Layar

The film begins with a credits sequence showing women being assaulted, before moving to The Girl (Bobbi Sue Luther) waking up inside a coffin in a funeral home. The funeral director (Richard Lynch) hears this, and exits the room. The Girl manages to knock the coffin over, and crawls out. She crawls to the exit, only to find it locked, but the door to the adjacent room is open, so she goes in there instead.She picks up the phone and dials 911, where she is unable to report what has happened to her due to amnesia. The operator offers to send a police car to her, but she accidentally pulls the phone off the hook before they can find out where she is. She walks over to the door, but Chrome Skull (Nick Principe) sees her and rushes to the door. He tries to get it open, but fails, and she sits down on the floor. When he goes away, she throws the phone down, and the funeral director returns to let her in. He puts the keys in the door, only for Chrome Skull to appear behind him. The Girl attempts to warn him, but he tells her no one is there, and Chrome Skull kills him. Chrome Skull tries the door, but The Girl pushes it into his head and knocks him out, before running away.

She runs into the street, where she is picked up by Tucker (Kevin Gage), and she tells him she had been locked in a box. He takes her home, where she meets his wife, Cindy (Lena Headey). At first, Cindy is nasty towards her, but after Tucker explains the situation, she calms down, and allows The Girl to take a shower. She tells The Girl that she doesnt have a phone because the phone company cut them off, but her brother Johnny (Jonathon Schaech) will be over in the morning, and he can take her into town.

The Girl goes for a lie down, and gets upset, so Tucker comes in to comfort her. When he has finished, they notice Cindy has disappeared. They go outside to find that Chrome Skull has her. Chrome Skull tries to get Tucker to give The Girl up in exchange for his wife, but he refuses. Tucker tries to attack Chrome Skull, but he stabs Cindy in the head and pins her to the house. The Girl drags Tucker away, but Chrome Skull comes forward. Tucker hits him with his walking stick and he falls down some stairs. Tucker and The Girl get into Tuckers truck and drive away.

Meanwhile, Johnny and his girlfriend Jamie (Jana Kramer) arrive at Cindys house. Johnny goes to investigate Chrome Skulls car, and then comes back to his own car, where Chrome Skull cuts off his face. Jamie crawls on to the back seat, and reaches for the phone, but Chrome Skull stabs her in the hand. She gets out of the car, and cannot see him, so she runs into the garden, where he cuts her with his knife. She carries on running only to find that he has cut her stomach open and her intestines are hanging out.

Tucker and The Girl arrange to go to the next house, where Steven (Sean Whalen) answers the door. He invites them in and tells them he can use his computer to contact the police. They tell him that Cindy has died and a man with a shiny face has killed them and wants to kill her too. While she goes to the toilet, they report the crime on the computer. They then look for more information on Chrome Skull, and look for missing people that match The Girls description. The site tells them that Chrome Skull has killed over 31 girls so far and filmed their deaths.

They go to the police station in Stevens car and look for the Sheriff, who radios in a report. Tucker answers it, and reports the crime. The Sheriff tells them he is locked in the supply closet. The Girl finds a body in a cell with a camera strapped to it, and then they hear someone behind them, and Tucker tells them it isnt the Sheriff. He radios the Sheriff again, who says he is locked in the supply closet. As Steven enters the closet, which is empty, the cell door opens and the camera comes on, just as Chrome Skull appears and dashes towards The Girl. He slices her, but Tucker knocks him over and into the cell. He and The Girl escape, inadvertently locking Steven in, so The Girl goes back to get him and Steven stabs Chrome Skull in the leg.

They drive to the funeral home, where Tucker dresses The Girls wounds, and Steven sees his mothers corpse in a hearse next to his car. Tucker reassures The Girl that no one is going to kill her, and hugs her. Chrome Skull arrives and takes Stevens mothers corpse into his lair at the side of the funeral home.

Tucker goes home to clear up the mess in case Johnny sees it (he doesnt know Johnny is already dead), and The Girl decides to stop Chrome Skull. She enters his lair and tries to rescue a woman, but he approaches them, so she runs away. He then decapitates the woman. The Girl hides inside a coffin and he drills a hole in the top before putting a camera on there.

Tucker arrives back with a gun and shouts at Steven for not looking after The Girl. They enter Chrome Skulls lair and Tucker shoots him twice. They get the girl out of the coffin and steal Chrome Skulls car, where they find a new phone. They go to Stevens house, and The Girl waits in the car. She watches a video of the funeral director telling Chrome Skull that the Sheriff was on to their plan. Then she inputs the destination of the nearest store into the GPS and sets off towards it.

Tucker and Steven find her gone and go after her on foot. Meanwhile, Chrome Skull gets into a hearse and syncs the two GPS machines so he can track his car, before driving off to find it. Tucker and Steven attempt to get a lift from Tommy (Thomas Dekker) and Anthony (Anthony Fitzgerald), who drive away.

The Girl pulls up at the store and tries to get out, but the doors are locked. She tries to get the attention of the Clerk (Lucas Till), by beeping the horn, but he cant hear her. When Tommy and Anthony arrive she tries to get their attention too, but they ignore her and enter the store. Chrome Skull arrives next and enters the car. He gives her a message to get some tapes, and sends her into the store. She puts the phone on the counter and asks for the tapes, but he sends her a threatening message, which the Clerk sees. The Clerk goes outside with a rifle and threatens Chrome Skull, but Chrome Skull grabs the gun and points it at his head just as he is about to fire it, causing him to shoot himself in the head. Inside, Anthony manages to call the police and reports the crime, before locking the front door.

As Tucker and Steven arrive, Anthony goes to check the back exit, and is decapitated by Chrome Skull. Tommy initially refuses to let them in, but The Girl says she knows them. She apologises for driving away, and Tucker hugs her again. Steven then mixes some acid that will cause someones face to burn, before they get a message on the phone. He goes to answer it, but Chrome Skull sprays tyre sealant into his ears, causing his head to explode. Tucker tells Tommy to bring his car to the door and not to leave until The Girl gets out. Tucker fires at Chrome Skull but runs out of ammo, and tells The Girl to leave, but she refuses.

She tells him Chrome Skull will never stop, but he tells her (knowing her real identity) that she is somebody great, and not to forget it. He attacks Chrome Skull, but Chrome Skull gets the upper hand and stabs him in the chest. The Girl climbs into the fridge, and Chrome Skull puts a camera in there. She watches the video and it is revealed that she is just a prostitute.

Chrome Skull then starts to use the acid, thinking it is glue, to glue his mask back on. When he puts it on, his face begins to melt and he falls to the ground. The Girl climbs out of the freezer and grabs a baseball bat, hitting him in the face and causing his head to smash. She then gets into Tommys car and they go to Atlanta with her in Anthonys place.

Genres: Suspense/Horror and Thriller
Release Date: April 21st, 2009 (DVD)
Directed by: Robert Hall (VI)
Starring: Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Sean Whalen, Lucas Till, Kevin Gage

Laid to Rest certainly doesn’t try to reinvent the slasher genre, but it definitely succeeds in creating an above-average and very entertaining horror flick. It is one of the most entertaining slasher films I’ve seen in a long time and it actually manages to feel fresh despite its derivative nature.Though the film itself is basically one big chase scene, director Hall keeps things interesting by giving us likable characters, a menacing killer and “the girl’s” mysterious past to unravel. There are also plenty of nasty surprises Chrome Skull has for his victims and lots, and I mean LOTS, of awesome gore effects.

With Hall’s background in special FX, could you really expect anything less than stellar gore? The inventive kill scenes are some of the goriest I’ve seen yet this year! There are plenty of crushed skulls, stabbings, chopped up corpses, torture, etc., etc. to make even the most hardcore gorehound sit up and take notice! And the spectacular river of blood that cascades from all this carnage certainly doesn’t disappoint either! The effects in this film are far and above some of the best and most unique I’ve seen in quite some time…and that is really saying something!

The story, written by Hall, is almost equally impressive in regards that that it feels more original and more developed than most DTV horror flicks. I enjoyed the whole mystery of who “the girl” really was and where she came from, the killer’s background (given very briefly on a police website one of the characters looks up) and the fact that Hall tried to do something different that just having your stereotypical teen characters get knocked off one by one. He actually had “the girl” fight back and other characters be equally resourceful. Still, there were some problems with the script…like why every single car didn’t have enough gas to get them the heck outta Dodge, why none of the characters had phones and why the characters didn’t try to hoof it out of there on foot. And why did it take the police, who were only 100 miles away (roughly an hour and a half), all night to reach them? I guess the killer really knew how to pick the perfect hideout spot!

However, the direction on the other hand was fantastic! Everything was crystal clear and there was a definite lack of murkiness you usually get with slasher flicks filmed at night where you really can’t see what’s going on. In Laid to Rest you could see every horrifying detail, from the half-rotted and hacked apart bodies in coffins that Chrome Skull kept to each and every sudden kill scene where blood just covered the entire shot! Robert Hall really has an eye for direction and should continue pursuing it.

The acting was overall pretty good and I though Kevin Gage was the real standout as Tucker. He really makes his character believable and likable. Bobbi Sue Luther also did a fantastic job as the “final girl” and wasn’t just there for eye candy. She really gave a strong performance and didn’t let her character sit back and be the “damsel-in-distress.” There were also many familiar faces that popped up (if only for a few moments), including Lena Heady and Thomas Dekker (who are both in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Johnathon Schaech and Sean Whalen.

While the film has its problems, I still found myself enjoying Laid to Rest. It certainly doesn’t break any new ground, but it is definitely an enjoyable slasher flick that is head and shoulders above most DTV horror films.

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A dazzling film about a nightclub owner who gambles everything when he looks deeper into his father's death. Music. Betrayal. Passion... Welcome to the Blues and mystery of Dark Streets. Chaz Davenport (Gabriel Mann) is a dashing playboy who has it all: a hot nightclub, two glamorous singers (Bijou Phillips and Izabella Miko)and the most seductive music ever created playing from his stage. But when he enlists the help of the menacing "Lieutenant" to look into the sinister circumstances surrounding his father's death, his life spirals dangerously out-of control. Dark, sexy and sensuous, this music-driven journey smolders with a smoking hot score and a soundtrack that includes 12 original songs featuring Etta James, Aaron Neville and more! Co-starring sensational underground performer, Toledo.

Director: Rachel Samuels
Writer: Wallace King
Cast: Gabriel Mann, Bijou Phillips, Izabella Miko, Elias Koteas, Michael Fairman, Toledo Diamond
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Country: US
DVD Release Date: June 30, 2009

Sometimes when I am watching a really bad movie, I start to question how it even got made, leading me to imagine what might have been said at a pitch meeting to get a green light for such a car wreck. Normally, in a traumatic experience, one will wish him or herself to a happier place, so it tells you how bad a movie is that, by comparison, a meeting with Hollywood execs is preferable.

Such is the case with the jazz-age crime musical Dark Streets.

"You see, it's like Sin City meets Outkast's Idlewild, but Idlewild for white people. We'll talk about blues music and have some bluesy riffs running through the songs, but this will be with an almost completely white cast, headed by a guy like Ryan Gosling or the dude from Pushing Daisies. Or at least someone cheaper who looks a whole hell of a lot like them. To throw a bone to the legitimate blues community, we'll give a black guy the court jester role. You know, a narrator like Taye Diggs in Chicago, but he'll ham it up more and smoke a lot like he's in a rap video. We'll borrow a little of the plot from Chinatown, and the clothes will be crazy, almost like superhero costumes, because comic book movies are a big deal. Think Baz Luhrmann squaring off with Guy Ritchie in a back alley, but way more poncey."

Okay, granted, that's not a very serious attempt at what it must have been like, but if the people involved in this--director Rachel Samuels (The Suicide Club), first-time screenwriter Wallace King, or producer Glenn M. Stewart, who allegedly wrote a play this was based on--took it any more seriously themselves, then they have to be three of the most delusional people on the planet. In a year when I suffered through crap like The Women, to call Dark Streets the worst time I had at the movies in the last twelve months is really saying something.

For those who may be curious, the plot involves milquetoast rich boy Chaz (Gabriel Mann, 80 Minutes) running his frou-frou jazz club into the ground, sleeping most of the day away in an alcoholic haze, and crying over the money his recently deceased father decided not to leave him. Daddy was the head of a power company, and his death has occurred in the midst of troubling city-wide blackouts--a fact that should give anyone pause, but Chaz fails to see the connection until it is pointed out to him. But then, Chaz fails to see a lot of things, and his memory isn't so good. The latter part is pretty convenient for the writers, because they hinge half of their plot twists on Chaz remembering things he had previously forgotten when it best suits the story. "Oh, that's right, Daddy had a best friend who I totally hadn't thought about until I saw this picture of him." "The cabin in the woods? I forgot we had a cabin in the woods. I'll hide there and find new clues!" "Logic and plot construction? Was I supposed to bring some?"

Which might be fine if Gabriel Mann wasn't totally inept as an actor. You can have him grow a moustache and put a flask in his hand, but were I the one holding the liquor bottle, he wouldn't be able to convince me he was of legal drinking age with a valid driver's license, birth certificate, and the doctor who delivered him from his mother's womb standing by his side. All of the girls at the club swoon over the rich pretty boy, including the brassy Crystal (Bijou Phillips, Choke), who has a history with Chaz, but also a history with cocaine, so at least she had an excuse. She is threatened by the new singer in Chaz's club, the blonde and angelic Madelaine (Izabella Miko, Coyote Ugly), who was pushed on Chaz by a snarling cop (Elias Koteas, Some Kind of Wonderful) who is dressed in a uniform that makes him look like he's just stepped through a Stargate. The cop's wardrobe is just one of many inexplicable things in Dark Streets. For instance, why does the narrator, Prince Royale (Toledo Diamond), act like he just stepped out of a Fishbone music video--mohawk, cane, flashy suit, and all? Or how does one night away from the club allow it to decay so rapidly it suddenly looks like the morning after the wrap party for a Fellini movie?

These are questions I cannot answer, and I doubt any of the filmmakers can either, because I don't think they ever stopped to ask them. The music in the movie runs at a constant, either sung on stage by one of Chaz's performers or as part of the soundtrack, and I believe it's lathered on so thick in order to hopefully cover up the many plot holes. No doing. Dark Streets is as craggy and absorbent as a sponge, and no matter what Rachel Samuels throws on top of it, it all gets sucked into the boring morass. Hell, the movie doesn't even look good. All of the scenes are underlit, and Samuels and her director of photography, Sharone Meir (Mean Creek), smear the lens with Vaseline so that the image is never fully in focus, the edges of the frame blurred and distorted. I am sure this is meant to represent Chaz's confused state of mind and all the unknowns in the plot, but that's kind of like spitting into a rainstorm to make it more wet.

I suppose there are some people who might make a case for Dark Streets being so bad, it's almost good. It certainly has enough quotable lines, my personal favorite being Bijou Phillips shouting "But not special enough to keep a doctor from sticking a coat hanger in me!" She pops out with that bon mot during a fight with Chaz, and boy, does it shut him up. (Not a spoiler, it's a detail that emerges unprompted and is never mentioned again, neither moving the plot nor really changing anything at all, just like most of the story points in Dark Streets.) I personally think, however, that giving it such a distinction would be too kind to something that deserves no such kindness. When it comes to Dark Streets, we have to let bad just be bad.

Hell, not even an unexpected, somewhat baffling dedication to the people of New Orleans that appears at the end of the film is enough to make me say, "Well, at least they had noble intentions." Instead, I cried out loud, "Haven't those people suffered enough?" I certainly felt like I had.

Reviewed by :Jamie S.Rich [http://www.dvdtalk.com]

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Set in the insular world of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, 'Two Lovers' is a classic romantic drama, with Joaquin Phoenix giving a raw and vulnerable performance as Leonard, a charismatic but troubled young man who moves back into his childhood home following a recent heartbreak. While recovering under the watchful eye of his parents (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Monoshov), Leonard meets two women in quick succession: Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a mysterious and beautiful neighbor who is exotic and out-of-place in Leonard's staid world, and Sandra, the lovely and caring daughter of a businessman who is buying out his family's dry-cleaning business.Leonard becomes deeply infatuated by Michelle, who seems poised to fall for him, but is having a self-destructive affair with a married man. At the same time, mounting pressure from his family pushes him towards committing to Sandra. Leonard is forced to make an impossible decision -- between the impetuousness of desire and the comfort of love -- or risk falling back into the darkness that nearly killed him.

Genre(s):Drama
Theatrical Release Date:02/13/2009
DVD Release Date:06/30/2009
Director(s):James Gray
Starring:Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rossellini, Elias Koteas

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Stacy Peralta uses his knack for dissecting counter-cultures to highlight the two most violent gangs in America with Crips and Bloods: Made in America.Since his breakout Sundance hit Dogtown and Z-Boys, about the iconic skateboarders who revolutionized the sport (Peralta was one of the Z-Boys), Peralta has stayed in the alt-sport realm as his second doc, Riding Giants, looked at the history of surfing (it was also the opening film at 04's Sundance). Now Peralta leaves his comfort zone to look at a world he's not directly a part of.In telling the story of the Crips and Bloods, Peralta goes back to the Watts riots of 1965 which let out the anger African-Americans were feeling at the time towards not only their status in America but the brutality the police put on them daily.Segueing to the popularity of black power organizations during the time, gangs in South Central L.A. were at an all time low. But gradually long prison sentences or death to most of the positive black leaders by the end of the civil rights movement leads to the creation of the Crips which quickly attracts the disconnected youth. The Bloods quickly followed as a rival gang leading to decades of a blue (Crips) and red (Bloods) turf war in South Central with little intervention from the state on how to clean it up.

Peralta examines the rise of the Crips and Bloods through interviewing former or current members of the gangs, showing moving still photos, ghastly archival footage of murder scenes and speaking to mothers who've lost their children to gang violence. But Made in America, narrated by Forest Whitaker, isn't so much an expose on gang life as it is an optimistic story of hope. Rather than shocking the audience with the access he can get with the gangs or document initiations or drive-bys, Peralta portrays gang life as not a choice but an all-consuming inevitability for young black males in South Central. The sliver lining in all of this is that it seems gang members who are now middle-aged have seen their errors and are trying to portray a better environment for today's youth, but has the gang mentality become too deep-seeded in the neighborhoods? Peralta doesn't have the answers or attempts to act like he does, he lays out the facts in the hope that change can come on the streets as well as making the audience better understand the reasoning behind joining a gang.

Source : Filmmaker Magazine [http://filmmakermagazine.com]
posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 5/17/2009 11:10:00 PM

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Director : Yoji Yamada
Writer : Yoji Yamada , Emiko Haramatsu, Teruyo Nogami (original novel)
Cast : Sayuri Yoshinaga, Tadanobu Asano, Mitsugoro Bando, Miku Sato, Mirai Shida, Tsurube Shofukutei, Rei Dan, Denden, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Tokie Hidari, Koen Kondo, Umenosuke Nakamura, Hideji Otaki, Takashi Sasano, Mizuho Suzuki, Keiko Toda
Synopsis :Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family is upset when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works around the clock to maintain the household and raise her daughters with the support of Shigerus sister Hisako and Shigerus ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII spreads, casting dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination and sustain the family with her love. Official selection of Berlin International Film Festival.
In theaters: May 22, 2009 [USA]
Trailer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYmHSf1GP0
Review :Yoji Yamada's Kabei - Our Mother is a nominal tearjerker, but it surprises in a subtle and yet very compelling way. This is the based-on-real-life story of Kayo Nogami (the pitch-perfect Sayuri Yoshinaga), affectionately called "Kabei" by her family.

The entire family possesses these pet names, with Kabei being a combination of mother (o-KA-asan) and "bei", while father Shigeru is shortened to Tobei (from the Japanese word for father, "o-TO-osan"), and their daughters' names Teruyo and Hatsuko abbreviated to Terubei and Hatsubei. The family lives an austere existence in pre-World War II Japan, with rising nationalism having a direct and unfortunate effect on Shigeru (Mitsugoro Bando). A writer and scholar, Shigeru is arrested for radical (i.e., non-conformist) thinking and jailed without trial, placing immediate hardships on Kayo and their two daughters.

The Nogami family's problems allow the audience to learn just who Kayo is, and why her story matters. After getting over the shock of Shigeru's arrest, the family has to attend to practical things, like making ends meet, plus they must endure the quiet disapproval and judgement of outsiders. Luckily, Kayo has the help of Toru Yamazaki (Tadanobu Asano), a student of Shigeru's, who shows up on the Nogami family doorstep to offer a helping hand. Affectionately called Yama-chan, the clumsy but lovable Yamazaki enables Kayo to cope with her mounting difficulties, which start with gossip and money, and grow to include Shigeru's continued incarceration, the children's growth and maturation, Kayo's estrangement from her police chief father (Umenosuke Nakamura), a visit from layabout Uncle Senkichi (Tsurube Shofukutei), and Japan's continued march to war. Through it all, Kayo must keep calm, attending to the needs of her daughters and her husband while making required sacrifices.

It's the sacrifices that matter in Kabei. Many are small but acute, such as Kayo giving up her pride or anger in the face of battles that she cannot win. When the authorities criticize her husband, Kayo must remain quiet and subservient, even hitting Teruyo for misbehaving in front of men that she obviously detests. Likewise, Japan's growing nationalism is subtly criticized, with Kayo quietly but obviously tolerating the blind allegiance of her neighbors. This theme of war's social effects is present in Kabei, but it seems more a product of the situations and characters rather than an overriding point of view. Some characters in the film are quite vocal in their criticism for Japan's war-fueled nationalism, and the unfolding events demonstrate the human cost of a nation at war.

However, Yamada doesn't appear to be registering his own overt disapproval, and seems more interested in his characters than their historical context. In portraying his characters, Yamada demonstrates how regular people change - both positively and negatively - in such a charged climate. Kabei succeeds in large part because Yamada keeps his focus human and his anti-war messages rooted in character. Many of his characters are against the government's local handling of the war, but they seem like people with aligned beliefs and not mouthpieces for a political agenda. Fledging filmmakers could learn a lot from Yamada; he lets his characters and their trials define the story, and leaves the filmmaker's hand conspicuously out of sight.

He may have done too good a job. At first, second, and even third glance, Kabei appears to be just about how one woman bravely and resolutely fights the good fight. The war, unjust authority, and other mounting obstacles impact her life, and yet she finds the will to take care of her family and survive. The struggle is not easy; Kayo falls ill from exhaustion, and Shigeru's situation seems to worsen over time. The film's seemingly obvious message is that Kayo should be respected because she's required to shoulder so much. That point is well represented, but Kayo takes on something more pressing and emotionally acute than the burden of unfortunate circumstance. She also shoulders the burden of her personal desires and hopes, as she sacrifices them in order to fulfill her duty, responsibility, and maternal love.

Ultimately, it's not the sacrifices that make Kabei an accomplished film, but the understandable and even selfish regret hidden behind them. Yamada delivers a quiet, but emotionally devastating conclusion to his film by showing us that Kayo's choices - even those made out of love - are not redemptive or affirming of traditional values. Tearjerkers usually lean on safe, expected emotions and ideas to start the waterworks, but Kabei features an ending that's not a positive affirmation, nor is it what people likely expect from a commercial, family-centric drama. The film ends on an affecting, but somewhat off-putting note, and without the expected message that Kayo's sacrifices throughout the years were necessarily worth it. There's silent, bittersweet fault assigned, where nobody is to blame and yet everybody is. Lives change, people change, and we sometimes go to the grave with decades-old regret that we can never share with others. There's something terribly sad and marvelously affecting about that theme, and it makes Kabei - Our Mother potentially unsatisfactory and also unexpectedly sublime. (Kozo 2008)

mage courtesy of the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Reviewed by : Kozo 2008

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The War on Terror will be photographed

Directed by: Errol Morris
Produced by: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Julia Sheehan
Release Date: April 25th, 2008 (limited)
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing images and content involving torture and graphic nudity, and for language.
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Standard Operating Procedure is a 2008 documentary film which explores the meaning of the photographs taken by U.S. military police at the Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003 and which resulted in the subsequent Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. The film was directed by Errol Morris.

Standard Operating Procedure, the new film by Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Fog of War), is a difficult film to embrace. A detailed investigation into the infamous photographs of atrocities committed by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, the film's narrow focus is both its point and its weakness.

Anybody who has been following Morris' New York Times blog knows that he has been obsessed with the close reading of photographs -- what they seem to say, what they prove, and what they leave out. With reenactments, animations that line the photos up on a timeline, and testimony by many of the soldiers directly involved in the scandal (Lynndie England, Janis Karpinksi, Sabrina Harman), the film tries to reconstruct the events behind the images: prisoners forced into stress positions, attacked by dogs, sexually humiliated, tortured, and killed.

At the press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, Morris made it clear that he was quite conscious of the limitations of his approach. Standard Operation Procedure does not attempt to contextualize the events. The political impact of the pictures, questions of culpability by higher ranks, and more widespread torture not caught on film are at best hinted at and lie safely outside Morris' purview.

Contentious journalists also asked pointed questions about his use of dramatic reenactments and a strangely inappropriate score by Danny Elfman. "Consciousness is a reenactment," Morris countered, and reassured us that he was in search of truth. He defended the music -- which inadvertently puts one in the mind of a Tim Burton film -- by pointing out that he pictured Standard Operation Procedure as a "non-fiction horror movie." There can be no doubt that S.O.P. offers a meticulously detailed account of a very dark chapter of American history, but it stands to reason that Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and Taxi To The Dark Side tell more accessible, wide-reaching, and all-out infuriating stories about the same topic.

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club named it the 4th best film of 2008, J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader named it the 7th best film of 2008, and Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times named it the 8th best film of 2008 (in a six-way tie).Morris's practice of compensating his interview subjects has caused controversy, although it is not an unusual practice in documentary filmmaking, according to the producer Diane Weyermann,who also worked on An Inconvenient Truth. In a private interview during the Tribeca Film Festival, Morris said: "If I had not paid them, they would not be interviewed."

Source :
http://www.sonyclassics.com/standardoperatingprocedure
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896866/

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A Malvern Prods., Great Graffiti Films production, in association with Squarenone Cinema. Produced by Amy Wasserman, Ursula Camack. Executive producer, Laurence Ducceschi. Directed, written by Jesse Rosen.

Camera (color, HD-to-DigiBeta), Aaron Torres; editor, Rob Schulbaum; music, the Musical Theater, No Pilots No Demos, Trevor Howard; production designer, Karuna Karmarkar; sound, Mark Steele. Reviewed at San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, June 20, 2008. Running time: 77 MIN.

With: Jesse Rosen, Rachel Castillo, Jared Grey, Johnny Ray Rodriguez, Jesse Janzen, Tyler Jenich, Bryan McGowan, Peter Scherer, Anne Reeder, Emilia Richeson, Jennifer Z. Mosely.

A low-key comedy high on charm and credible twentysomething observation, Jesse Rosen's debut feature, "The Art of Being Straight," stars the writer-director as a possibly-coming-out newbie in Los Angeles whose puzzling over his sexual identification isn't helped by his jokily insensitive straight buds. Appealingly played, nicely executed pic has a shot at arthouse distribution in addition to select DVD/cable sales and further fest travel.

Twenty-three-year-old John (Rosen) has just moved to L.A. from New York, ostensibly "taking a break" from his longtime girlfriend. He moves in with college bro Andy (Jared Grey), whose pals incessantly do that kind of "That is so gay" banter that's essentially harmless -- unless you're the only gay guy in the room. (Acknowledging there actually is a distinction, one eventually queries "Is it 'gay' like it's lame or 'gay' like it's homosexual?")

A quiet, genial guy among these more boisterous types, John is hardly comfortable discussing his shifting Kinsey scale placement with them, and his new job as bottom-rung gofer at a major ad agency is fraught with sexual tension as a studly boss (Johnny Ray Rodriguez) barrages him with thinly veiled come-ons.

Meanwhile, lesbian friend Maddy (Rachel Castillo) suffers her own travails, questioning her relationship commitment with g.f. Anna (Emilia Richeson) while developing a crush on nice-guy neighbor Aaron (Peter Scherer). Her own low-rung job at an art gallery is made torturous by bitchy, pretentious co-workers and customers.

Maddy isn't undergoing a major life change, just a wee bi-curious phase. John isn't so much closeted as simply figuring himself out. His peers aren't real homophobes, just guys talking typical guy-trash. Narrative developments feel true to an increasingly frequent real-world dynamic too seldom seen in drama: When gay guy (or girl) is just "one of the guys," not the token "gay friend" or the straight woman's non-threatening pal. Pic's slice of post-collegiate L.A. life likewise feels casually on-target in portraying an aspirational milieu that's more Silverlake than Beverly Hills or West Hollywood.

Narrative grows a tad fragmentary toward the end, but "Art" and its characters remain ingratiating. Design and tech contribs are nicely turned.
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" No children. No future. No hope "

UK [109m] Directed by. Alfonso Cuaron; Producer. Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Hilary Shor, Iain Smith, Tony Smith; Screnplay. Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby; novel. PD James; Cinematography. Emmanuel Lubezki; m. John Tavener; Edited by. Alfonso Cuaron, Alex Rodriguez; Starring. Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Charlie Hunnam, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Pater Mullan

Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian science fiction film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The Strike Entertainment production was loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel of the same name by Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton with help from David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. It stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Caine.

Set in the United Kingdom of 2027, the film explores a grim world in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive. Societal collapse, terrorism, and environmental destruction accompany the impending extinction. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom—perhaps the last functioning government—persecutes a seemingly endless wave of illegal immigrant refugees seeking sanctuary. In the midst of this chaos, Theo Faron (Clive Owen) must find safe transit for Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a pregnant Fijian refugee.

The film was released on 22 September 2006, in the UK, 19 October 2006, in Australia and on 25 December 2006, in the U.S., critics noting the relationship between the Christmas opening and the film's themes of hope, redemption, and faith. Described as a companion piece to Cuarón's Y tu mamá también (2001), both films examine contemporary social and political issues through the epic journey of the road film. Children of Men was not a financial success, but attracted positive reviews from critics and acclaim from film goers. The film was recognised for its achievements in screenwriting, cinematography, art direction, and innovative single-shot action sequences, receiving three Academy Award nominations and winning two BAFTA awards.

An ugly mix of contemporary issues is hacked to unrecognizable bits in Alfonso Cuaron’s futuristic thriller-blender Children of Men.The film is a tame, at times insipid thriller trying to impress with impossibly generic analogies to our own time. Issues such as immigration, racism, terrorism, state control and religious fanaticism all find a place on Children’s crowded streets, but they have been changed, combined or placed out of context to such an extent that they become little more than textural decoration, with nothing of the deeply shocking truisms that make works like George Orwell’s 1984 still powerful today. Michael Caine hams it up in a supporting performance that is sure to become classic camp, but generally the shifts in tone from low-key comedy to guerilla-style drama are so jagged they are distracting.

Children of Men is based on a P.D. James novel that Cuaron adapted together with screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton. What emerges from the film is that in 2027, the world is in chaos and only Great-Britain is relatively safe. A constant influx of immigrants is being reversed and all are deported to abandoned towns where they live by themselves, surrounded by police and the military. For unknown reasons, women have been unable to conceive since 2009. There is little or no hope left, and office worker Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is depressed when he hears that the youngest human being has been killed at age 18 when he refused to sign an autograph.Before he knows it,Theo is kidnapped by a terrorist faction called The Fishes, who fight for equal rights for immigrants, and is forced by a member of them (Julianne Moore) to obtain papers for a refugee who needs to be taken to the coast. It turns out that the refugee (Claire Hope-Ashitey, from Shooting Dogs)is actually pregnant!(Cue triumphal symphonic music and shots of amazed faces.)Theo will try to get her to Brighton safe, but as these things go, the way is paved with danger and friends turn out to be enemies and vice-versa.

Cuaron’s London and Baxhill, a refugee shanty town, are dirty and dangerous places where violence lurks everywhere and terrorist bombings are less talked about than the melodramatic death of the youngest person on the planet. As is often the case in science fiction, the future is a mix of elements from the present, though the problem is that there seems to be no explanation as to why and how these elements have ended up together in the two decades that separate the audience from 2027. Christianity has been restyled with elements from Asian religions, Michelangelo’s David (minus one leg) stands inside a building in London rather than in Florence, immigrants are transported in cages and fertility tests and British passport checks are obligatory at practically every corner of the street. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalists are gathering in the immigrant shantytowns, preparing a revolution.

What happened in the intervening years? Without this knowledge these events make little or no sense. Cuaron has succeeded in creating a future in chaos, but for it to comment on any contemporary issues it needs to be clear what created this chaos and why this chaos has been organized in the way it is. As presented in Children of Men,the future of mankind has no past.Michael Caine has a lot of fun with his role as a neo-hippie who helps Owen's character, though generally the film’s attempts at low-key comedy are bogged down by its need to be taken seriously as an action movie. When Theo tries to escape in a car that needs to be pushed to get going, it interrupts and distracts from a chase sequence with something more at home in a Buster Keaton film.

What remains are an impressive sequence involving an assault on a car by two sharpshooters on a scooter and a shoot-out involving the army and brigands that plays like a deleted scene from Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down; barely enough elements to carry an action film, much less a political science fiction picture. The devil is in the details, they say, only here there is clearly a lot of the devil at work but a chronic lack of detail to make any sense of it.

Children of Men used several lengthy single-shot sequences in which extremely complex actions take place. The longest of these are a shot in which Kee gives birth (199 seconds); a roadside ambush on a country road (247 seconds); and a scene in which Theo is captured by the Fishes, escapes, and runs down a street and through a building in the middle of a raging battle (454 seconds). These sequences were extremely difficult to film, although the effect of continuity is sometimes an illusion, aided by CGI effects. Cuarón had already experimented with long takes in Y tu mamá también and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

His style is influenced by the Swiss film Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), a favorite of Cuarón's. Cuarón reminisces: "I was studying cinema when I first saw [Jonah], and interested in the French New Wave. Jonah was so unflashy compared to those films. The camera keeps a certain distance and there are relatively few close-ups. It's elegant and flowing, constantly tracking, but very slowly and not calling attention to itself."[60] The creation of the single-shot sequences was a challenging, time-consuming process that sparked concerns from the studio.

It took fourteen days to prepare for the single take in which Clive Owen's character searches a building under attack, and five hours for every time they wanted to reshoot it. In the middle of one shot, blood splattered onto the lens, and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki convinced the director to leave it in. According to Owen, "Right in the thick of it are me and the camera operator because we're doing this very complicated, very specific dance which, when we come to shoot, we have to make feel completely random."Cuarón's initial idea for maintaining continuity during the roadside ambush scene was dismissed by production experts as an "impossible shot to do".

Fresh from the visual effects-laden Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Cuarón suggested using computer-generated imagery to film the scene. Lubezki refused to allow it, reminding the director that they had intended to make a film akin to a "raw documentary". Instead, a special camera rig invented by Gary Thieltges of Doggicam Systems was employed, allowing Cuarón to develop the scene as one extended take.A vehicle was modified to enable seats to tilt and lower actors out of the way of the camera, and the windshield was designed to tilt out of the way to allow camera movement in and out through the front windscreen. A crew of four, including the DP and camera operator, rode on the roof. However, the commonly reported statement that the action scenes are continuous shots is not entirely true.

Visual effects supervisor Frazer Churchill has indicated that the battle sequence was filmed in five separate takes over two locations and then seamlessly stitched together to give the illusion of a single take. Similarly, the car sequence was filmed in six separate takes over three locations and then stitched together, along with various other CG elements including a CG roof. In an interview with Variety, Cuarón acknowledged this nature of the "single-shot" action sequences: "Maybe I'm spilling a big secret, but sometimes it's more than what it looks like.The important thing is how you blend everything and how you keep the perception of a fluid choreography through all of these different pieces."

Tim Webber of VFX house Framestore CFC was responsible for the three-and-a-half minute single take of Kee giving birth, helping to choreograph and create the CG effects of the childbirth. Cuarón had originally intended to use an animatronic baby as Kee's child with the exception of the childbirth scene. In the end, two takes were shot, with the second take concealing Claire-Hope Ashitey's legs, replacing them with prosthetic legs. Cuarón was pleased with the results of the effect, and returned to previous shots of the baby in animatronic form, replacing them with Framestore's computer-generated baby.

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The comic-within-a-comic tells the tale of a castaway's mental and physical deterioration and damnation as he tries to intercept a ghost freighter headed for his hometown.

"Tales of the Black Freighter" will get released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 24, 2009, it will include an animated adaptation of the comic Tales of the Black Freighter within the story, starring Gerard Butler (300, Phantom Of The Opera) and the documentary Under the Hood, detailing the older generation of superheroes from the film's back-story. It also includes the first chapter of the “Watchmen” motion comic, and a first look at the “Green Lantern” direct-to-DVD animated feature. Meanwhile, those who pick up the Blu-ray edition of this will get the Blu-ray exclusive featurette “The Why of the Watchmen” by Zack Snyder, and “The Two Bernies” which features a scene from “Watchen” not seen in theaters.