Film Reviews

This documentary about Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished 1964 psycho-thriller L’Enfer is as tantalizing as it is frustrating. Despite remaining one of the most masterful of French directors, Cluozot inexplicably seems to have lost control on the big-budget production of L’Enfer. The long-lost raw footage is intriguing and dazzling, infused with swirling lights and blue-lipped, cigarette-puffing fantasy temptresses. Although directors Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Mederea have managed to speak to numerous members of the original crew, this behind-the-scenes investigation has so little to say about the reasons behind Clouzot’s failure to complete the film. In spite of this, the undiminished power of Clouzot’s extraordinary images makes the documentary a fascinating watch.

Live performance by Robyn Hitchcock, in... well, a storefront.

Actor / writer / director Erich von Stroheim stars as a fraudulent count, living high on the hog in Monte Carlo. He supports himself by extorting huge sums of money from silly married ladies who are dumb enough to fall for his romantic charms. Von Stroheim's partners in crime, phony princesses Mae Busch and Maud George, live in a state of perpetual depravity with the count in a huge mansion. Their latest victim, played by an actress who insisted upon being billed as Miss DuPont, is the wife of an American financier. Von Stroheim's attempted seduction of this particular foolish wife is thwarted at every turn, and the count ultimately gets his comeuppance.

The film is based on the second book from the Adventures of Erast Petrovich Fandorin series of novels written by the Russian author Boris Akunin. The film takes place in 1877 during the Russian-Turkish war. Erast Fandorin has just escaped from Turkish prison and is trying to get on the Russian side as soon as possible to give important information about the upcoming attack of the enemy. On his way he meets Varvara Suvorova, a young lady who is going to see her fiancée - a soldier of the Russian army. Erast also knows that there is a spy somewhere in the Russian army, everyone is under suspicion.

An American army intelligence officer discovers corruption and murder by American soldiers in Vietnam.

The documentary, from a radical view point, follows the evolution of the radical social movement following the April 24, 1974, military coup in Portugal: the appeal by leftist movements for armed action by the people, the role of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), nationalization of banks, rural land and some companies, direct control of companies by the trade unions and workers’ groups, inner fights between staff of some newspapers and radio stations, the independence of Angola, major strikes by trade unions, the declaration of state of siege, the counter-coup of November 25, 1975, and the political campaign for the election of the President of the Republic in 1976. —IMDb

Based on actual accounts, The Untold is the story of Harlan Knowles, billionaire and President of Bio-Comp Industries who heads up a team of experts in a quest to locate a company plane that disappeared over the remote forests of the Pacific Northwest. Knowles is obsessed with finding the plane and rescuing his daughter, who was one of its passengers. The assembled team includes local guide Clayton Tyne, renowned wilderness expert and author Winston Burg and the beautiful Marla Lawson. Soon, the team begins to suspect that Knowles' main objective is actually to recover the prototype of a DNA testing machine called the Huxley Project, which his company has spent years and millions of dollars developing.

Special ops interrogation officer Jimmy Vickers (Danny Dyer) tracks down a gang who slaughtered his parents while at the same time avoiding being tracked down by his old unit and the cops. With police closing in and his old unit on his trail, he has to evade capture long enough to complete his gruesome crusade.

In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe's story, a traveller arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse: The brother's senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic.

Tom Leezak and Sarah McNerney fall in love and plan to get married, despite opposition from Sarah's uptight, rich family. When they do get married, and get a chance to prove Sarah's family wrong, they go on a European honeymoon and run into disaster after disaster. They have to decide whether the honeymoon from hell and a few pre-marital mistakes are worth throwing away their love and marriage.

Trust Me follows flailing Hollywood agent Howard, who seemingly strikes gold after signing the next big child star. What results is an unexpected ride through the nasty inner workings of Hollywood, as Howard desperately tries to make it in an industry that has no interest in recognizing his bumbling but ultimately genuine nature.

A ferocious, bullying music teacher teaches a dedicated student. This is the 18 min short film that the feature film was based on.

The young Dr. Kildare treats and falls for impoverished ex-con Janet Healy, widow of a bank robber, who can't find her baby. Later she helps Kildare sew up gangster Hanlon in a tavern back room. Kildare pursues Janet and enlists Hanlon to help her; the gangster's solution, not surprisingly, is violent.

A cross-country road race is based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organized by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mph speed limit then in effect in the U.S. The Cannonball was named for Erwin G. "Cannonball" Baker, who in the roaring 20's rode his motorcycle across the country. Many of the characters are based on ruses developed by real Cannonball racers over the several years that the event was run.

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.