Film Reviews

Dr. Lauren Slaughter, a research fellow at the Arab-Anglo Institute in London is utterly frustrated by her job. To supplement her income, she starts moonlighting at the Jasmine Escort Service, where she has more control over men and money than she does at the office. On one of her 'dates', Lauren meets the politician Lord Bulbeck who is trying to mediate a peace accord between the Arabs and Israelis. Bulbeck falls in love with his escort, and unwittingly, Lauren becomes a pawn in some very dirty politics.

A young kid (Pinkston) is forced to live out the lies he told to become popular.

Now seriously mentally ill after working with Clouseau for such a long time, Inspector Dreyfus escapes from the mental asylum he was being held in and vows to destroy Clouseau forever. He kidnaps an eminent scientist and forces him to build a machine capable of destroying the world, with the intention of doing so unless Clouseau is delivered to him.

Hundreds of years ago in Lapland, a little boy named Nikolas loses his family in an accident. The villagers decide to look after the orphaned boy together. Once a year - at Christmas - Nikolas moves to a new home. To show his gratitude, Nikolas decides to make toys for the children of the families as good-bye presents. Over the years, Nikolas's former adoptive families become many, and soon almost every house has presents on its doorstep on Christmas morning. At thirteen, Nikolas is sent to live and work with Iisakki, a grumpy old carpenter, who forbids Nikolas to continue making presents for Christmas. Gradually, however, Nikolas wins Iisakki's trust. Together they begin to look after the Christmas traditional that Nikolas has begun. When the aged Iisakki has to leave Nikolas and move away, the tradition of Christmas presents is once again at risk. Thankfully, Nikolas comes up with a solution that brings children joy every Christmas, even continuing to today.

Big Bang Love tells the story of two young prisoners from different backgrounds whose bond transcends their pasts. This stunning, imaginative film has been adapted from Masaki Ato's homoerotic graphic novel. Two beautiful young men become lovers in jail until one kills again. As they open their hearts to each other, life around them dissolves between the real world with a murder mystery and a surreal journey filled with images of a primitive past and an ambiguous future.

Somewhere behind the early 1960s cold-war iron curtain, the Hollander family cause an international spying incident when Walter photographs a sunset in a sensitive region. In order to stay out of jail, the Hollanders take refuge in the American Embassy, which is temporarily being run by the absent Ambassador's diplomatically incompetent son, Axel.

The comedic stylings of four sort-of famous funnymen are brought to the big screen courtesy of this 2002 documentary.

The Planet Express crew return from cancellation, only to be robbed blind by hideous "sprunging" scam artists. Things go from bad to worse when the scammers hack Bender, start traveling through time, and take Earth over entirely! Will the crew be able to save the day, or will Bender's larcenous tendencies and their general incompetence doom them all?

The obvious inspiration for this short film is Georges Méliès' 1903 A TRIP TO THE MOON, but while Méliès based his movie on a Jules Verne novel, this clearly is based on H.G. Wells' FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON -- with the names rubbed off and the site of the action changed to avoid lawsuits. Even though we see the same sort of mix of stage and movie magic that Méliès used, the purpose has shifted subtly from being special effects that the audience would gape at, to special effects that are used to get from plot point A to plot point B. When chairs float in the air, it is not to frighten and bewilder the audience and the movie's character, but to illustrate the invention of anti-gravity. When the scientist flails about while seeming to fly through outer space, it is to get to Mars. Special effects are no longer the point of the movie. They are part of the grammar.

A second-generation male maid fights to save the girl he loves and their historic hotel from the clutches of a hostile developer.

Harry and his pals are back for more adventure than ever when they face off against dark wizards, demented monsters, and the most horrible woman in the world, Dolores Umbridge! So strap on your diapers because it's time to go back to Hogwarts!

Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

"A Whole Different Story..." sees Kevin take us on a journey of his under the radar infiltration into the middle classes, and about living in the West End of Glasgow where things aren’t quite as they used to be. Of course, with this comes the added novelty of having money for the first time and Kevin shares his views on that, as well as musing on politics, and the ever-topical Scottish referendum. The razor sharp wit on show here proves he is one of the UK’s brightest young talents and really makes this the DVD for any comedy fan this Christmas.

Essentially a two-person character study, the film stars Paul Muni as a down-and-out crook on the lam. Muni befriends a young street urchin (Vittorio Mazzunchelli, billed as "Manunta" in many prints) in an Italian port city. At first amused that the boy is a sneak thief, Muni tries to deflects the kid from a life of crime. Tipped off by a woman anxious to collect the reward for Muni (who is wanted for murder), the police pursue the two lost souls.

Tou former boxers meet in the ring again after years for a re-run of an old match. The old loser currently works as a factory executive and he is unwilling to reconcile with his old defeat. He challenges the old winner, whose job in a garage puts him on the opposite end ofthe career ladder. The match is a battle fought between two men who stand for two different attitudes to life. The confrontation results in the revelation that the winner is not always the one whose arm is raised by the referee after the last round.