In the Name of 2013

In the Name of 2013
W imie… (original title)
1h 42min | Drama , Thriller | 8 February 2013 (Germany)
Storyline:
Adam, a Catholic priest who discovered his calling as a servant of God at the relatively late age of 21, now lives in a village in rural Poland working with behavioral problem teens who fight and yell abuses. He declines the advances of a young brunette named Ewa, saying he is already spoken for; however, celibacy is not the only reason for his rejection. Adam knows he desires men and that his embrace of the priesthood has been a flight from his own sexuality. When he meets Lukasz, the strange and taciturn son of a simple rural family, Adam's self-imposed abstinence becomes a heavy burden.
User review:
This is a very effective, very positive and yet oddly disturbing movie about the fitful coming out of a 40ish gay priest in Poland. His name is Adam, and he looks nothing like a priest except while on duty. He's always known he's gay, but he's serious about his vocation and has stayed closeted in order to keep his vows of celibacy.
He has a special gift for helping troubled teenage boys, which his superiors value greatly. His homosexuality has never led to anything remotely inappropriate with a boy (or with a man, for that matter), but he is periodically transferred in order to keep even rumors from interfering with his very valuable ministry. Most recently he was moved from Warsaw to an isolated rural parish with a small work-home for boys on furlough from reformatories.

Time to Leave 2005

Time to Leave 2005
Le temps qui reste (original title)
1h 21min | Drama | 16 May 2005 (France)
Storyline:
In Paris, thirty-one-year-old gay fashion photographer Romain learns he has a terminal cancer. As chances with chemotherapy are only slim, he chooses to live the rest of his life without treatment or mollycoddling, hiding the truth from his lover Sasha and his family, being cruel to kindly push them away. He visits his estranged grandmother Laura for a few days and has a small talk with a waitress he chance meets along the way, a waitress who, upon a second chance meeting, asks him for an unusual favor. Romain returns to Paris where he privately puts his affairs in order and awaits the end.
User review:
François Ozon (Water Drops on Burning Rocks, 8 Women, Swimming Pool, 5X2) is one of the most fascinatingly talented French directors on the scene today. His films have a simplicity, a direct approach to the mind and the heart, and an extreme respect for both his actors and his audience – factors that allow him a means for communication that is rare and proves he has few equals. In LE TEMPS QUI RESTE (Time to Leave) he addresses that earth-shattering moment of being informed that death is imminent and shows us how one character copes with that information and how it changes his remaining days and his history of relating to others.
Romain (Melvil Poupaud) is a handsome and successful fashion photographer who is gay, has a lover Sasha (Christian Sengewald), but is somewhat estranged from his family. For some reason he cannot relate to his pregnant sister Sophie (Louise-Anne Hippeau) despite his mother's (Marie Rivière) pleading and his father's (Daniel Duval) distance. During a fashion shoot Romain faints, is taken to the doctor (Henri de Lorme) who informs him he has metastatic cancer for which there is little hope (except for chemotherapy and radiation therapy) that he will live past a few months. Romain opts to go without treatment and begins to face his remaining life with silent gloom. After a very sensuous sexual encounter with Sasha (Ozon holds nothing back in depicting this!), Romain decides to quit his job, tells Sasha to leave, separates from his family, and visits his beloved grandmother Laura (Jeanne Moreau, as exciting an actress as ever!) who shares her philosophy of living and dying and bonds even more closely with the grandson who mirrors her own life. Her sage wisdom is what grounds Romain.

Aistyonok 1980

Aistyonok 1980
40min | Short , Family | 1980 (Soviet Union)
Plot:
A story about the adventures of a rural boy, the unassuming inventor and the dreamer. A young, inventive designer is interested in "new solutions", which he will often get from adults … (google translated)
Director: Vladimir Basov
Writer: Aleksey Dudarev
Stars: Yuri Bardian, Pavel Dubashinsky, Alla Elyashevich
Country: Soviet Union
Language: Russian
Release Date: 1980 (Soviet Union)
Also Known As: Аистенок

Le fil 2009

Le fil 2009
1h 33min | Drama , Romance | 12 May 2010 (France)
Storyline:
Malik has a lot on his plate when he returns home to Tunisia after living in France. He's processing his father's death, he can't come out to his mother, and his childhood anxieties have resurfaced. But all of Malik's problems seem to fade away when he falls for Bilal, the dreamy houseboy at his mother's bourgeois estate.
User review:
Our hero returns home to his mother's house and must face issues that he was able to avoid by spending time away. Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan is Malik, a gay man, who keeps running into Mom's servant Bilal, played by Salim Kechiouche. My complaint here is the music. It frequently doesn't reflect the correct mood of what's taking place in the scene. They use eerie violin music in much of the film, even when people are happy, or just driving down the country road. It might be helpful to match the music to the mood of the action or scene. Also, the bit about the string got annoying after a while, even if it IS the title and theme of the film. Don't want to give away spoilers here… we'll just say it all hits the fan, and there are secrets and family members to be faced, in an Islamic country yet. Written, directed, and even a minor role by Mehdi Ben Attia. Attia had only directed a short film prior to this, in 2000. Enjoyable film. Good story, excellent acting. Mostly good subtitles in the TLA version….even if they did skip some bits of the conversation here & there. It's a shame that they did not translate more of what is said in the church… would have been interesting to hear what was said.
Director: Mehdi Ben Attia
Writers: Mehdi Ben Attia (screenplay), Olivier Laneurie (screenplay)
Stars: Claudia Cardinale, Antonin Stahly Viswanadhan, Salim Kechiouche
Country: France | Belgium | Tunisia
Language: French | Arabic
Release Date : 12 May 2010 (France)
Also Known As: The String

Restless 2011

Restless 2011
PG-13 | 1h 31min | Drama , Romance | 6 April 2011 (Egypt)
Storyline:
Annabel is a terminally ill cancer patient and is quietly awaiting her death spending her time studying nature. Enoch is struggling to recover from the death of his parents and spends his time attending funerals with his only friend – a ghost named Hiroshi who was a WWII Japanese kamikaze pilot. Just as Annabel's sister is trying to cope with Annabel's impending death, Annabel and Enoch fall in love. They both finally have a reason to live, but is it too late to have a life together?
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief sensuality
User review:
Enoch Brae (Henry Hopper) is a morbid teenager that enjoys attending funerals. He meets the teenager Annabel Cotton (Mia Wasikowska) in a memorial service and they start to see each other. Enoch has lost his parents in a car accident and lives with his aunt Mabel (Jane Adams). His best and only friend is the ghost of the Japanese kamikaze pilot Hiroshi Takahashi (Ryo Kase) and Enoch neither goes to school nor has a car. Annabel is terminal with brain tumor and lives with her sister Elizabeth (Schuyler Fisk) and her mother Rachel (Lusia Strus). She loves to read about birds, especially the water birds. Soon the unlikely couple falls in love with each other improving their lives.

Un sac de billes 2017

Un sac de billes 2017
1h 50min | Drama | 18 January 2017 (France)
Storyline:
The adventure of a Jewish kid and of his brother escaping the Nazi persecution in the occupied France.
User review:
It is the remake of the same title and turn out to be a beautiful film, adaptation of a true story that does not avoid sentimentalism. It is also the remake from the film of the same title made in 1975 based on a true story. It is a beautiful adaptation from Joseph Joffo's book. They remade it because this version is very close to the book, they actually stay with the book on this one not like the one from 1975 was loosely adapted for the screen Thanks to the Canadian director Christian Duguay.
In the occupied France, two young Jewish brothers, Maurice and Joseph, devoted to themselves, show an incredible amount of malice, courage and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and try to get reunited their families again. At first they went to the Free zone down south in Nice to be with their family. The reconstitution of the period even the decoration and costumes were exceptional here also Dorian Le Clech , Batyste Fleurial , incarnated the character very well it is the first time that they are acting even the director was impressed with them. Hopefully they are going to have a great career not the case for the newcomes back in 1975 however. A beautiful film with some great view of back then at the promenade des anglais in Nice and film also in Paris. The two now brothers who are in their 80's are still Paris with their families. Le salon de coiffure is still there. It was film on location, the director wanted to use the panoramic view of the mountains and the natural light. Nice little family film here.

Into the Lion’s Den 2011

Into the Lion's Den 2011
1h 25min | Drama , Thriller | Video 31 August 2012
Storyline:
When three gay men on a cross-country road trip enter a redneck bar, the culture clash has deadly results.
User review:
Three gay guys are driving from California to New York. They are Johnny (Jesse Archer) who will sleep with any guy he can get, Mikey (Ronnie Kroell) who's the serious sensitive type and Ted (Kristen-Alexzander Griffith) who seems to have no personality at all. They decide to spend the night at some small southern town and Johnny insists they go to a str8 bar called the Lions Den for drinks. Actually it's for Johnny to hook up with a man he met online. However things slowly (VERY slowly) go from bad to worse and all three are fighting to stay alive.
The basic plot is OK and you have to give the film credit for giving it to gay audiences quickly (there's full frontal male nudity and graphic simulated sex in the first 10 minutes!) but then it just falls apart. It moves VERY slowly (the film is half over before anything happens), Johnny is easily one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen and it's not scary or thrilling–just unpleasant. It's routinely directed and some of the acting (particularly by Jodie Shultz) is dreadful. On the upside the acting by Kroell is pretty good and he has a lengthy full frontal nude scene. Also the script itself is not bad and has some interesting lines. But, all in all, I was bored and couldn't care less.

Nineteen 2015

Nineteen 2015
11min | Short , Comedy , Drama | 12 June 2015 (USA)
Storyline:
After Blake discovers that he is not a typical, invincible nineteen year old, he seeks out his first sexual experience. Nineteen reveals the freedom that comes when faced with our imminent mortality.
User review:
Just saw "Nineteen" at Outfest in LA last night. It's one of two films for which I gave a rating of 5/5 (out of the six that were screened as part of a collection). As with any short film or story, there's got to be a "getcha" to bring you in. With "Nineteen," the "getcha" occurred about halfway into the film. It was a wonderful use of restraint. It created a gentle dawning of awareness that can really make a film viewer unexpectedly emotionally engaged. It was effective. I teared up with appreciation. The storyteller's heart to share this story shows through. Find this somewhere and let it unfold for you. The actors are known quantities and for them to have done this film gives credence to the story that it tells.
Director: Madeline Kelly
Writer: Madeline Kelly
Stars: James Fraser, Benjamin Mathews, Shannon Ashlyn

SKAM S04E05

SKAM S04E05
30min | Drama , Romance | Episode aired 12 May 2017
Episode title: Hvis du er trist er jeg trist
Storyline:
Sana suspects that Sara is hiding something from her. Sana's mother is worried about her recent behavior, which Sana finds very irritating. Elias then reaches out to Sana and gives her some advice. Everyone gathers for a karaoke party.
Director: Julie Andem
Writers: Julie Andem (created by), Julie Andem
Stars: Iman Meskini, Ina Svenningdal, Josefine Frida Pettersen

New Wave 2008

New Wave 2008
1h 20min | Drama | TV Movie 19 September 2008
Storyline:
A little provincial town in the middle of the 80s. The life of Éric, a dreamy and lonely college pupil, was upset by the arrival of a new one in the class: Romain, a dissipated adolescent with a very strong new wave style, To open to him the doors of his universe. A friendship commits, until the day one remains for the other to leave … (google translated)
Director: Gaël Morel
Writer: Gaël Morel
Stars: Béatrice Dalle, Valentin Ducommun, Victor Chambon

Childhood Memories 2017

J’fais du Porno et j’aime ca 2009

Jen si tak trochu pisknout 1981

Jen si tak trochu pisknout 1981
1h 54min | Drama , Family | 1 April 1981 (Czechoslovakia)
Storyline:
Several big-city teenagers are falsely accused of vandalising a valuable organ, casting light on the hypocrisy of the adult world.
User review:
We are introduced to a Czech school environment during 1980 when the communist regime still ruled the country firmly.
Typical young children, the boys group with boys and girls with girls, but as puberty kicks in the dynamics change. A couple of naughty boys discover the stored set of valuable organ pipes from a church being restored. They nick a few pipes just for the hell of it. Unfortunately the theft is reported resulting in unforeseen circumstances.

Moon 44 (1990)

Moon 44 (1990)
1h 38min | Action , Sci-Fi , Thriller | 15 February 1990 (West Germany)
Storyline:
In 2038, Earth's mineral resources are drained, there are space fights for the last deposits on other planets and satellites. This is the situation when one of the bigger mining corporations has lost many mineral moons except one and many of their fully automatic mining robots are disappearing on their flight home. Since nobody else wants the job, they send prisoners as a last resort to defend the mining station. Among them, internal affairs agent Felix Stone, assigned to clear the whereabouts of the expensive robots. In an atmosphere of corruption, fear and hatred, Stone gets between the fronts of rivaling groups and locates the person committing sabotage.
User review:
During the eighties I used to purchase those fantastic Variety and Hollywood Reporter film market editions that were stuffed with movie poster ads advertising the latest film projects in various stages of development from dozens of companies. Unfortunately they stopped producing those great issues by the mid nineties. Anyway, I saw the poster ad for "Moon 44" and the imagery evoked Robert Heinlein. I couldn't wait for this film to come out and it never did. Or the film was in limited release. So finally, I secured a copy of this film on VHS cassette and checked it out. Here is my review.
"Moon 44" is actually a good sci-fi flick. I won't go into the story because you can get that elsewhere on this site. The movie struck me as a cross between "Outland" and "Brubaker". I think what also struck me is how impressive the production design was. I really felt I was watching a mining station on some far off celestial body. The acting was good and especially from Michael Pare and Brian Thompson. It's a good sci-fi film that is definitely worth a look!

Brazil Jungle 2016

Brazil Jungle 2016
11min | Short , Adult | 10 July 2016 (UK)
Storyline:
It is a multi-textural film with the visual appeal of an old school anthropological nature documentary, set in the male garden of Eden. A lost paradise of the Brazilian Amazon. The sex, the desire and the chasing are universal primitive animal instincts. This film portrays a territory free from taboos, where all types of tribes and a diverse typology of men communicate through the universal language of cruising. It is playfully animalistic but also very human, a cruising performance with explicit sex.
Director: Antonio da Silva
Country: UK | Portugal
Language: Portuguese
Release Date: 10 July 2016 (UK)

Chillerama 2011

Chillerama 2011
2h | Comedy , Horror | 22 August 2011 (Germany)
Storyline:
It's the closing night at the last drive-in theater in America and Cecil B. Kaufman has planned the ultimate marathon of lost film prints to unleash upon his faithful cinephile patrons. Four films so rare that they have never been exhibited publicly on American soil until this very night! With titles like Wadzilla, I Was A Teenage Werebear, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, and Zom-B-Movie, Chillerama not only celebrates the golden age of drive-in B horror shlock but also spans over four decades of cinema with something for every bad taste.
User review:
I really miss the drive in theaters. I always found those theaters really nice because not just do you get to watch movies outside and in the privacy of your own car, but sometimes these theaters got to premiere certain movies that you probably can't find in a regular movie theater which are of course the B movies, which I've always loved because they always contained such a creative energy but most importantly were fun.
This is an anthology horror parodies which I really like and that's cool since horror anthologies are a bit of a lost practice, let alone the fact we don't really have many that are horror parodies. It's also in a way a tribute to the beloved drive in that are now extinct.

Baise-moi 2000

Baise-moi 2000
1h 17min | Crime , Drama , Thriller | 28 June 2000 (France)
Storyline:
Manu and Nadine lose their last tenuous relationship with main-stream society when Manu gets raped and Nadine sees her only friend being shot. After a chance encounter, they embark on an explosive journey of sex and murder. Perhaps as a revenge against men, perhaps as a revolt against bourgeois society, but certainly in a negation – almost joyful in its senseless violence – of all the codes of a society which has excluded, raped and humiliated them. Controversial for its violence and real sex scenes: a vividly nihilist road movie set in France.
User review:
I'm not exactly a Francophile. I love the cooking but hate the restaurants. French is one of the great languages of the world, but I find the French attitude to it xenophobic. Yet there is one thing that always stirs my passion. I admire them for it. I wish we had an ounce of it in Britain.
The best known examples of course are the film protests in 1968 – a time when everyone was protesting about everything. But they helped, indirectly, to restore the international prestige of French cinema. When Baise-Moi was banned shortly after release in 2000, there were spontaneous street protests. Now this is a bit different – the film's artistic merits or lack of them are still a matter of debate. But I take my hats off to the French. I would love to see the British protest in the name of cinematic freedom. (The ban was eventually lifted after separate protests signed by Parisian intellectuals.)

Killa 2014

Killa 2014
1h 18min | Comedy , Drama | 26 June 2015 (India)
Storyline:
An 11-year-old moves to a small town because of his mother's job transfer. Initially he faces challenges adjusting this place, soon he get to know his classmates who becomes friends to him. He starts enjoying small moments with his friends. Once from school all gang decides to go for a cycle race. All of them reach to a 'Killa' and while exploring 'killa' Chinmay is left behind, sudden rains hit the place and all other friends leave him back there. he searches entire 'killa' for them and returns home very disappointed that no one cares for him. Same time his mom is faces some challenges at work which she is not able to express to Chinmay. Chinmay is also unhappy asking her mom to leave this place and go back to Pune where they came from. Then some point down the line he realizes that those friends cared about him, also how his mom is trying hard to handle all pressures and this little boy.
User review:
KILLA REVIEW- Wow is the only word when i left theater. Eagerly waiting for this movie because of its pre-release buzz and national award. So obviously expectations were high but i was expecting only quality or meaningful msg and film fulfill my expectations rather gave me surprise with its entertainment entertainment and entertainment. Shockingly film entertained me lot force me to laugh out loud and to throw whistles and claps to many scenes and dialogues. When you hear film has got national award we cant expect an entertaining film like there are films like Court from which we expected quality and it had quality overloaded.Films like this impresses us but fails to entertain but KILLA impresses us and entertain as well. Story starts with a simple plot a boy and his widow mother shifts to a small village due to her promotion in her government job. But the boy is not feeling friendly here in this village he is missing his cousin brother his uncle and his old place. He like to be silent always. Then he see a boys group having fun,doing naughty things,their vulgar conversation and how they are enjoying their lives. He starts to involve himself into that group and tries to be naughty like them but without leaving his interest in studies. One day they all go to a fort for a race but due to some misunderstanding and miss communication some circumstances comes into their friendship. And from here on story becomes meaningful that how the boy starts being smart and responsible. With the meaningful climax film ends on strong note. Acting is so natural that we all will fall in love with these boys. Each and every scene in school,their activities,dialogues are so natural. Audience were shouting, whistling, and clapping for those scenes. Really the most loved part of the film for me. Screenplay is tight and entertaining. With narrow runtime its completely enjoyable. There are no songs in the movie so cant talk about music but background music is impactful for scenes. I personally feel Sound work is awesome because whenever some vulgar words comes then sound goes low and we have to read subtitles to understand it. Camera work is good. Camera man succeeded in capturing beauty of nature. Direction wins the race here. I heard its his debut film but i just couldn't believe it after watching movie. He has done clap worthy job and i want to thank him for giving us such beautiful film. Final words,KILLA is masterpiece yet entertaining. Must watch for all ages and all kind of audiences like masses and classes. Classes will enjoy it and get some msg from the movie and masses will enjoy it if they doesn't understand the quality of film. Go and revisit your childhood and those golden moments of your school life. Kudos to the entire team of KILLA and thank you all from the bottom of my heart for giving yet another quality film to marathi cinema. 8 * Stars by me.
Director: Avinash Arun
Writers: Tushar Paranjape (screenplay), Tushar Paranjape (story)
Stars: Amruta Subhash, Archit Deodhar, Parth Bhalerao

Jack 2014

Jack 2014
1h 43min | Drama | 7 February 2014 (Germany)
Storyline:
For JACK (10), having a family is the most important thing in the world. Then, one day, his mother disappears. Together with his younger brother MANUEL (6), he embarks on a journey to find her… the journey of a boy who has learnt from an early age to take responsibility. In the end, his brave and startling decision holds up a mirror to all of us.
User review:
For a German drama this is pretty good. And for one starring mainly children it's almost incredible that it's as good as it is. It's tough finding suitable child actors who can convey emotions (other than being cute on screen that is). And this is far removed from cute on screen (though empathy obviously will play a major role on how you will watch and judge what happens).
Jack is the title character and is as all heroes in movies troubled. But the troubles feel more than real, the movie filmed to feel like it is a documentary (without narration). There are big obstacles in the way and a seemingly unachievable goal that the kid wants to accomplish. It's not the feel good movie you're looking for, but it might get you thinking about a few things in life … if you want entertainment though, look elsewhere

The Temptation of Eve 2013

The Temptation of Eve 2013
1h 52min | Adult , Drama , Romance | Video 19 August 2013
User review:
"The Temptation of Eve", misleadingly titled is one of filmmaker Jacky St. James' promising early efforts in a career that for me at least has fizzled out rather quickly. She made a big splash three years ago, but has settled into the crank 'em out XXX rut (think of Fred Lincoln or Carter Stevens back in the day) lately.
She wisely cast Remy LaCroix in the lead -she who would become perhaps the most celebrated actress of her generation. There's some good individual scenes in the writing of the contrived script, but it doesn't hold together. Chief story gimmick is that Remy and her struggling young beau Tommy Pistol are living at the mansion of her former boyfriend Snidely Whiplash, oops! – I mean Xander Corvus, fitting the role of a heavy oh so easily.
Taking place during the recent steep recession, Jacky makes good thematic use of the problems besetting folks out of work, and the very best scene in Act IV has an interesting variation on the Biblical myth of Lot's Wife. But most of the dramaturgy is artificial and just interesting enough to set up the requisite lengthy XXX scenes. For variation, Bailey Blue is impressive as a sexy bimbo, and always reliable India Summer graces the proceedings in a forgettable role.
But Xander the manipulator is a paper-thin characterization, perhaps passing muster in the inevitable pay-cable late-night soft-core edition of the movie, but still a drag overall. Pistol has yet to impress me, leaving Remy to salvage the movie with her always sympathetic yet often depressed character, better seen in Nica Noelle's "Nobody's Daughter", made the same year as "Eve".