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Three Los Angeles police
officers search for redemption in this poker-hot crime drama where hookers are cut to look
like movie stars and someone is muscling the mobsters out of town.
This award-winning
documentary uses archival footage and personal accounts to recount the displacement of
European Jews after World War II. It synthesises a people's need for a homeland as well as
the resistance and racism they encountered. Highly recommended.
 James Cameron’s epic is both a
visual spectacle and a great love story. The tragedy of the shipwreck underscores the
doomed lovers’ fates. While not ground breaking, the traditional script is true to
the era and told on a grand scale.
A patient and rewarding film
that divulges life's labours and pleasures. Relationships between a mother and daughter,
schoolboys, a young couple and elderly friends provide a tender and sometimes-painful
reflection on the human need for independence and companionship.
Our amnesiac hero is pursued
by aliens and a host of others in a neo-noir city. This apocalyptic tale of alien
abduction, telekinesis, murder and love is an entertaining and fantastic journey from the
director of The Crow. Sensational effects.
Tragic yet humorous story of
a boy whose mental health spirals downward as his parents' lives disintegrate. This
wonderful film is compelling and strangely entertaining, with credit due to author Patrick
McCabe, director Neil Jordan and young star Eamonn Owens.
Oscar-winning documentary
director Barbara Kopple takes us into the private life of Woody Allen, the comedian,
auteur, musician, brother, son, husband and neurotic in this must-see for Allen fans. He
proves to be a competent traditional Dixieland clarinettist.
Written and directed by David
Mamet, this is a classic mystery with clever twists and deceptive red herrings. Simple
hero Joe Ross falls blindly into a treacherous scam of murder, money and illusion, where
he doesn't know who to trust.
 The journey of a
lawyer to a small town in shock after a horrific bus crash. His purpose is to convince the
townspeople to file a class action lawsuit. This exploration of painful emotions has
brains, heart and a soul.
Anastasia hooks up with two
con-artists on a journey to Paris. The delightfully evil Rasputin is out to murder the
young Russian princess. Fox gives Disney a run for its money with fantastic animation and
exciting action. Highly recommended.
Seminal director Martin
Scorsese is our guide on this literate and passionate journey through American cinema. The
'talking heads' approach is static, but Scorsese's fine narration and intriguing choices
of film make this a must-see for students of film.
Powerful and disturbing story
of the horrors of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, honestly portrayed through a combination of
dramatic film and news footage. There’s barely a false note in this powerful
indictment of terrible war crimes and international neglect.
Gina and her officious
husband accompany her aunt's corpse to Havana for a funeral. Along the way, relationships
ignite and falter. Romantic, funny and politically savvy; inspiring and potent in its
simplicity. From the makers of Strawberry and Chocolate.
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Once the embodiment of
Norway, Hamsun was the infamous traitor who publicly supported Nazi Germany. Although
impeded by a lengthy narrative, this sympathetic profile of an inflexible will is tender
and bitter. A prime performance by Max Von Sydow.
A low-key story of upper
middle class American family life in the 1970s. Kevin Kline and Joan Allen star in this
exploration of hypocrisy, loneliness and the struggle for greater meaning. An intelligent,
powerful and worthwhile film.
Can young tormented math
genius Will Hunting be taught to believe in himself and his gift before he self-destructs?
An intelligent, plausible and likeable drama with a fine ear for dialogue and a series of
strong performances.
A young aristocratic wannabe
(Helena Bonham Carter) in Edwardian England hatches a plot to have her penniless lover woo
a terminally ill American heiress. This adaptation of the Henry James novel is richly
textured, well acted and deeply moving.
A fascinating glimpse into
both the political machine and the sordid life of Clinton-esque Governor Jack Stanton as
he campaigns for his party's 1992 presidential nomination. John Travolta is at his
charismatic best as the compelling but tragically flawed politician.
 A challenging and
powerful film about the terrible realities of poverty, revolutionary conflict and how easy
it can be to hide from the truth. It's not easy to sit through, but John Sayles' latest is
well worth watching.
The story of African
mutineers as they fight inhuman conditions aboard a slave ship, then must later battle for
their freedom in American courts. The scenes aboard ship are much more dramatic than the
courtroom scenes that conclude the film.
A beautiful, heartbreaking,
spectacular film telling the story of Tibet's Dalai Lama from age two through his 1959
exile China took over his country. Martin Scorsese has done a fabulous job of putting the
pieces together into a compelling film.
This fast-paced psychological
thriller features a tight plot, believable script and effective performances by Michael
Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow. It's a successful remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for
Murder that proves jealousy, greed and lust are timeless.
A tale of some of life’s
more fragile and desperate citizens, She’s So Lovely is not your typical love
story. Despite the fact that it’s often hard to figure out who to pull for, this is a
terrific film.
A story of inner city
hopelessness, as young criminals progress from petty thievery to more serious trouble. In
their midst a romance blossoms, but it too seems doomed. A tragic and compelling film with
bang-on performances by its young cast.
 Robert Redford
directs and stars in this effective blend of humanist and naturalist filmmaking. A family
enlists a 'horse whisperer' to help heal their injured daughter, her horse, and the whole
family. Beautiful cinematography overwhelms the love story.
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