Film Reviews

Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.

Two brothers need household help after their Ma passes away. They decide to join a romance tour to Russia to find and bring home a traditionally minded wife.

Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.

The film takes place in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War in which Egypt and Syria launched attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights. The story is told from the perspective of Israeli soldiers. We are led by Weinraub and his friend Ruso on a day that begins with quiet city streets, but ends with death, destruction and devastation of both body and mind. Various scenes are awash in the surreal, as Weinraub's head hangs out over a rescue helicopter's open door, watching with tranquil desperation as the earth passes beneath, the overpowering whir of the blades creating a hypnotic state. It is not a traditional blood, guts and glory film. There are no men in battle, only the rescue crew trying to pick up the broken pieces.

Four characters living in one neighborhood in London - all living dramatically different lives, all of them on the edge - see their stories unfold.

Twelve extremely talented men and women have been chosen to be part of the Phaeton mission, a 10-year trek to explore a distant planetary system. In order to endure the stress of being confined to their high-tech vessel, the crew passes the time using advanced virtual reality modules that allow them to take on various identities. But as the ship approaches a critical phase of their journey, a deadly flaw is discovered in the virtual system, forcing them to question if someone onboard might be a killer.

A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.

Three wealthy children's parents are killed in a fire. When they are sent to a distant relative, they find out that he is plotting to kill them and seize their fortune. This movie is extremely alarming, an expression which here means "a thrilling misadventure involving three ingenious orphans and a villainous actor named Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) who wants their enormous fortune." It includes a suspicious fire, delicious pasta, Jim Carrey, poorly behaved looches, Billy Connolly, an incredibly deadly viper, Meryl Streep, and the voice of an imposter named Jude Law.

A military school student develops a destructive power over his fellow cadets.

Comes A Bright Day is a romantic thriller set during the armed robbery of one of London's most exclusive jewellers. Sometimes funny, often dark, always captivating and never what you expect.

Vampires are invading a small New England town. It's up to a novelist and a young horror fan to save it.

During a Day of the Dead celebration, the dead come to life to prey upon the living. In the remote Mexican village of Santa Bonita, a nightmare lay buried for over a century. But when a group of hard-partying students from the OC are stranded in this strange town, they discover an innkeeper with a dark secret (Laura Harring of Mulholland Drive) a sheriff with a shocking past (David Keith of Firestarter) and a holiday that demands the most horrific sacrifice of all. Now the ceremony can commence. The hordes of the undead have been unleashed. And on this day, an unstoppable feast of human flesh has begun!

In a remote desert oasis, a fortune in gold was hidden by the Nazis during World War 2. 50 years later, a bunch of fortune-hunters converge on that selfsame oasis. Imagine their discomfiture upon discovering that the gold is being guarded by an army of zombies.

A congressional candidate questions his sanity after seeing the love of his life, presumed dead, suddenly emerge.

Perhaps the only film whose content is totally based on the musical form known as canon. The first sequence is a simple demonstration of the canon "Frere Jacques" where four cubes dance and combine with one another on a checkerboard. The second sequence show four little human-like figures dancing in space. The third and most elaborate sequence shows a human going through several strange gesticulations. Through multiple printing we realize that the man, as in the previous sequences, is part of a visual canon and is making the gestures to himself. As we hear variations on the canonic theme so too do we witness visual variations: a woman and cat enters the canon. To show the musical technique of inversion, the image of the man is printed upside down.