Battles Without Honor or Humanity ê ê ê ½: This 1973 Japanese crime noir is Shakespearean to the core. Gang fights, double crosses, point blank shootings, self sacrifice, and blood oaths only begin to describe post WWII Japan through the mid 50s. It offers a perspective of what is likely going on in Iraq at this time.

The Center ê ê: If you are interested in historical European trivia, resolving the differences of opinion with respect to the exact center of Europe will be fascinating to you. This documentary enlightened us, then it left us shrugging our shoulders, with a so what, who cares attitude. Each of the persons questioned about the location of the center of Europe seemed to think it’s right in their own backyard, so to speak. Pride? Aahh, the politics of it all. What we liked best about the film was that it showed Germany without a fixation on its connection with Hitler. Although, there was an interesting sequence involving Asian tourists snapping pictures of Hitler’s childhood home.

Finding Neverland ê ê ê ê : Johnny Depp meets the Oscar hype expectation in this film, which is about the creative process of the author that created the story of "Peter Pan." It’s a warm family story with knock out performances all around, including two of the children of the financially compromised widow portrayed by Kate Winslet. The lovely Julie Christie is Winslet’s concerned mother. It delivers a lot of romance without anyone taking off his or her clothes. Also starring Dustin Hoffman. This is a great family film and for many, will be regarded as one of the best of the year.

I Like to Work ê ê ê ½: Corporate mergers, downsizing, and finding creative ways to look after stockholders, without concern for employees, finds a single mother (Anna Nicoletta from "Life is Beautiful") in the rifle sight of the new executive manager. Not very different than here in the US, the Italian company’s Rome office puts on a grand political spin of "everything will be wonderful" at a merger party. Soon one department is transferred to another city. As coincidence would have it, most of the employees in that department are women with families, so many of them have no choice but to resign.

Since the law provides some special consideration to single mother status and being the principal supporter of her father in a nursing home, getting Anna to quit requires considerable finesse. Anna is continuously reassigned to confusing, demeaning and ultimately impossible positions to succeed until she has a nervous breakdown. With the help of a maturing pre teen daughter and good advice from a labor advisor, Anna finds a way to not only survive but make her life better.

Kontroll ê ê ê ê : Set entirely in the Budapest subway, this hip film richly deserves its commercial and critically acclaimed status in Europe. We follow the ticket taker teams in the subway and observe how they compete with one another. Many people, both riders and workers seek refuge in this underground world. They are often running from something. Some escape via suicide, others are pushed off the platform onto the tracks by a serial killer. With a hard driving jazz and fusion soundtrack, featuring some outstanding music by Neo, this is a film with an edge, not to be missed. It has an aura of "Donnie Darko" but is a much better film.

The Machinist ê ê ê: Christian Bale works in a small factory where he is blamed for the serious injury of another worker. Little wonder, he’s not slept in over a year and his weight has plummeted, causing his frightening gaunt appearance (Christian Bale actually took off 60 pounds for this role). Photographed in a faded type of color, the drained effect matches the wasted existence that Bale and his prostitute girlfriend, Jennifer Jason Leigh, endure. With the feel of a 1940s film noir, this tale of suspense has a payoff at the end, which explains exactly why Bale is acting so strange.

Nelly ê ê ê½: Sophie Marceau is married to a doctor, whose practice they run from their home, in a small town in France. She brings the children back from a trip to the beach and she becomes increasingly frustrated as she tries to get her husband Manuel to talk to her and not pretend he is asleep. Finally, in the morning she tries again and then utters the words, "Oh, no, not now!" when she realizes the reason he is not talking is because he has died in his sleep.

The funeral directors have a polite demeanor and the correct words, but clearly no real sympathy for the bereaved. Nelly is distraught because Manuel has gradually become totally disinterested in her from a sexual point of view over their 12 years of marriage. There is a definite undercurrent to their relationship. Did Manuel die in his sleep or was it a suicide?

The Spectator ê ê ê: A single woman who is a language translator becomes infatuated with a neighbor who relocates to another city in Italy. She follows him there and works her way into the lives of him and his lover, a woman who is older than he is. Was she stalking him? Does he begin to stalk her after she spurns his advances once he and the woman part ways? Bringing it all together is the older girlfriend who has her own reasons for wanting the relationship with the man to go only so far. This film is very much about female independence and support in an unusual way.

Summer in the Golden Valley ê ê ê: This coming of age drama is set in Sarajevo and focuses on how people live in a formerly war-torn area as they try to resume normal lives. Fikret is 16 and looking to find his self-esteem and lose his virginity, not necessarily at the same time. He has his eyes on the Ramiz’s daughter. Ramiz is a crocked policeman who thinks Fikret is not good enough for her.

Fikret lives in what looks like a high rise project, not unlike the ghettos in large American cities. When he sees jumbo jets fly overhead, he assumes all of the people looking out of the windows are happy. His dream is to be on one of those planes one day. With the feel of both "City of God" and "Sweet Sixteen," this film captures the grittiness of modern day Bosnia.

This movie is about war and its long-term consequences after the tanks are no longer visible and the soldiers have traded in their uniforms for civilian clothes.

Undertow ê ê ê ½: David Gordon Green ("George Washington," "All the Real Girls"), is expert at capturing poor white southern culture, without falling into red neck stereotyping. In this story, two young men flee home because they might be suspected of murdering their father. To survive they must not only deal with the law, but with an unscrupulous ex con uncle.

Up Against Them All ê ê ê½: As the follow up film from the producer’s masterpiece "City of God," George’s best film of last year, it’s impossible not to have high expectations.

Claudia is married to Teodoro and on the surface they are a couple with problems and challenges that most of us could relate to. Living with them is Soninha, the child of Teodoro and stepdaughter to Claudia. Like her stepmother, she is sexually charged and when both play out their passions, things take a turn for the worse that is unpredictably realistic and shocking.