cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
Saving Silverman

Plot synopsis:
Darren Silverman, Wayne LeFessier, and J.D. McNugent, best friends since fifth grade and Neil Diamond fans throughout, form a Neil Diamond tribute band called "Diamonds in the Rough". Darren meets a beautiful but domineering psychologist who is showing signs of being emotionally abusive, Judith Fessbeggler, through a chance encounter in a local bar after a band gig. Unfortunately, six weeks into their relationship, Judith is still making Darren watch her change clothes, and though sleeping together is satisfying for her, Darren gets nothing but a sore jaw. Judith isolates Darren from his friends, demands that Darren quit the band, receive humiliating medical procedures, and attend relationship counseling under her care. Wayne and J.D. decide to save Darren from her by attempting to bribe her, arm wrestle her, and shock her with faked photographs of Darren cheating, all to no avail.
The friends, undaunted, try to reunite Darren with his "one and only", Sandy Perkus, when she returns to Seattle to take her final vows as a nun. When Darren and Judith announce their engagement, Wayne and J.D. kidnap Judith. However, Judith eventually discovers the identity of her captors, and the duo are convinced they cannot let her go. When they visit Coach Norton in jail (who accidentally killed a referee in a fit of rage) his advice is that they should just kill her. The duo attempt to shoot Judith, but end up deciding against it. Sandy's feelings for Darren are reawakened, but the pair's attempted date is ruined by Darren's preoccupation with Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent, but Darren snaps out of it and runs the 30 miles there to win her back.
Chained to an engine block in Wayne's garage, Judith convinces J.D. he is gay. She knocks him unconscious to steal his keys and escape, only to be tranquilized with a dart gun by Wayne. Returned to the garage, Judith seduces Wayne into releasing one of her hands, so she escapes again. She runs to Darren's house in time to see him kiss Sandy, but shames him into confessing his engagement to Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent again. Darren has Wayne and J.D. arrested. After escaping from jail with the help of Coach Norton, J.D. and Wayne rush to the convent on the brink of Sandy's final vows as a nun. They convince her that Darren still loves her. They then kidnap Neil Diamond to help Darren and Sandy reunite. At the wedding, Neil stalls the proceedings with the song "Hello Again" while Darren and Sandy reunite, Wayne and Judith (the latter being furious that her wedding is ruined) beat each other up (as love play) and J.D. arrives holding Coach in his arms, who coincidentally reveals to J.D. that he too is gay. The couples then wed on stage at Neil Diamond's concert; Darren to Sandy, Wayne to Judith, and J.D. to Coach. As the film closes, the entire cast sings "Holly Holy".

Tags: violence, comedy

Review:
Rabbit's Kin

Plot synopsis:
One day, a small rabbit with an extremely high-pitched, rapid fire speaking voice is fleeing from an unknown enemy. He happens to fall into Bugs' hole. After Bugs calms the young rabbit down, he asks him what's going on. The rabbit proceeds to tell Bugs that a large cat started chasing him for no reason. Bugs realizes it's an old foe of his, Pete Puma. Indeed, Pete is searching in Bugs' hole for the small rabbit. Bugs disguises a stick of dynamite as a rabbit, and it blows Pete up when he takes it. Bugs then exits the hole, to deal with Pete himself. The small rabbit is nervous that Bugs will be harmed, but Bugs assures him that he'll be all right.Bugs encounters Pete, who gives him an exploding cigar. Bugs stuffs it in his pocket for later. He then drags Pete to have tea with him. Pete asks for "three or four" lumps, and Bugs responds by whacking him on the head with a mallet. Five lumps form in Pete's head, and Bugs pats one down with a small mallet. He then shoves the exploding cigar into Pete's mouth and lights it, running off before it explodes.Bugs decides to lead the smaller rabbit home, knowing that the rabbit would be better off with a bodyguard. Just then, Pete appears in drag and rabbit ears, posing as the rabbit's mother. The small rabbit panics, but Bugs tells him, "It ain't polite to talk back to your mother," and winks. Bugs then holds another tea party, but Pete elects to have coffee instead, saying tea "gives me a headache." Bugs pulls the old "how many lumps" gag again, but Pete is wearing a stovelid this time. Bugs simply removes it, causing a massive lump to appear in Pete's head. He falls unconscious at this.Bugs and the rabbit then decide to cooperate on their next scheme to outwit Pete. The rabbit allows himself to be captured by Pete, who makes it back home to find his "second cousin, Paul Puma", Bugs in disguise. They decide to cook the rabbit together. Bugs goes to get coal, and asks Pete how many lumps he wants. He responds, "Better give me a lotta lumps-- a whole lotta lumps!" Realizing what he's said, Pete takes Bugs' mallet away, and tells him, "I'll help myself." He then proceeds to whack himself over the head with the mallet endlessly. Bugs and the rabbit leave, the former remarking, "He's much too smart for us!" Iris out.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
The Mark of Cain

Plot synopsis:
Sailing ships, stars, angels and executioners The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russias most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of its origins- the penitentiary and the criminal environment. Incisive interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieves of the vory v zakone. As early as the 1920s, Russian prisons and Gulag began to attract the attention of researchers. The prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag, or "Zone," as it is called, developed a complex social structure that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank. The very existence of these inmates at prisons and forced labor camps was treated by the state as a deep secret, and their tattoo art was considered a forbidden topic. In the last decade, Russia's prison population has exploded; overcrowding has reached unimaginable proportions. Few other nations have had such a massive prison population. The most conservative estimates suggest that in the last decades, over thirty million of Russia's inmates have had tattoos even though the process is against the law inside prison. According to The Book of Genesis, God placed a mark on the world's first murderer before sending him into exile. The mark of Cain proclaimed its bearer as a criminal and social outcast; for centuries, prisoners and those who broke social codes were forcibly tattooed. In Russian prisons, tattooing emerged as a visual mode of communication linked with social division. The Mark of Cain tells the story of a fading art form and how that practice's death reflects transition in broader Russian society.

Tags: dark

Review:
La cripta e l'incubo

Plot synopsis:
Lonely Laura Karnstein [Audry Amber] is having nightmares in which she sees members of the Karnstein family being murdered. This time it is cousin Tilda. Concerned that his daughter is possessed by the witch Scirra of Karnstein, who centuries ago cursed the Karnstein family, Count Ludwig Karnstein [Christopher Lee] hires Friedrich Klaus, a scholar of ancient and medieval history, to reconstruct Scirra's life and to search for a portrait of her. When a carriage breaks down outside the Karnstein castle and passenger Lyuba [Ursula Davis] becomes a houseguest, her company begins to cheer Laura and make her laugh again. In fact, Lyuba becomes the most important figure in Laura's life, more so than her father or her budding romance with Friedrich, so much that when Lyuba suggests she and Laura visit the ruins of the village of Karnstein, Laura actually agrees to go although she fears the place immensely.Unfortunately, they find that a peddlar has been hung from a bellpull and his right hand cut off. The hand is being used by the faithful housekeeper Rowena to pray to her master Satan. "Reveal to me the truth," she bequests. "Lead me to the murderer of the peddlar." Hoping beyond hope that the murderer is NOT Laura, Rowena is murdered before she learns the truth. About this time, Friedrich runs across a picture of the long dead Scirra who strongly resembles Lyuba.In the meantime, Lyuba persuades Laura to run away from the castle with her. As they escape toward the village, Count Karnstein and Friedrich search the cellars for Scirra's tomb. Instead, they find cousin Franz Karnstein, Tilda's father. He is also searching for the murderer of his daughter. Together, they locate Scirra's tomb and pry it open to find Lyuba lying there. They drive a stake through her body just as Laura is about to enter Lyuba's black carriage. Suddenly everything disappears, and Laura is left standing alone (and exonerated) beside the roadside. [Synopsis by bj_kuehl]

Tags: gothic

Review:
Performance

Plot synopsis:
Chas (James Fox) is a member of an East London gang led by Harry Flowers (Johnny Shannon); his specialty is intimidation through violence as he collects pay-offs for Flowers. He is very good at his job, and has a reputation for liking it. His sexual liaisons are casual and rough. When Flowers decides to take over a betting shop, owned by Joey Maddocks (Anthony Valentine), he forbids Chas to get involved, as he feels Chas' complicated personal history with Maddocks (which is at least partly gay) may lead to trouble. Chas is angry about this and later humiliates Maddocks, who retaliates by wrecking Chas' apartment and attacking Chas. Chas shoots him, packs a suitcase and runs from the scene.
When Flowers makes it clear that he has no intention of offering protection to Chas but instead wants him eliminated, Chas decides to head for the countryside to hide but instead winds up hiding out in London, requesting that Tony (a trusted friend he refers to as 'Uncle') helps him get out of the country. He assumes a new name, Johnny Dean, and appears at the house of Turner (Mick Jagger), makes a clumsy attempt to ingratiate himself with Pherber (Anita Pallenberg), one of the female inhabitants, and moves in. Turner is a reclusive, eccentric former rock star who has "lost his demon", and who lives there with his female friends Pherber and Lucy (Michele Breton), with whom he enjoys a non-possessive and bisexual ménage à trois, and their child maid Lorraine (Laraine Wickens).
At first, Chas is contemptuous of Turner, and Turner attempts to return the rent paid in advance, but they start influencing each other. Chas also enjoys intimate moments with Pherber, during which he shows his bisexual tendencies. Pherber and Turner understand his conflict and want to understand what makes him function so well within his world. To speed up the process, Pherber tricks him by feeding him a mushroom (Amanita muscaria), and Chas then accuses her and Turner of poisoning him. After that evening, Chas opens up, and he begins a caring relationship with Lucy, implying that he outgrew the psychological boundaries he was stuck in, due to having to function as a stereotypically masculine man within a gangster world.
Flowers and his henchmen track Chas to Turner's flat. They are appalled by the loose clothing and feminine wig that Chas now wears, and allow him to go and collect his things upstairs. Chas discusses his options with Turner and Pherber, then shoots Turner in the head. Pherber hides in a closet. As he is led to his death, Chas still wears his feminine clothes and wig, but his face is identical to Turner's.

Tags: mystery, murder, cult, violence, atmospheric, psychedelic

Review:
Sabrina

Plot synopsis:
Sabrina Fairchild is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas, and has been in love with David Larrabee all her life. David is a playboy, constantly falling in love, yet he has never noticed Sabrina, much to her dismay.
Sabrina travels to Paris for a fashion internship at Vogue (rather than a culinary course as in the original film) and returns as an attractive, sophisticated woman. David, after initially not recognizing her, is quickly drawn to her despite being newly engaged to Elizabeth Tyson, a doctor.
David's workaholic older brother Linus fears that David's imminent wedding to the very suitable Elizabeth might be endangered. If the wedding were to be canceled, so would a lucrative merger with the bride's family business, Tyson Electronics, run by her father Patrick. This could cost the Larrabee Corporation, run by Linus and his mother Maude, in the neighborhood of a billion dollars.
Linus tries to redirect Sabrina's affections to himself and it works. Sabrina falls in love with him, even though she quotes others as calling Linus "the world's only living heart donor" and someone who "thinks that morals are paintings on walls and scruples are money in Russia."
In the process, Linus also falls in love with her. Unwilling to admit his feelings, Linus confesses his scheme to Sabrina at the last minute and sends her back to Paris. Before she gets on the plane to Paris, her father informs her that during the years of driving the father of David and Linus, he listened. When Mr. Larrabee sold, he sold and when Mr. Larrabee bought, he bought. Sabrina jokingly says "So you are telling me that you have a million dollars?" Her father says no, he has two and a quarter million dollars and that her mother would want her to have it.
Meanwhile, Linus realizes his true feelings for Sabrina, and is induced to follow her to Paris by chiding from his mother and an unexpectedly adult and responsible David, who steps into his shoes at the Larrabee Corporation. Linus arrives in Paris and reunites with Sabrina, revealing his love to her and kissing her.

Tags: dramatic, romantic, feel-good

Review:
Before Sunrise

Plot synopsis:
The film starts on June 16, 1994 with Jesse meeting Céline on a train from Budapest and striking up a conversation with her. Jesse is going to Vienna to catch a flight back to the United States, whereas Céline is returning to university in Paris after visiting her grandmother. When they reach Vienna, Jesse convinces Céline to disembark with him, saying that 10 or 20 years down the road, she might not be happy with her marriage and might wonder how her life would have been different if she had picked another guy, and this is a chance to realize that he himself is not that different from the rest; in his words, he is "the same boring, unmotivated guy." Jesse has to catch a flight early in the morning and does not have enough money to rent a room for the night, so they decide to roam around in Vienna.
After visiting a few landmarks in Vienna, they share a kiss at the top of the Wiener Riesenrad at sunset and start to feel a romantic connection. As they continue to roam around the city, they begin to talk more openly with each other, with conversations ranging from topics about love, life, religion, and their observations of the city. Céline tells Jesse that her last boyfriend broke up with her six months ago, claiming that she "loved him too much". When questioned, Jesse reveals he had initially come to Europe to spend time with his girlfriend who was studying in Madrid, but they had broken up when she was avoiding him while he was there. He decided to take a cheap flight home, via Vienna, but it did not leave for two weeks so he bought a Eurail pass and traveled around Europe.
When they are walking alongside the Donaukanal (Danube canal) they are approached by a man who, instead of begging, offers to write them a poem with a word of their choice in it. Jesse and Céline decide on the word "milkshake", and are soon presented with the poem Delusion Angel (written for the film by the poet David Jewell). In a traditional Viennese café, Jesse and Céline stage fake phone conversations with each other, playing each other's friends they pretend to call. Céline reveals that she was ready to get off the train with Jesse before he convinced her. Jesse reveals that after he broke up with his girlfriend, he bought a flight that really was not much cheaper, and all he really wanted was an escape from his life.
They admit their attraction to each other and how the night has made them feel, though they understand that they probably will not see each other again when they leave. They simply decide to make the best of what time they have left, ending the night with the implication of a sexual encounter between them. At that point, Jesse explains that if given the choice, he would marry her instead of never seeing her again. The film ends the next day at the train station, where, just as Céline's train is about to leave, the couple decides not to exchange any contact information but instead to meet at the same place in six months.

Tags: thought-provoking, romantic, boring, psychedelic, philosophical

Review:
Veronica Guerin

Plot synopsis:
Veronica Guerin is a feisty crime reporter for the Sunday Independent. Suddenly aware of how much Dublin's illegal drug trade is encroaching upon the lives of its working class citizens, especially the children, she becomes determined to expose the men responsible for its spread.
Guerin begins by interviewing the pre-pubescent addicts who shoot up on the street or in abandoned buildings in the housing estates. Her investigation leads her to major suppliers and John Traynor, a notable source of information about the criminal underworld. Traynor is willing to assist her to an extent but is not above misleading her in order to protect himself from nefarious drug lord John Gilligan. In order to steer her away from Gilligan, Traynor suggests Gerry Hutch, a criminal known as The Monk, is in charge of the operation. Guerin pursues him with a vengeance, only to discover he is not involved.
As Guerin's investigation deepens and she comes closer to the truth, she and her family become targets. When a bullet fired through a window in her home as a warning fails to stop her, she is shot in the leg and the life of her young son Cathal is threatened. Her husband Graham, mother Bernie, and brother Jimmy implore her to stop, but when Guerin confronts Gilligan at his home and he savagely beats her, she becomes more determined to expose him for who he is. Rather than press charges against him, which would necessitate her removal from the story, she forges ahead with her investigation.
On 26 June 1996, Guerin appears in court to respond to an accumulation of parking tickets and numerous penalties for speeding that she has ignored. She is given a nominal fine of IR£100, but while en route home she calls her mother and then her husband to report the good news. She is speaking to her office while stopped at traffic lights on red on the Naas Dual Carriageway when a motorcycle with two men on it pulls up beside her. The driver breaks the window of her car and then shoots her six times. The two flee and dispose of the bike and the gun in a nearby canal.
Guerin is mourned by her family, friends, associates and the country at large. Her violent death results in the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau and Gilligan together with several of his henchmen are tried and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. In an epilogue, we learn that "Veronica Guerin's writing turned the tide in the drug war. Her murder galvanised Ireland into action. Thousands of people took to the streets in weekly anti-drug marches, which drove the dealers out of Dublin and forced the drug barons underground. Within a week of her death, in an emergency session of the Parliament, the Government altered the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland to allow the High Court to freeze the assets of suspected drug barons."

Tags: suspenseful, murder, violence, flashback, romantic, tragedy, revenge

Review:
Hey, Happy!

Plot synopsis:
Society as we know it may have been lost, but sex and dancing are still in style in this outrageous post-apocalyptic satire. In a not-so-distant future where a variety of environmental disasters have led to the final collapse of Western civilization, sexually ambiguous hipster Ricky G. (Johnny Simone) leads an encampment of rave kids who have created a makeshift city on the outskirts of Winnipeg. One of the community's leading citizens is porn-merchant and disc jockey Sabu (Jeremie Yuen), whose inexhaustible sexual appetite has led him on a mission to seduce 2,000 men before a looming flood destroys the village. Sabu is close enough to hitting the magic number to have chosen the special man he wants to be Mister 2K -- Happy (Craig Sftanas), an attractive if socially inept science buff who is able to communicate with alien life forms. However, Sabu has a rival for Happy's affections -- body-modification advocate and hair stylist Spanky (Clayton Godson), who tries to foil Sabu's plans by abducting Happy. Hey, Happy! was the first dramatic feature from Canadian independent filmmaker Noam Gonick. ~ Mark Deming, RoviThe film's action takes place on the desolate outskirts of Winnipeg, on the eve of what could well be the Apocalypse. Pot-smoking, amyl nitrate-sniffing DJ Sabu (Jeremie Yuen) works at an open-air porn emporium, mixing beats and the moans and groans of smut-movie soundtracks with random radio transmissions warning of the second coming of the Great Flood. Apocalypse or no apocalypse, DJ Sabu is on a personal mission: He's determined to sleep with 2,000 guys, and he's just one fling away from reaching his goal. That fling, Sabu has decided, will be Happy (Craig Aftanas), Winnipeg's version of the village idiot, who finds numerological patterns in men's room graffiti and receives communiques from other astral planes. Or maybe it's just the side effects of the toxic waste Happy slurps and sniffs. Sabu propositions Happy at that night's rave on Garbage Hill, and Happy, once he overcomes his virginal shyness, is eager to oblige; the alien voices tell him they can't make physical contact until he has sex with Sabu. So the stage is set for something like romance, until Sabu's nemesis, the evil-genius hairdresser Spanky O'Niel (Clayton Godson), and his goon squad of chubby beauticians nab Happy and force him into love slavery. This ready-made midnight movie probably won't stand the cold light of day, but under the right conditions, it's goofy (if not entirely wholesome) fun. It's the kind of shock flick that revels in its own offensiveness and even goes so far as to reenact one of the more disgusting moments from John Water's seminal PINK FLAMINGOS (don't worry, it's not that one). Gonick transfigures Winnipeg into an industrial junkyard filled with colorful freaks and transsexual disco superstars, a place where everyone seems to be at least one of several shades of gay. Clearly, it's not for everyone. Extra points for a great electronic soundtrack, striking widescreen cinematography and an unapologetically freaky attitude. leave a comment --Ken Fox

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
Marilyn

Plot synopsis:
Marilyn is set in a small roadside garage and cafe in the quiet English countryside. Marilyn (Sandra Dorne) is the pretty but bored young wife of the garage owner George (Leslie Dwyer)- a dour hard-working with the typical views on women prevalent at the time, in other words Marilyn is expected to look pretty for him, do the things he wants her to do and not talk to handsome men!The film opens with George employing a new mechanic Tom (Maxwell Reed), a rugged quiet man. Due to the isolated location the job includes simple accommodation above the garage which next to the main building comprising the Cafe and George and Marilyn's accommodation.Marilyn, in her swirly skirts and and with a love of dancing is drawn to the quiet Tom, and when George has to go to London for a couple of days and refuses to take Marilyn with him, she goes after Tom and quickly gets the desired response! They are lying together discussing getting away from this backwater when George unexpectedly returns home late that first evening having had a few pints. When he discovers his marital bed empty and seeing the light burning in Toms window he goes looking and finds them together. An argument ensues and when George tries to attack Marilyn, Tom pulls him off and punches George, knocking him backwards and George strikes his head on the dresser as he falls and dies.As they are wondering what to do a car pulls up, Marilyn goes to see who it is and it met by charmer Nicky (Ferdy Mayne) looking for petrol who tries to chat up Marilyn. She sends him away but he promises to return. In panic they decide to put George's body at the foot of the stairs in the main house and claim he fell whilst drunk. Rosie (Vida Hope), Marilyn's maid is disturbed by the noise of the body being moved and hears Marilyn and Tom as they discuss the plan, although they are unaware they have been overheard.The Coroners jury return a verdict of accidental death on George following an accidental fall after the consumption of alcohol.Marilyn returns to the Garage and sets about spending Georges life insurance updating the cafe and talks about applying for an alcohol\liquor license to improve trade. True to his word Nicky reappears and soon works his charms on Marilyn with his sophistication and money leaving Tom feeling sidelined. Ferdy is soon talking about having to go to South America on business and taking Marilyn with him. Marilyn is captivated by idea of travel and telling Tom what they intend, an argument develops between them with Marilyn saying if you loved me you would want me to have things and go places. Tom tries to persuade her to come to London with him as an alternative albeit a poor one given his relative poverty.Rosie again overhears and realises that Marilyn will drop her her and disappear with Ferdy. Rosie confronts Marilyn who tries to wriggle out of the truth. Rosie storms out talking about getting even. The film closes with the police arriving to arrest Tom and Marilyn for the murder of husband George.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
Morrer Como Um Homem

Plot synopsis:
Once upon a time there was a war In the darkness of the night, a young soldier goes AWOL. Tonia, a veteran transsexual in Lisbons drag shows, watches the world around her crumble. The competition from younger artists threatens her star status.
Under pressure from her young boyfriend Rosário to assume her female identity, the sex change operation that will transform her into a woman, Tonia struggles against her deeply-held religious convictions. If, on the one hand, she wants to be the woman that Rosário so desires, on the other, she knows that before God she can never be that woman. And her son, whom she abandoned when he was a child, now a deserter, comes looking for her. Tonia discovers that shes ill. To get away from all her troubles she travels to the countryside with Rosário, on the excuse of visiting his brother. Rosário takes the road of his childhood but will never find the right way. Lost, they find themselves in an enchanted forest, a magical world where they come across the enigmatic Maria Bakker and her friend Paula. And that meeting will turn their whole world on its head

Tags: murder

Review:
The Girl in the Café

Plot synopsis:
As powerful a film as I can remember, made more powerful by the subtle, gentle development of the two characters by Richard Curtis. Matters of the heart brought to the global stage so effectively that you cannot look away....cannot look away...cannot look away.
A couple both as shy as each other meet in a cafe. There are no other tables and so Lawrence, a timid, dedicated civil servant finds himself sitting not quite opposite Gina, a quiet, beautiful young girl. They begin to talk haltingly to each other. She is a mystery but stirs something in Lawrence for the fist time in a long time. In a stumbling attempt Lawrence asks Gina out for dinner. To his surprise she agrees .He works for the Chancellor of the Exchequer and has to go to Iceland for the G8 Summit. The year is 2005. He asks her to go with him. She says yes. As he has not made it clear he needs 2 rooms, they are together in the hotel room with one double bed. He begs her to believe he did not do this on purpose. He explains to her about how important it is to get the Summit to agree to a promise they made in the year 2000 in regard to world poverty. Whilst there she implores the Chancellor to do the right thing for the people who are dying in the world every 3 seconds. This, of course, does not go down well with Lawrence's boss. To compound the problem she again speaks out passionately at the formal dinner where all of the Heads of State are attending. She is asked to leave and Lawrence is disgraced. He takes her to the airport devastated. He has lost his job and the woman he could have loved. Neither feel worthy of the other and they part. Lawrence stands at the airport screaming and crying.But wait - he calls her and tells her to turn on her television just as the results of the G8 summit are being announced..for which he and his fellow English people have fought valiantly, trying to keep alive the promises made in 2000. That's the last scene!In this movie appears Wolf Kahler who played Ludendorff, chemist and close friend of Fritz Shimon Haber's in Haber.

Tags: romantic, psychedelic

Review:
Unsolicited Material

Plot synopsis:
Shot with Eds home video camera, Ed opens the documentary explaining that he is an aspiring comedian who videotapes his life 24/7 to share if following a childhood dream was the meaning of life or an unrealistic waste of time.Made from the 10000 tapes he left behind, this documentary explores the illusion of fame in society, the role of money in happiness and the dilemmas of artistic ambition.Ed explains his intention was to create a reality sitcom where an exaggerated version of himself interacted with the public, shot with his home video camera. He played videoblogger The Madness Magnet who attracted madness- like sleeping in bedshops.Called Peter Pan on Acid by the media, Eds blind spot is that he genuinely hasnt grown up. With the camera always on, the lines between Eds performances and real life become blurred. The project evolves into a demystification of showbusiness; the lows behind the highs of paydays and fan interactions.Ed needs the show to succeed to support his family- a predicament he tries and fails to confront himself about in the mirror. When its rejected by hundreds of companies who refuse unsolicited material, publicity attempts become ridiculous- like filming intros on the roof of a furious neighbours house. Two scenes are so insane we wont describe them, but youll laugh like never before.The second half is an emotional introspection on why the seemingly unrelated sketches from the first half happened. Psychoanalysis of why comedians feel compelled to perform was something he explored publicly with fellow comics on his radio show.Eds family are so used to being recorded, they are unaffected in the way that other documentary subjects may be by the presence of the cameras. Eds intention when the project finished was to share cocktails on the beach with his wife. The documentary alternates between Eds journey from childhood to adulthood and footage of his last month chasing fame in London, narrated by a talk with his childhood influence Andre.How can an ending so sad also be so happy?This isnt a mockumentary, but creates a new genre: reality-satire. Real footage of a real life, edited satirically. A satire on reality TV, done in a genuine way.

Tags: satire

Review:
Euphoric to tragic to satire: a category of its own. I couldn't have predicted an outcome as truly unique as this.Over the years the project has captured some comedic moments that are pure gold.But the vast amount real life experiences which vary from the euphoric to sometimes tragic prove to be an ingredient that just doesn't exist in anything I am aware of.This, coupled with a satirical edge puts Unsolicited Material in a category of its own.I don't know how they came up with this concept, but all I can say is well done.
St. Trinian's

Plot synopsis:
Annabelle Fritton (Talulah Riley), an uptight daddy’s girl, unwillingly transfers to St Trinian’s from the distinguished Cheltenham Ladies’ College at her father’s (Rupert Everett) request. Annabelle is clearly different and doesn’t fit in, telling her father, Carnaby Fritton, that the school is "like Hogwarts for pikeys". She is taken around the school by Kelly Jones (Gemma Arterton), the head girl, who introduces her to the various cliques within the school.
On her first night at St Trinian’s, Annabelle is pranked by the girls, resulting in a video of her running around the school naked being broadcast live on the internet. She calls her father to pick her up, but he pretends to have bad phone reception so he can stay at a bar. Annabelle is drafted to the hockey team when she hits her phone with her hockey stick, smashing a statue. The girls of St Trinian’s are involved in business with Flash Harry (Russell Brand), who pays them to make cheap vodka. Flash is shown to be romantically interested in Kelly, who initially turns him down.
The Cheltenham Ladies’ College hockey team arrive at St Trinian’s, along with Education Minister Geoffrey Thwaites (Colin Firth). Thwaites is shown to have romantic history with the headmistress of St Trinian’s, Camilla Fritton (Rupert Everett). Annabelle is forced to face her former bullies, including captain Verity Thwaites (Lucy Punch). The hockey match is violent, ending in Kelly shooting a winning goal for St Trinians, which is followed by a brawl between the two schools. As the match is being played, Geoffrey Thwaites inspects the school, finding the illegal vodka-making business and the chatline being run by the Posh Totty clique.
The following morning, a banker arrives at the school and serves Camilla with a foreclosure notice, as the school owes the bank in excess of £500,000 and has ignored six previous final demands. A subsequent meeting between Camilla and Carnaby is watched by the girls using hidden cameras, in which Carnaby confesses his distaste towards his daughter. Annabelle is clearly upset, despite Camilla defending her. Carnaby encourages Camilla to turn the school into a boutique hotel, telling her that "when this school closes down, you'll have lost everything. More importantly, so will I."
Kelly and Flash work with the students to devise a plan to save the school. They must get into the final of School Challenge, a TV quiz show held in the National Gallery in London, as a cover for stealing Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring”. Chelsea, Peaches and Chloe (the Posh Totty clique) are chosen as the School Challenge Team. By cheating in every round, they make it to the grand final. As the final is being filmed, Kelly, Taylor and Andrea manage to steal the painting, with help from the Geeks, as well as Annabelle and Camilla.
Camilla paints an exact copy of the painting and has Flash, posing as a German art dealer, sell it to Carnaby in a black market deal. The school then receives a further £50,000 reward for returning the real painting to the National Gallery. The loans are able to be repaid and the school is saved.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Seven Days' Leave

Plot synopsis:
Army privates Johnny Grey, Speak Jackson and Buddy "Clarky" Clark were members of the Les Brown band before they joined the army. When they are granted seven days' leave before shipping out, they attend an old Les Brown concert, where Johnny renews his romance with band performer Mapy Cortes.
Johnny then discovers that he is heir to his great-grandfather's $100,000 fortune. Overwhelmed with excitement, Johnny promises to buy Mapy a diamond engagement ring. Johnny goes to New York to claim his inheritance, accompanied by Clarky, Jackson, and their friend Bitsy. Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, the representative of the estate, tells Johnny that he must marry a descendant of the Havelock-Allen family in order to collect his inheritance.
Johnny is reluctant to do so until he meets Terry Havelock-Allen, the wealthy and glamorous elder daughter of the family. However Terry is engaged to financial advisor Ralph Bell.
Johnny pursues Terry. He has Jackson, an amateur impressionist, lure Ralph out of town by impersonating Ronald Colman on the telephone requesting his financial advice. Johnny takes Terry on a date to a radio broadcast of Truth or Consequences, and the next day takes her on a picnic. Terry and Johnny kiss but she then orders her butler to throw Johnny out of the house. Terry's younger sister Mickey thinks Terry should marry Johnny and not Ralph.
Mapy breaks off her relationship with Johnny, realising he is in love with someone else. Mickey tells Johnny that Terry is in love with him.
Terry is contemplating eloping with Ralph when Johnny arrives and they kiss. The two decide to get married. But before Johnny has the chance to tell Terry about the terms of his great-grandfather's will, Gildersleeve blurts out the details of their business arrangement, causing Terry to break it off with Johnny.
Ralph discovers that Jackson has been impersonating film stars. Ralph slugs Jackson and Johnny, a fight ensues and the military police arrive and arrest Jackson, Bitsy, Clark and Johnny.
The next day, the four soldiers watch from their jail cell as their company ships out to Japan. However Mapy explains the situation to Terry, who then forgives Johnny.
Johnny and Terry get married, the four privates rejoin their company aboard ship and say goodbye to their women.

Tags: romantic

Review:
An...

Plot synopsis:
Athens - Greece - The age of Economic crisis
Demetris is a highly independent man who lives a normal life. A confirmed bachelor at the age of 33! When a moment arrives, his choice at that point in time will change everything. His roommate is a female German Shepherd called Lonesome. One night, after supper, Lonesome wants to be taken out. Demetris tries to change her mind but Lonesome insists Its at this moment that he comes to a decision. This decision will change his entire life. If Demetris goes out he will meet Christina, the love of his life. If he stays in, he will not meet her. Does true love exist? What is the impact of a severe economic crisis on people and how can the crisis destroy a couple? One story shown from two different angles.

Tags: romantic, alternate reality

Review:
Escape Clause

Plot synopsis:
Ramsey is a rags to riches story success in insurance with "the ramsey curve" which is a theorem intended to help prevent companies from committing insurance fraud. He gets a call from a stranger stating that his wife paid him 10k to kill Ramsey. Later, after that same man confronts Ramsey and scares him, the would be hit man gets shot after meeting Ramsey at a park. After that, Ramsay's wife disappears then is found dead. Ramsey goes from being victim to suspect. Ramsay's Father in law files for custody of The children, leading Ramsey to suspect him. During the movie it is revealed that Ramsey had mild psychological issues which led to a domestic disturbance report early in Ramsay's marriage. Some flashback scenes prior to the discovery of his wife's (Sarah) body suggests that perhaps Ramsey is guilty. Ramsey's co-worker is found to have a bandage fetish, which leads Ramsey to suspect him. A Lt Farrand is investigating the case with 30 days left on the job before retirement. Ramsey hires his own investigator, which ends up dead, and the police find the gun that killed the hit man in the pi's apartment with a partial print from Ramsey. Ramsey remembers something about a case in which he testifies and goes to his insurance office to get information. The bdsm fetish co-worker offers information which allows Ramsey to find the truth. At the same time, Farrand picks up Ramsey's son, noting that the passenger door sticks. Ramsey calls his inlaw's house, where he reaches his wife's old friend telling her that it's Lt Farrand & finds out that Farrand has his son and is heading to where Farrand's stepson was hit by a train, crippling the boy and driving Farrand's wife to suicide after the insurance wins the case in court because of Ramsey's testimony (based on false information provided by the insurance company, unbeknownst to Ramsey). Ramsey barely gets there in time to push Farrand's car off the track, his own car getting knicked & turned over by the train. Farrand pulls Ramsey's son from the car & admits to everything vents his anger at Ramsey's theorum. Leslie, Sarah's friend arrives as Ramsey's son gets away from Lt Farrand, Distracting him. Ramsey pulls out a gun and kills Farrand and the movie closes with the implication that it's all over and everyone will live happily ever after.

Tags: murder

Review:
AVH: Alien vs. Hunter

Plot synopsis:
A journalist named Lee Custler (William Katt) is out jogging when a flying object passes behind him and crashes. Sheriff Joel Armstrong (Collin Brock) picks him up and they go to check it out. They find an abandoned caravan close to where the object crashed. As they discover the object and realize it is a spaceship, an Alien emerges. The Alien then chases them, after which Lee flees to the car. However Armstrong makes a stand, trips, falls and is killed by the Alien that then leaves. A terrified Tammy finds Lee and they call the local authorities but their car is destroyed by the Alien.
They run to a local café where they meet Hilary, Javier, Figgus and Marcy who do not believe them. Together they go back where they find Garrison wounded and the other passenger gone. Garrison says that everyone else died. The Alien then appears and kills Marcy, and while the others flee it fights a cyborg-like Hunter. The group decides to go to Valentines, the local hunter, through the sewers. All except Javier, who is killed by the Alien, make it to Valentine's and his daughter Freckle's house where they call for the support of a local paramilitary team. Valentine attempts to kill the Hunter, only to be nearly killed instead, but he makes it alive.
The group then splits up: Valentine and Lee go to meet the paramilitary force while Tammy, Hillary, Freckles, Garrison and Figgus try to escape through a set of tunnels. Garrison gets lost in the tunnels and killed by the Alien but the others make it to the hunter’s ship to their dismay. There they find a second Alien that's nearly dead and figure out that to get rid of the Hunter they need to kill the Alien and take a ray gun from the ship. Lee and Valentine find Two Fingers, Marty and Styles, the paramilitary force, and go to find T and Lexin who are in the woods. But they are already dead and the Hunter kills Marty, and kicks Styles away flying right near the Alien who kills both him and Valentine, who tries to save him.
The few survivors meet and while they try to think of a strategy, Figgus is impaled on a branch and dies. Two Fingers tries to kill the Hunter, who kills both him and Freckles. But just as he is going to kill Hillary, Lee uses the ray gun on the Alien, who nearly killed him a few seconds before, and makes him explode on a giant fireball, which kills him. As the three remaining survivors (Lee, Hilary, and Tammy) head back to town, the Hunter, back on his ship, takes off his mask revealing that he is a human from Earth and this is a similar planet but not the same. The film ends as he comments on the possibility of a second hunt.

Tags: violence

Review:
Silent Movie

Plot synopsis:
Mel Funn (Brooks), a great film director now recovering from a drinking problem and down on his luck, sets out to pitch a new screenplay idea to the Chief of Big Picture Studios (Caesar), aided by his assistants Dom Bell (DeLuise) and Marty Eggs (Feldman). The screenplay is for the first major silent motion picture in forty years. At first the studio chief, who is in danger of losing the studio to the New York conglomerate Engulf & Devour, rejects the idea, but Funn convinces him that if he can get Hollywood's biggest stars to be in the film, he could save the studio.Funn, Eggs, and Bell proceed to recruit Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Liza Minnelli, Anne Bancroft, and Paul Newman (all played by themselves) to be in their silent film in various comic ways. They also ask world famous mime Marcel Marceau (also as himself) to be in the film, but he replies, "Non", the only spoken word in the entire film. Funn claims not to understand Marceau's reply because he "do[es]n't understand French."Meanwhile, Engulf (Harold Gould) and Devour (Ron Carey) worry that Funn will save Big Picture Studios, and they will be unable to buy it. They attempt to "stop Funn with sex", by sending Vilma Kaplan (Peters) to seduce Funn, and then pretend to fall in love with him. Funn falls in love with her, but realizes the truth the day before the filming of the movie is set to begin, and returns to drinking. Vilma, who has actually fallen for Funn during the course of their relationship, teams up with Eggs and Bell to find Funn and get him sober.Vilma, Eggs, and Bell locate Funn and feed him several hundred cups of coffee to sober him up. Funn is able to direct, and the movie is filmed on schedule, but the film is stolen from the theater by Engulf & Devour just before its preview. Funn and his associates steal it back while Vilma distracts the audience with her Cabaret act, and after a slapstick car chase and final showdown involving cans of soda being launched like grenades, return the film to the theater, where it is a huge success, saving the Studio.The film ends with the title card "This is a true story", implying that it is the story of how "Silent Movie" itself was made.

Tags: comedy

Review:
L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock

Plot synopsis:
In 1885 London, the famous Professor Bernard Hichcock has created a new method of anaesthesia and has become rightly famous for it. A renowned, brilliant, and humane surgeon, he also happens to be a necrophiliac who enjoys sexual games with his beautiful and very willing wife, Margaretha. The games include slowing his wife's pulse with this anaesthetic so that she seems corpse-like. Sadly, one night, he injects her with too much and she dies in his arms. Devastated and traumatized, he resigns from his position and leaves England, the reason for his wife's death, of course, never publicly revealed. He returns twelve years later, remarried to Cynthia. His housekeeper, Martha, who was loyal to him and Margaretha, and even a devilishly delighted romantic co-conspirator in preparing the funeral-parlor-like room for their sex games, makes it clear that she views his remarriage as a betrayal: she treats Cynthia coldly and Bernard with scornful glances and without the familial devotion she showed before Margaretha's death. Cynthia starts to hear noises and a woman's threatening voice, and while Bernard initially dismisses her worries as paranoia, eventually discovers that Margaretha had not died but rather had been unnaturally aged and driven insane by the overdose and premature burial; apparently, Martha had saved her and has looked after her during Bernard's absence. Even in her ravaged condition, Bernard is still deeply in love with Margaretha, and conspires to murder Cynthia so he can use her blood in medical efforts to restore his wife's health and beauty. Needless to say, Bernard is thwarted, he and Margaretha dying in a conflagration at the end, while Cynthia is saved by Bernard's handsome young assistant. The subject matter of the film was revolutionary for its day and indeed for any period. The viewer is also asked to make some complex emotional and moral decisions: the real, and tragic, love story of the film is that of Bernard and Margaretha, but we must accept that his original error can only be undone at the expense of his dreary second wife's life. It is a brilliant film, certainly among the best Italian horror films and probably among the best horror films of any national origin. Most notably, the famous Barbara Steele is little more than a cardboard stock character as Cynthia. It is probably her least important role.

Tags: gothic

Review: