A meticulous-minded structural engineer (Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young assistant district attorney (Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling) engage in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent of the attempted murder of his wife due to a series of technicalities.
STARRING: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davitz
DIRECTOR: Gregory Hoblit
STUDIO: New Line Cinema
RATING: R (For language and some violent content)
“In The Land Of Women” - Aspiring writer Carter Webb has just been dumped by his true love Sophia. Heartbroken and depressed, Carter escapes Los Angeles to suburban Michigan to care for his ailing grandmother and to work on a book he has always wanted to write. Soon after his arrival, Carter stumbles into the lives of the family living directly across the street: Sarah Hardwicke, and her daughters, Paige and Lucy. His relationships with all of these women help Carter discover that what felt like an end was only just the beginning of something else. For as long as he could remember, Carter Webb (ADAM BRODY) had been falling in love with women. And for as long as he could remember, he’d been searching for the right one. He found everything he was looking for in Sophia (ELENA ANAYA) and for a little while he was happy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. When Carter is dumped by Sophia in a North Hollywood coffee shop, he sees his entire life flash before his eyes. Heartbroken and depressed, Carter escapes Los Angeles, heading across the country to suburban Michigan to care for his ailing grandmother (OLYMPIA DUKAKIS). An eccentric and complicated personality, Grandma offers Carter a uniquely different perspective on life and especially death. Soon after his arrival, Carter stumbles into the lives of the family living directly across the street, Sarah Hardwicke (MEG RYAN), the mother of two daughters: Paige (MAKENZIE VEGA), a precocious, effervescent eleven-year-old and her older sister Lucy (KRISTEN STEWART), an angst-ridden teenager. While Sarah faces her own personal crisis, Lucy wrestles with the fears that define her. Through his relationships with these women, as well as his grandmother, Carter begins to discover that what felt like the end was really only just the beginning of his adventure.
STARRING: Adam Brody, Kristen Stewart, Makenzie Vega, Clark Gregg, Elena Anaya, Meg Ryan
DIRECTOR: Jon Kasdan
STUDIO: Warner Independent Pictures
RATING: PG-13 (For for sexual content, thematic elements and language)
Francis Veber (”The Dinner Game,” “The Closet”), the living master of French farce, has combined his classic elements of hilarious slapstick with quick-witted dialogue in the new film THE VALET. The tale begins when François Pignon, (Gad Elmaleh) a humble restaurant car service valet at a posh Paris hotel gets caught-up in a billionaire industrialist’s sneaky infidelities. Veber’s plot quickly turns on the fall guy, when François - an innocent passerby - is photographed by a paparazzo leaving the hotel along with Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil), the wealthy tycoon and his beautiful supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni). In a desperate attempt to avoid an ugly divorce with his wife Christine, (Kristin Scott Thomas) Pierre’s scheming lawyer Maitre Foix (Richard Berry) concocts an outrageous plan. By paying the valet a large sum of money to live with Pierre’s mistress, the two men hope to mislead the tabloids and most importantly hide the affair from his wife. Meanwhile the ruthless Pierre must convince the stunning Elena to live with François in his cruddy apartment until the dust settles. All the while, continuing to reassure his wife that the other man in the photo, François, is really Elena’s boyfriend. Francis Veber’s intricate and lively plot, tick-tock timing and variety of unusual characters makes THE VALET a hilariously good time.
STARRING: Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Berry, Virginie Ledoyen, Dany Boon, Michel Jonasz, Michel Aumont, Laurent Gamelon, Patrick Mille, Michèle Garcia, Philippe Magnan, Jean-Yves Chilot, Irina Ninova
DIRECTOR: Francis Veber
STUDIO: Sony Classics
RATING: PG-13 (For sexual content and language)
“Hot Fuzz” is the action-packed new comedy from the makers of the hit movie “Shaun of the Dead.” With the same razor-sharp combination of humor and attention to detail they used to breathe new life into the undead, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have set their sights on Action Movies for their next uniquely funny vision.
Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other officer on the force. He’s so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result, Angel’s superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so embarrassing — the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford.
Once there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life “bad boy,” and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy and Danny’s puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel’s growing frustration.
However, as a series of grisly accidents rocks the village, Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny’s dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action seem more and more like a reality.
It’s time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice - “Hot Fuzz.”
STARRING: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Paul Freeman, Anne Reid, Billie Whitelaw, Stuart Wilson, Edward Woodward
DIRECTOR: Edgar Wright
STUDIO: Focus Features
RATING: R (For Violence, strong language, adult situations)
Dan, a solider recently discharged from the army, takes refuge in alcohol to escape from life and other people. Despite his tortured state, his fiancee Nicole still believes their a solid couple. Gaelle is desperately looking for love, but without any success. Her brother Thierry, an realestate agent, is very attracted to his colleague Charlotte. Her pious and devoted attitude masks the perverse game that she is playing with him. And, finally, there is Lionel. He combats his loneliness by dividing his life between his work as a barman and caring for his sickly father, Arthur.
STARRING: Sabine Azéma, Lambert Wilson, André Dussollier, Pierre Arditi, Laura Morante, Isabelle Carré, Claude Rich
DIRECTOR: Alain Resnais
STUDIO: IFC First Take
RATING: Not Rated
Ryan, late-twenties and not getting any younger, is tempted into a money-laundering scheme but struggles with his ill-gotten gains while trying to find happiness. In this comedy, Ryan tries hard not to try hard but is surrounded by over-achievers. His hippie friend has gone capitalistic in a not-so-legal way. His older brother has always been capitalistic in a legal if not-so-ethical way. His father, after losing his job and his faith in the system, has found profitable promise outside of the establishment. Even the woman he desires is comfortable to be cared for by a big-time car thief. As Douglas Coupland has done in the past, new questions are raised about the period we live in. Is it possible to just drift into the new century? Are the middle-class facing extinction? When is “enough” enough? And is there any hope that not everyone wants to be a millionaire.
STARRING: Paulo Costanzo, Steph Song, JR Bourne, Aidan Devine, Susan Hogan, Tom Butler, Peter Kelamis, Gordon Michael Woolvett, Katharine Isabelle, Chiu-Lin Tam, Camyar Chai, Tara Wilson, Jennifer Kitchen, Alexus Dumont, Don Thompson
DIRECTOR: Paul Fox
STUDIO: First Independent Pictures
RATING: R (For language, sexual material and drug content)
An absorbing true story about serial killers on the lam, “Lonely Hearts” is based on the murder spree of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez during the late 1940s and Detective Elmer C. Robinson’s participation in their capture, incarceration and subsequent executions. The murders are bloody and demented as lovers Ray and Martha travel together, Ray seducing lonely, vulnerable women, milking them of their money, then killing them. All the while Martha falls deeper into obsession for Ray, convinced of their undying bond because he kills for her, and ultimately drawn to participate in the grotesque crimes. They’re a dangerous duo who leave a bloody trail behind. Beyond the historical aspects of these events, this story is about the grim reality of being a homicide detective, how the work invades one’s life and isolates one from those loved ones. The true crime aspects of the story intertwine with Robinson’s personal culpability in the unexplained and spontaneous suicide of his wife. The story also wrestles with the existential questions of purpose, accountability and a man’s significance in the world while offering hope and redemption. After capturing Fernandez and Beck and witnessing their executions, it becomes clear to Robinson that he must abandon the illusion of control as it exists in police work. He realizes that any real hope for redemption, happiness, forgiveness and legacy have been before him all along in the form of his young son and devoted wife. In the end he leaves the world of homicide behind in exchange for a life with the people who love him. In the late 1940s, Detective Elmer C. Robinson of the Nassau County Police Department, helped to capture and convict Lonely Hearts killers Raymond Fernandez and Martha Jule Beck. In 1951, he witnessed their executions at Sing Sing Prison and the experience changed his life - He was my grandfather. This is his story.
STARRING: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Scott Caan, Alice Krige, Laura Dern
DIRECTOR: Todd Robinson
STUDIO: Roadside Attractions, Samuel Goldwyn
RATING: R (For strong violence and sexual content, nudity and language)
In an untamed, primordial America, 500 years before Columbus will reach its shores, unfolds an epic battle between love and hate that will change one man’s destiny and the future of a nation: “Pathfinder.” This action-adventure saga recreates one of the most riveting, yet never-before-seen, eras in human history - when Viking “dragon” ships from the mysterious Norse lands arrived out of nowhere to invade a pristine North America. Inspired by historical findings, yet forged with the magic and style of a modern graphic novel, “Pathfinder” comes to life in a cinematic experience filled with intense and primal action. The legend-like story of survival begins with a Viking child who becomes the lone survivor of a shipwreck, after his marauding Norse clan raids a coastal Native American village for slaves. Despite his blonde hair and strange language - and concerns that evil will follow the boy wherever he goes - the ten year-old is adopted by the local Wampanoag Indians, who raise him to become a skilled hunter and warrior. But fifteen years later, the pale young man known to his tribe as Ghost (KARL URBAN) is still trying to escape his past. Now, as the Vikings return to storm America again, this time they will carry out a barbaric attack that will annihilate Ghost’s beloved tribe and endanger the woman he loves (MOON BLOODGOOD). Once again a survivor on the run, and thirsting for blood vengeance, Ghost comes under the guidance of the Pathfinder (RUSSELL MEANS), a powerful shaman who foresees the enraged young man’s unexpected destiny: as the hard-won hero who will wage a one-man war against the Vikings and becomes his people’s savior. The latest forensic evidence suggests that centuries before Columbus was born, Viking warships from Northern Europe landed on American shores, and the infamously fierce Norse explorers roamed what is now modern-day Boston and New York City. It’s a stunning vision to imagine: Vikings attempting to settle on the lands that Native Americans had already called home for some 25,000 years. Known for their brutal, plundering raids, and already embattled in Europe, the Vikings were likely seeking fertile new lands to conquer when they set out into the New World for the first time. Yet in America they would meet their demise. No one knows for sure what became of the Vikings who attempted to settle here, but instead of thriving, they disappeared and their civilization soon teetered to collapse. Viking sagas speak of violent battles with the people who lived in America - yet what really happened when these two warrior cultures met remains forever shrouded in mystery. It is this unexplored story that comes to the fore in “Pathfinder” - an action-adventure story that re-imagines the explosive first contact between the Vikings and the East Coast’s native Wampanoag Indians through a stylish tale of personal revenge and redemption - “Pathfinder.”
STARRING: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Ralf Moeller
DIRECTOR: Marcus Nispel
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox
RATING: R (For strong brutal violence throughout)
50’s, “Hair High” is the legend of a teenage couple murdered on prom night who returns as undead skeletons one year later for revenge. The film is a unique romantic high-school comedy with a zombie-horror twist.
STARRING The Voices of: Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Silverman, David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Beverly D’Angelo, Martha Plimpton, Eric Gilliland, Ed Begley Jr.
DIRECTOR: Bill Plympton
STUDIO: E.D. Distribution
RATING: Not Rated (Adult Situations involving animated characters)
Peggy and Pencil are inseparable companions. They sleep together, eat together, and even take-in Friday night movies together. Life is uncomplicated and safe, and although Pencil is a Beagle, Peggy is happily entrenched in a satisfying relationship of co-dependency with her beloved pet. But with love comes loss, and Peggy’s world comes crashing down when Pencil meets a mysterious demise in the neighbor’s yard. Left to pick-up the pieces of her shattered life, Peggy embarks on a personal journey to fill the void. Friends, family and co-workers try to distract Peggy from her misery with their own obsessive quests for happiness, but in the end, she emerges from her loss with a new found sense of her place in the world and what it takes to make her happy.
Like millions of people, Peggy (Molly Shannon) has found a comfortable niche in which to live. She has a solid administrative job, close family and the dependable companionship of her dog, Pencil.
This stable status quo is rocked when Pencil’s sudden death leaves Peggy reeling in a world devoid of meaning without him. Her quest for happiness leads her to the attractive, yet ambiguous Newt (Peter Sarsgaard) who introduces her to animal activism, a vegan lifestyle and even a new dog. Inspired by Newt, Peggy unleashes an obsession with animal rights and dog placement, which greatly concerns her brother (Thomas McCarthy), sister-in-law (Laura Dern), best friend (Regina King), neighbor (John C. Reilly) and boss (Josh Pais) who all feel her life is dangerously out of balance.
Unable to overcome continuing disappointment with her fellow human beings, Peggy ultimately makes a heartfelt commitment to the animal world, where, for her, the love is unconditional and satisfaction is guaranteed.
STARRING: Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, John C. Reilly, Laura Dern
DIRECTOR: Mike White
STUDIO: Paramount Vantage
RATING: PG-13 (For for some suggestive references)
