Film Reviews

The Weight of Chains is a Canadian documentary film that takes a critical look at the role that the US, NATO and the EU played in the tragic breakup of a once peaceful and prosperous European state - Yugoslavia. The film, bursting with rare stock footage never before seen by Western audiences, is a creative first-hand look at why the West intervened in the Yugoslav conflict, with an impressive roster of interviews with academics, diplomats, media personalities and ordinary citizens of the former Yugoslav republics. This film also presents positive stories from the Yugoslav wars - people helping each other regardless of their ethnic background, stories of bravery and self-sacrifice.

This is it: one of the most talked about cult films ever made -- a maniacal masterpiece of the macabre, the martial arts, and the just plain weird. Shaw's first international star Lo Lieh stars as the insane swordsman who makes Chinese lamps from, yes, the skin of his enemies' sisters, mistresses, and wives. Although insanely conceived, it is beautifully filmed and unashamedly performed by a first rate cast of sexy starlets and kung-fu favorites.

In order to be technically free of the mortal sin of suicide, a young man who has given up on the world pays a drug-addict to shoot him. Charles (Antoine Monnier), who is a student, has tried political action and investigated the claims of religion but ultimately finds nothing which will change the overwhelming bleakness he feels surrounded by. In this austere movie by director Robert Bresson, the power of the storytelling comes from the lucidity of the imagery captured on film, rather than in the acting.

A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain.

In 1969, a young Beijing student, Chen Zhen, is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia. Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads' traditional enemies - the marauding wolves - to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world

A man pursues stand-up comedy encouraged by his fellow garbage man. Though his friend, who accompanies him on accordion, continues to tell him how great he is, he actually stinks. When the "comedian" grows a third arm out of his back, the friend uses this twist to get him signed up with a sleazy talent agent, and it begins to look like his career is on the move, even though his girlfriend has left him.

Mladen (44) Belgrade born, is a timeshare salesman at Montenegrin Holiday resort. He is having an affair with his colleague, Sonja (40), who is married to Metod (50) the chief sales manager who learns about his wife's infidelity. He assigns Mladen the toughest client - Omer, a Bosnian war veteran, who doesn't try to hide his aversion to Mladen. Everything becomes hopeless when Omer's three year old son Svendy falls over the edge of the hotel terrace and ends up in a hospital. Grim mood that prevails among the potential buyers is about to ruin the sales. Sonja and Metod blackmail Mladen to continue the sales at the hospital while Omer and his wife are waiting for their son's operation.

This Canadian film presents and old-fashioned war time romance. It is set during 1942 in Manitoba and traces the doomed affair between a young farmer's wife (Christianne Hirt) whose husband is fighting abroad and a dashing Australian pilot (Russell Crowe). The pilot has come to train in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of Canada. When the pilot, Lachlan, is not training, he is surreptitiously wooing Lill, the farmer's wife. At the other end of town, Betsy (Wanda Cannon) who supports her two kids by bootlegging, charges for her services. She gets involved with Zeek (Scott Kraft), an American flight instructor.

Set in the future, a group of terrorists with an android leader storm a hospital when the President's daughter is inside, taking her hostage. To find a way of freeing her, the police decide to consult the architect who designed the building, but he's currently in jail for some crime, and the punishment of the future is to be frozen solid for one's sentence. The cops accidentally thaw out the wrong guy, a football player who decides to keep the mistake a secret and help the police in exchange for his freedom. Will he be able to defeat the terrorists and rescue the hostages, despite not knowing the first thing about architecture?

Fela Anikulapo Kuti created the musical movement Afrobeat and used it as a political forum to oppose the Nigerian dictatorship and advocate for the rights of oppressed people. This is the story of his life, music, and political importance.

A composer who can't control his creative temperament turns to murder.

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occuring.

Germantown and Martin Luther King High Schools were bitter rivals for over 40 years. This past year, a budget crisis caused Philadelphia to lay off over 4000 employees and close 37 schools, including Germantown High. Now Germantown must merge with their former rival, King. Against overwhelming odds, a 27-year old first time head coach and a new principal fight to inspire young men from difficult circumstances to come together and lift each other toward a better future.

A guerilla leader falls in love with a mysterious woman in World War II Lisbon.

Circa 1940 in Trinidad, still a British Colony, lives Ganesh Ramseyor, of East Indian origin, along with his wife, Leela. He longs to reach out to people, especially to Hindus, in order to promote the Hindu Faith, and be known as a writer. He does get considerable success, so much so that he becomes famous as a miracle worker, having cured a man of sharing intimacy with his bicycle; prevented a man from believing that he can fly; and convincing a young woman to end her fast. His fame spreads all over the island and thousands throng to seek his blessings, which he does dole out quite benevolently, without charging any fees from the poor and the needy. He then decides to spread his wings by challenging the local politician Pandit Narayan Chandrashekhar alias Cyrus T., and takes over The Hindu Organization, thence opening his way to a seat in the prestigious Member of the Legislative Assembly