Archive for April, 2014

The M Word

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 159

Language: English

Director: Henry Jaglom

Plot: Set in a struggling Los Angeles television station threatened by economic downturn, possible in-house graft and massive job loss, Tanna Frederick plays Moxie, a children’s TV show actress who unexpectedly turns into a Joan of Ark (with the passion of Norma Rae) when she finds herself leading an extraordinary band of rebelling women demanding their rights as they anxiously face uncertain futures after their new boss (Michael Imperioli) and his second-in-command (Robert Hallak) arrive from New York on a devastating cost-cutting mission. Corey Feldman, Frances Fisher, Gregory Harrison, Mary Crosby and Eliza Robert co-star in this ‘life changing’ comedy-drama.

 

A Promise

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 131

Language: English

Director: Patrice Leconte

Plot: Germany, 1912. A graduate of humble origins takes up a clerical post in a steel factory.
Impressed by his work the elderly owner takes him on as his private secretary. His health declining, the owner is confined to his home, where the young man moves to continue his work. There he meets the owner’s wife, a much younger woman, beautiful and reserved.

As time passes the young man falls passionately in love but does not dare reveal his
feelings. A romantic intrigue develops in this stifling bourgeois home, all looks and
silences, without a single word or gesture of love.

When the owner announces he is sending his secretary to oversee his mines in Mexico, the wife’s stricken reaction reveals to the young man that she too has fallen secretly in love – a love she cannot express in the presence of her sick husband. She makes him a promise – when he returns in two years time, she will be his.

Separated by an ocean, they exchange passionate letters while awaiting the day that will reunite them. Then, on the verge of his return to Germany, World War 1 erupts. All maritime travel between South America and Europe is suspended. His beloved pines, awaiting his return.

Eight years later, with millions dead and Europe in ruins, the exile returns, to his homeland and to the woman he hopes has been waiting for him. But has their love survived the brutal passage of time?

 

Desert Riders

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 211

Language: English (International)

Director: Vic Sarin

Plot: Camel racing, often called the Sport of Kings, is one of the most popular sports in the Middle East. Desert Riders is the story of some of the thousands of boys, as young as two years old, who have been trafficked to the Middle East to work as camel jockeys from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mauritania and Sudan. With stunning visuals, Desert Riders illuminates the beauty of the Middle East, while featuring the children and their experiences in a bold, revealing and compelling way.

 

Walking with the Enemy

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 120

Language: English

Director: Mark Schmidt

Plot: Inspired by a true story, WALKING WITH THE ENEMY is an unforgettable film of love, courage, and sacrifice. Set in Hungary during the final months of World War ll, a young man sets out to find his displaced family by stealing a Nazi uniform to pose as an officer. Filled with suspense and danger, he undertakes extraordinary measures to reroute his family and other Jews to safety by disrupting the activities of the German occupiers.

 

Brick Mansions

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 145

Language: English

Director: Camille Delamarre

Plot: In a dystopian Detroit, abandoned brick mansions left from better times now house only the most dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, the police constructed a colossal containment wall around this area to protect the rest of the city. For undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker) every day is a battle against corruption. For Lino (David Belle), every day is a fight to live an honest life. Their paths never should have crossed, but when drug kingpin, Tremaine (RZA) kidnaps Lino’s girlfriend, Damien reluctantly accepts the help of the fearless ex-convict, and together they must stop a sinister plot to devastate the entire city. With stylized action featuring thrilling Parkour stunts (David Belle is the co-founder of this physical training discipline). Brick Mansions puts an entertaining twist on the action genre.

 

Blue Ruin

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Thriller

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 117

Language: English

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Plot: BLUE RUIN is a classic American revenge story that recently won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival where it screened in the Directors’ Fortnight. The film follows a mysterious outsider whose quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.

 

The Quiet Ones

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Horror

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 135

Language: English

Director: John Pogue

Plot: A university student (Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) and some classmates are recruited to carry out a private experiment — to create a poltergeist. Their subject: an alluring, but dangerously disturbed young woman (Olivia Cooke of Bates Motel). Their quest: to explore the dark energy that her damaged psyche might manifest. As the experiment unravels along with their sanity, the rogue PHD students are soon confronted with a terrifying reality: they have triggered an unspeakable force with a power beyond all explanation. Inspired by true events, The Quiet Ones is directed by John Pogue from a screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and John Pogue, and based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.

 

The Other Woman

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 147

Language: English

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Plot: The Other Woman movie trailer – starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Taylor Kinney, NICKI MINAJ, Kate Upton. Directed by Nick Cassavetes. Theatrical Release Date: 4/25/2014
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Pending

 

Earth to Echo

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 74

Language: English

Director: Dave Green

Plot: After a construction project begins digging in their neighborhood, best friends Tuck, Munch and Alex inexplicably begin to receive strange, encoded messages on their cell phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they go to their parents and the authorities. When everyone around them refuses to take the messages seriously, the three embark on a secret adventure to crack the code and follow it to its source. But taking matters into their own hands gets the trio in way over their heads when they discover a mysterious being from another world who desperately needs their help. The epic, suspenseful and exciting journey that follows will change all of their lives forever.

 

From the Rough

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 150

Language: English

Director: Pierre Bagley

Plot: From the Rough, starring Academy Award nominees Taraji P. Henson and Michael Clarke Duncan and Tom Felton, is the inspirational true story of Catana Starks from historically black university Tennessee State, who became the first woman ever to coach an all-men’s team at the collegiate level. Through grit and determination, she overcame incredible odds and deep-seated prejudice from all corners to guide a rag-tag group of golfers to an all-time record championship season. From the Rough celebrates this remarkable woman’s triumph against overwhelming odds.

 

Tanzania: A Journey Within

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 138

Language: English

Director: Sylvia Caminer

Plot: He hails from the cradle of mankind. She’s led a privileged life in America. Together they journey from the heights of Kilimanjaro to the depths of an AIDS ravaged village where malaria is also an ever-present threat. Inspired by the indomitable spirit of the Tanzanian people, they find an inner strength that will ultimately save thousands of lives.

 

Grand Slammed

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 110

Language: English

Director: John Nizzari

Plot: A baseball pitcher’s life spirals out of control after a shooting in the Bronx.

 

Belleville

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 115

Language: English

Director: Dan Steadman

Plot: Reclusive farmer Willie (Tim O’Leary) has been depressed since the death of his wife Jana (Kate Barton) ten years ago. His only friend is a neighbor named Arlene (Cooper Shaw) who also likes to wallow in misery. Willie’s life changes when a stranger from another world named Neila (Ted Trent) shows up on his farm. Over the course of a week, Neila has a profound impact on Willie — and the entire community of Southern Illinois.

 

City Baby

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 112

Language: English

Director: David F. Morgan

Plot: CITY BABY is a Portland-centric coming-of-age story about a group of meandering 20-somethings trying to find meaning in the new world of adulthood. CITY BABY features live performances by Glass Candy and STRFKR/Starfucker, a soundtrack of local Portland bands including Chromatics and The Helio Sequence, as well as a cameo from musical frontman Stephen Malkmus (Pavement).

 

Transcendence

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Sci-Fi

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 153

Language: English

Director: Wally Pfister

Plot: Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.

However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed—to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can…but if they should.

Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.

 

Magic Magic

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 112

Language: English

Director: Sebastian Silva

Plot: MAGIC MAGIC tells the story of a teenager named ALICIA (Juno Temple, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES) who arrives in Chile on her first trip out of the United States. As she visits her friend SARAH (Emily Browning, LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS), she tries to fit into a different world – all while slowly losing her mind. She must contend with the surreal, unfamiliar countryside of Chile, the always delicate, sometimes dismissive treatment of Sarah’s boyfriend AGUSTIN and friends (including BARBARA, played by Oscar Nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno) and the vague antagonism of a complex character named BRINK (Michael Cera, JUNO). This is a story about an unstable personality pushed to the edge, the pressures of a new, alien and potentially hostile world replete with moody darkness and harsh, terrifying landscapes. It is a script that is poised to be a film where plot, character and world blend together in a taut combination that refuses to release the viewer, the kind of film that reminds us of the promise of Polanski, Cronenberg or Aronofsky in its unforgiving tension and deep subtle horror.

 

13 Sins

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Horror

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 144

Language:

Director: Daniel Stamm

Plot: A cryptic phone call sets off a dangerous game of risks for Elliot, a down-on-his luck salesman. The game promises increasing rewards for completing 13 tasks, each more sinister than the last.

 

Tasting menu

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 136

Language: English

Director: Roger Gual

Plot: It’s been a year since Marc and Rachel booked a table at the best restaurant in the world, situated in an idyllic cove of Costa Brava. When it turns out that the booking is on the same date as the last night before the restaurant closes forever, their booking becomes even more important. The thing is just that Marc and Rachel are no longer together. They have been separated for a year and not seen each other during that time. Not willing to miss this unique culinary event, however, they both decide to meet at the restaurant – and it becomes a night of nothing you would have expected.

 

Small Time

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 124

Language: English

Director: Joel Surnow

Plot: Inspired by a true story, Al Klein (Meloni) and his longtime friend, Ash Martini (Norris) own a used car lot. These two know every trick in the book when it comes to selling cars. Martini is a good time charley, who never settled down. Klein, however, still pines for his ex-wife Barbara (Moynahan) who left him years ago for a more successful man. After their son, Freddy (Bostick,) graduates high school, he decides to forego college in favor of selling cars with his old man. Klein is thrilled when Freddy moves in with him – it’s the first time these two have lived under one roof since Freddy was a kid. Barbara, on the other hand, is very far from thrilled. But what’s good for Klein might not be the best thing for Freddy, as Freddy quickly transforms from innocent young man into a seasoned car salesman…leaving Al with a tough decision to make.

 

HALF THE ROAD: THE PASSION, PITFALLS & POWER OF WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL CYCLING

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2014

Runtime: 137

Language: English

Director: Kathryn Bertine

Plot: Modern society has long believed that women hold up half the sky in terms of equality and progression. So when it comes to the sport of professional cycling, why aren’t women receiving half the road?

Directed by pro cyclist Kathryn Bertine, HALF THE ROAD explores the world of women’s professional cycling, focusing on both the love of sport and the pressing issues of inequality that modern-day female athletes face in male dominated sports. With footage from some of the world’s best races to interviews with Olympians, World Champions, rookies, coaches, officials, doctors and family members, HALF THE ROAD offers a unique insight to the drive, dedication, and passion it takes for a female cyclist to thrive.

Included as well are notable women who have achieved inroads in other sports, such as Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to official register (as “K.V. Switzer”) and run the all-male Boston Marathon in 1967 the iconic photo of her being attacked by a race official was listed by Time-Life as among its “100 Photographs that Changed the World.”

Narrated by Bob Roll and featuring Marianne Vos, Kristin Armstrong, Emma Pooley, Evelyn Stevens, Ina Teutenberg, Amber Neban, Rochelle Gilmore, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, Chrissie Wellington, Kathrine Switzer, Dr. Richard Carmona, Brian Cookson & more.