Mystery Train (DVD)
Jim Jarmusch broadens his scope with this episodic tale of a night in the life of several Memphis, Tennessee, inhabitants who unknowingly find themselves lodging at the same hotel. The first episode, Far from Yokohama, is about two Japanese teenagers (Youki Kudoh and Masatoshe Nagase) on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of rock and roll, Sun Studios, where Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins got their start. In the second story, A Ghost, two strangers meet and become friends. One is an Italian tourist, Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi), who is on the way back to Rome in order to bury her husband; the other, Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco), has just dumped her British boyfriend, Johnny (Joe Strummer). During the middle of the night, Luisa is visited by the ghost of Elvis. Lost in Space, the final segment, brings all the characters together briefly, as Johnny goes on a violent drinking spree with Dee Dee`s brother (Steve Buscemi) and another friend (Rick Aviles). Throughout all of this, the hotels night clerk (Screamin Jay Hawkins) and bellboy (Cinque Lee) listen to the local radio and engage in aimless conversation. Jarmusch once again uses his distinct sense of humor to dispel cultural myths--this time its the legend of Memphis--by placing an eclectic group of tourists into an unquestionably American environment.R"
Director: Jim Jarmusch
ACTORS: Cinque Lee, Screamin` Jay Hawkins, Youki Kudoh, Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi
Narc (DVD) Widescreen An aggressive chase and a stray bullet nearly ends the career of undercover narcotics agent Nick Tellis (Jason Patrick) whose job is tearing apart his life and his family. Tellis dreams of working a less stressful desk job, ...
An aggressive chase and a stray bullet nearly ends the career of undercover narcotics agent Nick Tellis (Jason Patrick) whose job is tearing apart his life and his family. Tellis dreams of working a less stressful desk job, and he knows that a conviction in an upcoming case will land him the job. So he accepts an assignment assisting the overlong investigation of a slain officer, hoping it will be his last experience of street work. Tellis is partnered with Lt. Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) whose unorthodox methods are part of the reason the case is still unsolved.
Strict attention to police procedure and cop lingo lift writer-director Joe Carnahan`s (BLOOD, GUTS, BULLETS AND OCTANE) gritty, violent film above the cliches of the typical police thriller. NARC is fueled by impassioned performances from leads Patrick, a wary officer who seeks the truth as a means to his own psychological redemption; and Liotta (who also produced), as a broken cop with sadistic, rule-breaking tendencies. The film`s grimy immediacy is to the credit of cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy.
R"
Director: Joe Carnahan
ACTORS: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Busta Rhymes, Richard Chevolleau, Chi McBride
Killing Mr. Griffin (DVD)
A group of mischievous high school students scheme to scare their least favorite English teacher. Unfortunately, their prank goes horribly wrong and he ends up dead. The kids didn`t do it, but all of the evidence points in their direction. The race is on for them to expose the actual murderer before they`re forced to finish high school from behind bars."
Director: Jack Bender
ACTORS: Scott Bairstow, Amy Jo Johnson, Mario Lopez, Chris Young, Michelle Williams
Family Business (DVD)
Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick star as three generations of a family formerly linked to organized crime. Grandfather Jesse has been in and out of jail, and his son Vito has decided to leave a life of crime in order to become a respectable family man, but when grandson Adam comes up with a can`t-miss heist plan, the intergenerational sparks begin to fly.PG"
Director: Sidney Lumet
ACTORS: Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Rosana De Soto, Janet Carroll
The Vertical Ray of the Sun (DVD)
Set in Hanoi, Vietnam, THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN is a rich visual banquet overflowing with lush, artful images that unfold with the same languorous slowness with which the the film`s enigmatic characters and relationships develop. Three sisters, Lien (Tran Nu Yen-Khe), Khanh (Le Khanh), and Suong (Nguyen Nhu Quynh), and their brother, Hai (Ngo Quang Hai), come together to prepare a feast in remembrance of their deceased parents. They end up discovering that they each harbor important secrets.
The two older sisters, Suong and Khanh, are both married, one to a novelist and one to a photographer. Though their marriages seem quite tranquil and happy on the surface, there is trouble brewing for both sisters. Their scenes of dreamy domesticity become more poignant as the fragility of this bliss--which the sisters try to hide both from themselves and from each other--is revealed. Their younger sister, the gorgeous Lien, lives with their brother, Hai, a struggling actor. Lien is both naive (she isn`t quite sure how a woman gets pregnant) and very sensual. At night she sneaks into her brother`s bed; she claims it is to stay warm, but there`s an ambiguous sexuality in her feelings for her brother which adds another layer of complexity to the film.
Director Tran Anh Hung`s first two films, THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA and CYCLO were also masterful explorations of Vietnamese life; THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN is perhaps the most elegiac and serene of the three, weaving a very delicate fabric of relationships which are as elusive as the dappled, changeable Hanoi sunshine.PG-13"
Director: Tran Anh Hung
ACTORS: Tran Nu Yen Khe, Nguyen Nhu Quynh, Le Khanh, Ngo Quanq Hai, Tran Manh Cuong
