Film Reviews

An independent tragicomedy, Run If You Can is the debut feature for director Brüggemann who, along with his sister, also wrote the compelling screenplay. Forced to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, Ben is deeply desperate, despite his humor and vivaciousness. When he meets Christian, his new assistant, Ben treats him like every other helper he’s had. Things suddenly change when Christian meets Annika, “the cello player” whom Ben has been observing from his window for years. The three become close friends, putting Annika in the middle of an emotional, and somehow dangerous, ménage à trois. While conquering Annika is nothing very serious for career-focused Christian, Ben’s love for Annika reminds him of his past and forces him to face his most remote fears. A character-driven story, Run If You Can owes much of its power to the actors’ performances, especially Robert Gwisdek’s outstanding interpretation of Ben.

Average Texas teen, Billie Jean Davy, is caught up in an odd fight for justice. She is usually followed and harrased around by local boys, who, one day, decide to trash her brother's scooter for fun. The boys' father refuses to pay them back the price of the scooter. The fight for "fair is fair" takes the teens around the state and produces an unlikely hero.

If the mysterious plague sweeping the nation wasn't bad enough, Dean is still going ahead with his doomed wedding tomorrow morning. That leaves him with a choice. Pick up the button holes and chocolate fountain as instructed by bridezilla, Elaine, or go with five mates (and a stripper) to play "Zomball" at a top secret military compound where you get to shoot zombies with huge stun guns. Disobeying the golden rule of Zomball ('never never humiliate a zombie') the stags face overwhelming odds from the massed undead and each stag is hunted down. The truth about Zomball is finally revealed and suddenly the mother-in-law is the least of Dean's problems....

Winston Churchill's life in the years leading up to World War II.

Menacing smoke rises over the forests of Manawan. Shawnouk has lost touch with the traditions of the Atikamekw people, and he struggles with daily life on the reservation. His mother's boyfriend is a policeman, and though he means well, Shawnouk won't accept him as part of the family. There's so much missing in his life. One night, Shawnouk gets involved in a break-in. When the home-owner turns up, Shawnouk pushes himself between the man and the gun. In the end, he is the one with blood on his hands. He goes into hiding in the vast forests of Québec. In the search for his roots, he faces regret, pain and anger. Fire and smoke, the ancient trees, and the music of his ancestors help Shawnouk to face his biggest challenge: the confrontation with himself.

A Southerner--young, poor, ambitious but uneducated--determines to become something in the world. He decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.

A movie about the First World War based on a stage musical of the same name, portraying the "Game of War" and focusing mainly on the members of one family (last name Smith) who go off to war. Much of the action in the movie revolves around the words of the marching songs of the soldiers, and many scenes portray some of the more famous (and infamous) incidents of the war, including the assassination of Duke Ferdinand, the Christmas meeting between British and German soldiers in no-mans-land, and the wiping out by their own side of a force of Irish soldiers newly arrived at the front, after successfully capturing a ridge that had been contested for some time.

A classical art professor and collector, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.

Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.

Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO, Michael Jennings, is the kind of person who doesn't care whether or not oil spills into the ocean or onto the land, just as long as it's making money for him.

Nathan, 16, lives alone with his father Stephane. A newcomer in high school, he is invited to a party and falls in love with Louis, a boy in his class. They find themselves out of sight and kiss each other, but someone takes a picture of them. Soon, the photo is published on Facebook and a storm overtakes their lives as they face bullying and rejection.

Mercedes is a taxi dancer who wants to be an actress. She's involved with the married Harry, who considers himself a respected actor. Ernesto is in love with Mercedes, but he doesn't dance or have money.

Buster's handmade boat, The Damfino, is finished and is, of course, too large to get through the basement door. When he drives off with it in tow, the side of his house, then the whole thing, collapses. At the harbor he rides the boat out only to have it sink beneath him. The rest is a series of adventures he and his family have with the restored boat.

The story of humankind's last stand against a cataclysmic alien invasion. Set in the war-ravaged African countryside, a U.S. soldier and a French foreign aid worker team up to survive the alien onslaught. Their bond will be tested as they search for refuge across a crumbling world.

A girl loses her parents and husband and is left driving a limo trying to get by raising her young son. An interesting but strange rich man hires her limo on Christmas eve and has her drive him to various ice rinks where he gives out $100 bills to the people there. The news media catches on and starts following him. Some interesting twists follow, but the movie is somewhat predictable.