With London emptied of its men now fighting at the Front, Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hired by the British Ministry of Information as a “slop” scriptwriter charged with bringing “a woman’s touch” to morale-boosting propaganda films. Her natural flair quickly gets her noticed by dashing movie producer Buckley (Sam Claflin) whose path would never have crossed hers in peacetime. As bombs are dropping all around them, Catrin, Buckley and a colorful crew work furiously to make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation. Although Catrin’s artist husband looks down on her job, she quickly discovers there is as much camaraderie, laughter and passion behind the camera as there is onscreen.
Hatched
Patti Cake$
Starring: Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Siddharth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, Cathy Moriarty, McCaul Lombardi, Patrick Brana
Aspiring rapper Patricia Dombrowski, aka Patti Cake$, is fighting an unlikely quest for glory in her downtrodden hometown where her life is falling apart. Patti tries to reach the big time in the hip-hop scene with original and affecting music. Cheered on by her grandmother and only friends, Jheri and Basterd, Patti also shoulders her mother’s heartaches and misfortunes.
Chuck
He was the pride of Bayonne, New Jersey, a man who went fifteen rounds in the ring with Muhammad Ali, and the real life inspiration for Rocky Balboa. But before all that, Chuck Wepner (Liev Schreiber) was a liquor salesman and father with a modest prizefighting career whose life changed overnight when, in 1975, he was chosen to take on The Greatest in a highly publicized title match. It’s the beginning of a wild ride through the exhilarating highs and humbling lows of sudden fame—but what happens when your fifteen minutes in the spotlight are up? Driven by a committed performance from Liev Schreiber, Chuck is a refreshingly human tale of resilience and redemption. Elisabeth Moss and Naomi Watts costar.
The Beguiled
Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning
The Beguiled is an atmospheric thriller from acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola. The story unfolds during the Civil War, at a Southern girls’ boarding school. Its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.
Hounds of Love
In suburban Perth during the mid 1980s, people are unaware that women are disappearing at the hands of serial killer couple John and Evelyn White. After an innocent lapse in judgment, seventeen year old Vicki Maloney is randomly abducted by the disturbed couple. With her murder imminent, Vicki realizes she must find a way to drive a wedge between Evelyn and John if she is to survive. Hounds of Love is an exercise in expertly-crafted tension, offering a bold, challenging debut from writer/director Ben Young.
Cure
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they’ve done in CURE.
The unnerving 1997 thriller Cure, directed by contemporary master of suspense Kiyoshi Kurosawa, follows an investigator as he looks into a string of gruesome murders around Tokyo—and discovers that the murderer may be out of his or her mind. It’s a remarkably disturbing, atmospheric suspense film, compelling up to its last haunting frame. – Criterion
Taxi Driver
TAXI DRIVER is a terrifying portrait on the edge of madness.
Adrift in New York City after the Vietnam War, socially awkward loner Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) takes up a job prowling the city’s streets as a taxi driver to deal with his insomnia. Exposed to no one but a rogues gallery of pimps, hustlers and perverts, Travis begins seeing the world as putrid and in need of cleansing. Through awkward, fumbling attempts at romance, Travis isolates himself further, leaving him alone to mull over his obsessions: guns, a phony presidential candidate, and a roughed-up underage prostitute.
Martin Scorsese’s masterwork, Taxi Driver is a brute of a film, one that scrapes characters from the gutter of New York City and rakes them out into the sun to see how they react. Essential on every level.
Hostel
Welcome to your worst nightmare.
After spending an afternoon lost in an Amsterdam haze, three ugly American backpackers wonder if this is all the hedonism that Europe has to offer. The three meet a Slovak who points them towards a small town deep in Slovakia famous for its parties and beautiful women. The three hop the next train out of town and check into a local hostel where the welcoming staff gets them settled in for a night of decadence. Unfortunately for them, it’s not the sort of decadence they had in mind, as they soon discover that they’ve been lured to an underground club where the rich get their kicks torturing travellers for a price.
Land of the Dead
The dead rise and stupid humans are still stuck fighting over money and power in George A. Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD.
Years after the undead dominated the planet in Romero’s Day of the Dead, humanity still thrives in the heart of Pennsylvania… Sort of. Protected by rivers and an electrified fence, the remains of Pittsburgh now exists as a rigid feudal society. Orchestrated by evil haircut-and-a-suit Dennis Hopper, the poor live on the streets in squalor, enjoying zombie pit fights and scavenged food, while the wealthy live a relatively normal life of luxury in a plush high rise. To supply the city, a vigilante group pilots a tricked out, zombie bashin’ bus out into the Pennsylvania wilderness, where they start to notice that the zombies aren’t acting quite as stupid as usual. With the smarty-pants zombies closing in, an all out class war breaks out in the city as factions tear their sanctuary apart in a hopeless fight over cash, comfort and survival.
Tales from the Hood
Starring: Clarence Williams III, Corbin Bernsen, Rosalind Cash, David Alan Grier
A classic style horror anthology with an inner city twist, Tales from the Hood spins four spooky tales of revenge and comeuppance, tackling issues that still plague us over twenty years on: police brutality, child abuse, gang violence, and racism. Told by an oddball funeral director, the stories right social wrongs with a wicked grin: killer dolls take down a racist senator; a victim of murder by police returns for revenge, and gang members and drug pushers get a hard lesson in who they’re really working for.
