Film Reviews · Backpex

Title	Overview		Toggle columns Title Overview
Salad Days	'Salad Days' is an insightful documentary film that examines the Washington, DC punk scene from the early 1980s to the decade's end. The city played an integral part in shaping the alternative music explosion of the 1990s and its impact on popular culture continues today.
Tom Papa: Freaked Out	Actor/comedian Tom Papa's new stand-up comedy special for EPIX.
Christmas in Boston	Gina and Seth have been pen pals for 13 years and now will have the chance to meet. Both used their best friends pictures to send to each other and now will let their friends meet. True love is found in the end for all.
The Forty-First	A young woman snarpshooter fighting with the Reds in Turkestan misses her forty-first victim, a handsome White lieutenant, and ends up escorting him, by boat, into captivity across the Aral Sea. A storm strands the two on an island.
Saint	A horror film that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who kidnaps and murders children when there is a full moon on December 5.
Chicks	Pam is twenty. She and her girlfriends hang out together on the couch at The Ranch, the apartment she shares with Manon. Sitting around chatting, drinking, smoking, and dancing are part of life at their age, but there comes a time when you need to cut loose from the group and go your own way...
Everything is Illuminated	A film based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, in which a young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II, in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
Eros	A three-part anthology film about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; and a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.
Tall Tale	A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer	British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
Not Fade Away	Set in suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, a group of friends form a rock band and try to make it big.
Helga, She Wolf of Spilberg	Helga, a woman who runs a strict prison camp, forces her female prisoners into slave labor and to be love toys for her own personal pleasure, as well as for her soldiers. Issuing torture and whippings to anyone who dares defy her, man or woman.
Dave Chappelle's Block Party	The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio man’s moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party. Filmed with inspiration from the 1973 documentary Wattstax.
To Fetch a Bike	Roy Andersson's short movies focus on working class and youth daily life, capturing and portraying a small slice of his characters' day.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.

Salad Days

'Salad Days' is an insightful documentary film that examines the Washington, DC punk scene from the early 1980s to the decade's end. The city played an integral part in shaping the alternative music explosion of the 1990s and its impact on popular culture continues today.

Tom Papa: Freaked Out

Actor/comedian Tom Papa's new stand-up comedy special for EPIX.

Christmas in Boston

Gina and Seth have been pen pals for 13 years and now will have the chance to meet. Both used their best friends pictures to send to each other and now will let their friends meet. True love is found in the end for all.

The Forty-First

A young woman snarpshooter fighting with the Reds in Turkestan misses her forty-first victim, a handsome White lieutenant, and ends up escorting him, by boat, into captivity across the Aral Sea. A storm strands the two on an island.

Saint

A horror film that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who kidnaps and murders children when there is a full moon on December 5.

Chicks

Pam is twenty. She and her girlfriends hang out together on the couch at The Ranch, the apartment she shares with Manon. Sitting around chatting, drinking, smoking, and dancing are part of life at their age, but there comes a time when you need to cut loose from the group and go your own way...

Everything is Illuminated

A film based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, in which a young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II, in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Eros

A three-part anthology film about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; and a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.

Tall Tale

A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.

Not Fade Away

Set in suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, a group of friends form a rock band and try to make it big.

Helga, She Wolf of Spilberg

Helga, a woman who runs a strict prison camp, forces her female prisoners into slave labor and to be love toys for her own personal pleasure, as well as for her soldiers. Issuing torture and whippings to anyone who dares defy her, man or woman.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio man’s moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party. Filmed with inspiration from the 1973 documentary Wattstax.

To Fetch a Bike

Roy Andersson's short movies focus on working class and youth daily life, capturing and portraying a small slice of his characters' day.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.