Film Reviews

Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.

Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)

Goran Markovic, known more for his dramatic work, achieved something that's eluded many great filmmakers - both smart and funny comedy. Based loosely on his own life as a kid growing up in Tito's communist Yugoslavia in the 1950s, the movie centers around 10-year-old Zoran whose inspired poem about Tito written on a spur-of-the-moment-basis as an in-class assignment, earns him a trip with other deserving pupils retracing Tito's "revolutionary trails" in Tito's hometown of Kumrovec.

Keshya, a simple villager believes that god has arrived in his village but everyone disbelieves him. Later when the politics plays its part things take a drastic change

For No Good Reason a film about Ralph Steadman. Johnny Depp guides the visually stunning journey, smashing narrative conventions, moving seamlessly from interview to animation and in the finest Gonzo tradition questions of witness and authenticity are challenged. Steadman's art is for the first time animated, including illustrations from Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas. Featuring Richard E Grant, Terry Gilliam, Bruce Robinson and with music from Slash, The All American Rejects, Jason Mraz, Crystal Castles, Ed Hardcourt and Beth Orton. A touching and at times funny film about honesty, friendship and the ambition driving an artist. This is a true record of the demise of the 20th Century counterculture and hipster dream with Ralph Steadman the last of the Gonzo visionaries.

On a dig in the remote Jordanian desert, maverick archaeologist Victoria Carter (Anna Friel) discovers an ancient scroll buried in the ruins of an old temple. It is encrypted with the location of the long lost Seal of Solomon, which, according to legend, was given to King Solomon by God himself. But this mighty treasure is also being sought by, amongst others, Victoria’s estranged father, renowned archaeologist Teddy Carter, who’s soon hot on its trail.

Motorcylce driving kids in pre-war Germany commit crime at night.

After the big success of the first part the film-makers apparently felt pressured to launch a new "investigation" and gather new material. Therefore, Friedrich von Thun again ventures out into the streets, this time of Berlin, to ask schoolgirls about their sexual experiences. The invinted guests talk about (allegedly) true events. Schoolgirls that seduce their teachers, runaway girls that have been robbed and who have to prostitute themselves or innocent girls that have been drugged and raped...

Small-timer Fei (Louis Koo), his harried buddy Sam (Simon Yam), and antique store owner Mok (Sun Hong Lei) are all in desperate need of money. Fei wants his friend to drive a robbery getaway car but Sam backs out, throwing Fei in trouble with the triads. As the three are arguing, a mysterious man leaves them a map, leading them to an unlikely treasure under the Legislative Council building. All their financial woes seem to be solved after a late-night heist, but they are being tracked by shady cop Wen (Lam Ka-Tung), who is carrying on an affair with Sam's emotionally unstable wife, Ling (Kelly Lin), and has connections with Fei. When the twisted relationship tangles come to light, the brotherhood dangerously breaks down and the treasure ends up in the wrong hands.

A bodyguard of a top politician is so dedicated that he's in danger of losing his own identity.

Fred Williamson chop-sockeys his way through this popular blaxploitation adventure as Jefferson Bolt, a Kung Fu expert assigned to deliver a cool $1 million to Mexico City from Hong Kong with a stop in Los Angeles. When Bolt discovers the cash is dirty mob money and his gal has been killed, he heads back to the Far East to get even.

A debt collector for the mob (Academy Award(R)-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr.) finds his fate taking a series of treacherous turns after his powerful boss and mentor (Miguel Ferrer) is caught in a dangerous double cross with the most dangerous drug dealer around (Academy Award(R)-nominee Harvey Keitel) in this crime thriller from writer/director Franck Khalfoun.

The Spirit Stalkers reality show, once a big hit, faces cancellation without a ratings boost, which leads the investigative team to Gloria Talman, whose house is rampant with unexplained ghostly activity.

In 1966, Deann Borshay Liem was adopted by an American family and sent from Korea to her new home in California. There the memory of her birth family was nearly obliterated, until recurring dreams led her to investigate her own past, and she discovered that her Korean mother was very much alive. Bravely uniting her biological and adoptive families, Borshay Liem embarks on a heartfelt journey in this acclaimed film that first premiered on POV in 2000. First Person Plural is a poignant essay on family, loss and the reconciling of two identities.

Hiroshi wakes up in a hospital room and realizes that he was in a serious car accident that caused the death of his girlfriend, Ryoko, as well as the loss of his memory. While trying to regain his memory, one of the first clues that Hiroshi finds are his old medical textbooks that he studied prior to his accident. This gives him a renewed purpose in life and he delves forward into his medical school studies.