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An Unfinished Life
 

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Mirror Mask

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A fifteen year old girl wants out of the traveling circus run by her parents. This live action film combined with digital animation takes her on a journey into a land of fantastic landscapes filled with monkeybirds and other strange beings and surreal events. That will teach you to disobey your parents.

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Waiting

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Forty Shades of Blue        

When Laura (Dina Korzun, Last Resort) is brought to Memphis from Russia as the trophy girlfriend of Alan (Rip Torn), she tries to make the best of it. Laura ignores his bad behavior and irascible personality by working out, shopping hard and looking after their three-year-old son. Beneath the surface, however, she knows there is nothing to look forward to—until Alan's fully grown son (Darren Burrows) turns up for the first time in many years, and a dangerous affair ensues.

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Brick

Brick, the dynamic debut feature from writer/director Rian Johnson, won the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision.
 
Brick, while taking its cues and its verbal style from the novels of Dashiell Hammett, also honors the rich cinematic tradition of the hard-boiled noir mystery, here wittily and bracingly immersed in fresh territory – a modern-day Southern California neighborhood and high school. There, student Brendan Frye’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) piercing intelligence spares no one. Brendan is not afraid to back up his words with actions, and knows all the angles; yet he prefers to stay an outsider, and does – until the day that his ex-girlfriend, Emily (Emilie de Ravin of Lost), reaches out to him unexpectedly and then vanishes. Brendan’s feelings for her still run deep; so much so, that he becomes consumed with finding his troubled inamorata.
 
To find her, Brendan enlists the aid of his only true peer, The Brain (Matt O’Leary), while keeping the assistant vice principal (Richard Roundtree) only occasionally informed of what quickly becomes a dangerous investigation. Brendan’s single-minded unearthing of students’ secrets thrusts him headlong into the colliding social orbits of rich-girl sophisticate Laura (Nora Zehetner), intimidating Tugger (Noah Fleiss), substance-abusing Dode (Noah Segan), seductive Kara (Meagan Good), jock Brad (Brian White), and – most ominously – non-student The Pin (Lukas Haas). It is only by gaining acceptance into The Pin’s closely guarded inner circle of crime and punishment that Brendan will be able to uncover hard truths about himself, Emily, and the suspects that he is getting closer to.

 
Focus Features presents a Bergman Lustig production. A Film by Rian Johnson. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brick. Nora Zehetner, Noah Fleiss, Matt O’Leary, Noah Segan, Meagan Good, Emilie de Ravin. With Richard Roundtree and Lukas Haas. Casting by Shannon Makhanian. Costume Designer, Michele Posch. Music by Nathan Johnson. Production Designer, Jodie Tillen. Director of Photography, Steve Yedlin. Co-Producers, Dana Lustig, Susan Dynner, Angela Roessel. Executive Producers, Lisa Johnson, Craig Johnson, Norman Dreyfuss, Marcie Campbell. Produced by Ram Bergman, Mark G. Mathis. Written and Directed by Rian Johnson. A Focus Features Release.

Where the Truth Lies

When considering Atom Egoyan’s adaptation of the 2003 Rupert Holmes novel of the same name, Where the Truth Lies may depend upon your tolerance for seamy showbiz scandal served up in a hypnotic, muddled mess of a movie. But what an entertaining mess it sometimes is!

Set in LA circa late 1950s, high-living, hedonistic comedy duo Lanny (Kevin Bacon) and Vince (Colin Firth), obviously modeled on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, are at the top of their game. They’re polar opposites—Lanny is the extrovert to Vince’s poker face—and they are master showmen who can crassly make an audience respond on a dime with laughter or tears, whether comedy act or polio telethon. They live a life of excess and seduction, and the film excels at depicting a world unlocked by the key of celebrity—sex, money and fame. Until a young woman is found dead in their hotel bathtub. They’re not suspects yet they mysteriously go their separate ways. Decades pass before an eager-beaver reporter (Alison Lohman), hot on a bio-book of their heyday, begins to unravel the truth and few of her own.

Where the Truth Lies, an atypical excursion into commercial filmmaking for celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan, finds his usual pleasures somewhat tempered. Though the story would seem to encompass his movie hallmarks—a labyrinthine web of mystery, exoticism, danger and sensuality—the film is anything but sexy, flirting liberally with the much-ballyhooed ménage and homosexual undercurrents, and other various couplings that are more often than not depressing. Perhaps that’s just the point. To complicate matters, the flashback, flash-forward structure renders the picture rote, even mechanical in its multiple perspectives, when it should be engrossing. Not that there aren’t a few guilty pleasures to be had in the film’s gleeful, peek-a-boo tawdry take on sex, sin and death in the City of Angels, with twists that would have done Kenneth Anger’s "Hollywood Babylon" proud.

Both Bacon and Firth are terrific in their roles, though it’s hard to imagine either taking this material seriously. And the film certainly looks great courtesy of cinematographer Paul Sarossy. What doesn’t work here? Plenty, beginning with the underwritten duo who function more like standard-issue 50s entertainment archetypes than real people. Add to the mix the thoroughly unbelievable young reporter, played by a miscast Lohman who is a terrific actress most other days. When the ménage in question finally comes, there are a few surprises. The film, however, isn’t really interested in exploring the sexual shadings of the characters enough to be erotic. Where the Truth Lies is somewhere in the middle. It’s a complex, over-plotted and over-directed piece of pulp dressed up by Egoyan, who undoubtedly knows better.

The War Within

HDNet Films’ The War Within, directed and co-written by Joseph Castelo, is the story of Hassan (co-writer Ayad Akhtar in his debut performance), a Pakistani engineering student in Paris who is apprehended by Western intelligence services for suspected terrorist activities.  Imprisoned and tortured, Hassan is provoked to action. Following his release he embarks upon a terrorist mission, surreptitiously entering the United States to join a cell based in New York City.  On the morning of the planned attack, all members of the cell are arrested except Hassan and the cell's charismatic leader, Khalid. Hassan takes refuge with Sayeed, an unsuspecting childhood friend, who is living the American dream with his family in New Jersey.  As each day passes, Hassan finds himself torn between his religious beliefs and his growing feelings for Sayeed and his family.  What unfolds is a profound human and political drama as we tensely observe Hassan's state of mind as he tries to decide whether or not to carry out his deadly mission.

Two for the Money

Matthew McConaughey stars as Brandon Lane, a former college football star whose uncanny ability to predict the outcome of a game introduces him to an unexpected new career when his gridiron glory is sidelined by a crushing injury. Brandon's talent makes him a prime candidate for recruitment by Walter Abraham (Al Pacino), the head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the country.

When Walter hires the small town ex-athlete and grooms him into a shrewd front man, Brandon soon begins to enjoy his status as a Manhattan golden boy and finds himself growing comfortable with Walter's high-rolling lifestyle. The surrogate father/surrogate son relationship fattens Walter's business and personal accounts… until Brandon's golden touch begins to falter at the same time that Walter's manipulation of his protégé crosses the line. With millions of dollars on the line, Brandon and Walter engage in a deadly game of con versus con, where nothing is what it appears to be.

Starring: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo, Jeremy Piven, more credits
Directed By: D.J. Caruso
Released By: Universal
Genre: Drama, Crime and Mystery, Coming Soon
Rating: R  

Stormy Waters

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Kamikaze Girls

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

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Conformist

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The Family Stone

The comedy revolves around the annual holiday gathering of a bohemian family that’s thrown into turmoil when the fair-haired son (Dermot Mulroney) introduces his fiancée, a high strung New York businesswoman (Sarah Jessica Parker) whom the family hates. Also starring Claire Danes, Luke Wilson, Craig T. Nelson, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton; Written and directed by Thomas Bezucha.  (TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX) This film is rated PG-13.

I Am a Sex Addict

"I am a Sex Addict" is a fairly diverting documentary that occasionally lapses into self indulgence. It was directed and written by the promising film maker, Cayeh Zahedi.

The film is highly autobiographical, and the audience’s reaction may depend upon how well they like the director/narrator. It chronicles how he eventually overcame his unhealthy sex habits, and became more stable and happy

Zahedi narrates the film himself, but he uses actresses to play his girlfriends. He also shows the real girlfriends that declined to appear in the film as themselves. His narration is sometimes witty and occasionally annoying.

Zahedi is a troubled man who reminds me of the George Costanza character on the "Seinfeld" show because he has the habit of sabotaging all his romantic relationships. He is painfully honest, and at one point he admits every lustful thought he has until he drives his wife away. Earlier, he had left the woman he truly loved to make a film on Rimbaud in France with a suicidal psychopath. Of course, once he gets to France, he can’t raise the funds to make the film.

Zanedi was a philosophy major before he made films, and he tries to justify his philandering and his lack of commitment on ethical grounds. He argues that marriage is a bourgeois construct that reinforces the power structure, and no person should possess another. This allows him to see people on the side, but he is hurt when his lovers or wives do the same.

He also has a fetish for prostitutes, and he seems to get more excited by ‘"shopping" for them than actually having sex with them. At one point, he is attracted to a prostitute because she resembles his wife even though he is no longer attracted to his wife.

When his desires become insurmountable, he joins a sex addict self help group, and he treats the audience to a revealing clip of one of the meetings.

Viewers expecting an erotic documentary that will arouse them will be sorely disappointed. The film shows how one man’s bad sexual and relationship habits almost ruin his life. If anything the film will sour viewers on irresponsible sex.

The Gospel

"THE GOSPEL" is about a young singer who turns his back on God and his father’s church when tragedy strikes. He returns years later to find the once powerful congregation in disarray. With his childhood nemesis creating a “new vision” for the church, he is forced to deal with family turmoil, career suicide and relationship issues that send him on a collision course with redemption or destruction.

"THE GOSPEL" stars Boris Kodjoe, Idris Elba, Nona Gaye, Clifton Powell, Aloma Wright, Donnie McClurkin, Omar Gooding, Tamyra Gray, Hezekiah Walker, Keshia Knight Pulliam.
 

Paradise Now

Domino

 coming reel soon

Lola Montes

coming reel soon

Poet of the Wastes