will never complain about their hobby.

Ichiko is a 30-year-old unemployed woman. She meets Ryoichi at a drinking establishment. Even though he is a lot younger than her, she can't forget him. Meanwhile, Ichiko has 5 different characters in her brain that governs her actions. The 5 characters are Yoshida, Ishibashi, Ikeda, Hatoko and Kishi. These 5 character then have a fierce meeting. Yoshida presides over the meeting as the chairman. Ishibashi is the optimist. Ikeda is the pessimist. Hatoko is the character that lives in the moment and Kishi thinks about the past.