Author: grahams

This beguiling, joyful documentary follows a group of young campers, aged between 6 and 15, during their stay at Swift Nature Camp. SUMMERCAMP! captures that extraordinary three week period where, removed from their everyday lives, kids can really, truly be themselves. Camp is a place where kids can be kids, where their home and school lives momentarily fade into the background as they go through the highs and lows of adolescent rituals: sing-alongs, talent shows, homesickness, counselor mutinyÂ… and first love.

ItÂ’s clear that directors Bradley Beesley and Sarah Price worked hard to gain the confidence of these children and teens as they record not only the public fights and friendships but also the private hardships and secret conversations of kids who frequently must deal with situations beyond their years. Beesley and Price submerge themselves into the curious camp subculture, capturing a diverse array of adolescents from all economic and social backgrounds.

We guarantee that, by the end of the film and after seeing life through their non-calloused eyes, you will have fallen in love with at least one of these precocious and innocently charming subjects. Our personal favorite is the heartbreakingly sweet loner, Holly, who obsesses over chickadees and other pocketable friends. Featuring music by The Flaming Lips, this endearing film explores the agony and ecstasy of life in the unique and temporary communities of summer camps.

“Masters of comedy David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer”) and Ken Marino team up behind the scenes and in front of the camera to create THE TEN: a lively, smart, and irreverent film about breaking all the rules. Directed by Wain and written by Wain and Marino, THE TEN presents a series of interconnected comic sketches designed to reinterpret — and reinvent – the Ten Commandments, making them “meaningful” (and funny) to a young, hip, audience of contemporary sinners. With each story told in a different style, but containing overlapping characters and themes, the film is a grand burlesque boasting an all-star cast that puts the sin back in cinema.”

“When Homer mistakenly pollutes the river with toxic waste from the power plant, he loses his job and forces evacuation from Springfield, possibly forever.”

“Self-destructive journalist Pierre Peders (director Steve Buscemi) is no stranger to violence and inhumanity. Having made his name as a war reporter, he has seen some of the most horrifying sights imaginable. So he feels that his current puff-piece assignment, an interview with pop diva, TV and movie star Katya (Sienna Miller) is beneath his dignity. The two meet in a restaurant and, instantly, it’s a collision of two worlds—Pierre’s serious political focus and Katya’s superficial world of celebrity. Their confrontation evolves into a passionate verbal chess game spiked with wit, intrigue and sexual tension, capped with a riveting twist ending.”

“The true life story of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself – sometimes to outrageous effect – and “tell it like it is.” With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with fellow prison inmate Milo’s brother Dewey Hughes. From the first wild morning on the air, Petey relies on the more straight-laced Dewey to run interference at WOL-AM, where Dewey is the program director. At the station, Petey becomes an iconic radio personality, surpassing even the established popularity of his fellow disc jockeys, Nighthawk and Sunny Jim. Combining biting humor with social commentary, Petey openly courts controversy for station owner E.G. Sonderling. Petey was determined to make not just himself but his community heard during an exciting and turbulent period in American history. As Petey’s voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have. Through the years, Petey’s “The truth just is” style — on – and off-air – would redefine both Petey and Dewey, and empower each to become the man he would most like to be.”

“No matter what their flaws, the main characters in mainstream movies are almost always appealing in some way. If they are nebbishes, their klutziness is endearing. (Look at the work of Woody Allen.) If they are lonely, their alienation is grand and alluring. (Look at the work of Orson Welles.) If they are evil, their villainy is sexy and rakish. (Look at the work of Christopher Walken.) Ronald Bronstein strips away the Hollywood idealizations and asks us to spend time with genuinely unromantic characters leading genuinely unromantic lives. He creates characters we donÂ’t want to see ourselves as, characters we refuse to identify with. There is much lip service paid to the importance of depictions of “otherness” in film; Frownland reveals that the concept of otherness as redemptive and transformative is a romantic myth. He gives us otherness we want to cross the street to avoid; otherness without sentimentality. Or is he just giving us ourselves with our self–deluded idealizations removed?”

Warning: Theatres are expecting big turnouts for this film over the weekend. I don’t know if a late Sunday screening will sell out, but you still might wish to purchase tickets early.

“Sicko deals with the problems of the American for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Its main message is that government-run health care is a better model than the present US health-care system because the present system is designed to maximize profit by minimizing the care delivered to patients.”

“Filmmaker Rick Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Contains rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.”

“Filmmaker Dan Klores tells the astonishing story of the obsessive roller-coaster relationship of Burt and Linda Pugach, which shocked the nation during the summer of 1959. Burt, a 32-year-old married attorney, and Linda, a beautiful, single 20-year-old girl living in the Bronx, had a whirlwind romance, which culminated in a violent and psychologically complex set of actions that landed the pair’s saga on the cover of endless newspapers and magazines. With the cooperation of the principles, Burt, now 79, and Linda, 68, Klores examines the human psyche and the concepts of love, obsession, insanity, hope and forgiveness.”

“When Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) makes the mistake of building a hotel with one of Las VegasÂ’ most hated businessmen, Willy Banks (Al Pacino), he gets cut out of the deal and ends up in the hospital after a heart attack. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) tries to help his old friend out by giving Banks a chance to restore ReubenÂ’s share of the hotel, but Banks dismisses him without any regard. Six months later, with BanksÂ’ investment thriving as the richest hotel in the city and the ultimate spot for high rollers, Ocean and his crew decide to bring him down. With the help of their former nemesis, casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), who is also out to settle the score against Banks, his fierce rival, they scheme to find a way to bankrupt Banks on his casinoÂ’s opening night. This time, they are not in it for the money, but rather for revenge.”