Film Reviews

A killer is released from prison and breaks into a remote home to kill a woman, her handicapped son and her pretty daughter.

Mike Bassett: England Manager is an hilarious British Comedy that stars Ricky Thomlinson. Featuring Cameos from Barry Venison, Gabby Yorath, Atomic Kitten and Pele.When the England manager has a heart attack, footballs' top brass turn to Mike Bassett (basically no one else wanted the job). England lose Mike's first two games in charge. His team struggles to a goal-less draw in the final qualifying match but, thanks to a fluke result elsewhere, England qualify for the finals in Brazil.In South America things go from bad to worse. Pressure is mounting for Mike. An embarrassing drunken performance caught by a new photographer seals his fate as the most unpopular Englishman ever.However, Mike makes an impassioned plea for the country to get behind him - fans, press, players.... even his wife. Can Mike turn the tide and bring football home ? ..

African American filmmaker David A. Wilson decided to look into his family's history during the slave era. The result is this documentary, which provides a unique perspective on the long shadow cast by slavery in America. Wilson travels to North Carolina to visit the plantation where his ancestors once toiled and to meet its current owner -- a white man named David Wilson, whose slave-owning ancestors originally occupied the property.

Nagraj Manjule’s film is a scorching indictment of the caste system that persists in modern India despite legislation introduced since independence. It is depicted through the eyes of an intelligent Dalit (untouchable) teenager, Jabya, who has a deeply rooted inferiority complex about his looks, caste and his family’s staggering poverty. These feelings prevent him from expressing his affection for his fellow classmate and cherished love, the fair-skinned Shalu, who is the daughter of a higher-caste family. His father is against him going to school and aspiring too highly and fellow villagers expect him to do menial work like the rest of his clan.

Lucia (40) is a wilful nurse, risen up from a simple environment, who raises suspicion with her colleagues and superiors when she’s once again present at an inexplicable death. The more the ambitious Assistant District Attorney Judith (32) learns about this, as it turns out, ex-prostitute, the more she’s disgusted by this woman who murders mortally ill seniors and babies. The newspapers are full of it. The District Attorney gives Judith the freedom to lead the investigation into this ‘Angel of Death’. She is finally assigned the case that could get her promoted: the case of Lucia de B.   As assistant to the District Attorney Judith puts her all into an exhausting investigation. The verdict is gripping. Lucia is sentenced to life for four murders and three attempted murders. Judith enjoys the victory, because this will surely lead to her promotion to District Attorney.  But then doubt hits her.

In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, formerly of the Platters; one is a petty thief from Philly; one teaches school in a small Georgia town. Each claims to be the widow of long-dead doo-wop singer-songwriter Frankie Lyman, and each wants years of royalties due to his estate, money Levy has never shared. During an ensuing civil trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life with Lyman, a boyish, high-pitched, dynamic performer, lost to heroin. Slowly, the three wives establish their own bond.

A biography of the Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, who became a popular singer in the early 1960s and struggled with the contradiction between the church and her true self.

A cavalry troop finds itself under constant attack by Indians.

Melody, 28 years old, a confused child born under the name X, decides to rent out her body in order to get the money she needs to realize her dream: opening a hair-dressing salon. To do so, she accepts to carry the child of Emily, a rich English woman 48 years old who can no longer have children. To make sure everything goes well and keep an eye on her future child, Emily decides to welcome Melody into her home and stay by her side throughout the pregnancy. Although they first appear to come from completely different worlds, the two women end up adopting each other: Melody finds in Emily the mother she never had, and Emily sees in Melody the daughter she always wanted to have. Evidently, the bonds that emerge during this double maternity create all sorts of doubts and questions.

The Blue Planet, the definitive exploration of the Earth's final frontier is now over. From the deep to the shore, from pole to pole it revealed extraordinary life and behaviour that had never before been filmed. In some cases the species were only recently known to scientists.The series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the ocean environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing animal behaviour for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science. The producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state of the art equipment.

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

Cet Amour-là is an intimate portrait of a legendary love affair. Set against the beauty of the Breton seaside, it is also a film that revels in the insights that Marguerite Duras' writing affords.

Carnival dancer Lane Bellamy finds herself stranded in a southern town ruled by corrupt political boss Sheriff Titus Semple. Lane becomes romantically involved with Deputy Sheriff Fielding Carlisle, a weakling whose career is being driven by Titus. Seeing Lane as a liability to his own political ambitions, Titus mounts a campaign to get her driven out of town. She finds she can't get a job and even gets arrested on a trumped-up morals charge. Released from jail, Lane finds work as a "hostess" at Lutie-Mae's road house, where she meets Dan Reynolds, another member of the town's political machine. They marry and move to a home on Flamingo Road, the town's social pinnacle. Their marriage is soon marked by scandal when a drunken Carlisle visits Lane at home one evening and shoots himself.

An emotionally challenged young man named Bobby (Christian Bale) runs away from home in order to escape his abusive stepfather who has killed his pets. He meets an old man, Mr. Summers (John Hurt), who spends his time traveling and giving burials to animals that have been killed by cars. Bobby, also having an affinity for animals, becomes friends with the old man and aids him in his task.

An "underground" cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his artwork.