Once again, when a new villain wreaks havoc on Gotham City, Batman takes the rap!
Originally scheduled for a straight-to-video release, the final result of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was so awesome that the studio demanded it be shown in the theaters. This animated centers around a new mysterious vigilante systematically eliminating Gotham’s crime bosses who, because of their smokey appearance, everyone believes is Batman. And, of course, there’s a complication for Batman’s alter-ego Bruce Wayne when a long lost love, Andrea Beaumont, re-enters his life. Will he be able to catch the bad guy, clear his name, and find romance? Watch and find out!
Familial bonds grow stronger when young love enters the picture for the Gilbert Grape in this tender film.
Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) has his hands full being the father-figure to his severely mentally disabled brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his obese mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates). With a lot of love, Gilbert still faces a lot of challenges in how to manage his own life while being the caretaker to his family and his low level job at the local grocery store. It’s not until he meets free spirit Becky (Juliette Lewis), a temporarily stranded visitor to the sleepy town of Endora, that he realizes the possibilities of the world being open to him. It’ll be hard to believe twenty years have past when watching young heart-throbs Depp and DiCaprio on-screen!
The “D” is silent.
Following the cinematic path laid down by Sergio Leone in the 1960s, Quentin Tarantino doesn’t just wade but fully dives into the Spaghetti Western tradition with his long awaited new film, Django Unchained.
Set in the American south two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained seethes of the cultural climate of the day. And it’s all here – power, slavery, violence, history, love, sacrifice, survival, freedom, and, most viscerally, revenge. Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave acquired by a German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (the fabulous Christoph Waltz) to help catch “most wanted” criminals with the promise of being free. But Django sticks with him and only has one thing on his mind…finding his wife Broomhilda who was lost in the slave trade years ago. ff
Recent history plays out on-screen in Zero Dark Thirty following the September 11th attacks as the United States goes on one of the biggest manhunts in history to find Osama bin Laden.
As she did in The Hurt Locker, Academy Award Winner Kathryn Bigelow continues her usage of an obsessed fictional character to recount historical events in the post 9/11 landscape with Zero Dark Thirty. Here we have Maya (Jessica Chastain), a CIA operative who becomes an integral part in the hunt for Al Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden. Aside from the eventual death of bin Laden by the Navy SEAL Team Six, the film focuses on the questionable interrogation practices of prisoners and detainees through Maya’s own reluctance but ultimate belief that these tactics are beneficial. With emotions raw from a nation still dealing with the ramifications of the “War on Terror,” Zero Dark Thirty is guaranteed to hit the hearts of many.
Starring: Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Dennis Franz
There’s no such thing as coincidence in Brian De Palma’s homage to Vertigo and Rear Window.
Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) is a claustrophobic b-movie actor who had to couch surf after finding his girlfriend in bed with another woman. You’d think that would be enough adventure for one man but he has a whole lot more in store for him when he starts spying on a beautiful exhibitionist across the street from his friend’s apartment.
The Found Footage Festival and TV Carnage present the action-packed seventh edition of their wildly popular and wildly unpredictable VHS-based variety show at Nitehawk.
January’s official stellar lineup will be announced soon but you can certainly count on new and never-before-seen VHS goodies from the Found Footage Festival and TV Carnage vaults.
Starring: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue
Written and directed by visionary Leos Carax, Holy Motors is a startlingly unique meld of monster movie, film noir, romantic drama, musical, crime thriller, and anime. Spend a few hours with Monsieur Oscar in the city of lights as he transforms into multiple characters – assassin, beggar, family man – on a series of mysterious appointments. Accompanied only by his blond driver Celine, he is in pursuit of the beautiful gesture, the mysterious driving force, the women and the ghosts of past lives.
