Cinema Directory

Summary: Sabine, a young mathematics genius (maybe more "uncommonly talented for mathematics" than "genius") living in the poor part of Lille (the main french north city) discovers love and sex with an older man, a theater author who comes from czekia. Sabine gets foolish, makes great mistakes, is both cruel and innocent, disturbs all her life and gets out of her destiny...

Languages: French

Summary: Daniel Lefebvre (Philippe Torreton) is teacher and director of the ecole maternelle, a pre-school open to children ages 2 to 6 in northern France. In Bernard Tavernier's deeply moving film, It All Starts Today, the children are the stars. Their faces and loving smiles shine through the grimness of their circumstances. Based on the notebooks of Tavernier's son-in-law Dominique Sampiero, a provincial teacher, the film is about the difficulties and challenges of children but is also a tribute to the courage and commitment of teachers. Lefebvre is a poet whose voice-over narration adds a touching lyricism to the film. "We'll tell our children it was hard", he writes. "Piles of stones placed one by one. We'll tell the children it was hard but their fathers are lords and this is their legacy. A pile of stones and the courage to lift them".

The school is in a town that has been hit hard by the closure of the coalmine, and where unemployment has reached 34 percent. Lefebvre is a gentle and compassionate teacher but a tough administrator who tries to shake the political bureaucracy into providing adequate programs for the school. He protests loudly against budget cuts and insensitive government regulations and the shortage of trained professionals. Lefebvre shows anger and frustration in the scene where he slams the door in the face of a visiting social worker, and when he storms into the Mayor's office to rail against cutbacks in the school lunch program. He is hardest on himself, however, when tragedy befalls an alcoholic mother and her family, and when his common-law wife Valeria's (Maria Pitteresi) young son Remi (Lambert Marchal) gets into trouble, challenging his commitment to return to the school the following year.

The problems of the school are severe but not exaggerated. Being the husband of a pre-school teacher I know the kinds of circumstances that parents and teachers face every day and they are not that different from those shown in the film. Tavernier does not idealize the poor or romanticize their circumstances but shows us conditions as they exist. This is a message film and we do get the message, but it doesn't seem preachy because it comes from a passion that springs naturally from the lives of the characters. But the magic of the film lies in the children themselves. There is no acting or interpretation. The camera zooms around the school with lightning speed catching the spontaneity of the children singing, dancing, talking, playing, and just being themselves. It All Starts Today does not offer any simple solutions and can be dark, but, at the end, when each child comes up to the camera for a final smile I felt only lightness and joy. Being around children and adults with courage will do that.

Summary: Cache Cash is a pleasant, well made film about two French Children (Aurelian Wiit and Josephine Serre) who find the loot from a bank heist. Feeling that they have been unfairly disciplined by their respective guardians, they take the money and run off to the sea shore to spend it on a good time and to release some captive lobsters from an expensive restaurant. However, they are unaware that one of the robbers, a vicious, razor wielding career criminal, is hot on their trail. (~IMDb)

Summary: Romão, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. A family of seven journeys 2,000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, the story explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge with the courage to pursue dreams.

Summary: Based on a true story, Camino is an emotional adventure set around a dazzling 11-year-old girl simultaneously faced with two completely new events in her life: falling in love and dying. Above all, Camino is a bright light capable of shining through every one of the dark doors that try to stifle her desire to live, love and find happiness once and for all.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0

Summary: The story starts out with people going to Max's (Oliver Cotton) funeral 40 years after WWII. On the way to the funeral each person, several generations of family and friends reminisce on their earlier war years where five cousins gathered at their uncles' house with a chamomile lawn.

The costumes and sets were impeccable and carried you to a different world and time. You feel that you lived through the war. We see the destruction and disruption caused by the war.

We see the casualties of war and the trials for those left behind. In the midst of this people are growing up and making decisions, strange or unconventional decisions. Some of the film has the feel of the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird".

At first I was distracted because the actors are so well known such as Felicity Kendal (Helena Cuthbertson) and Paul Eddington (Richard Cuthbertson.) Hoverer by the end I came to look on them as the characters that they are playing.

Being a mini-series there is more time to add the finer points of the book. However there are a lot of subjects and actions that are just implied or not complete thoughts. I can only assume that the film relies heavily on one reading the book first. With the exception on one story line being wrapped up in the end many lose ends lead one to realize this is not a story with a beginning middle and end; it is just a snippet of life that is taken at face value as we move on.

Languages: English

Comments: A Comedy About Drama

Summary: After a series of Broadway flops, songwriter Bert Hanley (Dixon) goes to work at a musical camp for young performers. Inspired by the kids, he finds an opportunity to regain success by staging an altogether new production.

Languages: English

Comments: No parents, no counselors, no rules.

Summary: At the end of each school year young Morris "Mud" Himmel and his friends are unceremoniously packed off by their parents to summer camps that specialize in computer programming, military training, or calorie counting. However, this summer Morris and his clever cohorts have determined to create their own vacation haven. And with help from out-of-work high school drama teacher Dennis Van Welker (Christopher Lloyd) -- who passes himself off to each of the kids' parents as the owner of different phony theme camps -- the kids fabricate an elaborate scheme to take control of their summer. With no counselors, no rules or parental supervision, calamity prevails as the teens turn a rented group of dilapidated cabins near a leech-filled lake into the wildest, video game-filled, junk food eating and unencumbered summer camp a parent would never allow his kids to attend; in short -- the best camp in the world.

Comments: Deep in the woods, no one can hear you scream.

Summary: A group of teens, stranded in the woods after a car accident, entertain themselves by telling classic horror stories. What follows is a series of eerie tales that include monsters, psychopaths, and ghosts, and that remind you that things aren't always what they seem.

Comments: Ronald is making an investment in his senior year. He's hiring the prettiest cheerleader in school to be his girlfriend.

Summary: Ronald Miller is tired of being a nerd, and makes a deal with one of the most popular girls in school to help him break into the "cool" clic. He offers her a thousand dollars to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. It succeeds, but he soon learns that the price of popularity may be higher than he expected.

Languages: English

Summary: Welcome to Candleshoe, a stately English manor where a swashbuckling pirate hid a fortune in Spanish doubloons centuries ago. And that's what young orphan Casey (Award-winning actress Jodie Foster) and a sly con man (Leo McKern) are determined to find. But first she must dupe Candleshoe's widowed owner into believing she's her long-lost granddaughter! Casey eventually discovers there may be an even greater treasure at Candleshoe -- the love of a happy family. Legendary stars David Niven and Helen Hayes join Foster in this humorous and heartwarming adventure presented for the first time in its original, uncut theatrical version!

Summary: In the 1600s, cowardly Sir Simon of Canterville flees a duel and seeks solace in the family castle. His ashamed father seals him in the room where he is hiding and dooms him to life as a ghost until one of his descendants performs a brave deed. Simon believes he may be saved when he meets Cuffy Williams, an American kinsman stationed with a troop of soldiers at the castle in 1943. Will this blood relative save the family honor, or will his blood be as yellow as the rest of the Cantervilles?

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Comments: There is nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light. Except fear.

Summary: A recently-released rapist stalks the family of the attorney who defended him.

Summary: In the remote Alpine village of Tolzbad at the turn of the century, people talk quietly and restrain their movements lest avalanches come and kill them. This atmosphere lends itself to repressed emotions - shown through the parallel stories of butler student Johann lusting after his mother (an old flame of the mysterious Count Knotkers) and Klara's attraction to her father (who lusts after his other daughter), leading to duels and suicidal plunges galore. All this is shot in the style of an early German sound film, complete with intertitles, deliberately crackly soundtrack and 'hand-tinted' colour effects.

Languages: English, Unknown

Summary: In her mid-twenties, Tory Bodeen returns to the small Carolina town of her childhood, where her best friend Hope was murdered in an unsolved assault. Tory is blessed - or maybe cursed - with the ability to see events in the past and present, and although at the time she knew what has happening to Hope, she was unable to prevent it or to see who the assailant was. Her father, a righteous religious fanatic, remains a suspect. As the anniversary of Hopes death approaches, Tory resolves to face her demons with the help of childhood friends - her cousin Wade, Hope's sister Faith, and Hope's brother Cade, who still carries a torch for her. Will friends be enough?

Summary: Being 6 years old, and having to live with your grandmother who is 75 years and has very old fashioned ideas, is not easy to say the least. That the situation leads to rebellion only seems logic..

Languages: English, PCM

Summary: Terry and Peter Ctilwell enjoy a close friendship with their next-door neighbours Donna and Hank Bolen. Their children have grown up running through each other's houses and both families have shared their joys and sorrows. However, when the Ctilwells' six-year-old son Casey drowns in the Bolens' unsupervised swimming pool, the tragedy threatens to tear their friendship apart.

Comments: Sometimes love is hiding between the seconds of your life

Summary: When art student Ben Willis dumps his girlfriend Suzy, he develops insomnia after finding out how quickly she moved on. To pass the long hours of the night, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colorful cast of characters, all of whom have their own 'art' in dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour-shift. Ben's art is that he imagines himself stopping time. This way, he can appreciate the artistic beauty of the frozen world and the people inside it - especially Sharon, the quiet checkout girl, who perhaps holds the answer to solving the problem of Ben's insomnia.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; English, DTS 5.1 ES; French, Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish, Dolby Digital 5.1; Commentary by Director Brad Silberling, Unknown

Comments: Get An Afterlife

Summary: Furious that her late father only willed her his gloomy-looking mansion rather than his millions, Carrigan Crittenden (Moriarty) is ready to burn the place to the ground when she discovers a map to a treasure hidden in the house. But when she enters the rickety mansion to seek her claim, she is frightened away by a wicked wave of ghosts. Determined to get her hands on this hidden fortune, she hires afterlife therapist Dr. James Harvey (Pullman) to exorcise the ghosts from the mansion. Harvey and his daugh- ter Kat (Ricci) move in, and soon Kat meets Casper, the ghost of a young boy who's "the friendliest ghost you know." But not so friendly are Casper's uncles--Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie--who are determined to drive all "fleshies" away. Ultimately, it is up to Harvey and Kat to help the ghosts cross over to the other side.

Languages: Spanish

Summary: The story of a disciplined and sexually driven man who keeps his family isolated in his home for years to protect them from the "evil nature" of human beings while inventing (with his wife) rat poison.

Languages: English, French,

Comments: They're on a mission without permission.

Summary: A remake of the Danish blockbuster "Klatretøsen," CATCH THAT GIRL is described as "Ocean's 11" or "Mission: Impossible" for kids. The action-packed caper revolves around a 12-year old girl who, with the help of two friends, robs the state-of-the-art bank where her mother works to acquire the cash needed for a costly operation to save her dying father. During the heist, the kids overcome high-tech security systems, guard dogs, and a nasty head of security to get to a bank vault suspended 100-feet above ground.

Comments: Sometimes you just want to fit in...or not

Summary: Caterina, who loves music, moves at 12 from the sticks to Rome where her parents must care for an invalid aunt. At school, her simple and direct ways make her appealing to two cliques: one led by Margherita, the Bohemian daughter of leftist intellectuals, and the other headed by the preppy Daniela, daughter of one of Berlusconi's ministers. Caterina's navigating a new city, a new school, new friends, the onset of puberty, and the cross-cutting politics of wealth, class, and ideology in Rome is complicated by her parents, each profoundly unhappy. What hope is there for someone who doesn't play the game?

Comments: This Winter, One Wish Will Change Everything.

Summary: Emily is trying to find her father. Susan is trying to forget the past. Stephen is haunted by the past and Carl, the town policeman, has plenty to hide. His wife Elizabeth is afraid of her suspicions while son Joel has a secret love of his own. When a bible turns up with an intriguing inscription, Emily is the first to realise that wishing for change is not enough.

Summary: A traumatic event sends a musician (Sedgwick) back to her hometown in an effort to reunite with the daughters she abandoned. To do so, she must confront her abusive ex-husband (Quinn), from whom she fled years ago.

Summary: Paris during the 1920s. Ever since her parents' separation, ten-year-old Maisie has been travelling to and fro between her father Beale Farange and her mother Ida. She spends half a year with each one alternately. But neither parent can provide Maisie with the warmth and affection she so desperately needs. Instead, the young girl is used by her parents as a kind of courier, in an enthusiastically waged little war. All Maisie wants is a proper family again. It's only when her new governess Betty Overmore arrives on the scene that things begin to change. Mlle Betty and Maisie soon grow extremely fond of one another, and Betty develops an almost maternal affection for the young girl. Filled with mistrust, Ida Farange watches Maisie blossoming. When the mother is away on a trip and the governess and Maisie both actually go to stay with her father, Ida Farange at last has the perfect excuse to rid herself of her rival by dismissing her, ostensibly for the child's own good. The jealous Ida now makes sure that her daughter has absolutely no contact with either her father or her former governess for the next six-month period. Maisie has almost given up all hope when she suddenly finds an ally she hadn't reckoned with - a new figure in her life, Baron Claude, Ida Farange's second husband. The young nobleman strikes up an immediate friendship with his stepdaughter, and Maisie in turn discovers the warmth in him that her mother so sorely lacks. And it's with Baron Claude's help that Maisie is finally able to have a meeting in secret with Betty, her former governess. It turns out that Betty has stayed on with Beale Farange - she and Maisie's father have fallen in love. Radiant with joy, Betty tells little Maisie that she is now Mme Farange, her stepmother. The only cloud on the horizon for Maisie now is the fact that all her meetings still have to remain absolutely secret. Back home again, Maisie is forced to watch on as Ida Farange destroys her marriage with Claude by taking a lover. The Baron sees no alternative but to separate from his unfaithful wife. But he doesn't want to leave Maisie. With the aid of Mme Wix, the new governess, he succeeds in meeting his stepdaughter Maisie regularly. Soon little Maisie moves in with her father again. The girl realises that life with Betty has changed him: he's no longer the cold unfeeling patriarch, but instead greets his daughter with an embrace that's heartfelt and very affectionate. Maisie finally thinks she's discovers the family she was always looking for. Even Claude, as a friend of hers, is accepted with open arms by her father and Betty. But at this point Maisie discovers that her father is ill - very ill indeed. Will this be yet another blow of fate? Worriedly, she watches her father grow weaker and weaker; for his part, all he can think of is his daughter. With the aid of Betty, Claude and Mme Wix he succeeds in gaining custody of her from Ida. And on his deathbed he gets Claude - who has now become a firm friend - to promise that he will look after Maisie for him whatever happens. After her father's death Maisie thinks her family happiness has been shattered for good. But Claude makes good on his promise, and he and Betty take care of the young girl. Soon the two adults are united by a lot more than just a common interest in the girl's welfare. And when Mme Wix hands in her notice to Ida and moves in with them, the family is complete once more.

Summary: It's a hot holiday season in the city and Alena is pretty much left to her own little self, fantasizing and running her personal daily rituals, keeping most people at a safe distance, yet trying to get male attention. After seeing a romantic scene on TV and meeting her military neighbour she starts flirting. When she finds out the soldier she fell in love with has other priorities, she realizes that maybe it's too soon to grow up - and it's alright for the summer to be over. There's nothing wrong with rain.

Comments: The eerie, chilling tale of one child's terror.

Summary: Celia Carmichael (Rebecca Smart) is a lonely nine-year-old girl growing up in the Melbourne suburbs in the late 1950s, who is the victim of several traumas with horrific results. She first finds her grandmother's dead body. Then she has nightmares from a book read to her at school. For a spell, her troubles are abated when a new family moves in next door with three children for Celia to play with. But her parents forbid her to play with the children because the parents are members of the Communist Party. It all comes to a head when, because of a national plague of rabbits, the Victoria State government orders a turning over of all domestic rabbits. When her uncle confiscates her beloved pet rabbit and discovers that it has died in the Melbourne Zoo, Celia explodes in violent revenge

Languages: English

Comments: Love knows no limits.

Summary: After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie's new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Combining the effervescent Olsen twins with the sizzling popularity of a "Survivor"-style reality show, "The Challenge" is a seemingly perfect concoction for Mary Kate and Ashley fans. In this G-rated jaunt, the perky twins play Shane and Lizzie, two estranged sisters who are unwittingly cast together to compete as teammates in seven grueling contests. Residing on separate coasts after their parent's divorce, the girls are polar opposites: Lizzie is ambitious and high-strung, while Shane is a tree-hugging vegetarian. Now in Mexico, they will eat, sleep, and socialize as one while a ruthless producer hopes the ensuing sibling controversy will spike the show's ratings. Amid the daring feats and romantic entanglements, the twins realize that their greatest challenge will be to accept each other's differences. If viewers overlook the painfully contrived plot and deplorable acting, the result is a clean, family film that goes no deeper than a pretty face. (Ages 7 to 12) "--Lynn Gibson"

Summary: After her father dies and she moves to a new town, Mackie wants to join a certain gang/band. But they've got this boys-only rule. So Mackie comes up with an audacious plan...only it begins to backfire.

Languages: Deutsch

Summary: Ten years ago Wolf and Sabine Palfy got divorced. Since then their daughter Charlie grew up with her father and her twin sister Louise lived with her mother. They never knew anything about one another and thus only met by chance when they join a boarding school in Scotland. At first they cannot stand each other but after a while they start gathering information about their origin. Realizing their relationship they plan to bring their parents back together: Thus, Charlie visits her mother and pretends to be Louise, whereas her sister goes to the father pretending to be Charlie.

Comments: Oompa-Loompas are crazy for Coco-Beans

Summary: A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.

Summary: Stan, screeplay writer, had his time of glory in Hollywood. Today, alcoholic with a certain envy for suicide, his only link to life is his daughter, Charlotte.

Languages: French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Summary: Every holiday Marcel and his family go to their cottage in the Provence (France). He likes the hills in this region. Before they arrive at the cottage they have to walk about 5 miles.

With the co-operation of an ex-pupil of Marcels father, who's a teacher, they only have to walk 1 mile, since they can take a shortcut along a canal, through the backyards of some excentric people. During one of these holidays he meets Isabelle, a pretty but conceited girl...

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Commentary by director Shawn Levy; Commentary by the Baker Kids, Unknown

Comments: This Christmas The More... The Scarier!

Summary: The Bakers, a family of 12, move from small-town Illinois to the big city after Tom Baker (Martin) gets his dream job to coach his alma mater's football team. Meanwhile, his wife (Hunt) also gets her dream of getting her book published. While she's away promoting the book, Tom has a hard time keeping the house in order while at the same time coaching his football team, as the once happy family starts falling apart.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Comments: Putting The System To The Test

Summary: In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High recruits seven students for an academic decathlon team. They work long hours, preparing for the February regional event, won for ten straight years by a privileged, preppy school. Steinmetz finishes just well enough to be invited to the state meet. When a team member steals a copy of the state test, the teacher and kids face a dilemma: to remain honest, or to cheat and score a victory for kids in underfunded schools. When they do well, they must face a withering barrage of investigations, accusations, lawyers' lies, and reporters' intrusions. Is it all worth it? What lessons does cheating teach?

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish, Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: Clever little film, based around two orphan siblings who take in a dumped puppy, somehow smuggle him into the orphanage and later into their adopted home in New York - a high-rise apartment where dogs are banned. Amazingly, they manage to 'hide' the dog from their adopted parents for some time before it rampages through a wedding reception, and is forced to leave the home... and the children... behind. But, as the title suggests, it has just a little twist to warm even the coldest of hearts. The star of the show might be the dog, but the acting skills of some of the humans cannot go amiss. The only ones allowed to develop sufficiently enough are the children. Makenzie Vega is, as usual, solid and she carries the film throughout admirably. It's surprising that she has not been able to shine with more lead roles in feature films, which she justifiably deserves. And little Abigail Breslin brings a slice of heartfelt sympathy to the children's plight, especially near the conclusion as she looks for her sister. Many of the younger kids in the cinema were visibly in tears by the end of the film and with good reason - it does more than just tug at your emotional side. It is, essentially, a kids' film which adults can also watch and smile at.

Summary: Melodrama in four novellas.
About our contemporaries who, despite their young or old age, search and find love. Each short story is based on a classical myth.

Comments: Who Saw Her Die?

Summary: A young girl is brutally murdered somewhere in France. Sometime later, the same thing happens to the daughter of a well-known sculptor. This time the parents (the sculptor and his wife) start investigating, and soon find they are in way over their head. Meanwhile, the body-count keeps rising as the killer now starts butchering all those who find out too much...

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Comments: It will make you squirm.

Summary: A church is built during medieval times on top of a pile of dead bodies that were considered possessed. Hundreds of years later a young librarian unleashes the evil within, by removing a rock in the catacombs. Series of events occur meanwhile, everybody just does not seem to be the same. Father Gus is the only one not possessed, he must save the city from becoming a pandemonium, he must find the ancient secret of the church so it can crumble to pieces.

Comments: A throbbing tale of shackled youth!

Summary: Schoolteacher in a rural community campaigns to stop the practice of older men marrying young, underage girls.

Summary: Dramatization of the lives of the people of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, collectively known as "Short Creek," a community made up of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon separatist group practicing child marriage and polygamy.

Specifically, a boy is shocked that his father (Christopher Atkins), a veteran of the Korean War, wishes to take a 15-year-old girl for another wife.

Summary: Alexander Armsworth and his family move to an authentic antibellum mansion, which once was owned by a river pirate. Alexander is drawn into a century-old mystery when he sees the ghost of a little girl, and she asks for his help in finding the "child of glass" by reciting a riddle. He has only a day or two to solve the riddle, or be haunted for the rest of his life!

Comments: A child doesn't do something like that for no good reason, does she?

Summary: An English couple (Joanne Whalley and Adrian Dunbar) who are desperate for children adopt two sisters from Canada whose mother had been murdered. When they get back to England, the elder child (brilliantly played by Hannah Lochner, above) throws tantrums and attacks a boy with a pair of scissors. The adoptive mother, however, is a child psychologist whose therapeutic instincts dovetail perfectly with the demands of a thriller. What if I take her back to Canada to where it happened, she says. Maybe it will trigger a memory. Hmm...

Summary: New Years Eve, and two families are gathering together to celebrate the holiday. What begins as a relaxing vacation for Elaine and Jonah turns suddenly into a vicious fight for their lives when the children mysteriously begin to take ill and lash out. This terrifying new horror pits a family against itself as the kids turn on their parents with horrifying consequences.

Summary: On September 1, 2004, a group of heavily armed rebel extremists stormed into School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia. For three days, more than a thousand children and adults were held hostage in a sweltering gymnasium, denied food and water, and forced to keep their hands over their heads. The harrowing siege ended on September 3 with a series of explosions and a hail of gunfire that killed some 350 people - half of them children. In this film, the youngest survivors of Beslan tell their story.

Languages: English

Comments: In a sleepy midwestern town... A horrifying evil is about to rise again!

Summary: The horror returns when the children of a small midwestern town are haunted by an unspeakable evil that lurks somewhere out behind the corn fields. A bright young medical student must solve the frightening mystery that plagues the children ... before a sinister stranger can claim their souls for his own! It's a pulse-pounding race against time and terror that will leave even the most die-hard suspense fans on the edge of their seats!

Comments: So young, so innocent, so deadly - they came to conquer the world!

Summary: Psychologist Tom Llewellyn and geneticist David Neville have found the smartest child in the world: Paul Looran, a British boy. However, they soon realize that 5 other children around the world are of the same intelligence and even the same entity. Seems these kids can read minds so what is said to one, is said to all. These children are brought to England, but when the various governments become worried about losing control of the children, the children band together and take over an abandoned church. It becomes a test of wills between brains and brawn!

Summary: Theatre Street is the popular name for Rossi Street, on which the entrance to the Kirov's school is located. Entrance exams are held annually. Thousands of children, aged 10-12, apply; only 20 are selected. Some of the rigorous audition process is shown--the children are chosen for specific physical proportions and natural physical abilities. As the narrator tells us, "Talent is considered worth measuring only when it occurs in the right body." Those chosen face eight years of relative luxury and privilege in the Soviet Union, but also a life of hard work and discipline.

Featured are an 11-year-old girl, a 13-year old boy, and two girls from the graduating class, with much of the focus on preparations for the upcoming graduation performance. The students are shown going to performances, a beach on the Gulf of Finland, and Petrodvorets, the tsars' summer palace near St. Petersburg. They are also shown in a meeting of the Pioneers, the first step in becoming a member of the Communist Party. Some of the activities and interviews with the students were obviously staged (such as a pillow fight when the boy "sneaks" into the girls' dorm) and many are suspect. I wondered how much of the purported closeness between the featured students was for the sake of the film. One real and touching moment, which the scriptwriters chose not to translate, was when the two graduating girls, who are roommates, have finished their much-anticipated (and dreaded) graduation performance and are congratulating each other, full of excitement and relief.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Comments: Sometimes extraordinary things happen in the most ordinary places

Summary: 12 year old Lily Bobbit moves to Medda, Ala, and immediately makes an impression on the residents when she and her friends team up to outsmart a con man, the town is changed forever.

Languages: English

Summary: This astonishingly intimate documentary follows five homeless children in Romania, where the collapse of communism has led to a life on the street for 20,000 children. From a 16-year-old girl who runs her gang with a mixture of brutality and compassion, to a small, intelligent, and remarkably articulate 12-year-old boy, these children seem at first feral and frightening--yet over the course of the movie their loneliness, desperation, and glimpses of hope will transform how you perceive them. Make no mistake: this is difficult watching. As "Children Underground" explores the meager state resources to support these children and follows some of the children back to their difficult families, the scope of the problem becomes larger and more irresolvable. But this documentary offers an unblinking and deeply compassionate insight into the extremes of human existence; you will not forget it easily. "--Bret Fetzer"

Comments: One of Broadway's greatest hits...becomes powerful, adult screen drama!

Summary: A private school for young girls is scandalized when one spiteful student, Mary Tilford, accuses the two young women who run the school of having a lesbian relationship.

Languages: German, Unknown

Summary: A wealthy couple, with a daughter Angela, a young teen who walks with crutches, tells each other they are off for the weekend on business (he to Oslo, she to Milan). Actually, both are meeting their lovers, and both go to the family's county home, Traunitz castle. Surprising each other, there's sophisticated laughter; they decide to continue as planned. Dinner, however, is interrupted by the arrival of Angela and her mute attendant, also named Traunitz. The next day, the child initiates a game of "Chinese roulette," in which one team tries to guess which of them the other team is thinking of by asking questions. The game has an edge of cruelty and the results are explosive.

Languages: English, French

Comments: It Was Just An Old Neglected Car. Who Could Have Guessed...

Summary: This remastered, pan-and-scan 30th-anniversary edition of that kiddie-car caper is flawed but solid family fare. It retains a quaint charm while some of the songs--including the title tune--are quite hummable. A huge plus is Dick Van Dyke, who is extremely appealing as an eccentric inventor around the turn of the century. With nimble fingers and a unique way of looking at the world, he invents for his children a magic car that floats and flies. Or does he? The special effects are tame by today's standards, and the film is about 20 minutes too long--but its enthusiasm charms. The script was cowritten by Roald Dahl and based on the novel by Ian Fleming, best known for his James Bond adventures. "--Rochelle O'Gorman"

Summary: Combination of live action and animated sequences. Two children secretly bring a mysterious living matter home from their summer holidays.

Languages: French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Summary: A young French woman returns to the vast silence of West Africa to contemplate her childhood days in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Her strongest memories are of the family's houseboy, Protee - a man of great nobility, intelligence and beauty - and the intricate nature of relationships in a racist society.

Languages: English, German

Comments: One Taste Is All It Takes

Summary: A woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop in a small French village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.

Languages: English, German

Comments: Sie erleben den Himmel. Sie erleben die Hölle. Sie sind noch Kinder und haben ihre Zukunft schon verspielt.

Summary: Einen Moment zu viel allein, eine Minute zu lange nicht dazu gehört, einen Abend zu viel die volle Aufmerksamkeit vermisst. Sucht ist ein Prozess, und weil sie das ist, beginnt sie sich früh und unbemerkt zu entwickeln bis eines Tages eine Kleinigkeit das Fass zum Überlaufen bringt. Es geschieht so verblüffend nebensächlich, es wirkt so unspektakulär, wie "Christiane F." von einer schüchternen Dreizehnjährigen, die in einem Neubauviertel wohnt, zu einer Heroinabhängigen wird, die am Bahnhof Zoo auf dem Babystrich landet.
Gerade das ist Regisseur Uli Edel ("Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn", 1988, "Rasputin", 1996) gelungen: in den Feinheiten darzustellen, wie unsichtbar die Falle der Abhängigkeit lauert und wie gnadenlos sie bereits in dem Moment zuschnappt, wo der Betroffene beim ersten "nur einmal probieren" noch die Kontrolle zu haben glaubt. Er hat genau die Eckpfeiler heraus gearbeitet, die das Überlaufen verursachen: Umzug in eine große Stadt, Auszug der Schwester, eine mit ihrer Arbeit und ihrem Freund beschäftigte Mutter, keine richtigen Freunde und diese kleinen Augenblicke, in denen das Leben immer wieder abbiegt -- in die falsche Richtung. Der Film konzentriert sich auf den Weg in die Abhängigkeit. Pädagogische Reaktionen der Eltern fallen raus.
Natja Brunkhorst, die sich als Christiane F. im Handumdrehen vom hübschen Teenager in ein verlebtes Wrack verwandeln muss, erbringt schauspielerisch hervorragende Leistungen. Sie ist auch die Einzige der Darsteller, die später in weiteren Kinofilmen zu sehen ist (z.B. in der Milieustudie "Tiger, Löwe. Panther" oder in "Hörigkeit des Herzens"). Das Drehbuch zur Buchvorlage, für die Kai Hermann und Horst Rieck viele Tonbandaufnahmen mit der berühmtesten Fixerin Deutschlands auswerteten, schrieb Hermann Weigel (auch Drehbuchschreiber von "Die unendliche Geschichte" und Produzent von "Ballermann 6"). Star-Mitwirkender ist David Bowie, mit dem extra für den Film Konzertaufnahmen gemacht wurden.
Ein gelungener Streifen, der sagt, was er sagen soll, sagen will und sagen muss. "--Daphne von Unruh"

Comments: Two kids, a mall, a million in cash, ...what could go wrong?

Summary: It's turning out to be a pretty rotten Christmas for the Saunders family. Having just moved to a new city from Los Angeles, they have no friends, no money and, with the exception of the bright-eyed Mary, no Christmas spirit. To make matters worse, their mother is stuck in L.A., stranded by airline overbookings. So, the Christmas shopping duties fall on Dad and the gloomy kids. Things start looking a bit more like Christmas when 12-year old Brian and 6-year old Mary find a satchel of money at the local mall and they launch a Yuletide shopping spree...that is, until the crooks who counterfeited the money chase them through the mall packed with holiday shoppers.

Summary: When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement, and to allow her son to watch him work on it. The commission takes their relationship to unexpected places as the young client makes greater and more difficult demands of the woodcarver's ability, and as Christmas approaches, the three struggle to come to terms with each other, their painful memories and the process of putting their unhappiness behind them.

Languages: English

Comments: A New Age Has Begun.

Summary: "Prince Caspian" finds the Pevensie siblings pulled back into the land of Narnia, where a thousand years have passed since they left. The children are once again enlisted to join the colorful creatures of Narnia in combating an evil villain who prevents the rightful Prince from ruling the land.

Languages: French, Dolby Digital 5.1; English, Dolby Digital 5.1

Comments: Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny.

Summary: Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance a mystical lion.

Summary: The story of of a young boy who does not want to pass onto the next grade because the girl he likes is held back a year.

Summary: In this cutting though sometimes slow-paced study of children and their ability to be cruel, director Rolan Bykov focuses the eye of the camera on the experiences of a young girl, Lena (Kristina Orbakaite). When the 12-year-old Lena moves into a new town with her grandfather, they are both ostracized because they are different. He is crotchety and eccentric, a collector of old paintings, and she is too shy and anxious to please the usual friends. When she is blamed for something she did not do, the children decide to go after her with a vengeance -- and that is when the cruelty escalates. As Lena begins to get some backbone to withstand her tormentors, fate is waiting in the wings to help her out just a little.

Summary: CIAO BELLA is a film about yearning for the big love and the insane roller coaster ride of pain, tears and butterflies that comes along with it. In classic Hollywood fashion, we get to follow two teenagers on their journey... straight into each others arms. But there isn't enough time. Just one week. Sometimes life's greatest decisions have to be made at the age of sixteen. Mustafa Moradi is aching to find a girlfriend. The trouble is, girls just want him as their friend. Then suddenly he's struck by a brilliant idea: he'll simply pretend to be Italian. At Gothia Cup. And finally, a world of possibilities presents itself. On the other end of the city, Linnea is desperately searching for a guy with style, courage and a burning passion. Not an easy task for a girl living in Sweden's most tedious and ugly suburb. Who knows what would have become of her, had she not met Massimo, the most romantic Italian in the world.

Languages: Italian

Summary: Tuscany in the summer of 1944.Following their parent’s death in an accident,

Penny and her younger sister Baby are taken in by their aunt, who lives with
her husband, a German Jewish intellectual, in a villa in the country. At first, the idyllically situated home is a little disconcerting for the children, but they soon get used to their new environment and the hospitable atmosphere.

Their uncle, a lawyer by profession, is a great lover of art and music; from
time to time he invites rather unconventional guests that are equally fascinating for the girls as is their new life in the country.

At school,the girls soon make friends with the children of the neighbouring
farming community. Before long they are doing all sorts of things together and have great fun enjoying all the little excitements of their peaceful existence. Penny also falls in love for the first time.

But even this blissful community is not to be spared from the effects of the
war. It bursts in on them with the full force of its brutality when German soldiers arrive one day and occupy the Einstein’s villa.Their uncle’s life, in particular, is endangered and so the girls use all their courage and ingenuity to protect him from persecution at the hands of the Germans.They are successful, too, for quite some time. But once the German army are forced to retreat, they leave a path of destruction in their wake of which the Einstein family also become a victim ...

Comments: Once upon a time... can happen any time.

Summary: Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Sam Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.

Languages: English

Comments: Their lives would always be entwined...

Summary: I agree with another reviewer, this is one of my favorite hard to find videos. I titled this review an American French Film, because of the subject matter. Normally we Americans steer away from the older man, much younger girl romance story. Something the French do with ease. Look at Beau Pere, which you can get right here at Amazon.com. Richard Burton gives a fine performance as the older man while Tatum O'Neil gives us a look at what I consider to be one of, if not her finest performance. A love story for the ages, too bad most ages will never see this film. If you can find this film, buy it. It is a keeper.

Languages: French, English, Spanish

Comments: Where happily ever after is just a dream.

Summary: A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Comments: Discover The Secret

Summary: For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing ... and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

Summary: Clara and her best friend Zoé head to summer camp for a summer of adventure and self-discovery. Both virgins, Zoé views camp as her chance to loose her virginity. After becoming romantically involved with Sébastien, a fellow camp member, Zoé learns that Sébastien cares far more about his friends then her and has sex with her just to impress them. After discovering this unsettling fact, Zoé turns to Clara for moral support and then in a moment of confusion, professes her love for her. Clara, in the midst of recognizing her own sexuality, rejects Zoé's romantic advance but soon regrets the spurn, and begins to become attracted to the beautiful and weird Sonia.

Comments: welcome to golda meir junior high school home of the bewitching and the bewitched

Summary: Based on a novel by Czech writers Pavel and Yelena Kohout. Clara is a 7th grade Russian emigre to this Negev town, and lives in a trailer on the edge of town. She is surrounded by some nutty Russian characters, many of whom are played by actors from Israel's Gesher Theatre Troupe. Clara will lose her powers to predict winning Lotto numbers if she falls in love, and then she meets the anarchist rebel hunk at Golda Meir High School.

Languages: English

Comments: The only thing harder than getting in, is staying in.

Summary: When new girl Claire Lyons moves to Westchester from Orlando, she immediately finds out that fitting in is going to be a lot harder than she thought it would be. Claire isn't exactly a rich girl with designer duds and expensive shoes or handbags...but unfortunately, every other girl at the prestegious Octavian County Day School is. What's worse is that Massie Block, the most popular girl at OCD is out to make Claire's life miserable... and it doesnt help that Claire is living in her guest house. Massie and her friends Alicia Rivera, Kristen Gregory, and Dylan Marvil, will do whatever it takes to destroy Claire. They don't realize, however, is that Claire won't take all their tormenting lying down, and when she finally has enough, Massie just might lose her throne at OCD.

Languages: English

Comments: A movie felt never so refreshing!

Summary: Eric Roberts, young, charming, and handsome, does a rare comic turn as an American Coca-Cola executive with a honeyed Georgia drawl sent Down Under in this congenial little Australian comedy. As the zealous, unfailingly polite eccentric declares economic war on a veritable back-country feudal lord who runs his own steam-powered soda plant (Bill Kerr), Roberts's enchantingly goofy secretary (Greta Scacchi) plots a campaign of seduction that includes a Santa suit that explodes in an orgiastic blizzard of feathers. Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev ("Montenegro"), hardly known for romantic comedy, brings a surprisingly light touch to the comedy and a sweet sexiness to the offbeat love story. The script veers into scenes that make no sense and gets bogged down in the cola wars, but Makavejev buoys the film with unexpected turns, delightful moments of beauty and joy, and a genial, generous sense of humor. "--Sean Axmaker"

Summary: The story of a Very Messy Little Girl. Her parents bring in her strict Grandfather to straighten her out. Or so they think.

Comments: Sometimes you have to leave home to find your family

Summary: Twelve-year-old Annie Lamm's first day of summer break quickly turns into a disaster. She realizes that her parents have not only decided to fly her to Hilton Head Island during their second honeymoon, but they also plan to coerce her to spend half her summer with her 76-year-old Grandpa Donald whom she hardly even knows. The place where Annie is staying, Grandpa's "beautiful house right by the beach", turns out to be a dilapidated and neglected dwelling filled with stored newspapers and dust covered knickknacks. Nothing edible is in the fridge, and only big-band and Perry Como records sit by his prehistoric stereo. Annie's summer plans of parties and boys are dashed in an instant -- Grandpa's house has no TV, no computer, and a swimming pool half-full of brown, brackish water with turtles living in it. His life consists of napping, doing crosswords and spending time with an old, codger named Barney with whom he trades endless tall tales. Annie is miserable! She calls her best friend, Holly, and asks her to investigate Greyhound bus schedules back to New York. In between suffering through Grandpa's outlandish tales of killing ten-foot snakes, seeing patriot raider ghosts who haunt the Island, giving batting lessons to Mickey Mantle and working security for Elvis Presley, Annie discovers Grandpa's tiny fishing skiff, covered in barnacles. Grandpa Donald tries his best to capitalize on any opportunity he can find to bond with his granddaughter, but Annie is reluctant. How could this man who is six times her age be anything remotely near the fun she could have had in New York with all of her friends? Intensely bored and fed up, Annie makes a plan to run away from the Island by motoring off in Grandpa's boat to the Greyhound station. It turns out to be the decision of her lifetime. Annie's summer break, seemingly ruined at first, becomes a summer that she, her family, and her new friends will remember for the rest of their lives.

Languages: English

Comments: If You Survive This Night... Nothing Will Scare You Again.

Summary: After a young girl is brutally murdered during her first communion, her strange and withdrawn older sister becomes the main suspect.

Languages: German, English, English

Comments: The desire... the fantasy... the nightmare

Summary: This is a story about the transition from childhood to adulthood of a teenage girl, and the symbolism throughout the film is subtle and powerful simultaneously. As such, it pretty much goes without saying that if you are looking for a scary movie, you're probably in the wrong place.
The highlights of this movie are:- Angela Lansbury as 'Granny', who turns in a wonderful performance and really adds a touch of class to the film. Also, the set design and lighting is brilliant, evoking a truly gothic feel to the scenes. For example, most of the movie is based 'outdoors' (like in the woods or in the village), and yet you always get the feeling of an enclosed and somewhat foreboding environment. This feels exactly right given that the story is centred around the character of a young girl, whose world consists solely of the small and familiar surroundings of home, where the outside world is only known to her through the fantastic stories of her Grandmother, where men, wolves and 'straying from the path' are to be feared.
Another, and major, highlight of this movie is the wonderful soundtrack by George Fenton, which is worth having on CD itself. Combining adaptations of traditional folk music with eerie, ominous synth sounds does as much to enhance the gothic atmosphere as the visual effects and set design.
Other than that, the rest of the performances are generally pretty good, especially Neil Jordan's staple actor, Stephen Rea, as well as a fine cameo from Brian Glover and debut from the beautiful and talented Sarah Patterson as the lead charcter 'Rosaleen', who sadly hasn't done much else since as far as I know. The film is also quite famous for it's man-to-wolf scenes and an early use of animatronics. The effects, sadly, do look pretty dated now, but the context of the scenes in which they are used is untainted, and remain powerful scenes both visually and emotionally. The fact that Rosaleen, after witnessing the pain and anquish that such a transition entails, openly weeps and says 'I'm sorry, I didn't know a wolf could cry', is brilliantly emotional and indicative of her almost complete transition from unknowing child, to compassionate and knowing young adult.
All in all, this is a great movie that is so full of rich imagery and subtlety, that it promises to provide great re-watch value, and should not be considered as a 'horror-flick'... unfortunately, most stores don't have a section entitled 'Enchanting fantasy gothic adult fairytale stories'...
Sadly, the DVD isn't great. The packaging is pretty dreadful, with a lame colour drawing adorning the cover. The menu is something straight out of Hammer House Of Horror, and is daft. Annoyingly, the film is in 4:3 aspect ratio, despite a tantalising opening sequence which is in 16:9 widescreen, but sadly, as soon as the film begins proper, we are snapped back into pan and scan...The extras are not wonderful, but there is an extended trailer, which actually contains some different versions of scenes that made it into the final cut. These include a scene where Rosaleen reveals her age (13 and a half), which doesn't appear anywhere in the actual film!

Languages: Italiano: Dolby Digital 1.0

Summary: The film tells the story of teenagers Ghisola and Pietro whose closeness is born of the pain the two experience in their daily lives. Ghisola, only 14-years old, must work in the fields away from her family. Pietro is emotionally abused by his father. When his father discovers their mutual affection, he sends Ghisola away. Pietro does not see her again until he is an adult. She has changed. Now pregnant and alone, Ghisola tries to seduce Pietro so he will marry her.

Summary: A little girl chooses a treat and then, as she and her mother are waiting for the bus, imagines herself as a ballerina.
"A delicious short film about a little girl who learns empathy from a pastry."

Languages: English, French,

Comments: So much drama, so little time.

Summary: A teenage girl is convinced that her home city revolves around her until her family packs up and moves to the suburbs, where she finds herself competing for attention.

Summary: When a father (Johnny Hallyday) gets out of prison, he comes home to his wife (Fanny Ardant) and two teen-age kids to pick up where he left off. That is to say, he intends to raise his kids right and continue burglarizing his way into the easy life. He joins up again with his old partner Faucon (Guy Marchand), but early on Papa's wily son cons him into making him a partner too. The years go by, and just when the family seems poised for the big time, an obstacle pops up from a totally unexpected sector.

Comments: Here is One of the Most Shocking Dramas Ever Dared-Rippng at Your Emotions Like No Other Motion Picture!

Summary: In wartime Italy nuns in a convent regularly smuggle Jewish children out of a nearby internment camp. The Italian army officer in charge suspects what may be going on but deliberately turns a blind eye. When the Germans take over the camp security the nuns' activities become far more dangerous.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; French, Unknown

Comments: The world's greatest marksman is now a marked man...

Summary: A marksman (Snipes) living on his ranch in Montana is coaxed back into action to kill a terrorist who he missed killing while on duty. After succeeding in killing Jahar he is ultimately double-crossed and framed for killing a high ranking policeman (Dance). He then goes into hiding and befriends a young 12 year (Bennet) old girls helps him.

Languages: French, Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: In Les Convoyeurs Attendent/The Carriers Are Waiting, Roger Closset (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a man who obviously loves his family, though that doesn't always make them feel better. Dad is an obsessive type with a short fuse and a long list of curious ideas, and his wife and children must often bear the brunt of his eccentricities. Roger works as a reporter, a job he doesn't like which doesn't pay especially well, either. One day, Roger learns an area business association is sponsoring a contest for a family that can break a world record, with the grand prize being a new car. Suddenly, Roger gets a brainstorm -- if his son can open and shut a door 40,000 times in 24 hours, the car will be theirs. 15-year-old Michel (Jean-Francois Devigne), however, is not at all happy to have been drafted into this new responsibility, especially when dad builds a practice door in the backyard and finds a trainer to teach Michel how to open and close it with greatest efficiency.

The plot also involves his young daughter Luise (the very pretty Morgane Simon), and Felix (Phillipe Grand'Henry), the successful and reclusive pigeon fancier next door who she idolises.

Shot in crisp black and white the cinematography brings a stark bleakness to the Belgian cityscapes and the sometimes bleaker events that take place therein.

The script is witty and affecting, quirky and impressive, and the performances are spot on, especially from Poelvoorde, Simon and Grand'Henry.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Comments: They needed a family. What they got was magic.

Summary: Ray Liotta plays a 1950s jingle composer whose wife dies, leaving him to raise their grieving young daughter (Tina Majorino) alone. Dad hires an African-American housekeeper (Whoopi Goldberg), who helps fill the gap in the child's life--and then Dad's life--and soon an interracial relationship crossing the social mores of the era is underway. Written and directed by Jessie Nelson, the film is a spot-on recreation of '50s suburbia without gratuitous kitsch. Liotta is perfect as a working man of the day, given to white shirts and narrow ties; Goldberg gives one of her finest performances as the levelheaded Corrina; and little Majorino is heartbreakingly effective. But the film entirely bears the stamp of one person, and that's Nelson, who has a wonderfully witty eye and a sophisticated but sensitive approach to the crosscurrents of emotion at play in this story. "--Tom Keogh"