Film Reviews · Backpex

Title	Overview		Toggle columns Title Overview
The Auntie from Chicago	Aunt Calliopi returns to Greece from Chicago after 30 years and plans to marry off her nieces.
Appointment in Tokyo	Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945
Water-mirror of Granada	Experimental, cinematic symphony of Granada, José Val del Omar's birthplace.
Rent	This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village, New York, USA. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, HIV/AIDS, and modern day life.
The Purple Rose of Cairo	Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mudane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia goes to see 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' in hopes of raising her spirits, where she watches dashing archaeologist Tom Baxter time and again.
The Notorious Mr. Bout	Viktor Bout was a war profiteer, an entrepreneur, an aviation tycoon, an arms dealer, and—strangest of all—a documentary filmmaker. The Notorious Mr. Bout is the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-prison memoir, documented by the last man you'd expect to be holding the camera.
The Karate Kid	Hassled by the school bullies, Daniel LaRusso has his share of adolescent woes. Luckily, his apartment building houses a resident martial arts master: Kesuke Miyagi, who agrees to train Daniel ... and ends up teaching him much more than self-defense. Armed with newfound confidence, skill and wisdom, Daniel ultimately faces off against his tormentors in this hugely popular classic underdog tale.
To Have and Have Not	A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.
Urban Justice	Seagal plays a man with a dark and violent past, who seeks revenge for the murder of his son.
The Benefactor	A newly married couple are forced to navigate the all-consuming interest of a powerful, mysterious, and possessive philanthropist.
You Lie, You Die	On the surface, Kate and Jack, late 20's, are happy. But like everyone, they carry secrets that neither of them is prepared to reveal. After their wedding, they wake from a deep, dark sleep, each alone in a sealed room with no doors or windows, just a projection screen and a monitor with two buttons: one for “yes”, one for “no”. As the horror of their situation unfolds, surveillance films showing their life together, appear on the screen as the monitor asks questions, each more strange and terrifying that the last. It soon becomes apparent that a bizarre test of their relationship is underway, and the secrets revealed lead them deeper and deeper into what could not just destroy their love, but threaten their very lives…
305	'305' is a mockumentary detailing the misadventures of five not-so-brave members of the Spartan army charged with guarding a seemingly ordinary goat path. But when their actions lead to the death of King Leonidas and his army of 300 men, the five must find a way to redeem themselves and save Sparta from invasion.
Cruel Winter Blues	Jae-Mun is a seasoned veteran of the gang. Although a physically imposing black belt in Taekwondo, Chi-Guk is a soft-spoken newcomer to gang life, who is quietly offended by Jae-Mun's arbitrary and random acts of cruelty and rudeness against him and others. They travel to a remote town to perform an assassination of rival gangster Dae-Sik, who was responsible for the death of a friend of Jae-Mun.
The Masked Saint	The journey of a professional wrestler who becomes a small town pastor and moonlights as a masked vigilante fighting injustice. While facing crises at home and at the church, the Pastor must evade the police and somehow reconcile his violent secret identity with his calling as a pastor.
Sonic Outlaws	Within days after the release of Negativland's clever parody of U2 and Casey Kasem, recording industry giant Island Records descended upon the band with a battery of lawyers intent on erasing the piece from the history of rock music. Craig "Tribulation 99" Baldwin follows this and other intellectual property controversies across the contemporary arts scene. Playful and ironic, his cut-and-paste collage-essay surveys the prospects for an "electronic folk culture" in the midst of an increasingly commodified corporate media landscape.

The Auntie from Chicago

Aunt Calliopi returns to Greece from Chicago after 30 years and plans to marry off her nieces.

Appointment in Tokyo

Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945

Water-mirror of Granada

Experimental, cinematic symphony of Granada, José Val del Omar's birthplace.

Rent

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village, New York, USA. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, HIV/AIDS, and modern day life.

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mudane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia goes to see 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' in hopes of raising her spirits, where she watches dashing archaeologist Tom Baxter time and again.

The Notorious Mr. Bout

Viktor Bout was a war profiteer, an entrepreneur, an aviation tycoon, an arms dealer, and—strangest of all—a documentary filmmaker. The Notorious Mr. Bout is the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-prison memoir, documented by the last man you'd expect to be holding the camera.

The Karate Kid

Hassled by the school bullies, Daniel LaRusso has his share of adolescent woes. Luckily, his apartment building houses a resident martial arts master: Kesuke Miyagi, who agrees to train Daniel ... and ends up teaching him much more than self-defense. Armed with newfound confidence, skill and wisdom, Daniel ultimately faces off against his tormentors in this hugely popular classic underdog tale.

To Have and Have Not

A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.

Urban Justice

Seagal plays a man with a dark and violent past, who seeks revenge for the murder of his son.

The Benefactor

A newly married couple are forced to navigate the all-consuming interest of a powerful, mysterious, and possessive philanthropist.

You Lie, You Die

On the surface, Kate and Jack, late 20's, are happy. But like everyone, they carry secrets that neither of them is prepared to reveal. After their wedding, they wake from a deep, dark sleep, each alone in a sealed room with no doors or windows, just a projection screen and a monitor with two buttons: one for “yes”, one for “no”. As the horror of their situation unfolds, surveillance films showing their life together, appear on the screen as the monitor asks questions, each more strange and terrifying that the last. It soon becomes apparent that a bizarre test of their relationship is underway, and the secrets revealed lead them deeper and deeper into what could not just destroy their love, but threaten their very lives…

305

'305' is a mockumentary detailing the misadventures of five not-so-brave members of the Spartan army charged with guarding a seemingly ordinary goat path. But when their actions lead to the death of King Leonidas and his army of 300 men, the five must find a way to redeem themselves and save Sparta from invasion.

Cruel Winter Blues

Jae-Mun is a seasoned veteran of the gang. Although a physically imposing black belt in Taekwondo, Chi-Guk is a soft-spoken newcomer to gang life, who is quietly offended by Jae-Mun's arbitrary and random acts of cruelty and rudeness against him and others. They travel to a remote town to perform an assassination of rival gangster Dae-Sik, who was responsible for the death of a friend of Jae-Mun.

The Masked Saint

The journey of a professional wrestler who becomes a small town pastor and moonlights as a masked vigilante fighting injustice. While facing crises at home and at the church, the Pastor must evade the police and somehow reconcile his violent secret identity with his calling as a pastor.

Sonic Outlaws

Within days after the release of Negativland's clever parody of U2 and Casey Kasem, recording industry giant Island Records descended upon the band with a battery of lawyers intent on erasing the piece from the history of rock music. Craig "Tribulation 99" Baldwin follows this and other intellectual property controversies across the contemporary arts scene. Playful and ironic, his cut-and-paste collage-essay surveys the prospects for an "electronic folk culture" in the midst of an increasingly commodified corporate media landscape.