Rated:NONE In "Strange Circus," adolescent Mitsuko is forced to watch her parents' lovemaking by her perverted father and her domineering mother, who imprison her in a cello case employed with a peephole. When Mitsuko's mother dies, her father forces the girl to be the victim of his incestuous desires, driving her to attempt suicide with a leap from a height, yet all of this is apparently a new novel being penned by reclusive, wheelchair-bound author Taeko (Masumi Miyazaki, who also plays the mother). Or is it? Taeko is assigned a new assistant named Yuji and the two begin a sexual relationship in Taeko's ornately designed estate. But we soon must question the real identities of both Taeko and Yuji as bloody clues begin to surface.
Rated:NONE Francois (Frédéric Van Den Driessche) is a filmmaker holding auditions for his upcoming film about female sexuality. He expects the process to be unconventional but cannot predict the dangers of such an overtly charged endeavor. As his female cast embarks on a journey of intense physical pleasure-seeking they become emotionally involved with the director and with each other. Francois tries to remain focused on the project at hand, but the film begins to unravel as his cast struggles to separate art from life, business from pleasure.
Rated:R "300" is an adaptation of Frank Miller's epic graphic novel. Using hyper-real renderings similar to Miller's own graphically stylized illustrations, the film tells the true story of 300 elite Spartan warriors led by their fearless king Leonidas (Butler), who thwart the charge of Xerxes and his massive Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian foe, leading to the origins of democracy.
Rated:R The talk of the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, "The Host," the latest film from critically acclaimed visionary director Bong Joon-ho, has already garnered a substantial amount of international buzz. Utilizing state-of-the-art special effects courtesy of a creative partnership between Weta Workshop ("King Kong," "The Lord of the Rings") and The Orphanage ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Sin City"), "The Host" is equal parts creature-feature thrill ride and poignant human drama.
Rated:PG-13 "The Namesake" is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima (Irfan Khan, Tabu) long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.
Rated:R Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy), charismatic and idealistic, is a young man taking a year out. While his friends are backpacking around India or lying on a beach in Thailand, Joe has chosen a "real" experience - teaching in a Rwandan school. He is looking forward to stunning his mates with tales of adventure and life at the sharp end. His enthusiasm for Africa makes him popular with the pupils. To Francois, the school groundsman, Joe is a real friend.
Rated:NONE "Outlaw" is about a group of people that take the law into their own hands and try to right perceived wrongs. It's about people that are sick of being treated like they don't exist. Failed by the government and left to fend for themselves by a redundant police force, "Outlaw" is about people that have had enough and decide to do something about it. They take to the streets and deal with the wrongs themselves.
The film is the next to come from writer/director Nick Love following his successes with "The Football Factory" in 2004 and "The Business" in 2005. "Outlaw" will be entirely funded by the public through a tiered payment strategy available only on the film's official site.
Rated:PG Jason thought his inheritance was the gift of money and lots of it... but Jason thought wrong. Based on the best-selling book "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall, the story sends trust fund baby Jason Stevens on an improbable journey of discovery, having to answer the ultimate question: "What is the relationship between wealth and happiness?"
Jason had a very simple relationship with his impossibly wealthy Grandfather, Howard "Red" Stevens. He hated him. No heart-to-heart talks, no warm fuzzies, just cold hard cash. So of course he figured that when Red died, the whole "reading of the will" thing would be another simple cash transaction. He figured that his Grandfather's money would allow him to continue living in the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. But what Red left him was anything but... simple. Red instead devised a plan for Jason to experience a crash course on life. Twelve tasks, which Red calls "gifts," each challenging Jason in an improbable way, the accumulation of which would change him forever.
Rated:PG A basketball coach moves to Oklahoma, expecting to coach the boys' basketball team, but instead ends up coaching the girls' team, developing a rapport with the team and developing them into a strong team in a sport that never supported women players before.
Rated:NONE When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. "Maxed Out" takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! "Maxed Out" shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, "Maxed Out" paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.
Rated:NONE "Elvis and Anabelle" follows the story of the unlikely love that blossoms between a beauty queen (Lively) and a mortician's son (Minghella) following her unexpected death on the stage of the Miss Texas Rose Pageant.
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