Monthly Archives: May 2016

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Comedy, Fantasy, Drama

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The film opens with a montage of protests regarding the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, before cutting to Raoul Duke (Depp) and Dr. Gonzo (Del Toro) speeding down the desert of Nevada. Duke, under the influence of mescaline, complains of hallucinating a swarm of giant bats, before going through the pair’s inventory of psychoactive drugs. Shortly afterward, the duo stop to pick up a young hitchhiker (Tobey Maguire), and explain what they are doing. Duke has been assigned by an unnamed magazine to travel to Las Vegas and cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they have also decided to take advantage of this trip by purchasing countless drugs, and rent a brand new Chevy Impala convertible. The young man soon becomes terrified of the drug-filled antics of the duo, and flees on foot. Trying to reach Vegas before the hitchhiker can go to the police, Gonzo gives Duke a tab of “Sunshine Acid”, then informs him that there is little chance of making it before the drug kicks in. By the time they reach the strip, Duke is in full throes of his trip, and barely makes it through the check-in; all the while hallucinating that the hotel clerk is a moray eel, and that his fellow bar patrons are hideous lizards in the depths of an orgy.
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You’ve Got Mail (1998) Nora Ephron, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Comedy, Drama, Romance

You've Got Mail (1998)
The owner of a large bookstore chain starts putting the owner of a small local bookstore out of business. Meanwhile they have been corresponding over the internet without knowing who either of them are. They can’t stand each other in person but over the internet they are very attracted. He finds out who she is but she doesn’t know. He starts to like her more but she still hates him. He has to fix it.
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Red Angel / Akai tenshi (1966) Yasuzô Masumura, Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yûsuke Kawazu, Drama, Romance, War

Red Angel (1966)
In 1939, Sakura Nishi is a young army nurse who is sent to the field hospitals in China during the Sino-Japanese war. She has to assist the surgeon Dr. Okabe with an incredible number of amputations. In the crowded wards, she gives sympathy to some of the soldiers, including sexually servicing one who has lost both arms and has no hope of returning home. She falls in love with Dr. Okabe, and follows him to the front, even though he is impotent from his morphine addiction.
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The Champ (1931) King Vidor, Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Drama, Family, Sport

The Champ (1931)
Dink Purcell loves his alcoholic father, ex-heavyweight champion Andy “Champ” Purcell, despite his frequent binges, his frequent gambling and their squalid living conditions. And there’s nothing Andy wouldn’t do for Dink. When Andy wins a race horse gambling, he gives it to Dink and they race it at a Tijuana track. There, Dink meets Linda Carleton, a race horse owner herself, and they have an immediate rapport. But Linda’s rich husband sees Andy and realizes Dink is Linda’s son, who she gave up when she and Andy divorced. Andy is bribed $200 to allow Dink to visit with Linda, but refuses to allow Dink to spend six months with the Carletons. When Andy loses the horse gambling and winds up in jail after a drunken tirade, he realizes Dink’s place is with his mother. Dink tearfully goes but sneaks out and returns at his first opportunity, filling a depressed Andy with a desire to make good. So Andy goes into training after his managers arrange a boxing match with the Mexican champion.
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Rejs / A Trip Down the River (1970) Marek Piwowski, Stanislaw Tym, Jolanta Lothe, Wanda Stanislawska-Lothe, Comedy

Rejs AKA The Cruise (1970)
A stowaway (Stanis?aw Tym) sneaks aboard a ship departing on a cruise down the Vistula River. The captain takes him for a Communist Party cultural coordinator and the intruder gladly adapts to his new role, immediately setting to work at manipulating the passengers and crew into silly and vaguely humiliating games. Before long, Tym has got everyone under his thumb and created his own comedic dictatorship.
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Her Alibi (1989) Bruce Beresford, Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova, William Daniels, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Romance

Her Alibi (1989)
A writer of BAD detective novels is in full writers’ block. He pretends to be the alibi of a beautiful woman who was arrested for murder at first thinking her innocent, but as she shows more and more interesting abilities (such as knife throwing) he begins to doubt his first assessment. He is still falling for her, but more and more nervous as time passes, and there are more close calls with death on his part.
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The Letter Writer (2011) Christian Vuissa, Aley Underwood, Bernie Diamond, Pam Eichner, Drama, Family

The Letter Writer (2011)
When Maggy Fuller (Aley Underwood) receives an anonymous letter full of praise and encouragement, she can?t imagine who would say such wonderful things to her. After all, the rebellious teenager is practically invisible to her dad and a disappointment to her mom. Her search for the mysterious letter?s author leads her Sam Worthington (Bernie Diamond), an aging man who tries to change the world using a pen name, a phone book, and one handwritten note at a time. Maggy?s unlikely new friend seems to know her better than anyone and inspires her to become a letter writer, too, but a tragedy tests her faith, forcing her to continue her search for her own purpose in life.
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The Hamiltons (2006) Mitchell Altieri, Cory Knauf, Samuel Child, Joseph McKelheer, Drama, Horror, Thriller

The Hamiltons (2006)
The Hamiltons deal with the sudden death of their parents, then seem to move on. David, the oldest, tries his best to take charge of the family. Twins Wendell and Darlene become more conniving and dark. Francis, the youngest and most sensitive of the group, finds an old video camera that reveals – beneath the veil of normalcy – something is very wrong with the family.
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The Deadly Companions (1961) Sam Peckinpah, Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, Western

The Deadly Companions (1961)
Sam Peckinpah’s first feature as director is this modest Western, taking place in the late 1860s. Yellowleg (Brian Keith), a former sergeant in the Union army, is obsessed with tracking down Turk (Chill Wills), a Rebel army deserter who, during the War Between the States, tried to scalp him as he lay wounded on a battlefield. Yellowleg finds Turk and his sidekick Billy (Steve Cochran) in a cantina and convinces them to help him rob a bank. They journey to Gila City, where the bank is located, and find that another group of bank robbers are also in Gila City to rob the same bank. During a shoot-out with the other bank robbers, Yellowleg accidentally kills the nine-year-old son of dance-hall hostess Kit Tilden (Maureen O’Hara). Remorseful at having caused the death of Kit’s son, Yellowleg forces Turk and Billy to accompany him through Apache territory to bury Kit’s son at the gravesite of her husband in the ghost town of Siringo. When Billy attacks Kit, Yellowleg throws him out of their camp. Then Turk deserts. As Kit and Yellowleg finally reach Siringo, Yellowleg realizes that he is in love with her. But then, Billy and Turk reappear, having robbed the bank in Gila City, leading to a final confrontation between Yellowleg and Turk.
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