Tabs

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Confessions (2010)


Yuko Moriguchi is a teacher who spends her days looking after a class of frequently unruly seventh graders. One day, Yuko calmly announces to her class that she's leaving her job soon as she's still struggling with the recent death of her young daughter. She adds that she knows who was responsible for the child's drowning, they happen to be among the students in her class -- and that the milk they're drinking may just be infected with a deadly disease. Though a series of flashbacks, we become witnesses to Yuko's difficulties with her students, the actions of the nameless students she believes are guilty of murder -- one of whom is planning vengeance against Yuko, while the other sinks deep into paranoia -- and the incidents that suggest the likely innocence and guilt of the parties involved.

Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Writers: Kanae Minato (novel) and Tetsuya Nakashima (screenplay)
Stars: Takako Matsu, Yoshino Kimura and Masaki Okada
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1590089/

Friday, March 30, 2012

Dante's Inferno (2007)


Upon awakening in an unfamiliar part of the city after an especially rough night, Dante asks the first person he spots for a little help in gathering his bearings. When the man responds that he penned an ancient poem called The Aeneid, the perplexed Dante recalls that particular piece of prose being penned two thousand years ago. But with no one left to turn to, Dante has little choice but to follow his enigmatic guide. When the man reveals that it is his duty to lead Dante on an extensive journey through a dreadful world of "horror and torment," the weary traveler becomes convinced that his only hope for survival is to follow his host into the scorching heart of Satan's vast inferno.

Director: Sean Meredith
Writers: Paul Zaloom and Sandow Birk
Stars: Tony Abatemarco, Scott Adsit and Matt Besser
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479008/

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Inside (2007)


It's been four months since Sarah was involved in the tragic car accident that claimed the life of her husband, yet somehow the couple's unborn child miraculously survived the jarring ordeal. Now it's Christmas Eve and Sarah is sitting alone in her suburban home, still grieving the loss of her beloved. Soon, Sarah's mother will arrive to drive her daughter to the hospital, where the doctors plan to induce labor. Out of nowhere, Sarah hears a knock at the door; on the other side is a stranger who calmly asks to use Sarah's telephone. Immediately suspicious of the stranger's motivations, Sarah locks the door and quickly calls the police. Upon searching the grounds, the policemen find no trace of an intruder and Sarah cautiously bolts her doors once again. But unbeknownst to the expectant mother, this time she has unwillingly locked herself into a violent struggle for the one thing that matters most to her. Now, as the scissor-wielding psychopath attempts to forcefully claim the new life within Sarah, the jealous maternal battle is about to get bloody.

Directors: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury
Writer: Alexandre Bustillo
Stars: Alysson Paradis, BĂ©atrice Dalle and Nathalie Roussel
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856288/

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mystery Team (2009)


When they were seven years old, "the Mystery Team" were three kids living in the same neighborhood in Oakdale who played at being precocious preteen detectives. With Jason as "the Master of Disguise," Duncan as "the Boy Genius," and Charlie as "the Strongest Kid in Town," they would spend their afternoons getting to the bottom of such crimes as missing tricycles and stolen pies, charging ten cents (or some fruit roll-ups) for their services. However, while their peers have moved on to more mature pastimes now that they're 18 years old, Jason, Duncan, and Charlie are hopeless nerds stuck in preadolescence as they prepare to graduate from high school. Convinced that all they need to do is prove their crime-busting talents to regain the respect of their peers, the Mystery Team step into a new class of detective work when a little girl asks them to find out who killed her parents. The guys are up for the challenge, but it isn't long before dealing with real (and truly dangerous) criminals gets them in hot water.

Director: Dan Eckman
Writers: D.C. Pierson and Donald Glover
Stars: Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson and Dominic Dierkes
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1237838/

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Kill List (2012)


Eight months after a disastrous hit job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, Jay is pressured by his partner Gal, into taking a new assignment. As they descend into the bizarre, disturbing world of the contract, Jay's world begins to unravel once again - his fear and paranoia sending him deeper into the heart of darkness and reeling towards a horrifying point of no return.

Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump
Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Harry Simpson
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788391/

Monday, March 19, 2012

Burning Bright (2010)


In Montgomery County, Kelly Taylor is ready to go to college and takes her autistic brother, Tom, to a specialized institution. However, the bank informs her that she does not have sufficient funds in her account to honor her check. Her stepfather, Johnny Gaveneau, withdrew the money from her account the day before. When Kelly arrives home, Johnny reveals that he used the money to buy a tiger for his 'safari show' project. In addition he has the house reinforced, in order to protect it from hurricanes, so all the windows and external doors are covered with wood. When Kelly awakes, she finds that the starving tiger is inside the house and Tom and she are trapped with the ravenous animal.

Director: Carlos Brooks
Writers: Christine Coyle Johnson and Julie Prendiville Roux
Stars: Briana Evigan, Charlie Tahan and Garret Dillahunt
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244658/

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Creature (2011)


An ex-Navy Seal, his girlfriend and their friends head out on a road trip to New Orleans. The group decides to stop at a roadside convenience store owned by Chopper, who tells them the tale of Lockjaw, a fabled god-like creature who is half-man, half-alligator. The legend has it that an inbred local man by the name of Grimley lost his family to a monstrous white alligator, which then drove him to madness and some believe he was transformed into that very creature that now haunts the depths of the swamps. Their curiosity peaked, the group decides to play along with the local tourist trap and journey deep into the backwoods to find the old dilapidated cabin which is supposed to be the birthplace of the creature. As they set-up camp for the night, their faith is put to the test when Lockjaw turns out to be more than just a myth and they realize the locals are hiding a horrifying secret that jeopardizes them all.

Director: Fred Andrews
Writers: Tracy Morse and Fred Andrews
Stars: Mehcad Brooks, Serinda Swan and Daniel Bernhardt
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1686018/

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Reef (2010)


On the beautiful but dangerous waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, ship delivery man Luke and four friends chart a yacht to its new owner. Along the way, their ship is torn open by sharp rocks and begins to sink, leaving the passengers with a terrifying choice: stay on board with slim hope of rescue, or swim twelve miles to the nearest island through shark-infested waters. When they enter the water, an unstoppable, relentless Great White immediately follows their trail for a white-knuckle chase that will fill the waters with blood!

Director: Andrew Traucki
Writers: Andrew Traucki and James M. Vernon
Stars: Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley and Adrienne Pickering
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320291/

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Sheitan (2006)


It's Christmas Eve, and twentysomethings Bart, Ladj, Thai, and Yasmine are bored and looking for fun. They end up at a rowdy dance club where, after Bart gets into a fight, they meet Eve, a sexy girl who seems to take a liking to the three guys. Eve invites the foursome to come back to her place in the country; the guys are more than game, and Yasmine tags along for the ride. Eve's house is a ramshackle mansion overflowing with broken plastic dolls and looked after by Joseph, a cheerful but subnormal handyman whose pregnant wife spends most of her time upstairs. Before long, some of Eve's friends from town come by, and while the women are sexually accommodating, Yasmine soon gets the feeling something is wrong, and in time the guys reach the same conclusion. Joseph's topics of conversation become downright creepy as he talks in great detail about incest and Satanism with his guests, and Christmas Day devolves into an orgy of violence and perversity.

Director: Kim Chapiron
Writers: Christian Chapiron and Kim Chapiron
Stars: Vincent Cassel, Olivier Barthelemy and Roxane Mesquida
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450843/

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Repeaters (2010)


On a random Wednesday, the residents of a rehab centre in Mission, B.C. are granted a rare one-day-pass to venture back into the world and make amends with those they have wronged. Kyle reaches out to his kid sister, who refuses to speak to him. Sonia decides not to confront her ailing, abusive father in the hospital, only to learn later in the day that he has died. Meanwhile, Weeks is left feeling powerless and quietly enraged after visiting his father in prison. This Wednesday is one that none of the protagonists want to live through again, yet that is exactly what happens when they wake up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Compulsive repetition suits these addicts just fine, and before long they embrace the opportunity to make the daily slate as messy as possible, knowing that it will soon be wiped clean. But after allowing themselves some missteps, Sonia and Kyle realize that their freedom from consequences has set Weeks on a path of sadistic annihilation. With every attempt to contain his violence, Sonia and Kyle go through one hellish day after another, searching for meaning and clarity where none can be found.

Director: Carl Bessai
Writers: Arne Olsen
Stars: Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew and Richard de Klerk
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1580426/

Monday, March 12, 2012

Beyond Re-Animator (2003)


Follows Bride of Re-Animator (1990). Once again tampering with mother nature to disastrous results, Dr. Herbert West continues his research. Currently serving time in a maximum security prison for his previous exploits, West's limited prison-cell experiments are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Howard Phillips, the new prison doctor and the brother of the girl who suffered from West's experiments 13 years earlier. Knowledgeable of West's previous experiments and eager to assist the mad doctor in continuing his studies, the naive Phillips discovers that West's continued studies have revealed a more effective means of bringing back the dead -- the removal of an individual's Neuroplasm, or soul, and the injection of it into a newly reanimated corpse. An electrical phenomenon discharged at the moment of death, with the discovery of the Neuroplasm, West may have finally discovered the missing link to effectively bringing life to death. Or not.

Director: Brian Yuzna
Writers: H.P. Lovecraft (characters) and Miguel Tejada-Flores (story)
Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Jason Barry and Elsa Pataky
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222812/

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Dirty Girl (2011)


Danielle is the dirty girl of Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, circa 1987. When Danielle's misbehavior gets her banished to a remedial class, she is paired on a parenting project with Clarke, an innocent closet-case with no friends. Danielle is determined to get to California to find the father she's never met, and Clarke is desperate to escape being sent to military school by his homophobic dad. Together, the mismatched misfits light out for California, and discover each other and themselves through a funny and serendipitous friendship.

Director: Abe Sylvia
Writer: Abe Sylvia
Stars: Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier and Milla Jovovich
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1107319/

Saturday, March 10, 2012

30 Minutes or Less (2011)


The not so smart Dwayne intends to open a massage parlor with his partner Travis, but he does not have money for the investment. He decides to hire a hit-man to kill his father, The Major, who won a large amount of money in the lottery years ago, but the killer demands $100,000 for the job. Dwayne and Travis kidnap the pizza delivery boy Nick and they dress Nick in a vest with a timer and several bombs. Then Dwayne tells Nick that he has ten hours to rob the money from a bank. Once he does, he would give Nick the code to release the vest. Nick summons his best friend Chet to help him in the heist, but the scheme does not work the way Dwayne has plotted.

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Michael Diliberti
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1622547/

Friday, March 9, 2012

Creation (2009)


What happens when a world-renowned scientist, crushed by the loss of his eldest daughter, formulates a theory in conflict with religious dogma? This is the story of Charles Darwin and his master-work "The Origin of Species". It tells of a global revolution played out the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most dangerous idea in history; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child. As renowned scientist Charles Darwin struggles to accept his young daughter's death, he finds himself torn between his love for his god-fearing wife and his growing belief in a world that is its own perpetual creation. 

Director: Jon Amiel 
Writers: John Collee (screenplay) and Jon Amiel (story) 
Stars: Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly and Ian Kelly 

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Devil's Rock (2012)


Two Kiwi commandos are assigned to the Channel Islands to blow up a giant gun at a beach head fortress. But once inside the foreboding structure they hear unearthly screams and investigate the dark tunnel system to discover the cause. There they find the head of Hitler's occult Gestapo squadron who has been experimenting with incantations from an ancient tome to allow a succubus to cross over from Hell. It's all part of a master plan to win the war on the eve of D-Day.

Director: Paul Campion
Writers: Paul Finch and Paul Campion
Stars: Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland and Gina Varela
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1712578/

Friday, March 2, 2012

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)


Anne and Mary Boleyn are under pressure from their father and uncle to help maintain the family's rich legacy and ensure their further prosperity by winning the affections of none other than the king of England. But life in the royal court is far different than it was in the countryside where these two sisters were raised, and before long their bid to earn the love of the king has transformed two once-happy sisters into bitter rivals. At first, it appears that Mary has triumphed in winning the king's favor by becoming his mistress and bearing him an illegitimate child. Despite her early success, however, Mary has underestimated just how clever and cunning her sibling can truly be. Not only does the relentless Anne manage to edge aside her sister in the eyes of King Henry, but she also succeeds in averting his gaze from his wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, as well. Mary is driven by genuine affection for King Henry, while her sister Anne has only kept up the charade in a desperate bid to become the queen of England. Now, the growing chasm between two sisters is mirrored on a larger scale as England becomes divided more than ever before. As the consequences of their actions threaten to alter the course of an entire nation, these two sisters will ultimately discover that the only place they will find true strength and loyalty is in family, and that no matter what the consequences they will forever be bound by blood.

Director: Justin Chadwick
Writers: Peter Morgan (screenplay) and Philippa Gregory (novel)
Stars: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467200/