- Messages
- 6,174
View attachment 1530
Artie Lange's Beer League
Studio: Echo Bridge Entertainment
Director: Frank Sebastiano
Screenwriter: Artie Lange, Frank Sebastiano
Starring: Artie Lange, Ralph Macchio, Anthony DeSando, Cara Buono, Jerry Minor, Laurie Metcalf, Jimmy Breuer
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary: "Artie Lange's Beer League" is an outrageous comedy about Artie (Artie Lange), an unemployed underachiever who still lives with his mother and plays in a small town softball league in New Jersey with his rag-tag group of misfit friends. When Artie's team faces off their nemeses, headed by Dennis Manganelli (Anthony De Sando) of Manganelli Fitness, the game descends into an ethnic name calling challenge and a battle of macho posing as the two former high school rivals face off on the field. While Artie is a loser, Manganelli, the owner of a successful gym whose team wins the league trophy every year, struts his "stuff" like a banty rooster, proudly displaying winning trophies in the windows of his gym. Manganelli, also running for Mayor and favored to win, uses his overblown position and political ambitions to continuously torture Artie and his cohorts both on and off the field.
The two rivals do more fighting on the baseball field than playing softball and when his team is threatened with permanent expulsion from the local league after being jailed for yet another fight on the field, Artie and his team must rally and move from last place to first – in one brief season, while Artie tries to hold on to the only woman who loves him for who he is.
View attachment 1531
Aurora Borealis
Studio: Regent Releasing, Here! Films
Director: James C.E. Burke
Screenwriter: Brent Boyd
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Juliette Lewis, Louise Fletcher, Steven Pasquale, Zack Ward, Timm Sharp
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Ever since the premature death of his father, 25-year-old Minneapolis slacker Duncan (Joshua Jackson) is content with shuffling aimlessly through life, hanging out with his lifelong friends, and ditching one dead-end job after another.
Duncan takes a job as a handyman in a high-rise that allows him to be near his gravely ill grandfather Ronald (Donald Sutherland), who's more than a handful for his grandmother Ruth (Louise Fletcher). That newfound sense of purpose, plus a budding romance with home healthcare provider Kate (Juliette Lewis), gives Duncan the motivation to take charge of his life. However, Kate isn't one to stay in the same place for too long, and Duncan is soon torn between following her to California and a new, more responsible life, and his feelings of familial obligation to an increasingly suicidal Ronald.
This funny and touching family drama from director James Burke, with a soundtrack featuring music by Minnesota natives Bob Dylan and Paul Westerberg, has something to say to audiences of all ages.
View attachment 1532
Confetti
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Director: Debbie Isitt
Screenwriter: Debbie Isitt
Starring: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Stephen Mangan, Felicity Montagu, Jimmy Carr, Alison Steadman
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Plot Summary: A sharp and affectionate comedy featuring an ensemble of UK comedic talents, "Confetti" follows three couples as they duke it out to win a bridal magazine contest for "Most Original Wedding of the Year." The talented cast -- which includes Martin Freeman ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Love Actually," "The Office"), Jessica Stevenson ("Shaun of the Dead," "Spaced," "The Royle Family"), Stephen Mangan ("Green Wing"), Felicity Montagu ("I'm Alan Partridge"), award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr in his first screen performance and Alison Steadman ("Topsy-Turvy," "Life is Sweet") -- was afforded total creative freedom within the confines of a carefully crafted story frame. To prepare, the cast took part in weeks of intense workshops where they began the process of developing and inhabiting their unique roles.
View attachment 1533
Everyone's Hero
Studio: Fox Faith (20th Century Fox)
Director: Christopher Reeve, Daniel St. Pierre, Colin Brady
Screenwriter: Robert Kurtz, Jeff Hand
Starring: William H. Macy, Rob Reiner, Brian Dennehy, Raven-Symoné, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Dana Reeve, Jake T. Austin, Joe Torre, Mandy Patinkin, Forest Whitaker, Whoopi Goldberg
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Plot Summary: In "Everyone's Hero," a young boy (Jake T. Austin) finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero – and make a difference against incredible odds – or he can play it safe. With faith in himself instilled by his family, he teams up with a sassy young girl (Raven-Symoné) and some off-the-wall sidekicks and embarks on a sometimes perilous, often funny, cross-country quest. In the process, he restores his family's honor, befriends the world’s biggest sports superstar, and reveals the hero within. Christopher Reeve was the original director on this computer-generated animated feature, the late actor-director's dream project.
View attachment 1534
Gridiron Gang
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Phil Joanou
Screenwriter: Jeff Maguire
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Xzibit, Kevin Dunn, Leon Rippy, Danny Martinez, Mo, Trever O'Brien, Six Reasons, Brandon Smith, Jade Yorker, Robert Zepeda, Michael Jace, Bill Smitrovich
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Columbia Pictures' "Gridiron Gang" tells the gritty and powerfully emotional story of juvenile detention camp probation officer Sean Porter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who, along with another officer, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit), turns a group of hard core teenage felons into a high school football team in four weeks. Confronted with gang rivalries and bitter hatred between his teammates, Porter teaches some hard lessons (and learns a few himself) as the kids gain a sense of self-respect and responsibility.
In a world where 75% of these juvenile inmates return to prison or meet with violent ends on the streets, Porter and Moore face seemingly insurmountable barriers. No one wants to compete against convicted criminals, but through relentless pursuit and a jolt of inspiration, Porter and his team fight their way to redemption and a second chance.
Based on a true story, "Gridiron Gang" sends out a message that one man can make a difference and the most hopeless kids in our society can change the course of their lives through hard work, commitment and bold leadership.
View attachment 1535
The Ground Truth
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Patricia Foulkrod
Screenwriter: Patricia Foulkrod
Starring: Patricia Foulkrod, Robert Acosta, Jimmy Massey, Jackie Massey, Denver Jones, Sean Huze, Herald Noel
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: "The Ground Truth" stunned filmgoers at the 2006 Sundance and Nantucket Film Festivals. Hailed as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching," Patricia Foulkrod's searing documentary feature includes exclusive footage that will stir audiences. The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young Americans – ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq – as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home – with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all – the truth.
View attachment 1536
Haven
Studio: Yari Film Group Releasing
Director: Frank E. Flowers
Screenwriter: Frank E. Flowers
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Bill Paxton, Agnes Bruckner, Anthony Mackie, Zoe Saldana, Joy Bryant, Stephen Dillane, Victor Rasuk, Bobby Cannavale
Genre: Crime, Drama
Plot Summary: With federal agents on his heels, a corrupt Miami businessman (Bill Paxton) tapes a million dollars to his midsection and flees to the exotic Cayman Islands, his unsuspecting daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) reluctantly in tow. But while her father is desperately laundering his dirty money with a British investment banker (Stephen Dillane), who is skilled in washing ill-gotten gains, Pippa runs off to explore the island and its wild party scene with native Caymanian Fritz (Victor Rasuk). This island bad-boy is a real charmer with a dark side that's liable to get Pippa and her father in serious trouble. He's also an ominous thread connecting a sinister drug lord to Shy and Andrea (Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldana), two innocent lovers whose forbidden passion ignites a violent chain reaction across the West Indies paradise and turns the tropical haven into a refuge that's anything but safe.
View attachment 1537
Jesus Camp
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
Screenwriter: Not Available
Starring: Becky Fischer, Mike Papntonino
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: "Jesus Camp," directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("The Boys of Baraka"), follows Levi, Rachael, and Tory, to Pastor Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where kids as young as 6 years-old are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in "God's army." The film follows these children at camp as they hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ." The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future. The film also features a counterpoint, in the form of excerpts from Michael Papantonio's "Ring of Fire" show on NPR's Air America. Though he frequently takes aim at the fundamentalist Christian movement, Papantonio is an active Methodist who admits that his moral compass comes from his faith.
View attachment 1538
Jimmy and Judy
Studio: Outsider Pictures
Director: Randall K. Rubin, Jon Schroder
Screenwriter: Randall K. Rubin, Jon Schroder
Starring: Eddie Furlong, Rachael Bella, Chaney Kley, William Sadler, A.J. Buckley, Gay Storm, Gregory Patrick Agnew, Micah Shane Ballinger, James Eckhouse, Tammy Hopkins, Denver Jade, Crystal Wilson
Genre: Action, Drama
Plot Summary: The ultimate teenage outcast road movie, "Jimmy and Judy" charts the path of a pair of outsiders who fall in love and out of control as they travel across an American landscape dotted with hypocrisy, materialism, drugs and violence.
Written and directed by Randall K. Rubin and Jon Schroder, "Jimmy and Judy" offers a fresh take on classic adolescent themes such as rebellion, love, and anger. A modern day "Bonnie & Clyde," the film traces the journey of Jimmy (Edward Furlong) and Judy (Rachael Bella), spirited young lovers who leave the comfortable numb of their suburban community in search of a better life in rural Kentucky.
Eschewing conventional cinematic grammar in favor of an intense, verite style of narrative, Rubin and Schroder use the immediacy of hand-held video to give "Jimmy and Judy" an unprecedented intimacy. The film unspools as an ongoing video diary, first of Jimmy's sociopathic pranks, then of the couple's blossoming romance and subsequent flight into a violent and anarchic middle-American wilderness. Throughout it all, "Jimmy and Judy" roots viewers to the spot, putting us directly in the shoes (and behind the camera) of its desperate lovers.
A provocative film that takes viewers on a wild ride, "Jimmy and Judy" is a moving, terrifying, bleakly hilarious, and fiercely powerful look at a young couple's attempt to break out of the mold and the price they must pay to do so.
View attachment 1539
Keeping Mum
Studio: THINKFilm
Director: Niall Johnson
Screenwriter: Niall Johnson, Richard Russo
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary: "Keeping Mum" stars Atkinson as an absent-minded vicar of a rural parish who is so distracted by the pressures of his job that he fails to notice his wife's (Thomas) dalliance with her brash golf instructor (Swayze), his daughter's parade of new boyfriends, and his young son's regular trouncing by the school's bullies. Enter their charming new housekeeper, Grace (Smith), the answer to the family's prayers: a sweet, grey-haired old lady with her own distinctive definition of cleaning house. One by one, the family members find that Grace is able to solve their problems, but they don't realize that her means are leading to a lot of ends and the population of their sleepy hamlet is rapidly diminishing.
View attachment 1540
The Last Kiss
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures (Paramount)
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Starring: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Michael Weston, Eric Christian Olsen, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson, Lauren Lee Smith, Marley Shelton
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Plot Summary: "The Last Kiss" is a contemporary comedy-drama about life, love, infidelity, forgiveness, marriage, friendship... and coming to grips with turning 30. It is an adaptation of Gabriele Muccino's acclaimed Italian film "L'Ultimo Baccio."
View attachment 1541
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Screenwriter: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Starring: John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: An increasingly unpopular war and a restive public...
A presidential administration engaged in secret surveillance and wiretapping...
A world-famous musician who speaks out in protest... and comes under fire
Before Iraq, before the Bush Administration, before the Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam... there was John Lennon, the celebrated musical artist who used his fame and his fortune to protest the Vietnam War and advocate for world peace. In the new Lionsgate documentary, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld trace Lennon's metamorphosis from lovable "Moptop" to anti-war activist to inspirational icon as they reveal the true story of how and why the U.S. government tried to silence him.
Primarily focusing on the decade from 1966-1976, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" places Lennon's activism - and the socio-political upheaval it represented - in the context of the times. It was one of the most fractious periods of American history, dominated by the Vietnam War; the rise of antiwar, civil rights, New Left and other political movements challenging the status quo; the Nixon presidency; revelations of government deception, surveillance and harassment; and Watergate. The film features a large and diverse array of the era's notable figures, men and women who bear immediate and authoritative witness to specific events as well as to the prevailing climate. Among them: African-American political activists Angela Davis and Bobby Seale; journalists Carl Bernstein and Walter Cronkite; Nixon Administration officials G. Gordon Liddy and John Dean; Vietnam veteran and antiwar activist Ron Kovic; the eminent American historian/novelist Gore Vidal; former New York Governor Mario Cuomo; and three-term Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern.
But it is John Lennon himself who is the documentary's preeminent voice and galvanizing central presence. With Lennon's own music providing subtly incisive narration, the film captures a public and private Lennon that many viewers may not know: a principled, funny, and extraordinarily charismatic young man who refused to be silent in the face of injustice. Yoko Ono, Lennon's wife, creative collaborator and partner in their campaign for peace, has given the filmmakers unprecedented access to the Lennon-Ono archives, enabling them to draw upon never-before seen or heard audiovisual materials in telling their story. And in a series of in-depth interviews, Ono shares her personal memories, evoking as no one else can the realities of the couple's daily lives; their hopes and happiness; and their long ordeal at the hands of the U.S. government.
Scrupulously researched and vividly illustrated, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" illuminates a little-known chapter of modern history, when a president and his administration used the machinery of government to wage a covert war against the world's most popular musician. Exploring an era roiled by many of the same issues confronting us today, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" delivers a tale that speaks powerfully to our own unsettled times.
Artie Lange's Beer League
Studio: Echo Bridge Entertainment
Director: Frank Sebastiano
Screenwriter: Artie Lange, Frank Sebastiano
Starring: Artie Lange, Ralph Macchio, Anthony DeSando, Cara Buono, Jerry Minor, Laurie Metcalf, Jimmy Breuer
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary: "Artie Lange's Beer League" is an outrageous comedy about Artie (Artie Lange), an unemployed underachiever who still lives with his mother and plays in a small town softball league in New Jersey with his rag-tag group of misfit friends. When Artie's team faces off their nemeses, headed by Dennis Manganelli (Anthony De Sando) of Manganelli Fitness, the game descends into an ethnic name calling challenge and a battle of macho posing as the two former high school rivals face off on the field. While Artie is a loser, Manganelli, the owner of a successful gym whose team wins the league trophy every year, struts his "stuff" like a banty rooster, proudly displaying winning trophies in the windows of his gym. Manganelli, also running for Mayor and favored to win, uses his overblown position and political ambitions to continuously torture Artie and his cohorts both on and off the field.
The two rivals do more fighting on the baseball field than playing softball and when his team is threatened with permanent expulsion from the local league after being jailed for yet another fight on the field, Artie and his team must rally and move from last place to first – in one brief season, while Artie tries to hold on to the only woman who loves him for who he is.
View attachment 1531
Aurora Borealis
Studio: Regent Releasing, Here! Films
Director: James C.E. Burke
Screenwriter: Brent Boyd
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Juliette Lewis, Louise Fletcher, Steven Pasquale, Zack Ward, Timm Sharp
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Ever since the premature death of his father, 25-year-old Minneapolis slacker Duncan (Joshua Jackson) is content with shuffling aimlessly through life, hanging out with his lifelong friends, and ditching one dead-end job after another.
Duncan takes a job as a handyman in a high-rise that allows him to be near his gravely ill grandfather Ronald (Donald Sutherland), who's more than a handful for his grandmother Ruth (Louise Fletcher). That newfound sense of purpose, plus a budding romance with home healthcare provider Kate (Juliette Lewis), gives Duncan the motivation to take charge of his life. However, Kate isn't one to stay in the same place for too long, and Duncan is soon torn between following her to California and a new, more responsible life, and his feelings of familial obligation to an increasingly suicidal Ronald.
This funny and touching family drama from director James Burke, with a soundtrack featuring music by Minnesota natives Bob Dylan and Paul Westerberg, has something to say to audiences of all ages.
View attachment 1532
Confetti
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Director: Debbie Isitt
Screenwriter: Debbie Isitt
Starring: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Stephen Mangan, Felicity Montagu, Jimmy Carr, Alison Steadman
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Plot Summary: A sharp and affectionate comedy featuring an ensemble of UK comedic talents, "Confetti" follows three couples as they duke it out to win a bridal magazine contest for "Most Original Wedding of the Year." The talented cast -- which includes Martin Freeman ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Love Actually," "The Office"), Jessica Stevenson ("Shaun of the Dead," "Spaced," "The Royle Family"), Stephen Mangan ("Green Wing"), Felicity Montagu ("I'm Alan Partridge"), award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr in his first screen performance and Alison Steadman ("Topsy-Turvy," "Life is Sweet") -- was afforded total creative freedom within the confines of a carefully crafted story frame. To prepare, the cast took part in weeks of intense workshops where they began the process of developing and inhabiting their unique roles.
View attachment 1533
Everyone's Hero
Studio: Fox Faith (20th Century Fox)
Director: Christopher Reeve, Daniel St. Pierre, Colin Brady
Screenwriter: Robert Kurtz, Jeff Hand
Starring: William H. Macy, Rob Reiner, Brian Dennehy, Raven-Symoné, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Dana Reeve, Jake T. Austin, Joe Torre, Mandy Patinkin, Forest Whitaker, Whoopi Goldberg
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Plot Summary: In "Everyone's Hero," a young boy (Jake T. Austin) finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero – and make a difference against incredible odds – or he can play it safe. With faith in himself instilled by his family, he teams up with a sassy young girl (Raven-Symoné) and some off-the-wall sidekicks and embarks on a sometimes perilous, often funny, cross-country quest. In the process, he restores his family's honor, befriends the world’s biggest sports superstar, and reveals the hero within. Christopher Reeve was the original director on this computer-generated animated feature, the late actor-director's dream project.
View attachment 1534
Gridiron Gang
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Phil Joanou
Screenwriter: Jeff Maguire
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Xzibit, Kevin Dunn, Leon Rippy, Danny Martinez, Mo, Trever O'Brien, Six Reasons, Brandon Smith, Jade Yorker, Robert Zepeda, Michael Jace, Bill Smitrovich
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Columbia Pictures' "Gridiron Gang" tells the gritty and powerfully emotional story of juvenile detention camp probation officer Sean Porter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who, along with another officer, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit), turns a group of hard core teenage felons into a high school football team in four weeks. Confronted with gang rivalries and bitter hatred between his teammates, Porter teaches some hard lessons (and learns a few himself) as the kids gain a sense of self-respect and responsibility.
In a world where 75% of these juvenile inmates return to prison or meet with violent ends on the streets, Porter and Moore face seemingly insurmountable barriers. No one wants to compete against convicted criminals, but through relentless pursuit and a jolt of inspiration, Porter and his team fight their way to redemption and a second chance.
Based on a true story, "Gridiron Gang" sends out a message that one man can make a difference and the most hopeless kids in our society can change the course of their lives through hard work, commitment and bold leadership.
View attachment 1535
The Ground Truth
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Patricia Foulkrod
Screenwriter: Patricia Foulkrod
Starring: Patricia Foulkrod, Robert Acosta, Jimmy Massey, Jackie Massey, Denver Jones, Sean Huze, Herald Noel
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: "The Ground Truth" stunned filmgoers at the 2006 Sundance and Nantucket Film Festivals. Hailed as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching," Patricia Foulkrod's searing documentary feature includes exclusive footage that will stir audiences. The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young Americans – ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq – as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home – with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all – the truth.
View attachment 1536
Haven
Studio: Yari Film Group Releasing
Director: Frank E. Flowers
Screenwriter: Frank E. Flowers
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Bill Paxton, Agnes Bruckner, Anthony Mackie, Zoe Saldana, Joy Bryant, Stephen Dillane, Victor Rasuk, Bobby Cannavale
Genre: Crime, Drama
Plot Summary: With federal agents on his heels, a corrupt Miami businessman (Bill Paxton) tapes a million dollars to his midsection and flees to the exotic Cayman Islands, his unsuspecting daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) reluctantly in tow. But while her father is desperately laundering his dirty money with a British investment banker (Stephen Dillane), who is skilled in washing ill-gotten gains, Pippa runs off to explore the island and its wild party scene with native Caymanian Fritz (Victor Rasuk). This island bad-boy is a real charmer with a dark side that's liable to get Pippa and her father in serious trouble. He's also an ominous thread connecting a sinister drug lord to Shy and Andrea (Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldana), two innocent lovers whose forbidden passion ignites a violent chain reaction across the West Indies paradise and turns the tropical haven into a refuge that's anything but safe.
View attachment 1537
Jesus Camp
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
Screenwriter: Not Available
Starring: Becky Fischer, Mike Papntonino
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: "Jesus Camp," directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("The Boys of Baraka"), follows Levi, Rachael, and Tory, to Pastor Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where kids as young as 6 years-old are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in "God's army." The film follows these children at camp as they hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ." The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future. The film also features a counterpoint, in the form of excerpts from Michael Papantonio's "Ring of Fire" show on NPR's Air America. Though he frequently takes aim at the fundamentalist Christian movement, Papantonio is an active Methodist who admits that his moral compass comes from his faith.
View attachment 1538
Jimmy and Judy
Studio: Outsider Pictures
Director: Randall K. Rubin, Jon Schroder
Screenwriter: Randall K. Rubin, Jon Schroder
Starring: Eddie Furlong, Rachael Bella, Chaney Kley, William Sadler, A.J. Buckley, Gay Storm, Gregory Patrick Agnew, Micah Shane Ballinger, James Eckhouse, Tammy Hopkins, Denver Jade, Crystal Wilson
Genre: Action, Drama
Plot Summary: The ultimate teenage outcast road movie, "Jimmy and Judy" charts the path of a pair of outsiders who fall in love and out of control as they travel across an American landscape dotted with hypocrisy, materialism, drugs and violence.
Written and directed by Randall K. Rubin and Jon Schroder, "Jimmy and Judy" offers a fresh take on classic adolescent themes such as rebellion, love, and anger. A modern day "Bonnie & Clyde," the film traces the journey of Jimmy (Edward Furlong) and Judy (Rachael Bella), spirited young lovers who leave the comfortable numb of their suburban community in search of a better life in rural Kentucky.
Eschewing conventional cinematic grammar in favor of an intense, verite style of narrative, Rubin and Schroder use the immediacy of hand-held video to give "Jimmy and Judy" an unprecedented intimacy. The film unspools as an ongoing video diary, first of Jimmy's sociopathic pranks, then of the couple's blossoming romance and subsequent flight into a violent and anarchic middle-American wilderness. Throughout it all, "Jimmy and Judy" roots viewers to the spot, putting us directly in the shoes (and behind the camera) of its desperate lovers.
A provocative film that takes viewers on a wild ride, "Jimmy and Judy" is a moving, terrifying, bleakly hilarious, and fiercely powerful look at a young couple's attempt to break out of the mold and the price they must pay to do so.
View attachment 1539
Keeping Mum
Studio: THINKFilm
Director: Niall Johnson
Screenwriter: Niall Johnson, Richard Russo
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary: "Keeping Mum" stars Atkinson as an absent-minded vicar of a rural parish who is so distracted by the pressures of his job that he fails to notice his wife's (Thomas) dalliance with her brash golf instructor (Swayze), his daughter's parade of new boyfriends, and his young son's regular trouncing by the school's bullies. Enter their charming new housekeeper, Grace (Smith), the answer to the family's prayers: a sweet, grey-haired old lady with her own distinctive definition of cleaning house. One by one, the family members find that Grace is able to solve their problems, but they don't realize that her means are leading to a lot of ends and the population of their sleepy hamlet is rapidly diminishing.
View attachment 1540
The Last Kiss
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures (Paramount)
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Starring: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Michael Weston, Eric Christian Olsen, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson, Lauren Lee Smith, Marley Shelton
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Plot Summary: "The Last Kiss" is a contemporary comedy-drama about life, love, infidelity, forgiveness, marriage, friendship... and coming to grips with turning 30. It is an adaptation of Gabriele Muccino's acclaimed Italian film "L'Ultimo Baccio."
View attachment 1541
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Screenwriter: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Starring: John Lennon, Yoko Ono
Genre: Documentary
Plot Summary: An increasingly unpopular war and a restive public...
A presidential administration engaged in secret surveillance and wiretapping...
A world-famous musician who speaks out in protest... and comes under fire
Before Iraq, before the Bush Administration, before the Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam... there was John Lennon, the celebrated musical artist who used his fame and his fortune to protest the Vietnam War and advocate for world peace. In the new Lionsgate documentary, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld trace Lennon's metamorphosis from lovable "Moptop" to anti-war activist to inspirational icon as they reveal the true story of how and why the U.S. government tried to silence him.
Primarily focusing on the decade from 1966-1976, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" places Lennon's activism - and the socio-political upheaval it represented - in the context of the times. It was one of the most fractious periods of American history, dominated by the Vietnam War; the rise of antiwar, civil rights, New Left and other political movements challenging the status quo; the Nixon presidency; revelations of government deception, surveillance and harassment; and Watergate. The film features a large and diverse array of the era's notable figures, men and women who bear immediate and authoritative witness to specific events as well as to the prevailing climate. Among them: African-American political activists Angela Davis and Bobby Seale; journalists Carl Bernstein and Walter Cronkite; Nixon Administration officials G. Gordon Liddy and John Dean; Vietnam veteran and antiwar activist Ron Kovic; the eminent American historian/novelist Gore Vidal; former New York Governor Mario Cuomo; and three-term Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern.
But it is John Lennon himself who is the documentary's preeminent voice and galvanizing central presence. With Lennon's own music providing subtly incisive narration, the film captures a public and private Lennon that many viewers may not know: a principled, funny, and extraordinarily charismatic young man who refused to be silent in the face of injustice. Yoko Ono, Lennon's wife, creative collaborator and partner in their campaign for peace, has given the filmmakers unprecedented access to the Lennon-Ono archives, enabling them to draw upon never-before seen or heard audiovisual materials in telling their story. And in a series of in-depth interviews, Ono shares her personal memories, evoking as no one else can the realities of the couple's daily lives; their hopes and happiness; and their long ordeal at the hands of the U.S. government.
Scrupulously researched and vividly illustrated, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" illuminates a little-known chapter of modern history, when a president and his administration used the machinery of government to wage a covert war against the world's most popular musician. Exploring an era roiled by many of the same issues confronting us today, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" delivers a tale that speaks powerfully to our own unsettled times.