Betty Fisher and Other Stories / Betty Fisher et autres histoires (2001) Claude Miller, Sandrine Kiberlain, Nicole Garcia, Mathilde Seigner, Comedy, Crime, Drama

betty-fisher-and-other-stories-2001
Grieving after the death of her young son Joseph, novelist Betty Fisher enters a dark depression. Hoping to bring her out of it, her mother Margot arranges to kidnap another child, Jose, to replace the son Betty lost. Although she knows it’s wrong, Betty accepts Jose as her new son. Meanwhile, Jose’s mother Carole is looking for her son with the help of her boyfriend Francois and some of his criminal cohorts.
Read More »

Winter in the Blood (2013) Alex Smith, Andrew J. Smith, Chaske Spencer, David Morse, Gary Farmer, Drama

winter-in-the-blood-2013
Virgil First Raise wakes with a shiner and a hangover in a roadside ditch on the stark but beautiful plains of Montana. As he rises to face the day he sees a vision of his father lying dead at his feet. Impossible– his father froze to death in a snowdrift years earlier. Virgil returns home to find that his wife, Agnes, has left him. Worse, she’s taken his electric razor and his beloved rifle. Virgil sets out to find her– beginning a hi-line odyssey of inebriated encounters, sexual skirmishes, and improbable cloak-and-dagger intrigues with the mysterious ‘Airplane Man’.
Read More »

The Divine Lady (1929) Frank Lloyd, Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner, Drama, History, Romance

the-divine-lady-1929
A partly fictionalized account of history begins with the arrival of slatternly Emma Hart, a cook’s daughter, at the home of Charles Greville. Greville takes her as his lover and grooms her until their relationship becomes an inconvenience. Greville then dupes Emma into traveling to Naples to live with his uncle, Lord Hamilton, ambassador to the court at Naples. Realizing that Greville has abandoned her, Emma agrees to marry Lord Hamilton. Soon, however, she meets Admiral Horatio Nelson of the British Navy.
Read More »

Abigail Lesley Is Back in Town (1975) Joseph W. Sarno, Mary Mendum, Jennifer Jordan, Eric Edwards, Drama, Romance, Erotic

abigail-lesley-is-back-in-town-1975
The return of Abigail Lesley brings back some old painful memories for several inhabitants of a small quiet finishing village that’s been hit by economic troubles. Abigail left town years ago after she and Gordon Howe were caught by accident by his wife Priscilla, while having sex. Abigail is a sexually liberated and predatory woman, who knows what she wants and what she wants is revenge, sort of.
Read More »

A Cry in the Night (1956) Frank Tuttle, Edmond O’Brien, Brian Donlevy, Natalie Wood, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A Cry in the Night 1956
Owen Marks, parked at Lovers’ Loop with girlfriend Liz Taggart, surprises a peeping Tom, who knocks him out and kidnaps Liz. The police leap into action when they learn the victim is a cop’s daughter. Kidnapper Harold Loftus, the unhinged product of a smothering mother, makes ineffectual advances toward Liz, who staves him off as the police close in, hindered as much as helped by her overprotective father Capt. Dan Taggart.
Read More »

Violent Virgin / Gewalt! Gewalt: shojo geba-geba (1969) Kôji Wakamatsu, Eri Ashikawa, Toshiyuki Tanigawa, Miki Hayashi, Crime, Horror, Erotic

violent-virgin-1969
Filmed entirely in a desolate field, Violent Virgin opens with two cars travelling along a dusty road. Three men and three women, apparently members of a gang, have a couple bound and blindfolded. After they reach their demonstration, they drag the man and woman, whose names we soon learn are Hoshi and Hanako, out of the cars and dump them on the ground. It seems that Hanako was the boss’s girl, but she eloped with Hoshi. Captured, it seems that they are going to be murdered, but not before they are humiliated by the other gang members.
Read More »

From Beijing With Love / Gwok chaan Ling Ling Chat (1994) Stephen Chow, Anita Yuen, Pauline Chan, Action, Comedy, Thriller

from-beijing-with-love-1994
After a giant dinosaur skull is stolen, the head of the Chinese secret police decides to assign the case to the force’s most incompetent reject: a rural butcher who stands around all day drinking martinis (shaken, not stirred). With a trunkload of insanely useless gadgets and a contact who constantly tries to kill him, the young agent must locate the skull and find out just what is going on here.
Read More »

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012) Mike Malloy, Franco Nero, John Saxon, Henry Silva, Documentary, Action, Crime

eurocrime-the-italian-cop-and-gangster-films-that-ruled-the-70s-2012
A documentary concerning the violent Italian ‘poliziotteschi’ cinematic movement of the 1970s which, at first glance, seem to be rip-offs of American crime films like DIRTY HARRY or THE GODFATHER, but which really address Italian issues like the Sicilian Mafia and red terrorism. Perhaps even more interesting than the films themselves were the rushed methods of production (stars performing their own stunts, stealing shots, no live sound) and the bleed-over between real-life crime and movie crime.
Read More »

L’invitation / The Invitation (1973) Claude Goretta, Jean-Luc Bideau, François Simon, Jean Champion, Comedy

linvitation-1973
After the death of his mother, middle-aged insurance employee inherits her small cottage surrounded by a garden. Selling the cottage which is situated on unexploited ground near the center of a big city makes him a rich man and he buys a big house in the countryside. He takes some time off and decides to throw a big garden party at the house and invite all his colleagues from the office. Aided by alcohol, the guests gradually lose all their inhibitions and reveal personality traits and frustrations that they normally keep hidden.
Read More »

Lady, Let’s Dance (1944) Frank Woodruff, Belita, James Ellison, Walter Catlett, Musical, Romance, War

lady-lets-dance-1944
Lady, Let’s Dance was a 1944 black and white film directed by Frank Woodruff that was nominated for two Oscars. Produced by Monogram Studios, the film is unique as an ice skating musical. Lady, Let’s Dance starred ice skaters Belita, James Ellison, Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch (more commonly known as ‘Frick & Frack’) and Walter Catlett.
Read More »