Film Reviews

The boy Kim moves with his family from the countryside to a ghetto in a big city. He does not do too well in school, and that makes him an easy victim for the hard core bullies in the new school. When the group leader is moved to a private school, Kim is accepted in the gang - as long as he provides cigarettes for the other members. This of course leads to a confrontation with the school teachers, his family and eventually the gang members.

The first portion of this film is a documentary on the adults-only entertainment industry prevelent in London's Soho District. The second details the trials and tribulations of a struggling photographer, his unsatisfied wife, and their friend Emmanuelle, as they try to make it big in Soho. They decide their ticket to success will come by blackmailing a wealthy adult film tycoon.

In Les Halles, in the heart of Paris, the restaurateur André Chatelin (Jean Gabin), leads an uneventful life until the arrival from Marseille of Catherine (Danièle Delorme), the daughter of his ex-wife Gabrielle (Lucienne Bogaert). She tells him her mother is dead and that she is without resources. Chatelin welcomes her under his roof - then marries her. Gérard (Gérard Blain), a young student that Chatelin looks upon as a son, becomes Catherine's lover, and she sets him at odds with Chatelin. She asks him to kill the restaurateur. He refuses. She kills him. Having discovered that Gabrielle is still alive, declined and drug addicted, Chatelin realises the darkness of Catherine's soul who has always lied to him.

A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.

For the ventriloquist Gabbo his wooden dummy Otto is the only means of expression. When he starts relying more and more on Otto, he starts going mad.

"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.

A couple works hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately one of their tenants has plans of his own.

The picture is about youth of 1960, its ideals, search of meaning of life, about understanding between the generations, and firmness of moral values and friends… Years of the Thaw in the capital are shown in the picture. The picture art style is a lyrical novel which was foredoomed the whole cinema decade. Twenty-two-year-old Gennady Shpalikov (being the cult poet of the sixtieth and the spokesman of an epoch) was the co-author of Hutsiev in the script. Andrey Tarkovsky, Andrey Konchalovsky, Pavel Finn, Natalia Ryazantseva were in episodes. Film became the significant event in Thaw culture, but was prohibited by the authorities. This picture of men of the sixties can be used for study of the period of hopes not destined to be realized in history of the country.

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

"One Last Hug" chronicles a three day summer camp for children learning to cope with the death of a loved one. With the guidance of trained professionals, grieving children as young as seven years old learn that their feelings are normal, and that by talking about them they can begin to heal. A testament to the healing power of shared sorrow, One Last Hug shows the often-unseen and particular experience of children's grief.

Taking place in a 1982 Poland a translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.

Led by Woody, Andy's toys live happily in his room until Andy's birthday brings Buzz Lightyear onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy's heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.

A doctor and his family receive an unexpected delivery from an old friend at their remote country home - a large wooden crate containing a gun, a female zombie and an instruction sheet telling them not to feed her meat. The family is concerned, of course, but she seems harmless enough. Perhaps she can help clean up outside?

The lives of several people spanning from 1936 to 1993 are chronicled during their overnight stay at a New York City hotel room. The hotel room undergoes minor changes through the century, but the employees of the hotel remain unchanged, never ageing.

Alyssa Milano, who also serves as producer, stars as Jane Claremont, who, as a young girl, would accompany her mother Vivian (Stockard Channing) to Tiffany’s in New York every Sunday and bring along her imaginary friend, Michael. Now, 20 years later, Jane is a successful businesswoman, set to marry Hugh (Ivan Sergei), her handsome fiancé, until Michael (Eric Winter) suddenly reappears.