The Deal, directed by Harvey Kahn, begins with the premise that the United States is at war with the Confederation of Arab States, resulting in the burning of oilfields. Accordingly, the price of gas at the pump, if available, is $6 per gallon. The resulting energy crisis prompts two initiatives–a search for more petroleum and […]

  The television show Charlie’s Angels has been amusing audiences from 1976, with film versions released in 2000 and 2003, so why not a satire? D.E.B.S., directed by Angela Robinson, does just that. In the movie’s prologue, a voiceover says that a secret part of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) measures dishonesty, thereby enabling those with high scores

Every August, the French take a vacation for the entire month, giving them an opportunity to engage in reflection and recreation, perhaps even personal growth. A popular destination for the affluent is the coastal Mediterranean, where the cool waters take the edge off the warm sun, and clothing can be informal. The part of France

The sixth cinematic Casanova, directed by Lasse Hallström, is a cinematographic eye candy of costumes and the city of Venice, with a baroque music filmscore that includes compositions of Albinoni, Handel, Vivaldi, and others. The story is a comedy worthy of Gioacchino Rossini or even William Shakespeare, where there are hidden subplots and characters masquerading to

Caterina in the Big City (Caterina va in città), directed by Paolo Virzì, is an Italian tragicomedy that purports to show how teenage Caterina Iacovoni (played by Alice Teghil) adjusts as her middle class family moves from the small Italian town of Montaldo Di Castro to Rome. The story becomes a soap opera that portrays

Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, is hyped as a “gay cowboy” film but the theme of homophobia is actually more powerful, and the protagonists are bisexuals during their lives albeit at different points along the monosexual-bisexual continuum. The movie begins in summer 1963 at Signal, Wyoming, where Jack Twist (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) tells a story about how classism interferes with the possibility of wholesome relationships. The novel was first adapted for television in 1938, followed by five more productions, with another screen version to come later this year or possibly in 2006. Austen’s novel has also been transported to different times and places

When The Beautiful Country, directed by Hans Petter Moland, begins, a title tells filmviewers that the Vietnamese term bui doi means “less than dust” and explains that Amerasians, who have been estimated to number at least 12,000, were despised after the Americans departed in 1975, acquiescing to the victory of North Vietnam over South Vietnam. The film takes

Bad Guy (Nabbeun namja), directed by Kim Ki-Duk, is a dark tale about prostitution in Seoul. When the film begins, thirtysomething Hang-Gi (played by Cho Je-Hyun) sees a moderately attractive twenty-year-old college student, Sun-Hwa (played by Seo Won), waiting on a park bench. A pimp and an ex-convict, he lusts after her but does not

Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan, is a quintessential prequel with clear references to the post-9/11 United States. As a boy, Bruce Wayne (played by Gus Lewis) has nightmares that haunt him even in daytime. One day, eight-year-old Bruce falls into a well that serves as a bat cave; although his father rescues him, he