Film Reviews

In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.

This is the story of Spalding Gray and his attempt to write a novel. It is a first person account about writing and living, and dealing with success while trying to be successful.

When a police department's burglary task force is facing the possibility of being shut down because of their low conviction rate decides to try a new approach to apprehending their targets. They take over a pawn shop where thieves go to unload their merchandise. They record them as they bring stuff in and get them to tell them where they got it. Eventually they're threatened by the mob.

The year is 1952, in Quebec City. Rachel (16), unmarried and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young priest, under the confidentiality of the confessional. In the present year of 1989, Pierre Lamontagne has returned to Quebec to attend his father's funeral. He meets up with his adopted brother, Marc, who has begun questioning his identity and has embarked on a quest for his roots that would lead them to the Quebec of the 1950s. Past and present converge in a complex web of intrigue where the answer to the mystery lies.

From the moment she was born, Vaysha was a very special girl. With her left eye she can only see into the past, and with her right she can only see the future. The past is familiar and safe, the future is sinister and threatening. The present is a blind spot. In captivating parabolic imagery, the award-winning animation artist Theodore Ushev illustrates the world through Vaysha’s eyes.

Four male friends are reunited after not being in contact with each other for several years. However, the meeting place is Purgatory, the afterlife state of limbo between heaven and hell. In Purgatory, these friends reflect on their pasts while they were living. They especially focus on their years in Catholic School and their coming of age. This film talks a lot about sexual issues. One of the characters is an 18-year old sent to Vietnam who dies without ever losing his virginity and there is a middle-aged, homosexual alcoholic playwright who has still has problems dealing with his identity.

Get set for all the zany fun in this hilarious comedy about an Asian immigrant that everyone calls "Bruce", because of his resemblance to the legendary Bruce Lee. Bruce unknowingly works as cook for the Mob and is duped into making deliveries of "Chinese Flour"-which is really cocaine-all across the U.S.

A lonely young woman's desperate need for emotional and sexual companionship draws her into a surreal and ultimately destructive relationship with a shifting and whispering tattoo she has willed to life on her skin.

Both up-roaringly funny and unerringly cautionary, Broomfield's behind-the-scenes document of the making of a musical becomes a ceremonious unmaking-of as egos, budgets and general calamity conspire to ruin the best efforts of all involved in the New York rehearsals for an extravagant, glitzy production.

1989 marked the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and an end to a way of life for millions of people. Having lived through extraordinary times, they tell their stories of life behind the Iron Curtain, looking beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political repression, to reveal a rich tapestry of experience.

In a secluded house in a small seaside town live four unrelated men and the woman who tends to the house and their needs. All former priests, they have been sent to this quiet exile to purge the sins of their pasts, the separation from their communities the worst form of punishment by the Church. They keep to a strict daily schedule devoid of all temptation and spontaneity, each moment a deliberate effort to atone for their wrongdoings.

A tale of passion, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity presents him with a chance to change it.

A poker player on a losing streak meets a beautiful young woman. He's attracted to her, but she appears to be perfectly content with her boyfriend, a somewhat wussy writer. The gambler gets the idea that if he can get this woman into bed, it will change his luck at the gambling tables.

A group of rogues steal a scroll granting its bearer the property of the land of Aurocastro in Apulia (south of Italy). They elect a shaggy knight, Brancaleone from Norcia, as their leader, and decide to get possession of this supposedly wealthy land. Many adventures will occurr during the journey.

Dante and Randall attend Julie Dwyer's wake in this animated representation of a scene never before shot for the movie Clerks. (1994)