Monthly Archives: July 2015

A History of Violence (2005) David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris

A History of Violence (2005)
This is the story of a mild-mannered man, named Tom Stall, who becomes a local hero through an act of violence, he lives a happy and quiet life with his lawyer wife and their two children in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana. But one night their idyllic existence is shattered when Tom foils a vicious attempted robbery in his diner. Sensing danger, he takes action and saves his customers and friends in the self-defense killings of two-sought-after criminals. Heralded as a hero, Tom’s life is changed overnight, attracting a national media circus, which forces him into the spotlight. Uncomfortable with his newfound celebrity, Tom tries to return to the normalcy of his ordinary life only to be confronted by a mysterious and threatening man who arrives in town believing Tom is the man who wronged him in the past. As Tom and his family fight back against this case of mistaken identity and struggle to cope with their changed reality, they are forced to confront their relationships and the…
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The Man I Love (1947) Raoul Walsh, Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Andrea King

The Man I Love (1947)
Visiting her two sisters and brother, singer Petey Brown lands a job at small-time-hood Nicky Toresca’s nightclub. While evading the sleazy Toresca’s heavy-handed passes at her, she falls in love with down-and-out ex-jazz pianist Sand Thomas, who has never quite recovered from an old divorce. While solving the problems of her sisters, brother and their next-door neighbor, the no-nonsense Petey must wait as Sand decides whether to start a new life with her or sign on with a merchant steamer.
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Wrong Way (1972) Ray Williams, Laurel Canyon, Candy Sweet, Forrest Lorne

Wrong Way 1972
Two girls are driving home when their car breaks down in the country. They are kidnapped by a gang of drug-crazed hippies, and repeatedly raped. They escape, but soon run into a death cult who plan to gang-rape the girls, then kill them. Meanwhile, the father of one of the girls gets the police to begin an investigation into their disappearance.
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Other Men’s Women (1931) William A. Wellman, Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey

Other Men's Women (1931)
Railroad fireman Bill White is a carefree ladies’ man with an irresponsible streak. His buddy Jack Kulper, an engineer, is more solid and reliable. Bill comes to stay a while with Jack and his wife Lily. Bill and Lily fall in love, but not wishing to hurt Jack, Bill leaves without explanation. When Jack confronts Bill about his suspicions, the two fight and Jack is seriously injured. Bill is consumed with guilt and tries to make good, but Jack has his own ideas about that.
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La vita ricomincia / Life Begins Anew (1945) Mario Mattoli, Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti, Eduardo De Filippo

La vita ricomincia (1945)
When former POW, Paolo, returns from India to his middle-class home in Rome at the end of the war, he is relieved to find his wife, Patrizia, and young son alive, managing to get by thanks to Patrizia’s business in lampshades. They also enjoy the moral support of the jovial, elderly Neapolitan widower, who is their new neighbour, Il professore. However disaster strikes when Patrizia commits a murder – her response to a mysterious man’s attempt to blackmail her to have sex with him. Paolo discovers that during his absence, in the face of their son’s desperate need for a life-saving operation, Patrizia prostituted herself once to the murdered man to raise the funds, a sequence revealed through a flashback sequence…
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Bes vakit / Times and Winds (2006) Reha Erdem, Ozen Ozkan, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan

Bes vakit (2006)
A small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, facing the immense sea, flanked by olive yards. Villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living, on a daily survival basis, out of the earth and of a few animals they feed. Just like the animals and trees around them, they have the knowledge of their temporary existence, hence a sober resignation prevails. They live according to the rhythm of the earth, air and water, day and night and seasons. The daily time is divided into five parts by the sound of the call to prayer. Every day, all human events are lived through within these five time slices. In child raising, grownups go on with the practice they have experienced by their parents. They expose their love awkwardly and consider beating a favorable method. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, Yakup and Yildiz, three children of about 12,13 years old, just between …
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Le milieu du monde / The Middle of the World (1974) Alain Tanner, Olimpia Carlisi, Philippe Léotard, Juliet Berto

Le milieu du monde (1974)
Paul is married, a successful engineer, and a conservative candidate in an upcoming local election. He falls in love with Adriana, a café waitress from Italy. Paul’s party is very critical of foreign labour and wants to keep Switzerland to the Swiss. Where Paul falls deeper and deeper into the relationship and is ready to leave his wife, Adriana feels the social pressure growing and has to make her own decision.
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Le trio infernal / The Infernal Trio (1974) Francis Girod, Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, Mascha Gonska

Le trio infernal (1974)
Marseilles, 1919. Georges Sarret is a distinguished and respected lawyer, recently honoured for his services in the First World War. He takes as his lover Philomène Schmidt, a young German woman, who has just lost her job and home. To enable Philomène to remain in France, Georges finds her a husband – who dies conveniently of natural causes a month after the wedding. Georges repeats the trick with Philomène’s sister, Catherine – marrying her off to an old man who dies suddenly so that the scheming trio can profit from his life insurance. When an accomplice in the scheme, Marcel Chambon, threatens to blackmail them, Georges and his two lovers have no option but to kill him and his mistress. Having dissolved the bodies in sulphuric acid, Georges hires another man to pose as Chambon so that he can secure his assets. Flush with the success of this venture, Georges proposes his most ambitious scam: he will insure Catherine’s life with five separate insurance companies; a young orphan woman who is dying from tuberculosis will provide Catherine’s death certificate when the moment comes. Unfortunately, the scheme does not go quite as planned…
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Sous les toits de Paris / Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) René Clair, Albert Préjean, Pola Illéry, Edmond T. Gréville

Sous les toits de Paris (1930)
While singing in a lower class quarter in Paris, the street singer Albert falls in love with the Romanian party girl Pola, who is the companion of the gangster Fred. One night, Albert meets with Pola, who has just found that Fred had stolen her key, and his friend Louis proposes to toss to date her. However, Albert brings her to his room and they spend the night together, with Albert sleeping on the floor and Pola on his bed. Early in the morning, the pickpocket Émile brings a bag with stolen pieces and asks Albert to keep the bag for him. When the police busts Albert’s room and finds the stolen goods, he is arrested and sent to jail. Meanwhile Fred travels and Pola seeks comfort with Louis, and they stay together. When Émile is arrested by the police, he confesses that Albert is innocent and he is released and seeks out Pola. Meanwhile Fred returns to Paris and also seeks out Pola that is with Louis.
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As Young as You Feel (1951) Harmon Jones, Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, David Wayne

As Young as You Feel (1951)
When a gentleman (Monty Woolley) is forced to retire at age 65, he’ll do just about anything to beat the system. Dying his hair black, he poses as the president of his former employer’s holding company. Suddenly free to air his views on everything from company policy to national economics, comic craziness ensues when he meets not only the firm’s top executives, but someone equally impressive – a beautiful secretary, played by Marilyn Monroe, in one of her first and funniest roles.
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