Film Reviews

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.

Christmas Day 2004, and across the Indian Ocean, tourists from around the globe are enjoying dream holidays in the sun. But none of them know that the very next day their video cameras will capture one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history, which will leave nearly 300,000 dead in eleven countries. Five years on, and told almost entirely using amateur footage, much of it never broadcast before, Tsunami: Caught on Camera is the moving true story of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami told through the eyes of those who were actually there. Shot by ordinary people across the Tsunami's huge impact area, the remarkable amateur footage reveals what happened when the waves, caused by a massive underwater earthquake, hit land. This powerful, bold and intimate film reveals what it was like to be caught up in the events of that day and tells stories of panic and heart-breaking loss, as well as courage and miraculous survival.

The film is a study of Anton Szandor LaVey, leader of a cult of devil worshipers in San Francisco. He and his Church of Satan are shown performing a black mass, in which a nude woman serves as an altar and a boa constrictor wraps itself around a naked witch. Newsreel footage is included in which LaVey's neighbors are interviewed about the lion which he kept in his house until complaints resulted in the animal's removal to a zoo. The ideology of the Church of Satan is discussed--guilt rejection, sexual freedom, and self-indulgence.

Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.

Singapore GaGa is a 55-minute paean to the quirkiness of the Singaporean aural landscape. It reveals Singapore's past and present with a delight and humour that makes it a necessary film for all Singaporeans. We hear buskers, street vendors, school cheerleaders sing hymns to themselves and to their communities. From these vocabularies (including Arabic, Latin, Hainanese), a sense of what it might mean to be a modern Singaporean emerges. This is Singapore's first documentary to have a cinema release. With English and Chinese subtitles.

It's the closing night at the last drive-in theater in America and Cecil B. Kaufman has planned the ultimate marathon of lost film prints to unleash upon his faithful cinephile patrons. Four films so rare that they have never been exhibited publicly on American soil until this very night! With titles like Wadzilla, Deathecation, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, and Zom-B-Movie, Chillerama not only celebrates the golden age of drive-in B horror shlock but also spans over four decades of cinema with something for every bad taste.

As an awkward idealistic high school teacher begins her first job in the city, things turn out to be much tougher than she had imagined.

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

Godard examines the structure of movies, relationships and revolutions through the life of a couple in Paris.

Antonis arrives at a hotel resort by the sea. It is wintertime, the hotel is closed and Antonis drifts around alone. He has a lot of time to kill. Until television announces the disappearance of the famous TV host Antonis Paraskevas…

Athens - Greece - The age of Economic crisis Demetris is a highly independent man who lives a normal life. A confirmed bachelor at the age of 33! When a moment arrives, his choice at that point in time will change everything. His roommate is a female German Shepherd called Lonesome. One night, after supper, Lonesome wants to be taken out. Demetris tries to change her mind but Lonesome insists Its at this moment that he comes to a decision. This decision will change his entire life. If Demetris goes out he will meet Christina, the love of his life. If he stays in, he will not meet her. Does true love exist? What is the impact of a severe economic crisis on people and how can the crisis destroy a couple? One story shown from two different angles.

The story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bollywood movies. Based on the travels of Geoffrey Kendal with his daughter Felicity Kendal.

Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to Adele, a terror. By chance, he meets Lucienne, "Lulu", and make her his mistress. He thinks he finally met love, but Lulu is nothing but a streetwalker, in love with Dede, her pimp. She only accepts Legrand to satisfy Dede's needs of money. Remade as Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett.

Buddy Visalo (Michael Rispoli) is a factory worker, a frustrated crooner who once had a shot at the big time. Buddy's dreams of greatness have been reduced to an endless series of failed moneymaking schemes. His latest is buying a two-family house for him and his wife, Estelle (Katherine Narducci) and converting the ground floor into a neighborhood bar where he can perform. The wrench in the works is that he also inherits the upstairs tenants, Mary,a pregnant Irish girl fresh off the boat (Kelly Macdonald) and her abusive, alcoholic husband, Jim (Kevin Conway). As Buddy's gang of Italians tries to handle the situation, the girl goes into labor, and a baby is born, forcing them all to confront the limits of their tolerance and compassion.

Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.