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View attachment 10288
300
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriter: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro
Genre: Action, Drama
Plot Summary: Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, "300" is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller's (Sin City) acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.
View attachment 10289
Beyond the Gates
Studio: IFC Films
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Screenwriter: David Wolstencroft
Starring: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Dominique Horwitz
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy), charismatic and idealistic, is a young man taking a year out. While his friends are backpacking around India or lying on a beach in Thailand, Joe has chosen a "real" experience - teaching in a Rwandan school. He is looking forward to stunning his mates with tales of adventure and life at the sharp end. His enthusiasm for Africa makes him popular with the pupils. To Francois, the school groundsman, Joe is a real friend.
The school is headed by Father Christopher (John Hurt) an English Roman Catholic priest. Christopher has spent nearly all his working life in Africa. The cycles of violence that he has witnessed over the years, throughout the continent, have made the struggle to keep his faith alive increasingly hard. Now he is wearier than ever, fearing for Rwanda as it sinks deeper and deeper into a mire of ethnic hatred and political corruption.
Every evening Joe is on the running track coaching Marie (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a young Tutsi girl. She is an exceptional talent and Joe sees her as a shining example of a brighter future. But in the Rwanda of April 1994 ethnic tension between Tutsis and Hutus erupts into genocide. Joe's world is turned upside down.
The killing escalates through the city and the school becomes a refuge for Europeans and Tutsis. A contingent of Belgian UN soldiers, led by Capitaine Delon (Dominique Horwitz), has been stationed there to monitor the fragile peace accord but, now, as the extremist Hutu government vows to eliminate all Tutsis, the refugees wonder if the UN will really protect them from the machete-wielding Hutu militias who slowly start to surround the school.
Joe burns with a desire to "do" something, which puts him at odds with Christopher, who has become more and more hardened - Africa, he believes, is beyond hope. Joe promises a distraught Marie that she will be safe - that he will make sure the world outside doesn't desert them. He ventures out into Kigali to pick up a television crew to bring back and publicise their plight. But things turn ugly at a roadblock. Joe and the crew are held at gunpoint by drunken militia and he discovers, to his horror, that one of the thugs is Francois, his friend, with a blood-stained machete in his hand.
The killing gets closer and closer to the school but with a weak UN mandate Capitaine Delon can do nothing to stop it. The European refugees are evacuated by French troops. The Rwandans are left behind, their hope draining away. Their worst fears are realised when the UN troops are ordered to pull out and abandon the Rwandans: Joe is told he must leave too - or face certain death. Terrified, he clambers aboard a UN truck, aware that he has betrayed his promise to Marie. Joe waits on the UN truck for Christopher but is astonished to discover that he has decided to remain behind with the Rwandans - a people he has grown to love.
After the UN convoy pulls away Christopher makes one final desperate attempt to save the handful of children he can squeeze into the back of the last vehicle remaining. Marie's father Roland pushes her forward - her face is numb with fear and confusion for she knows she will never see her father again. But the truck is stopped at a Hutu roadblock. Machetes glint in the firelight and whilst Christopher tries to distract the soldiers, Marie slips silently out of the truck and starts to run, faster and faster, deeper and deeper into the African bush...
View attachment 10290
The Host
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Screenwriter: Bong Joon-ho, Hah Joon-won, Baek Chul-hyun
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hie-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doo-na, Ah-sung Ko
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot Summary: The talk of the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, "The Host," the latest film from critically acclaimed visionary director Bong Joon-ho, has already garnered a substantial amount of international buzz. Utilizing state-of-the-art special effects courtesy of a creative partnership between Weta Workshop ("King Kong," "The Lord of the Rings") and The Orphanage ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Sin City"), "The Host" is equal parts creature-feature thrill ride and poignant human drama.
Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) works at a food-stand on the banks of the Han River. Dozing on the job, he is awakened by his daughter, Hyun-seo ( Ah-sung Ko), who is angry with him for missing a teacher-parent meeting at school. As Gang-du walks out to the riverbank with a delivery, he notices that a large crowd of people has gathered, taking pictures and talking about something hanging from the Han River Bridge. The otherwise idyllic landscape turns suddenly to bedlam when a terrifying creature climbs up onto the riverbank and begins to crush and eat people. Gang-du and his daughter run for their lives but suddenly the thing grabs Hyun-seo and disappears back into the river. The government announces that the thing apparently is the Host of an unidentified virus. Having feared the worst, Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter who is frightened, but very much alive. Gang-du makes plans to infiltrate the forbidden zone near the Han River to rescue his daughter from the clutches of the horrifying Host...
View attachment 10291
The Namesake
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Director: Mira Nair
Screenwriter: Sooni Taraporevala
Starring: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson, Brooke Smith, Sahira Nair
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: When the the Ganguli family moves from Calcutta to New York, they embark upon a lifelong balancing act to meld into a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.
Believe in Me
Studio: IFC Films
Director: Robert Collector
Screenwriter: Robert Collector
Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Samantha Mathis, Bruce Dern, Bob Gunton, Heather Matarazzo, Chris Ellis, Anne Judson-Yager
Genre: Drama, Sports
Plot Summary: A basketball coach moves to Oklahoma, expecting to coach the boys' basketball team, but instead ends up coaching the girls' team, developing a rapport with the team and developing them into a strong team in a sport that never supported women players before.
Maxed Out
Studio: Truely Indie
Director: James D. Scurlock
Screenwriter: James D. Scurlock
Starring: Chris Barrett, Robin Leach, Luke McCabe, Mark Mumma, Liz Warren
Genre: Documentary, Politics
Plot Summary: When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. "Maxed Out" takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! "Maxed Out" shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, "Maxed Out" paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.
The Ultimate Gift
Release Date: March 9, 2007
Studio: Fox Faith, The Bigger Picture
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Screenwriter: Cheryl McKay
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin, Lee Meriwether, Brian Dennehy, Mircea Monroe, Donna Cherry, D. David Morin
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life: twelve gifts designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.
300
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriter: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro
Genre: Action, Drama
Plot Summary: Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, "300" is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller's (Sin City) acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.
View attachment 10289
Beyond the Gates
Studio: IFC Films
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Screenwriter: David Wolstencroft
Starring: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Dominique Horwitz
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy), charismatic and idealistic, is a young man taking a year out. While his friends are backpacking around India or lying on a beach in Thailand, Joe has chosen a "real" experience - teaching in a Rwandan school. He is looking forward to stunning his mates with tales of adventure and life at the sharp end. His enthusiasm for Africa makes him popular with the pupils. To Francois, the school groundsman, Joe is a real friend.
The school is headed by Father Christopher (John Hurt) an English Roman Catholic priest. Christopher has spent nearly all his working life in Africa. The cycles of violence that he has witnessed over the years, throughout the continent, have made the struggle to keep his faith alive increasingly hard. Now he is wearier than ever, fearing for Rwanda as it sinks deeper and deeper into a mire of ethnic hatred and political corruption.
Every evening Joe is on the running track coaching Marie (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a young Tutsi girl. She is an exceptional talent and Joe sees her as a shining example of a brighter future. But in the Rwanda of April 1994 ethnic tension between Tutsis and Hutus erupts into genocide. Joe's world is turned upside down.
The killing escalates through the city and the school becomes a refuge for Europeans and Tutsis. A contingent of Belgian UN soldiers, led by Capitaine Delon (Dominique Horwitz), has been stationed there to monitor the fragile peace accord but, now, as the extremist Hutu government vows to eliminate all Tutsis, the refugees wonder if the UN will really protect them from the machete-wielding Hutu militias who slowly start to surround the school.
Joe burns with a desire to "do" something, which puts him at odds with Christopher, who has become more and more hardened - Africa, he believes, is beyond hope. Joe promises a distraught Marie that she will be safe - that he will make sure the world outside doesn't desert them. He ventures out into Kigali to pick up a television crew to bring back and publicise their plight. But things turn ugly at a roadblock. Joe and the crew are held at gunpoint by drunken militia and he discovers, to his horror, that one of the thugs is Francois, his friend, with a blood-stained machete in his hand.
The killing gets closer and closer to the school but with a weak UN mandate Capitaine Delon can do nothing to stop it. The European refugees are evacuated by French troops. The Rwandans are left behind, their hope draining away. Their worst fears are realised when the UN troops are ordered to pull out and abandon the Rwandans: Joe is told he must leave too - or face certain death. Terrified, he clambers aboard a UN truck, aware that he has betrayed his promise to Marie. Joe waits on the UN truck for Christopher but is astonished to discover that he has decided to remain behind with the Rwandans - a people he has grown to love.
After the UN convoy pulls away Christopher makes one final desperate attempt to save the handful of children he can squeeze into the back of the last vehicle remaining. Marie's father Roland pushes her forward - her face is numb with fear and confusion for she knows she will never see her father again. But the truck is stopped at a Hutu roadblock. Machetes glint in the firelight and whilst Christopher tries to distract the soldiers, Marie slips silently out of the truck and starts to run, faster and faster, deeper and deeper into the African bush...
View attachment 10290
The Host
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Screenwriter: Bong Joon-ho, Hah Joon-won, Baek Chul-hyun
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hie-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doo-na, Ah-sung Ko
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot Summary: The talk of the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, "The Host," the latest film from critically acclaimed visionary director Bong Joon-ho, has already garnered a substantial amount of international buzz. Utilizing state-of-the-art special effects courtesy of a creative partnership between Weta Workshop ("King Kong," "The Lord of the Rings") and The Orphanage ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Sin City"), "The Host" is equal parts creature-feature thrill ride and poignant human drama.
Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) works at a food-stand on the banks of the Han River. Dozing on the job, he is awakened by his daughter, Hyun-seo ( Ah-sung Ko), who is angry with him for missing a teacher-parent meeting at school. As Gang-du walks out to the riverbank with a delivery, he notices that a large crowd of people has gathered, taking pictures and talking about something hanging from the Han River Bridge. The otherwise idyllic landscape turns suddenly to bedlam when a terrifying creature climbs up onto the riverbank and begins to crush and eat people. Gang-du and his daughter run for their lives but suddenly the thing grabs Hyun-seo and disappears back into the river. The government announces that the thing apparently is the Host of an unidentified virus. Having feared the worst, Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter who is frightened, but very much alive. Gang-du makes plans to infiltrate the forbidden zone near the Han River to rescue his daughter from the clutches of the horrifying Host...
View attachment 10291
The Namesake
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Director: Mira Nair
Screenwriter: Sooni Taraporevala
Starring: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson, Brooke Smith, Sahira Nair
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: When the the Ganguli family moves from Calcutta to New York, they embark upon a lifelong balancing act to meld into a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.
Believe in Me
Studio: IFC Films
Director: Robert Collector
Screenwriter: Robert Collector
Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Samantha Mathis, Bruce Dern, Bob Gunton, Heather Matarazzo, Chris Ellis, Anne Judson-Yager
Genre: Drama, Sports
Plot Summary: A basketball coach moves to Oklahoma, expecting to coach the boys' basketball team, but instead ends up coaching the girls' team, developing a rapport with the team and developing them into a strong team in a sport that never supported women players before.
Maxed Out
Studio: Truely Indie
Director: James D. Scurlock
Screenwriter: James D. Scurlock
Starring: Chris Barrett, Robin Leach, Luke McCabe, Mark Mumma, Liz Warren
Genre: Documentary, Politics
Plot Summary: When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. "Maxed Out" takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! "Maxed Out" shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, "Maxed Out" paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.
The Ultimate Gift
Release Date: March 9, 2007
Studio: Fox Faith, The Bigger Picture
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Screenwriter: Cheryl McKay
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin, Lee Meriwether, Brian Dennehy, Mircea Monroe, Donna Cherry, D. David Morin
Genre: Drama
Plot Summary: When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life: twelve gifts designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.