Saturday, October 27, 2007

THE DARJEELING LIMITED

In the new comedy from director/co-writer Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums), three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other—to become brothers again like they used to be.

GYPSY CARAVAN

An audience favorite at film festivals worldwide, GYPSY CARAVAN is a gorgeous surround-sound celebration of misery and oppression turned into music.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Against the backdrop of the 1960s, amid the turbulent years of mind exploration and rock 'n' roll, star-crossed lovers Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements. Directed by Julie Taymor.

BLAME IT ON FIDEL

A wry and engaging French look at how personal the political becomes.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH

Opening at the Tropic on Oct. 12
On his first weekend back after serving in Iraq, Mike Deerfield (Jonathan Tucker) goes missing and is reported AWOL. When former military MP Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) get the phone call with the disturbing news, Hank sets out to search for their son. Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), a New Mexico police detective in the jurisdiction where Mike was last seen, reluctantly helps him in his search. As the evidence grows, her missing person's case begins to look more and more like foul play, and soon Sanders finds herself in a fight with the military brass as she and Hank struggle to keep control of the investigation. Written and directed by Paul Haggis (Crash).

THIS IS ENGLAND

It's 1983 and school is out. Twelve-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), a lonely boy whose father died while fighting in the Falklands war, is growing up in a grim coastal town in Northern England. Over the course of the summer holiday, he befriends a group of local skinheads. With pent up rage and frustration, Shaun finds exactly what he needs in the gang: mischief, mayhem and brotherhood. He also meets the volatile and boorish Combo (Stephen Graham), an older skinhead who adopts Shaun as his protégé. Directed by Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes, TwentyFourSeven).

THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB

The lives of six present-day friends (Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman, Maggie Grace, Emily Blunt and Hugh Dancy) are revealed through the witty prism of their literary heroine. Six book club members, six Jane Austen books, six interwoven story lines over six months in the busy modern setting of Sacramento, where city and suburban sprawl meet natural beauty. Today's central California may be far removed from Regency England, but some things never change. We're still every bit as preoccupied with the complexities of marriage, friendship, romantic entanglements, position, and social manners and mores as was Austen at the turn of the 1800s. Written and directed by Robin Swicord (screenwriter of Memoirs of a Geisha), based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler.

EASTERN PROMISES

In director David Cronenberg's latest thriller, he is re-teamed with Viggo Mortensen, his leading man from A History of Violence. Mortensen plays the mysterious and charismatic Nikolai, a Russian-born driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), a midwife from a North London hospital trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Co-starring Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Written by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things).