Tabs

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Operation: Endgame (2010)


A satirical workplace comedy with a slick action twist, Fouad Mikati's Operation: Endgame explores the violence that erupts when the organization charged with protecting America implodes, and the employees turn their guns on each other instead of their enemies. Somewhere beneath Washington, D.C., an intense rivalry is heating up between two opposing teams of government assassins. The hired killers in the organizations take their names from Tarot cards. The Fool is the latest recruit. Reporting for his first day on the job, The Fool is shocked to find that his boss is dead, and the office is on lockdown. To make matters worse, the building has been rigged with explosives, and it's going to blow soon. Now, in order to get out alive, The Fool will have to root out the killer in his midst, and make a quick escape before his co-workers catch him in their crosshairs.

Director: Fouad Mikati
Writers: Sam Levinson and Brian Watanabe
Stars: Joe Anderson, Rob Corddry and Ellen Barkin
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268987/

The Machinist (2004)


Trevor Reznik is a lathe-operator who suffers from insomnia and hasn't slept in a year. Slowly, he begins to doubt his sanity as increasingly bizarre things start happening at work and at home. Haunted by a deformed co-worker who no one seems to think exists, and an ongoing stream of indecipherable Post-It notes he keeps finding on his fridge, he attempts to investigate what appears to be a mysterious plot against him and, in the process, embroils two women in his madness.

Director: Brad Anderson
Writer: Scott Kosar
Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/

Monday, May 30, 2011

Unknown (2011)


Dr. Martin Harris awakens after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife suddenly doesn't recognize him and another man has assumed his identity. Ignored by disbelieving authorities and hunted by mysterious assassins, he finds himself alone, tired and on the run. Aided by an unlikely ally, Martin plunges headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question his sanity, his identity, and just how far he's willing to go to uncover the truth.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writers: Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell
Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sex Drive (2008)


Ian is a high school senior in suburban Chicago, plagued by being a virgin. Online he's inflated his resume, met Ms. Tasty, and agreed to drive to Knoxville where she promises sex. He steals his homophobic, macho brother's GTO, and, with his two best friends, Lance and Felicia, heads south. Every young woman who meets Lance, including Felicia, is attracted to him, even though he's an uncaring hound. Ian, on the other hand, is a decent guy who wouldn't mind if his friendship with Felicia became a romance. By the time they get to Knoxville, they have encountered a jealous boyfriend, a menacing hitchhiker, jail birds, carjackers, an Amish community, and Ian's better judgment.

Director: Sean Anders
Writers: Sean Anders and John Morris
Stars: Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke and Amanda Crew
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135985/

The Libertine (2004)


In 1660, with the return of Charles II to the English throne, theater, the visual arts, science and sexual intercourse flourish. Thirteen years later, in the middle of political and economical problems, Charles II asks the return of his friend John Wilmot, aka the second Earl of Rochester, from the exile to London. John is a morally corrupt, drunkard and sexually active cynical poet, and the King asks him to prepare a play for the French ambassador to make him pleased. John meets the aspirant actress Elizabeth Barry in the playhouse and decides to make her a great star. He falls in love for her, and she becomes his mistress; during the presentation to the Frenchman, he falls in disgrace in the court. When he was thirty-three years old, he was dying of syphilis associated to alcoholism and he converted to a religious man.

Director: Laurence Dunmore
Writers: Stephen Jeffreys
Stars: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375920/

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)


On Christmas Eve in Finland, Santa Claus is unearthed in an archaeological dig. Soon after, children start disappearing, leading a boy and his father to capture Santa and, with the help of fellow hunters, they look to sell him back to the corporation that sponsored the dig. And then there's Santa's elves, who are determined to free their leader.

Director: Jalmari Helander
Writers: Petri Jokiranta and Sami Parkkinen
Stars: Jorma Tommila, Peeter Jakobi and Onni Tommila
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Orphanage (2007)


Laura, a former orphan, raises her adopted son Simón together with her husband Carlos in an old house and former orphanage where she was raised. While at the orphanage Simón tells Laura that he has five invisible friends which she believes are a product of his active imagination. Laura decides to reopen the orphanage to cater for disabled children and throws a party. During the party Simón tries to persuade Laura to go and take a look at his friends cabin, but she's too busy. Later on she sees a mysterious masked boy and realizes that Simón has also disappeared. Laura feels the presence of other people in the house and months later Laura invites a team of parapsychologists to try to unravel the mystery.

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Writer: Sergio G. Sánchez
Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo and Roger Príncep
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Population 436 (2006)


While traveling to Rockwell Falls in an assignment of the US Census Bureau, the surveyor from Chicago, Steve Kady, has two flat tires nearby the small town. The local Deputy Bobby Caine brings him to the town and the Mayor Grateman lodges him in a farm, where the gorgeous Courtney Lovett lives with her mother. Steve finds that Rockwell Falls, considered by the locals as the most perfect place on Earth, has the same population since 1860 and sooner he discloses the meaning and the dark secret of their creed of solidarity and steadfastness.

Director: Michelle Maxwell MacLaren
Writer: Michael Kingston
Stars: Leigh Enns, Susan Kelso and Fred Durst
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462482/

Feast (2005)


Followed by Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008). In a remote bar, costumers are advised by a newcomer to seal the place since hungry monsters will attack them in a couple of minutes. The man is immediately devoured and the clients organize a strategy to defend the place under siege of deadly creatures.

Director: John Gulager
Writers: Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
Stars: Navi Rawat, Krista Allen and Balthazar Getty
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426459/

Friday, May 20, 2011

Visioneers (2008)


The Jeffers Corporation is a world success, endorsed by the U.S. President, pitching productivity and happy talk. George is a third level employee, supervising three or four others. Around the world, people are exploding as the stress of denying feelings takes its toll. The Jeffers' response: mind control. George and his wife are miserable: he's impotent with occasional fits of infantile pique. She's reading a book on happiness, trying everything. His brother, released from prison, starts a freedom-of-expression movement in George's backyard. Plus there's Charisma, a woman from Level Four who sends him paperwork - with smiley faces. Can George connect?

Director: Jared Drake
Writer: Brandon Drake
Stars: Zach Galifianakis, Judy Greer and Mía Maestro
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833557/