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AUGUST **** The intriguing story of two brothers, Tom and Joshua Sterling (Josh Hartnett and Adam Scott) whose Internet start-up, Landshark, is as hot as a New York City summer - only this is the summer of 2001, their company is in lock up, its stock price is plunging and, in a few weeks, the world will change forever
CHÉRI **** Set in the luxurious demi-monde of pre-First World War Paris, CHÉRI is the story of the love affair between the beautiful retired courtesan Léa (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Chéri (Rupert Friend), the son of her old colleague and rival, Mme Peloux (Kathy Bates). Léa has educated the spoilt and callow boy in the ways of love, but after six years Mme Peloux has secretly arranged a marriage between Chéri and Edmée (Felicity Jones), daughter of another rich courtesan, Marie Laure (Iben Hjejle). As the inevitable moment of parting approaches, Léa and Chéri try to come to terms with their imminent separation, but the roots of their life of ease and pleasure reach deeper than even they imagine and they begin to understand, too late, how much they mean to one another.
THE HUNTING PARTY *** A film very much in the tradition of M.A.S.H., Welcome to Sarajevo or Three Kings is a docudrama spiked with jet-black wit. It provides writer/director Richard Shepard, late of the Pierce Brosnan/Greg Kinnear vehicle The Matador, another chance to explore the mysteries and melancholies of male relationships. Based on "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," an Esquire article by Scott K. Anderson, The Hunting Party follows fictional news reporter Simon Hunt (Richard Gere), a once-proud network newsman whose on-air meltdown led to a steady, sad fall from grace. His cameraman, Duckie (a terrific Terrence Howard), rebounded from that snafu and found himself working a cushy corporate job with the network, paired up with star anchor Franklin Harris (James Brolin). Simon and Duckie, who covered the Bosnian conflict together in the Nineties, find themselves reunited in 2000 upon the conflict's fifth anniversary. Simon, a now-disgraced reporter, has a lead on one of Bosnia's most wanted war criminals, enlisting Duckie and Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg) to help track him down. As the film says in its opening moments, only the most ridiculous moments of this story are true ... and some pretty insane things happen before the credits roll. As he did in The Matador, Shepard deftly blends comedy, drama and thriller elements, often in the same scene, letting the laughs catch in your throat. He also weaves satirical jabs into his screenplay, making barbed observations about the mercenary nature of the media and the futility of American involvement abroad.
LAST CHANCE HARVEY ***** Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) and Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) reunite in this magnificent romance that celebrates new beginnings - at any age. The film is written and directed by Joel Hopkins (Jump Tomorrow). New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on the verge of losing his dead-end job as a jingle writer. Warned by his boss (Richard Schiff) that he has just one more chance to deliver, Harvey goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter's (Liane Balaban) wedding but promises to be back on Monday morning to make an important meeting--or else. Harvey arrives in London only to learn his daughter has chosen to have her stepfather (James Brolin) walk her down the aisle. Trying to hide his devastation, Harvey leaves the wedding before the reception in hopes of getting to the airport on time, but misses the plane anyway. When he calls his boss to explain, Harvey is fired on the spot. Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate (Emma Thompson), a sensitive, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics. Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone calls from her smothering mother (Eileen Atkins), is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energized by her intelligence and compassion. The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly transform one another's lives. Go behind the scenes Read an interview with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson
LOADED Hottie Jesse Metcalfe packs heat in this sexy action-thriller! Metcalfe plays Tristan Price, an appropriate name for a rich, Malibu kid getting caught up with the wrong crowd. Price has everything: money, privilege, loving parents (Erin Gray, John Bennet Perry), a beautiful girlfriend (Monica Keena), and a bright future. But he has always had a need for something more, something wilder. Enter Sebastian Cole (Corey Large), a handsome, charismatic, ruthless coke dealer with a taste for fast cars, fast women, rapid-fire weapons...and revenge. Soon, Tristan will be up to his eyeballs in a seedy underworld of drugs, sex and violence before he has a clue that his new best friend is, in reality, his worst enemy!
CRANK HIGH VOLTAGE In the 2006 action hit CRANK, hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) spent twenty-four hours in over-drive: fighting, killing, and keeping his adrenaline flowing at full-force to combat a deadly poison injected into his body. Now, in the high-octane sequel Chev has managed to survive--and is about to face a brand new day. The film was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo behind the 2006 original. Go behind the scenes
A WORLD UNSEEN **** Beautifully capturing South Africa in the 50s, this heartfelt drama will appeal to those looking for a quiet romance with a big heart. It also challenges perceptions about the right to love freely, and the right to be free in an oppressed society. In 1950's South Africa, apartheid is just beginning. Free-spirited Amina (Sheetal Sheth) has broken all the rules of her own conventional Indian community, and the new apartheid-led government, by running a café with Jacob, her 'colored' business partner. When she meets Miriam (Lisa Ray), a young traditional wife and mother, their unexpected attraction pushes Miriam to question the rules that bind her. As Amina helps Miriam's sister-in-law to hide from the police, a chain of events is set in motion that changes both women forever. From overcoming oppression to finding personal freedom, from the hardships of a loveless marriage to the hesitant joy of an unexpected love affair, "The World Unseen" transports the viewer to a vibrant, colorful world that is universal in its themes. Shamim Sarif has brought to the screen the motion picture adaptation of her critically acclaimed and award winning debut novel, "The World Unseen." The human drama is inspired by stories of her grandmother's life in South Africa during the 1950's when the root of Apartheid began its treacherous grip on the country, leaving individuals to deal with a long fight for independence and identity. Go behind the scenes Read interview with writer-director Shamim Sharif
BLINDNESS **** From Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago and acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles ("The Constant Gardener," "City of God") comes the compelling story of humanity in the grip of an epidemic of mysterious blindness. It is an unflinching exploration of human nature, both bad and good--people's selfishness, opportunism, and indifference, but also their capacity for empathy, love and sheer perseverance. It begins in a flash, as one man is instantaneously struck blind while driving home from work, his whole world suddenly turned to an eerie, milky haze. One by one, each person he encounters - his wife, his doctor, even the seemingly good samaritan who gives him a lift home - will in due course suffer the same unsettling fate. As the contagion spreads, and panic and paranoia set in across the city, the newly blind victims of the "White Sickness" are rounded up and quarantined within a crumbling, abandoned mental asylum, where all semblance of ordinary life begins to break down. But inside the quarantined hospital, there is one secret eyewitness: one woman (four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore) who has not been affected but has pretended she is blind in order to stay beside her beloved husband (Mark Ruffalo). Bonus Feature: Sitting at nearly an hour long, "A Vision of Blindness" follows the process of building Meirelles' film from the ground up. It shows how the director introduced the actors to the concept of blindness and transforming sounds and textures into visual elements, as well as finding the locales for which they want situate the blindness ward. It discusses the unique process of obtaining the right for the story from José Saramango, as well as the arduous process of piecing the film together. This documentary is almost completely in behind-the-scenes mode, blending casual interview time with Meirelles and his cast and crew with a slew of both direction-based and production-based footage that show the film gradually finding its way to the final product. Go behind the scenes
DISCREET **** Monique, a high class escort, has always been able to give her clients exactly what they want, while clean cut Thomas has always been exactly what everyone has expected. But tonight Thomas' curiosity is going to get the better of him while demanding of Monique the one thing she's reluctant to offer… Honesty, costs more. Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people. For Monique, the prostitute, and Thomas, the Christian, that journey begins tonight. Discreet explores how well two people from complete opposite sides of the moral spectrum can really get to know one another in 80 minutes of real time. How honest can two complete strangers really be with one another, and what would the effect of that honesty be on their lives? In a society that promotes sexual promiscuity and where true honesty is a rare commodity, Monique and Thomas take the audience on a funny, poignant and brutal journey of self-examination. Read more as well as an interview with writer-director Joshua Rous. Bonus Features: Audio commentary by the director and actors; a visit on the set
HOND SE DINGES *** Enjoyable fun for anyone needing to escape and unwind. A unresolved murder. A lost diamond. A radio interview that digs up a few real and imagined skeletons. A guilty conscience. This reignites the conflict between the De Langes and Coetsees. It gets out of hand. And that over dinges diamonds women. or both. In Afrikaans with English subtitles. Interviews: Read an interview with producer-writer-director Johan Heyns and screenwriter Johann Potgieter
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