May 11, 2008

The Children of Huang Shi

The Children of Huang Shi SynopsisBased on real events, The Children of Huang Shi is a sweeping but intimate story set against war-torn China in the 1930’s. The film centers on a young English journalist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an American nurse (Radha Mitchell) and the leader of a Chinese partisan group (Chow Yun Fat) who meet in desperate and unexpected circumstances. Together they rescue 60 orphaned children, leading them on an extraordinary journey across hundreds of miles of treacherous terrain, through snow-covered mountains and an unforgiving desert. Along the way they discover the true meaning of love, responsibility and courage.

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Release Date: May 23, 2008
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 125 min.
Distributor(s): Sony Pictures Classics
Tagline:
MPAA Rating: R for some disturbing and violent content.

Director(s):
Roger Spottiswoode

Writer(s):
Jane Hawksley - Screenplay
James MacManus - Screenplay (from idea)

Producer(s):
Arthur Cohn - Producer
Wieland Schulz-Keil - Producer
Peter Loehr - Producer
Jonathan Shteinman - Producer
Martin Hagemann - Producer

Movie Casts:
Jonathan Rhys Meyers - George Hogg
Radha Mitchell - Lee Pearson
Yun-Fat Chow - Chen Hansheng
Michelle Yeoh - Mrs. Wang
Guang Li - Shi-Kai
Lin Ji - Horse Rider
Matt Walker - Fisher
Anastasia Kolpakova - Duschka
Ping Su - Eddie Wei
Imai Hideaki - Japanese Officer
Sciichiro Hashimoto - Urbane Japanese Officer
Shinichi Takashima - Hostile Kempetai Officer
Xing Mang - Young Communist
Ruixiang Zhu - Japanese Officer II
Yuelong Fang - Rou Ding

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Reprise

Reprise SynopsisThe freewheeling passion of youth and the unpredictable perils of fate are both the subject and the breathtaking form of Joachim Trier's lean and kinetic journey through friendship, love, madness, and creativity: REPRISE. Trier viscerally captures the way life takes off at rocket-speed in the beginning of adulthood - and the what-ifs and why-nots that both drive and haunt us as the unbridled hopes of youth come to a screeching halt.

The fast-moving story kicks off just as Phillip (ANDERS DANIELSON LIE) and Erik (ESPEN KLOUMANHOINER) stand at the maibox, two cocky, grinning rebels full of 20-year-old verve and dreams, their whole lives hanging in the balance at this singular moment. Each is about to ship off his first novel to publishers, each is hoping to become a wildly influential "cult author," each has visions of a new life of non-stop intensity, brilliance, romance and nightclubbing.

Fast-forward six months. These reveries have crashed, hard, into reality. Phillip, whose novel garnered instant acclaim and turned him into a mini-celebrity, has had a terrifying breakdown and is just about to be released from a psychiatric hospital. Erik, who never sold his novel, is still pecking away, determined to follow in the footsteps of his undying hero, a reclusive but idolized writing genius, no matter what it takes.

REPRISE explores not just what happens to Phillip and Erik as they pick up the pieces but what might have happened to them, what they imagine could happen, what they fear will possible happen and what they can't see actually happening. Nimbly moving both backwards and forwards in time - via a dazzling mix of flashbacks, rapid-fire editing, philosophical voiceovers and comical flights of fancy - the film traces how Erik and Phillip arrived at this precipice where exuberant youth runs into the harsh light of day... and witnesses the emotionally gripping aftermath.

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Release Date: May 16, 2008
Genre: Art, Foreign, Comedy and Drama
Running Time: 105 min.
Distributor(s): Miramax Films
Tagline:
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality and language.

Director(s):
Joachim Trier

Writer(s):
Joachim Trier - Screenplay
Eskil Vogt - Screenplay

Producer(s):
Karin Julsrud - Producer

Movie Casts:
Anders Danielsen Lie - Phillip
Espen Klouman-Høiner - Erik
Viktoria Winge - Kari
Henrik Elvestad - Henning
Christian Rubeck - Lars
Odd Magnus Williamson - Morten
Rebekka Karijord - Johanne
Henrik Mestad - Jan Eivind
Pål Stokka - Geir
Sigmund Sæverud - Sten Egil Dahl
Tone Danielsen - Inger, Phillip's mother
Eindride Eidsvold - Narrator
Kari Feilberg-Jacobsen - Guest at party
Silje Hagen - Lillian
Thorbjørn Harr - Mathis Wergeland
Ivar Lykke - Telesalgsjef
Elisabeth Sand - Hanne, Erik's mother

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May 5, 2008

Surf Wise

Surf Wise SynopsisLike many American outsider-adventurers, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz set out to realize a utopian dream. Abandoning a successful medical practice, he sought self-fulfillment by taking up the nomadic life of a surfer. But unlike other American searchers like Thoreau or Kerouac, Paskowitz took his wife and nine children along for the ride, all eleven of them living in a 24 foot camper. Together, they lived a life that would be unfathomable to most, but enviable to anyone who ever relinquished their dreams to a straight job. The Paskowitz Family proved that America may be running out of frontiers, but it hasn’t run out of frontiersman.

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Release Date: May 9, 2008
Genre: Documentary, Biopic and Sports
Running Time: 93 min.
Distributor(s): Magnolia Pictures
Tagline: Reject normal
MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexual material.

Director(s):
Doug Pray

Writer(s):
Doug Pray - written by

Producer(s):
Todd Wagner - Executive Producer
Mark Cuban - Executive Producer
Joana Vicente - Executive Producer
Jason Kliot - Executive Producer
Graydon Carter - Producer
Matthew Weaver - Producer
Jonathan Paskowitz - Producer
Tony Lord - Co-Producer
Johnathan Pine - Co-Producer

Movie Casts:
JULIETTE PASKOWITZ
DAVID PASKOWITZ
JONATHAN PASKOWITZ
ABRAHAM PASKOWITZ
ISRAEL “IZZY” PASKOWITZ
MOSES ZYUS PASKOWITZ II
ADAM PASKOWITZ
SALVADOR DANIEL PASKOWITZ
NAVAH PASKOWITZ-WALTHER
JOSHUA PASKOWITZ
DORIAN “DOC” PASKOWITZ, M.D.

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The Fall

The Fall SynopsisLanguishing in a hospital, Roy Walker (Lee Pace) is a broken man in more ways than one: Unable to walk after a fall from a horse in a movie stunt gone wrong, his heart is also broken after his girlfriend ran off with the movie's leading man. Ready to end his life, Roy befriends five-year-old fellow patient Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), with the goal of persuading her to stealing a fatal dose of morphine pills for him.

Roy launches into a story that fuses patients, staff and others at the hospital with imagined personas and exotic lands. What he describes as "an epic tale of love and revenge" is so riveting to Alexandria that she will do whatever Roy asks in order to hear the next installment. The tale loosely mirrors the ill-fated love triangle that has left him heartsick and features Alexandria's favorite nurse Evelyn (Justine Waddell), as the beautiful Princess Evelyn; Sinclair (Daniel Caltagirone), the movie star who stole Roy's girlfriend, as the detested Governor Odious; and Roy himself as the avenging Black Bandit who leads the attack on the governor with the help of a colorful posse that includes Alexandria as the Black Bandit's daughter.

But as the story takes a darker turn, Alexandria begins to realize there is far more at stake than the fate of a handful of imaginary characters. It's up to Roy whether the Black Bandit - and Roy himself - will survive the climactic final scene.

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Release Date: May 9, 2008
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adaptation and War
Running Time: 117 min.
Distributor(s): Roadside Attractions
Tagline: A Little Blessing In Disguise.
MPAA Rating: R for some violent images.

Director(s):
Tarsem Singh

Writer(s):
Dan Gilroy - screenplay (adaptation)
Nico Soultanakis - Screenplay (adaptation)
Tarsem Singh - Screenplay (adaptation)
Valeri Petrov - Source Material (from screenplay: "Yo Ho Ho")

Producer(s):
Tommy Turtle - Executive Producer
Ajit Singh - Executive Producer
Tarsem Singh - Producer
Nico Soultanakis - Co-Producer
Lionel Kopp - Co-Producer

Movie Casts:
Catinca Untaru - Alexandria
Justine Waddell - Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn
Lee Pace - Roy Walker
Kim Uylenbroek - Doctor / Alexander the Great
Aiden Lithgow - Alexander's Messenger
Sean Gilder - Walt Purdy
Ronald France - Otto
Andrew Roussouw - Mr. Sabatini
Michael Huff - Dr. Whitaker
Grant Swanby - Father Augustine
Emil Hostina - Alexandria's Father / Bandit
Robin Smith - Luigi / One Legged Actor
Jeetu Verma - Indian / Orange Picker
Leo Bill - Darwin / Orderly
Marcus Wesley - Otta Benga / Ice Delivery Man

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