Film Reviews

Ryuzo (Tatsuya Fuji) and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.

A Humble Life is certainly true to its title, a documentary study of the day-to-day world of Umeno Mathuyoshi, an old woman who lives in an isolated mountain house in the Nara prefecture in Japan.

When things go wrong at the circus, it's up to Superman to stop the escaped animals.

The vows of an ambitious young American priest are tested during World War II. Not only does Father John Flaherty get involved with the black market to raise money for the Vatican, he also falls in love with a young French nun.

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

On the night of March 13th, 1997, strange lights were witnessed flying over the Phoenix sky, and in their wake a "man" appeared. Jimmy and Father Michael feel their lives affected by this stranger. Baffled, Father Michael travels to Mexico to seek advice from his mentor. But a series of accidents prevents the truth from being revealed, and Father Michael is left even more alone and afraid. What he later discovers defies his perception of reality and the core of all he has ever believed. For Jimmy, the mysterious man provides guidance towards finding what he has sought for many years.

The Gold Spinners is a story about the birth, glory, and disappearance of a peculiar, invisible, and mighty business empire, the film studio Eesti Reklaamfilm, the only company producing commercials in the Soviet Union.

Charlie is an immigrant who endures a challenging voyage and gets into trouble as soon as he arrives in America.

By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in her chilling web of lust and terror. Charlie and “Evil” Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a “new moon virgin,” which just so happens to be Charlie’s ex-girlfriend, Amy.

Perth is the journey into the heart of Harry Lee, a 51-year-old part-time security guard and taxi driver. He belongs to a redundant generation, eclipsed by a fast-paced, elitist society that is mesmerized with education and status. Harry desires to leave the antiseptic streets of Singapore for his paradise on earth in Western Australia. His attempt to migrate is complicated when he takes on a job ferrying prostitutes. This evokes painful memories from his past. When he takes an unhealthy interest in a Vietnamese prostitute, it awakens a dark and dangerous attempt at personal redemption. The film tackles an extremely topical issue of emigration in Singapore. It is peppered by denizens of the underbelly of Singapore society, reflecting the multicultural idiosyncrasies of a seemingly pristine city. More importantly, it is a personal journey of a flawed man in a society that does not tolerate failure...

A year on an Alpine farm: an older couple have two children, Belli, who wanted to be a teacher, and the younger Franzi, deaf, and although he works like a man, child-like. Belli teaches him. In his work, he can become frustrated, so when he throws an expensive mower over a cliff in a fit of pique, his father banishes him to the outskirts of the farm, where he uses pubescent energy to break rocks and build walls and cairns. (It's the tradition of the father's family, called "The Irascibles" by neighbors, to spend puberty doing this.) Belli visits him and they begin sleeping together. By winter, the boy is back in the house and Belli is pregnant. Soon her parents must know.

When the grandson of a gun wielding woman is murdered by neo-nazi surf punks in the post-apocalyptic future, this grandma hunts them down for some bloodthirsty revenge.

71 scenes revolving around multiple Viennese residents who are by chance involved with a senseless gun slaughter on Christmas Eve.

An introspective dentist's suspicions about his wife's infidelity stresses his mental well being and family life to the breaking point.

Set in 1870's New York, a spinster heiress is courted by a much younger, penniless man, much to the chagrin of her over-protective father, and must decide whether to spend the rest of her life alone, or marry a man who is interested in her only because of her inheritence.