Daily Archives: September 5, 2016

Above and Beyond (1952) Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, James Whitmore, Action, Biography, Drama

Above and Beyond (1952)
The story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it is capable of doing tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be enormous. He is reluctant to be the person who will end so many lives, but if using it may bring an end to the war, then not doing so may result in even more lives being lost in continued ground assaults as the fighting goes on. At the same time, the intense secrecy surrounding this mission leaves him with no one he can express his thoughts and doubts to, not even his wife. As time goes on, the pressure upon him only increase.
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Fados (2007) Carlos Saura, Chico Buarque, Camané, Carlos do Carmo, Art-house, Documentary, Musical

Fados (2007)
After Flamenco (1995) and Tango (1998) – nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in 2005 Carlos Saura completes his trilogy on modern urban song with Fados. After over two years of research into the subject, Carlos Saura takes an enormous step forward in his approximation to music. If, in his earlier musicals, Iberia, Flamenco, Tango…, he based his work on dancing, in Fados he makes a special effort with the plot and image to reflect the birth of a suburban, dockland music which is in itself a synthesis of all of the music born towards the end of the 19th century.
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Across the Heart / Aar-Paar (1954) Guru Dutt, Shyama, Jagdish Sethi, Musical, Romance, Thriller

Across the Heart (1954)
Kalu is a taxi-driver in Bombay, India. He has two women who love him and would like to marry him. Kalu first wants to establish himself, and become rich, before he can even think of marriage. One of the women who loves him, has a father who is involved in gangster-type activities, and would like Kalu also to join him so that he can get rich soon. Kalu has now to decide to become rich quick or sleep better.
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The Crazy Family / Gyakufunsha kazoku (1984) Gakuryû Ishii, Katsuya Kobayashi, Mitsuko Baishô, Yoshiki Arizono, Comedy, Drama

Gyakufunsha kazoku AKA The Crazy Family (1984)
The Kobayashi family finally get the chance to move out of their tiny, cramped Tokyo apartment in favour of the suburban house of their dreams. But all is not well: the house is infested by termites and the family starts cracking up: Son Masaki is studying so obsessively for his exams that he’s losing his mind; daughter Erika is oblivious of all but her forthcoming record company audition, grandfather Yasukuni starts getting World War II flashbacks and father Katsuhiko is so worried about his family’s “sickness” that he thinks can only be cured by group suicide…
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L’aventurier / The Adventurer (1934) Marcel L’Herbier, Victor Francen, Blanche Montel, Henri Rollan, Drama

L'aventurier AKA The Adventurer (1934)
Étienne Ranson is the black sheep of his family. Having made his fortune in Tunisia, he returns to France and receives a cool reception from his uncle, Achille Guéroy, the owner of a glove factory in Grenoble. Guéroy is astounded when his nephew returns the money he had lent him and immediately looks at Étienne in a new light when it becomes apparent that he is now a very wealthy man. However, when Ranson is arrested for his involvement in a bloody riot in Tunisia, the family is quick to disown him again. When the charges against him are dropped, Ranson returns to Grenoble and intervenes to end a strike at the factory. Ranson then learns that his cousin Jacques has lost the company’s entire cash reserves through high-risk speculation. Aware that the Guéroys face ruin and dishonour, Ranson agrees to bail them out, on one condition: that he can marry his adopted cousin Geneviève. But she is already engaged to another man…
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The Land That Time Forgot (1974) Kevin Connor, Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon, Adventure, Fantasy

The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) is among a small group of survivors taken in by a German submarine after the vessel has sunk their ship. When a struggle ensues between the German officers and their captives, the U-boat, which is running out of fuel, ends up coming across an uncharted island. Unfortunately for the passengers and crew, dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures roam the land, and everyone must fight to survive the perils of the lost island.
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The Best of Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures (1975) James Algar, Winston Hibler, Documentary, Family

The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1975)
The film opens with a salute to Walt Disney, a pioneer of nature films and animal lover, followed by a compilation of excerpted segments from the True-Life Adventures film series showcasing animals of all kinds depicted in dramatic, fascinating moments of habitats from the American prairie to the North American desert, to Africa, the Amazon jungle and to the Arctic.
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Monkey Shines (1988) George A. Romero, Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

Monkey Shines (1988)
When Allan becomes a quadriplegic he loses all hope for living until he meets Ella – a monkey trained to fetch and carry for him around the house, obeying him in all things. But Ella is part of another experiment, and when she starts responding to Allan’s underlying rage and frustration she has the ability to carry out her master’s darkest wishes.
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