Taxi to the Darkside

"Taxi to the Darkside" gets the recommendation of the LA Times' Kenneth Turan:

A meticulous examination of the Bush administration’s embracing of torture as a weapon of choice in the war against terror, this film is disturbing and shocking, but not always in the ways you’d expect. Yes, its explicit visuals are hard to tae, but what’s really appalling is how easily both government officials and ordinary soldiers lose their moral bearings and become parties to atrocity.

Synopsis: "Taxi to the Dark Side"
Filmmaker Alex Gibney examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers. In an unflinching look at the Bush administration’s policy on torture, the film takes us from a village in Afghanistan to Guantanamo and straight to the White House.

Opened January 18, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 46 min.
Raterd R - Disturbing images and content involving torture and graphic nudity
Cast: Ken Davis, Moazzam Begg, Willie Brand, Jack Cloonan, Damien Corsetti
Director: Alex Gibney
Genres: Law & Crime, Military & War, Culture & Society, Politics & Government, Social Issues

Nanking

Kevin Crust recommends "Nanking", writing in his recommendation

Powerful, moving and disturbing, this documentary depicts the horrific events that occurred in the Republic of China's then-capital in late 1937 and early 1938. Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, the film chronicles the brutal invasion of the city by Imperial Japanese forces primarily from the perspective of a community of Westerners who remained behind when others left and some of the Chinese survivors to whom they provided sanctuary.

Synopsis of Nanking
The film tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China in the early days of World War II and focuses on the efforts of a small group of unarmed Westerners who established a Safety Zone where more than 200,000 Chinese found refuge. The events of the film are told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage, and chilling testimonies of Japanese soldiers, interwoven with staged readings of the Westerners’ letters and diaries.

Opened December 12, 2007
Runtime: 1 hr. 47 min.
Rated R
Cast: Hugo Armstrong, Rosalind Chao, Stephen Dorff, John Getz, Mariel Hemingway
Director: Bill Guttentag
Genres: Biography, History, Social History

In Japanese, Mandarin and English with English subtitles.

Cloverfield

"Cloverfield" wins a recommendation from LA Times reviewer Kevin Crust

With the running times of most popcorn movies lurching well past two hours on the way to three these days, it's not often that we're left wanting more. But that's precisely the response induced by the 21st century monster movie "Cloverfield" as it clocks in at a brisk 85 minutes (and that's including 10 minutes of end credits).

"Cloverfield" begins with a found video, time-stamped by the Department of Defense, with the ominous notation that it was located at the site "formerly known as Central Park." The home-movie footage that follows is supposed to have been shot with a camcorder passed among friends -- a frightening, of-the-moment ramble somewhat undercut by the same point-of-view gambit that allows the film to be fleet-of-foot and modestly budgeted. Read Crust's full review of Cloverfield at the LA Times

Synopsis of "Cloverfield"

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

Opened January 18, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 24 min.
PG-13
Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman
Director: Matt Reeves
Genres: Sci-Fi Disaster Film, Monster Film, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi Horror


Showtimes and tickets for Cloverfield from Fandango.com

For the Bible Tells Me So

Here's a first for you - well, for me at least; I saw a movie in a church last night.

Anyhow, the movie was "for the BIBLE tells me so". It's a documentary based on the lives of several American families from a variety of Christian denominations who have a gay or lesbian child. The stories are compelling dramas, sometimes heroic, sometimes tragic, played out as each parent and child deals with the task of reconciling their religious beliefs that homosexuality is "an abomination" and the homophobia this has engendered in society and which they and their children must now confront and deal with.

I thoroughly recommend this movie to you.

I don't believe this has been released generally yet. It seems that at the moment the movie is on a roadshow and is screening primarily in churches and community venues. The website for "for the BIBLE tells me so" has listings of showtimes if you are interested.

For the BIBLE Tells Me So is available at Amazon.com

The movie has garnered several awards, including those listed below:

2007 Sundance Film Festival
NOMINEE, GRAND JURY PRIZE

Seattle International Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
KATHLEEN BRYAN EDWARDS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Provincetown International Film Festival
HBO AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Outfest Los Angeles
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Milwaukee International Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY
BEST DIRECTOR FOR DOCUMENTARY

Image Out: The Rochester Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Reel Pride: Fresno Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Tampa international Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
GRAND JURY PRIZE FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

Let's Get Lost

Carina Chocano writing for the LA Times recommends "Let's Get Lost":

This is Bruce Weber's haunting documentary about legendary jazz musician Chet Baker, which first came out in 1989. Now newly reissued in 35mm, the film looks like a pristine time-capsule both of the mid-century of Baker's heyday and of the late 80s of his decline when it was shot. Cinematographer Jeff Preiss renders everything in a luminous, high-contrast black and white that seems to eliminate the distance between the decades. Told mostly through interviews with family members, wives, ex-wives and girlfriends, children and collaborators, people he inspired and people he betrayed, "Let's Get Lost" avoids the usual cliches of the biopic by resisting the urge to impose logic or extrapolate lessons from it.

Runtime:120 min
Release Dates: 1989, 2008

Honeydripper

Kevin Crust, reviewing for the LA Times recommends "Honeydripper":

For "Honeydripper," Sayles' 16th film as a writer-director, he turns to the roots of rock 'n' roll for his subject and 1950 Alabama for his locale. A musical fable, the film uses his typically robust ensemble performances, crackling dialogue and a boogie-woogie soul to tell the story of a man facing a crossroads in the small town of Harmony. (Crust's entire review of Honeydripper for the LA Times)

Synopsis: Honeydripper

It’s 1950 and it’s a make or break weekend for Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge. Deep in debt, Tyrone is desperate to bring back the crowds that used to come to his place. He decides to lay off his long-time blues singer Bertha Mae, and announces that he’s hired a famous guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a one night only gig in order to save the club. Into town drifts Sonny Blake, a young man with nothing to his name but big dreams and the guitar case in his hand. Rejected by Tyrone when he applies to play at the Honeydripper, he is intercepted by the corrupt local Sheriff, arrested for vagrancy and rented out as an unpaid cotton picker to the highest bidder. But when Tyrone's ace-in-the-hole fails to materialize at the train station, his desperation leads him back to Sonny and the strange, wire-dangling object in his guitar case. The Honeydripper lounge is all set to play its part in rock n' roll history.

Opened December 28, 2007 Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.
PG-13 brief violence and some suggestive material
Cast: Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Keb' Mo', Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Kel Mitchell
Director: John Sayles
Genres: Period Film, Musical Drama

"Buy Honeydripper at Amazon.com"

Tickets and times for Honeydripper at Fandango.com

National Society of Film Critics' Awards for 2007

The National Society of Film Critics is made up of 61 members from major publications accros the country. They met yesterday in New York, and here are their notable picks for best pictures for 2007

• Best Picture: There Will be Blood
• Runner Up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• Third: No Coutry for Old Men
• Best Foreign Picture: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (Romania)
• Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
• Best Actress: Julie Christie in "Away from Her" (This was in Kevin Crust's Best 10 Movies of 2007)
• Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson "There Will be Blood"
• Best Cinematography: Robert Elswit "There Will be Blood"