A lonely, mentally unbalanced woman invents a fictitious daughter and has the “daughter” write to a Marine stationed in the South Pacific. Read More »
Monthly Archives: March 2016
The Man from Tumbleweeds (1940) Joseph H. Lewis, Bill Elliott, Iris Meredith, Dub Taylor, Western
In the third of his four Wild Bill Saunders Westerns, Bill Elliott, “the Peaceable Man,” is assigned by Governor Dawson (Don Beddoe) to put a stop to the reign of terror, including cold-blooded murder, perpetrated by Powder Kilgore (Raphael Bennett). When the state legislature refuses to fund a legitimate rangers organization, Wild Bill instead enlists a group of tough convicts, whom he promises freedom if they help capture Kilgore and his chief lieutenant, Lightning Barlow (Francis Walker). Unfortunately, one of the convicts, Shifty (Ernie Adams), lives up to his name by betraying his comrades in arms to Kilgore but after a furious gun battle at the gang’s shootout, Wild Bill manages to bring peace to the area. Nevertheless, when asked to captain the newly founded rangers organization, the hero instead promotes his new friend, former convict Honest John (Al Hill), and heads off to new adventures.
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Pillow Talk (1959) Michael Gordon, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Comedy, Romance
In New York, the interior decorator Jan Morrow and the wolf composer Brad Allen share a party line, but Brad keeps it busy most of the time flirting with his girlfriends. They do not know each other but Jan hates Brads since she needs the telephone for her business and can not use it. Coincidently Jan’s wealthy client Jonathan Forbes that woos her is the best friend of Brad and he comments with him that he feels an unrequited love for Jan, who is a gorgeous woman. When Brad meets Jan by chance in a restaurant, he poses as a naive tourist from Texas named Rex Stetson and seduces her. But Jonathan hires a private eye to find who Rex Stetson is.
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Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) Roy Del Ruth, Karl Malden, Claude Dauphin, Patricia Medina, Crime, Horror, Mystery
After several women are murdered, the police are baffled who the suspect is. All evidence points to Dupin, but soon it becomes apparent that it is something that is stronger and more deadlier than man.
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Otôto / About Her Brother (2010) Yôji Yamada, Ryô Kase, Yû Aoi, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Drama
Ginko’s younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.
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Gentlemen Are Born (1934) Alfred E. Green, Franchot Tone, Jean Muir, Margaret Lindsay, Drama, Music, Romance
A well-cloistered and protected-against-reality group of college students get their diplomas in the heart of the Great Depression, and quickly learn that the piece of paper the diploma is written on is worth about eighteen-dollars-a-week in the job-market…for the lucky ones. Some of them fare even worse.
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Scuola elementare (1954) Alberto Lattuada, Riccardo Billi, Mario Riva, Lise Bourdin, Comedy
A primary school teacher Lazio, after years of teaching at the village, he won a competition in Milan. In the school which is intended meets an old childhood friend who does the janitor and temporarily hosting it at home. In school the teacher also meets a young colleague of which falls in love …
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The Thing Called Love (1993) Peter Bogdanovich, River Phoenix, Samantha Mathis, Dermot Mulroney, Drama, Music, Romance
Miranda Presley moves from New York to Nashville to become a song writer. At an unsuccessful audition she meets James Wright a promising newcomer. After only a few days they marry, head over heels, but start to regret it very soon.
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You Can Count on Me (2000) Kenneth Lonergan, Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Mark Ruffalo, Drama
Adult siblings Sammy Prescott and Terry Prescott have had a special bond with each other since they were kids when their parents were tragically killed in a car accident. That bond is why single mom Sammy, who still lives in the family home in Scottsville, upstate New York with her eight year old son Rudy, is excited to hear that Terry, who she has not seen or heard from in a while, is coming home for a visit. That excitement is dampened slightly upon Terry’s arrival, when she learns that he, broke, is only there to borrow money. As adults, Sammy, who works as a lending officer in the local bank, is seen as the responsible sibling, while unfocused Terry is seen as the irresponsible drifter. Regardless, Sammy welcomes what ends up being Terry’s longer than planned visit if only so that he can help take care of Rudy, who has no adult male figure in his life. Rudy has never known his deadbeat biological father, with whom Sammy wants nothing to do. As Terry – acting as the supposed adult …
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The Stand at Apache River (1953) Lee Sholem, Stephen McNally, Julie Adams, Hugh Marlowe, Western
Sheriff Lane Dakota captures robbery-murder suspect Greiner just as the latter is wounded in an Apache ambush. At remote outpost Apache River, Lane and his prisoner spend the night with other travelers, including 2 women with a surprising number of fancy dresses. In the morning, who should appear but a band of ostensibly peaceful Apaches strayed from the reservation. And bigoted Colonel Morsby is strongly inclined to shoot first and ask questions afterward…
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Abril Despedaçado / Behind the Sun (2001) Walter Salles, José Dumont, Rodrigo Santoro, Rita Assemany, Drama
The Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the 20 years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son’s death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That’s when a tiny traveling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho’s family lives.
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Artemisia (1997) Agnès Merlet, Valentina Cervi, Michel Serrault, Predrag Manojlovic, Biography, Drama, Romance
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi. Her professional curiosity about the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612 she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him, but was put in the thumb screws…
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Aki tachinu / Autumn Has Already Started (1960) Mikio Naruse, Nobuko Otowa, Jun Fujimaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Drama
Single mum (father of child dead) from the country with 6th grade boy comes to Tokyo, leaves the boy to live with his uncle’s family – wife, male, female teens, run a struggling greengrocer – and lives/ works in local inn. He gets bullied/ fights with local boys, goes to the baths, plays basketball, is befriended by his male cousin and becomes friendly with grade 4 girl who’s the daughter of the innkeeper, who employs his mum and is the longterm mistress of a businessman from another town, who’s the girl’s father and who brings her half sister and brother to meet her but they’re mean to her. Meanwhile the boy’s mother gets friendly with one of the inn’s clients and chucks her job for a trip or something more permanent with him. The young girl takes him shopping, and wants the boy to live with her and her mother, but mother and father refuse so the two kids go to a seaside where he sprains his ankle and they’re late back even though the police get them and they’re in trouble. The boy loses his beetle and tries to get another for the girl for a school project but when he does, she’s moved house with her mother at the urging of her father.
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En soap / A Soap (2006) Pernille Fischer Christensen, Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik, Frank Thiel, Comedy, Drama
32 year old Charlotte (Trine Dyrholm) could have it all, but she doesn’t want it. After moving out of her boyfriend’s apartment, she becomes the upstairs neighbor of Veronica (David Dencik), who is in the process of transitioning from male to female.
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Filantropica / Philanthropy (2002) Nae Caranfil, Mircea Diaconu, Gheorghe Dinica, Mara Nicolescu, Comedy, Drama
Ovidiu, a high-school teacher looking for an extra buck, finds an unexpected way to earn easy money.
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