(2002) dir Eugene Jarecki – starring Brian Cox as the Narrator and Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens, Seymour Hersch, William Safire, and a bunch of other people as themselves. Synopsis: Henry Kissinger: wise elder statesman, or war criminal? Or both? These are the basic questions of this documentary, which combines interviews with historical footage, declassified gov’t […]

(2001) Gregor Jordan – Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Anna Paquin, Elizabeth McGovern, etc. Synopsis: Joaquin Phoenix is Ray Elwood, a shifty soldier stationed in Germany towards the end of the cold war. Elwood has his fingers deep in various black-market cookie jars and is doing fairly well for himself, particularly under the not-so-watchful […]

(2002) Phillip Noyce – Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil Synopsis: Set in Australia in 1931, ‘Rabbit-Proof Fence’ details the true story (it’s based on a book called ‘Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence’) of three aboriginal girls who were snatched up to be put in “boarding schools” to be taught how to be a […]

(2002) Steven Soderbergh – w/ George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis, Ulrich Tukur Synopsis: It’s the future. Strange things are happening on the privately-owned space station Prometheus, stationed above planetoid (and potential natural resource) Solaris. “Strange things” as in, the crew’s turned a little batty; people have been sent to fetch the crew, […]

(2003) dir. James Foley – w/ Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, Paul Giamatti, Brian Van Holt, Andy Garcia and Dustin Hoffman Synopsis: Confidence games, you gotta love ’em. Unless you’re the one getting conned. ‘Confidence’ features a tight-knit group of con-men (led by Ed Burns as ‘Jake’) who, in pulling the wool over the eyes of […]

(2004) dir Kevin Macdonald – w/ Nicholas Aaron as Simon Yates and Brendan Mackey as Joe Simpson; also with Joe Simpson and Simon Yates Synopsis: Based on the true story of two climbers (Joe Simpson [who wrote the book Touching the Void] and Simon Yates) who attempt an ascent of an unclimbed mountain in South […]

(1994) dir. Oliver Stone – Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, & Tom Sizemore Synopsis: ‘Natural Born Killers’ presents the story of Mickey (Woody) and Mallory (Juliette), lovers and killers, enamored of their frenetic and blood-spattered lives; of M&M, media pets; of M&M, mass-murderers loved and reviled by the public; and […]

(2002) dir. Tom Tykwer – w/ Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Remo Girone, etc. Synopsis: Cate Blanchett plays Philippa, a British teacher living in Italy. Drugs infect her life through the figure of drug-dealer Marco Vendice (also a prominent businessman), killing her husband and one of her students. To fight back, Philippa takes the law into […]

(2001) dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo – w/ Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eusebio Poncela, Mónica López, Antonio Dechent, and Max von Sydow Synopsis: The premise of this movie has to do with luck. Namely, that some people have it, and some people don’t. Except that, in the make-believe world of this movie, it’s more complicated than that: the […]

(1996) directed by Matthew Bright – starring Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Wolfgang Bodison, Dan Hedaya, Brooke Shields, and Amanda Plummer

Synopsis: Think ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ meets ‘Pulp Fiction’ meets ‘The Green Mile’ meets Law&Order. Reese plays the symbolic Little Red Riding Hood (her name is Vanessa, but she wears red—close enough, I guess), who flees home to make the journey to her Grandma’s place in Northern California.