Film Reviews

The newly elected Pope suffers a panic attack just as he is about to greet the faithful who have gathered to see him. His advisors, unable to convince him he is the right man for the job, call on a renowned therapist who also happens to be an atheist. But the Pope's fear of his newfound responsibility is one he must face alone. Winner Best Film at the Italian Golden Globes.

In this comedy of an Englishman stranded in a sea of barbaric Americans, Marmaduke Ruggles (Charles Laughton), a gentleman's gentleman and butler to an Earl is lost in a poker game to an uncouth American cattle baron. Ruggles's life is turned upside down as he's taken to the USA, is gradually assimilated into American life, accidently becomes a local celebrity, and falls in love along the way.

Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese and this provides an excellent excuse for the animated duo to take their holiday on the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese. The moon is inhabited by a mechanical caretaker, who is not too happy about the two visitors from earth that nibble on the moon.

Rafael, a Seville citizen who has never left the Spanish region of Andalucia, decides to leave his homeland to follow Amaia, a Basque girl unlike other women he has known.

Four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path.

A New York City drug dealer decides to get out of the business, but has to flee from mobsters.

This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society. This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. Two daughters are the titular opposites.

The controversial true story of a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor.

The movie combines a diverting story, songs, color and sequences of live action blended with the movements of animated figures. Mary Poppins is a kind of Super-nanny who flies in with her umbrella in response to the request of the Banks children and proceeds to put things right with the aid of her rather extraordinary magical powers before flying off again.

Michael, a Vietnam vet with two kids, pulls off a bank heist with his gang, which includes the bank's manager. To ensure the loyalty of everyone involved, Mike makes a special set of keys, so that the hiding place for the loot can only be opened if all the members are present. The bank manager, however, gets cold feet and tries to back out, so Mike and his buddies kill him and his wife. His daughter, however, gets hold of the key and runs for help to David, one of her father's old friends who also happens to be a Vietnam vet and a former comrade of Michael's. Will David be able to protect his friend's daughter?

The Stranger is a literal (but still very cinematic) adaptation of the novel by Albert Camus. Marcello Mastrioanni stars as Meursault, a man who feels utterly isolated from everyone and everything around him. This alienation results in sudden, inexplicable bursts of violence, culminating in murder. The subsequent trial of Meursault manages to convey the oppressive heat of its Algerian setting with director Luchino Visconti's usual veneer of elegant decadence. Though set in the 1930s, the sensibilities of the film were very much attuned to the 1960s: the problem was that Camus' sentiments had been adopted by so many other filmmakers of the period that The Stranger seemed rather commonplace. The film was originally released in Italy as Lo Staniero.

A man is found burned to death inside of a car. Detective Sang-Gil (Song Kang-Ho) and his co-workers investigate the scene. Sang-Gil doesn't want to take the case, because it looks like a simple suicide case and won't help him get the promotion that he desperately wants. Furthermore, rookie female detective Eun-Young (Lee Na-Young) is selected as his partner for the case.

An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.

Sharpe is sent on a mission to exchange rifles for deserters with a strange band of Spanish guerillas. He also has to chaperone two women looking for their missing husband.