Film Reviews

A model (Yoko Shiraki) must cope with the stress of fame after a marketing executive (Yoshio Harada) transforms her into a sports celebrity.

Four astronauts in 1960 travel to a planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's solar system. The crew begins to study the planet to see if it's able to withstand a possible Earth colony. After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a kinkajou and an alligator, they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake, prehistoric mammals, dinosaurs, and the titular character, King Dinosaur, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Eventually, the scientists blow up the planet with an atomic bomb, killing all of its inhabitants.

The phone rings, startling Tomas, who is seated in front of the computer. He feels for the telephone receiver. Tomas is blind. His girlfriend, Francine, tells him that it's all over and she's leaving him. The phone drops back onto the hook. Tomas' mind races back in a dizzying flurry of images to the moment they both met, to the couple's most intimate moments together and to the tiny careless mistakes that eventually lead to the end of their relationship. TRUE is part of a compilation project entitled PARIS, JE T'AIME, in which a number of internationally renowned directors each tell a story in one of Paris' 20 arrondissements.

A working-class boy struggles to find himself through a series of jobs and romances.

From the masters who create the mind-bending diversions to the tense competition at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, Patrick Creadon's documentary reveals a fascinating look at a decidedly addictive pastime. Creadon captures New York Times editor Will Shortz at work, talks to celebrity solvers -- including Bill Clinton and Ken Burns -- and presents an intimate look at the national tournament and its competitors.

The relationship between a demanding piano teacher and her student, an Indian prodigy.

A man's life is turned inside out after a visit from his college friend leads him into the unexpected.

Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.

Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith (Howard) takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation. However, he has a secret agenda: to free inmates of the concentration camps.

Doris Day and Howard Keel fuss, feud and fall in love as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. At first curvaceous Calamity is too durned busy fighting Indians and cracking a bullwhip to pay mind to such girlie what-alls as dresses and perfume. She soon changes her mind when Katie Brown arrives in town.

A frustrated stay-at-home mom takes a weekend away when her family ignores her over Mother's Day.

Isabel and Clara are growing up in a time of terror. It is 1492, and Spain has decreed that all Jews must either convert to Catholicism, go into exile or face trial and execution. Although forcibly baptized, the sisters are chased through Christendom until they arrive in Venice. It is in this great maritime empire, where opulence rhymes with tolerance, that Isabel organizes secret passages for refugees fleeing the Inquisition while Clara falls in love with a Venetian noble, Paolo Zane. Isabel intends for her family to go to Istanbul, the only place where Jews can live freely, but Clara is reluctant to leave. She challenges Isabel's authority and is prepared to break her family ties and sacrifice her faith for love. Caught in this battle of wills is Clara's daughter, Victoria, who finds she is about to be married into the same faith that murdered her father.

Shogo (Ryuta Sato), the arrogant and condescending star of a popular call-in radio-show must temporarily broadcast out of Studio 6, a creepy and dilapidated booth abandoned since its last DJ committed suicide several years ago. Suddenly, Shogo begins receiving disturbing calls, the voice on the line whispers "Liar" over and over. Is the joke on him, has someone discovered the truth about his sinister past, or has the curse of Studio 6 been unleashed again? In this Booth, all sins will be atoned for.

Based on a little known 1848 novel by Anne Bronte, Tara Fitzgerald stars as an enigmatic young woman who moves to 19th Century Yorkshire with a young son. Distancing herself from everyone in the village and their prying questions, she remains totally aloof until a charming neighbor farmer gets her to reveal her past through his persistence. Only then does she reveal she is hiding away from a womanizing, belittling husband.

"Trouble the Water" takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall--just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew. Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, is turning her new video camera on herself and her Ninth Ward neighbors trapped in the city. Weaving an insider's view of Katrina with a mix of verité and in-your-face filmmaking, it is a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes--two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.