Archive for September, 2011

Machine Gun Preacher

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 154

Language: English

Director: Marc Forster

Plot: In this inspirational true story, Machine Gun Preacher is about Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption.

When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed-in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.

But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives-and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan (Due Date), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), Madeline Carroll (Mr. Popper’s Penguins), Academy Award® nominated Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Souleyman Sy Savane (“Damages”).

 

Killer Elite

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 99

Language: English

Director: Gary McKendry

Plot: Based on a true story, Killer Elite races across the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East in the action-packed account of an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen).

 

Dolphin Tale

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Genre: Family

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 107

Language: English

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Plot: “Dolphin Tale” is inspired by the remarkable true story of a courageous dolphin named Winter and the compassionate people who banded together to save her life.

 

Abduction

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Genre: Thriller

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 149

Language: English

Director: John Singleton

Plot: Taylor Lautner stars as a young man unwittingly thrust into a deadly world of covert espionage in Lionsgate’s action-thriller, ABDUCTION, directed by John Singleton.

For as long as he can remember, Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) has had the uneasy feeling that he’s living someone else’s life. When he stumbles upon an image of himself as a little boy on a missing persons website, all of Nathan’s darkest fears come true: he realizes his parents are not his own and his life is a lie, carefully fabricated to hide something more mysterious and dangerous than he could have ever imagined.

Just as he begins to piece together his true identity, Nathan is targeted by a team of trained killers, forcing him on the run with the only person he can trust, his neighbor, Karen (Lily Collins). Every second counts as Nathan and Karen race to evade an army of assassins and federal operatives. But as his opponents close in, Nathan realizes that the only way he’ll survive – and solve the mystery of his elusive biological father – is to stop running and take matters into his own hands.

 

Pearl Jam Twenty

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 155

Language:

Director: Cameron Crowe

Plot: Pearl Jam Twenty chronicles the years leading up to the band’s formation, the chaos that ensued soon-after their rise to megastardom, their step back from center stage, and the creation of a trusted circle that would surround them-giving way to a work culture that would sustain them. Told in big themes and bold colors with blistering sound, the film is carved from over 1,200 hours of rarely-seen and never-before seen footage spanning the band’s career. Pearl Jam Twenty is the definitive portrait of Pearl Jam: part concert film, part intimate insider-hang, part testimonial to the power of music and uncompromising artists.

 

The Legend is Born: Ip Man

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 73

Language: Cantonese

Director: Herman Yau

Plot: A poignant tale of what it means to forge your own path, The Legend Is Born-Ip Man is a semi-biographical account of events in the early life of Wing Chun master and mentor to Bruce Lee-Ip Man. As a child, Ip Man learns the art of Wing Chun from master Chan Wah-shun, along with his adopted brother, Ip Tin-chi and childhood friend Lee Mei-wai. After Chan’s death, Ip Man continues to learn Wing
Chun from his senior, Ng Chung-sok, before leaving home to study in Hong Kong.

Along the way, Ip Man deals with issues of racism and studies under master Leung Bik to develop a new and improved style of Wing Chun. When Ip Man returns to his home town years later to reunite with his peers, new
challenges arise as Ip Man’s old master sees that Ip Man has developed a new style of Wing Chun which differs from the orthodox style. Things get further complicated when Ip Man falls in love with Cheung Wing-shing, the daughter of the vice-mayor of Foshan, leaving Lee Mei-wai, his childhood friend, to struggle with her feelings for Ip Man and accept Tin-chi’s marriage proposal. When Ip Man is arrested as the prime suspect in the murder of Lee Mei-wai’s godfather, what follows is a suspenseful climax of intrigue and betrayal.

 

3

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Drama

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 110

Language: Spanish

Director: Tom Tykwer

Plot: From the director of Run, Lola, Run and The International comes a sexy romantic drama with a nod to classic Hollywood’s screwball comedies. Hanna and Simon, a couple in their early forties, live together in Berlin. With their 20th anniversary looming, they both become restless despite being truly and deeply in love. Unbeknownst to one another, they become acquainted with Adam, a younger man.. Clearly not your typical 1930’s romp, this reinvention of those classic films with Tykwer’s sleek direction is a playful update: an intellectual study of a modern couple looking for redefinition in a world of absolutes.

 

Drive

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 152

Language: English

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Plot: Breakout Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (THE PUSHER Trilogy, BRONSON, VALHALLA RISING) throttles into the Hollywood fast lane with the precision-crafted action caper DRIVE.

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

 

I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 149

Language: English

Director: Douglas McGrath

Plot: Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn, and Christina Hendricks star in I Don’t Know How She Does It, a comedy from director Douglas McGrath (Emma, Infamous) and producer Donna Gigliotti (The Reader, Let Me In). Based on the critically acclaimed bestseller by Allison Pearson, I Don’t Know How She Does It follows a Boston-based working mother trying desperately to juggle marriage, children, and a high-stress job.

Kate Reddy (Parker) devotes her days to her job with a Boston-based financial management firm. At night she goes home to her adoring, recently-downsized architect husband Richard (Kinnear) and their two young children. It’s a non-stop balancing act, the same one that Kate’s acerbic best friend and fellow working mother Allison (Christina Hendricks) performs on a daily basis, and that Kate’s super-brainy, child-phobic young junior associate Momo (Olivia Munn) fully intends to avoid. When Kate gets handed a major new account that will require frequent trips to New York, Richard also wins the new job he’s been hoping for-and both will be spreading themselves even thinner. Complicating matters is Kate’s charming new business associate Jack Abelhammer (Brosnan), who begins to prove an unexpected source of temptation.

 

Stay Cool

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 170

Language:

Director: Ted Smith

Plot: STAY COOL is a raucous and romantic comedy about one man’s return home for the commencement speech of a lifetime.

Henry McCarthy (MARK POLISH), the 30-something author of the popular 80s-themed novel How Lionel Got Me Laid, returns to his suburban hometown of Sacramento to deliver the commencement speech at his former high school. Despite his success as an author Henry’s return home has sparked all of the youthful dreams, desires and particularly disappointments he’s never quite gotten over, specifically his unrequited affection for the girl who is now the local pharmacist: the elusive Scarlet Smith (WINONA RYDER).

Between run-ins with the outcast friends he left behind Big Girl (SEAN ASTIN) and Wino (JOSH HOLLOWAY), the school principal (CHEVY CHASE) and a seductive senior, Shasta O’Neil (HILARY DUFF) who clearly has the hots for him, Henry is sent spinning through a time warp that incites all the old emotions and challenges of the world he grew up in. Teetering between unsettling memories of his teenage past and his all too uncertain adult future, Henry can only hope to “Stay Cool” and make it, once again, to graduation day.

 

Muran

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Thriller

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 149

Language:

Director: Rajan Madhav

Plot: After finishing a successful meeting with his movie producers in Bangalore, Nanda, a jingles composer catches the highway to Chennai. On his way his car breaks down and he hitchhikes with Arjun, a businessman’s son on his way to the same destination. During their journey together they discuss their personal lives till Arjun proposes a deal; a deal that is marked with murder but promises to better their personal lives. However this deal does not work in Nanda’s favor and he soon finds himself in deeper complications.

 

Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 147

Language:

Director: Harry Hunkele

Plot: Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace is the true story of the men who brought lasting Peace to the Middle East. For the first time ever, the filmmakers take the audience behind the public veil obscured by a first of its kind White House issued media blackout on the events. Behind the press conferences and into the smoke-filled backroom corridors of power during one of the world’s greatest historical moments – the 1979 Camp David Peace Accord and Treaty between Egypt and Israel. For one brief moment in time, Arab and Jew put their differences aside and embraced peace. Menachem Begin, Anwar El-Sadat, and Jimmy Carter – were the strategic geniuses that crafted the peace, but it was the men behind-the-scenes, some driven by deeply held faith and conviction, others merely by raw ambition, who found a way to get them together and drive the peace process. It is a tale of secret missions, internal power struggles and diplomatic brinkmanship by a cast of characters never before revealed – until now.

 

Happy, Happy

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 124

Language:

Director: Anne Sewitsky

Plot: Family is the most important thing in the world to Kaja. She is an eternal optimist in spite of living with a man who would rather go hunting with the boys and isn’t interested in having sex with her anymore because she “isn’t particularly attractive.” Whatever. That’s life.

But when “the perfect couple” moves in next door, Kaja struggles to keep her emotions in check. Not only do these successful, beautiful, exciting people sing in a choir, they have also adopted a child – from Ethiopia! These new neighbors open a whole new world to Kaja, with consequences for everyone involved. And when Christmas comes around, it becomes evident that nothing will ever be like before – even if Kaja tries her very best.

 

The WHALE

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 150

Language: English

Director: Michael Parfit

Plot: Set on the rugged western coast of Vancouver Island, THE WHALE describes what happens when Luna, a baby orca, gets separated from his family and unexpectedly starts making contact with people along a scenic fjord called Nootka Sound. Because orcas are highly social creatures who spend their lives traveling with their pods, Luna attempts to find a surrogate family among the area residents, much to their delight. But as word spreads about Luna, people become torn between their love for the lonely young whale and fears that human contact might harm him.

Luna’s saga is seen through the eyes of the colorful characters who live and work along the Sound and who fall in love with the whale — including a cook on an old freighter, a fisheries officer conflicted by what he thinks Luna needs and what he is told to do, a grandmother who is arrested for petting Luna, and a Native American elder whose tribe believes Luna is the reincarnation of a chief.

The film also describes how Parfit and Chisholm themselves, who first went to Nootka Sound on assignment for Smithsonian, grow so concerned about Luna’s fate that they get involved in trying to help him, crossing the traditional line between journalist and subject and becoming characters in the very story they are telling. Their efforts to find ways to safely give Luna the attention he seems so determined to get are a major part of the film’s climax.

 

Johnny English Reborn

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Comedy

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 125

Language: English

Director: Oliver Parker

Plot: Rowan Atkinson returns to the role of the improbable secret agent who doesn’t know fear or danger in the comedy spy-thriller Johnny English Reborn. In his latest adventure, the most unlikely intelligence officer in Her Majesty’s Secret Service must stop a group of international assassins before they eliminate a world leader and cause global chaos.

In the years since MI-7’s top spy vanished off the grid, he has been honing his unique skills in a remote region of Asia. But when his agency superiors learn of an attempt against the Chinese premier’s life, they must hunt down the highly unorthodox agent. Now that the world needs him once again, Johnny English is back in action.

With one shot at redemption, he must employ the latest in hi-tech gadgets to unravel a web of conspiracy that runs throughout the KGB, CIA and even MI-7. With mere days until a heads of state conference, one man must use every trick in his playbook to protect us all. For Johnny English, disaster may be an option, but failure never is.

 

JANE’S JOURNEY

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 88

Language: English

Director: Lorenz Knauer

Plot: Jane’s Journey movie trailer – starring Jane Goodall, Angelina Jolie, Kofi Annan. Directed by Lorenz Knauer. Theatrical Release Date: 9/16/2011
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated

 

Straw Dogs

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Genre: Thriller

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 151

Language: English

Director: Rod Lurie

Plot: Straw Dogs movie trailer – starring Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd, James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Dominic Purcell, Laz Alonso, James Woods. Directed by Rod Lurie. Theatrical Release Date: 9/16/2011
Genre: Thriller
Rating: Pending

 

The Treasure Hunter

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 126

Language:

Director: Kevin Chu

Plot: In the boundless desert, countless prosperous dynasties have begun and evolved innumerable cultural legends. For centuries countless dynasties raised up and fell off, the only thing hasn’t changed is this desert.

Numerous treasures sleep silently beneath this desert. However, for the group of mysterious guardians, there’s none can walk in and open the door to treasures. The guardians are capable of everything and ward the desert for generations to defend the fortune that belongs to none.
Their leader is Desert Eagle, born with extraordinary oriental martial art. In this desert that power says everything, Desert Eagle is the victor and his rival had to leave. No one remember the name of the failure. Nevertheless, a fierce rivalry is happening to the quiet desert for an ancient city
treasure map recording the treasures that has been missing for thousand years. The map has caused people to scramble for it.

Ciao Fei has been conducting ancient relics protection and primarily fighting against tomb robbery and ancient relics smugglers. Boss Tu’s only daughter, Lan Ting, was kidnapped by another group of treasure hunters, and they threaten Ciao Fei to hand over the map. After a thrilling violent battle, Ciao Fei saved Lan Ting but the map was taken away. Simply intending to accomplish the mission,
Chio Fei did not anticipate the company of three, Lan Ting, Chop, and the archeologist, Hua Dingbang.

Hua Dingbang used to be a star in archeology. He was bent on hunting treasure that led to his family break-up. Hua Dingbang was brought down by it and became an alcoholic. Now, he again steps on the treasure hunting journey for a reason none knows so far.

Lan Ting insists to stay for seeking an answer, regardless of future uncertainty and danger. She wants to know what kind of charm made her father spend a lifetime in this desert. This is the only way she can get to know her deceased father. Ciao Fei has a question to be answered urgently. The desert has become a chaos for the missing guardian, Damo Eagle. His strong connection to the guardians and self-awareness drove him to unravel the mystery of missing Eagle and bring peace and beauty back to the desert.
The four encounter unpredictable dangers from the desert, cruel killing interference and arguments and conflicts among each other along the way. But they end up with a strong brotherhood in the relentless desert.

Finally, after getting through difficulties, the ancient city in legend has appeared. Missing Eagle comes to resume and end the unfinished battle years ago. Ciao Fei faced the battle he has been avoided and eventually untied the knot that constrained him and his good friend, Desert Eagle.
More and more traps and challenges come up to these people since they have walked into the imperial tomb. Their lives are tied together, but who is the friend in such a critical moment? What buried is treasure or unrevealed secrets.

 

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

Genre: Documentary

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 169

Language:

Director: Pamela Yates

Plot: Sometimes a film makes history; it doesn’t just document it. So it is with “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator”, the astonishing new film by Pamela Yates. Part political thriller, part memoir, Yates transports us back in time through a riveting, haunting tale of genocide and returns to the present with a cast of characters joined by destiny and the quest to bring a malevolent dictator to justice.

In 1982 Yates risked her life making the documentary “When the Mountains Tremble” in Guatemala, in order to bring the hidden story of the massacre of the Mayan people to the attention of the world. She filmed combat missions with both guerrillas and the army, and survived a troop transport helicopter crash to tell the tale. The film didn’t stop the killings, but destiny gave Yates another chance. Her old film and its 16mm out-takes may be the only footage of the Guatemalan genocide, so lawyers building the case against former dictator General Ríos Montt recently asked Yates for her footage as evidence to help convict him.

Now, as if a watchful Maya god were weaving back together threads of a story unraveled by the passage of time, forgotten by most, our characters become integral to the overarching narrative of wrongs done and justice sought that they have pieced together, each adding their granito, their tiny grain of sand, to the epic tale.

 

Creature

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Genre: Horror

Release Year: 2011

Runtime: 124

Language:

Director: Fred M. Andrews

Plot: An ex-Navy seal, Niles (Mehcad Brooks, True Blood), his girlfriend Emily (Serinda Swan, Tron) and their friends head out on a road trip to New Orleans. When the group decides to stop at a roadside convenience store owned by Chopper (Sid Haig, Devils Rejects) they are introduced to the legend of Lockjaw, a Creature who is part man, part alligatorThe Legend has it that an inbred local man by the name of Grimley (Daniel Bernhardt, The Matrix: Reloaded), lost his family to a monstrous white alligator, and because of the devastating loss of his family was driven to madness and was transformed into the Creature. Their curiosity peaked, the group decides to head deeper into the swamps to check out the birthplace of this Creature legend. As they journey further into the backwoods the group arrives at an old dilapidated cabin and decide to camp there for the night and inadvertently unleash the Creature who terrorizes the group.

When the group decides to stop at a roadside tourist trap along the Louisiana back-roads, they are introduced to the legend of Lockjaw, the local’s version of bigfoot, a Creature who is part man, part alligator…The Legend has it that an inbred local man by the name of Grimley, lost his family to a monstrous white alligator and was driven to madness when he realized that he was too late to save his pregnant bride, who was also his ssters, and in his madness ate the ancient alligator and was transformed into the Creature that the locals call Lockjaw.