Film Reviews

Jacob Fisher, an Orthodox Jewish Cantor and amateur songwriter who resides in Brooklyn, New York, witnesses the senseless murder of his wife and three children. Catatonic, Jacob walks out on his Jewish mourning ritual, leaving behind his Jewish garments, wallet and keys. Abandoning his identity, he wanders aimlessly, hoping somehow to understand his tragedy. Fortuitously, he lands in Brent, Alabama (population 2,500), where he is embraced by Nina, a single mother and the lead singer of a small gospel choir, her Uncle Moe and their gospel community.

Quickie-mart employee Melissa and paraplegic Richie are very much in love. Supported only by Melissa’s small hourly wage, they are nevertheless thrilled to learn that Melissa is pregnant. Then their situation deteriorates, and their tenuous financial situation threatens to bring their happy life crashing down.

Three college students, another couple, their housekeeper are besieged at a remote Brazilian plantation by a group of zombies raised by a voodoo curse.

Still mourning the death of her mother a few years back, ALICE McKINLEY finds her life seriously disrupted when her father BEN buys a store and moves her and her older brother LESTER to a new town. In the painful throes of adolescence, Alice has a rough time adjusting to her new school, especially after she gets the stern MRS. PLOTKIN as her core teacher. Feeling shy and isolated, Alice frequently escapes into a vivid fantasy life that occasionally gets her into hot water. But with a little unexpected help from Mrs. Plotkin, Alice learns not to judge by appearances or jump to conclusions. More importantly, she confronts her father over his inability to accept their loss and move on into the future...

The film is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu. This movie chronicles her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s. Actress Maggie Cheung portrayed Ruan in this movie. Nicknamed the "Chinese Garbo," Ruan Lingyu began her acting career when she was 16 years old and committed suicide at age 24. The film alternates between present scenes (production talks between director Kwan, Cheung, and co-star Carina Lau, interviews of witnesses who knew Ruan), re-creation scenes with Cheung (as Ruan, acting inside this movie), and extracts from Ruan's original films including her final two films The Goddess and New Women.

When jobless Tommy Collins discovers that sequestered jurors earn free room and board as well as $5-a-day, he gets himself assigned to a jury in a murder trial. Once there, he does everything he can to prolong the trial and deliberations and make the sequestration more comfortable for himself.

Manny has moved to a new school, and it's not easy to fit in. After wishing he had more friends, Manny finds a mysterious collar and puts it on Rufus, the family dog. Suddenly, Rufus turns into a boy! Manny's not sure what to do, so he enrolls Rufus in school. When the other students notice Rufus's silly dog antics -- chasing squirrels, eating without utensils, asking for belly rubs, and catching a soccer ball with his mouth -- he immediately becomes the most popular kid around. Manny is jealous of his new best friend but eventually learns that a dog's loyalty to his owner always comes first.

Every Second Counts takes an inside look at the CrossFit culture and community, where time on a stopwatch reigns as the supreme measure of performance. Those who reach the elite ranks in the burgeoning sport of CrossFit push themselves beyond limitations imposed by the mind and flirt with the limits of physical capacity. Human perseverance has never voluntarily gone this far. The film chronicles the dramatic journey of five athletes as they prepare for and compete in the most comprehensive test of fitness on the planet, the CrossFit Games. The road to this grueling two-day program of extreme challenges reveals what it takes to be the best in the world. The climactic finish, with its surprising turn of events, shows beyond any doubt that the winner of the CrossFit Games is the fittest person on earth.

Three tornadoes converge to wreak havoc on Chicago, disrupting the power grid and creating the worst super-storm in history: a category 6 twister.

A film about the life and career of the early rock and roll star.

Having been sent a picture of her husband, a war hero killed in France, Meg Elgin is led to believe he is still alive and arranges a meeting at a London railway station. When she arrives there with the police accompanying her, she catches sight of a man in the distance wearing an old coat of her husband's. When he is pursued and captured, he turns out to be Duds Morrison a former soldier and out-of-work actor recently let out of prison. He refuses to tell them anything, and having nothing they can charge him with, the police release him. His interest aroused by the pictures sent to Meg, her new fiancé Geoffrey Leavitt follows Morrison and tries to demand an answer from him about his sudden appearance masquerading as Meg’s dead husband.

A live-in aide adjusts to life with the family who employ her.

After their mother passes away, sisters Nicole and Annie reluctantly return to their childhood home to pay their last respects. While staying overnight in the house, the sisters sense a mysterious presence in their midst: noises startling them in the night, objects moving about, a fallen picture of an unknown woman posed next to their mother. Annie begins experiencing a series of intense and disturbing dreams - visions that lead her to uncover something terrible about her mother's past that is finally revealing itself.

An unscrupulous movie producer blackmails an unhappy star - who opted for box-office success over art- into signing a new contract.

Four characters living in one neighborhood in London - all living dramatically different lives, all of them on the edge - see their stories unfold.