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The Motel

The Motel, directed and written by Michael Kang, is reminiscent of such films as Carwash (1976), where a parade of humanity’s oddballs contradict the fantasy that everyone is normal and proper. The plot, based on the novel Waylaid (2002) by Ed Lin, revolves around a dysfunctional Chinese family, consisting of a senile grandfather, Gung Gung (played by Stephen Chen), […]

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The Night Listener

Titles at the beginning of The Night Listener, directed by Patrick Stettner, not only acknowledge that the film is based on a novel by Armistead Maupin but also note that the story is based on actual events. When the movie begins, New York City radio announcer Gabriel Noone (played by Robin Williams) is taping a late-night

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Manderlay

Manderlay, directed by Lars von Trier, is a weird sequel to his also weird Dogville (2003). After leaving Dogville in 1933, Mulligan (played by Willem Dafoe) drives his daughter Grace (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard) to the Deep South. When they stop briefly, Grace is outraged by what she sees inside a gated plantation–muscular Timothy (played

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Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette, directed by Sofia Coppola, is a biopic of the queen of France at the time of the French Revolution. The film begins in Austria, when thirteen-year-old Marie (played by Kirsten Dunst) has a servant pampering her feet while she is surrounded by rich Viennese chocolates. Soon, she is informed that she has been

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Hostel

Writer-director Eli Roth figured out how to fly under the radar of the Motion Picture Association of America’s rating system so that Hostel does not have a X rating despite pushing the envelope so far beyond 8MM (1999) that spoilers are warranted. Now we know something about MPAA that questions the bureaucracy there: They want Hollywood to profit from

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Infamous

In 2005, three films with gay themes were for the first time in contention for major film awards. Brokeback Mountain nearly swept the Academy Awards. Actress Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award for the starring role in Transamerica. Seymour Hoffman won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his portrayal of the title role in the

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The History Boys

The History Boys, directed by Nicholas Hytner, is based on a London stage play by Alan Bennett and features the starting cast. The plot revolves around eight bright middle class prep school male students in Sheffield, Yorkshire, who seek admission to Cambridge and Oxford universities during the 1980s. After passing preliminary exams, the rest of

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The Good German

The Good German, directed by Stephen Soderbergh, is a retro black & white spy thriller that could have been made fifty years ago, as the story takes place in 1945, and there is considerable filmreel footage of postwar Berlin and the Potsdam Conference, though nearly all sets are found in a studio backlot. The four-power

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Fearless

Fearless, directed by Ronnie Yu, is a biopic about legendary Huo Yuanjia (played by Jet Li), who was primarily responsible for the revival of Chinese martial arts in the beginning of the twentieth century. The film, entitled Huo Yuanjia in China, begins in 1910, when a contest is underway between Huo and four top pugilists from the

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Ghost Game

  The Thai film Ghost Game (La Tha Phee), directed by Sarawut Wichiansarn, has evoked controversy in Cambodia for dredging up a strange representation of the horrific Tuol Sleng, the interrogation-torture center used by the Pol Pot regime in Phnom Penh during the late 1970s that processed 15,000 prisoners, of which only six persons survived torture.

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