Proof that some treasures should remain buried: For eons, the Mayans prophesized that on December 21, 2012–the end-date of the 5,126-year cycle of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar–there would be a cataclysmic, earth-shattering event. As it turned out, 2012 wasn’t the end, but the beginning in Curse of the Mayans, a chilling sci-fi thriller set in the dark jungles and unexplored cenotes of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
In present day, American professor Dr. Alan Green (played by Steve Wilcox) discovers a manuscript that may hold the keys to the lost Mayan culture. After traveling to Mexico, he hires an expert team of cave divers, led by Danielle Noble (Carla Ortiz), to explore a submerged labyrinth of ruins left behind by the ancient civilization before their mysterious disappearance. But when the team unwittingly stumbles upon an underwater prison and unintentionally frees the evil alien beings trapped within, they are forced to fight for their survival and prevent the extraterrestrial apocalypse predicted by the Mayans long ago.
Better yet:Curse of the Mayanswas filmed on location at the sites of actual Mayan settlements.
An everyday moment triggers a crisis in the lives of a happy, successful British couple in MASTERPIECE: The Child in Time,Ian McEwan’s haunting tale of a lost child and redeemed love, starring Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald.
PBS Distribution releases the program on DVD April 3. It will also be available for digital download.
Adapted from McEwan’s 1987 Whitbread Prize-winning novel, which critic Christopher Hitchens called the author’s “masterpiece,” this film earned high praise during its recent UK broadcast. The Guardian found it “a deeply affecting portrait of loss and what that does to love,” and TheTimes lauded it as “a rarity: nuanced, unmawkish, unsentimental.”
Cumberbatch stars as Stephen Lewis, a noted children’s book author, and Macdonald plays his wife, Julie, a professional musician. They are the doting parents of Kate (played by Beatrice White), an impish four-year-old, their only child. Then one day Kate mysteriously disappears during a shopping outing with Stephen. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, and it upends Stephen and Julie’s lives in extraordinary ways.
The Child in Time also stars Stephen Campbell Moore as Charles, Stephen’s publisher and best friend; and Saskia Reeves as Charles’ wife, Thelma. Charles gets Stephen appointed to a government commission on child care reform in hopes of taking his friend’s mind off Kate, who by this point has been missing for three years. But to Stephen, whose vivid memories of Kate are ever present, the committee’s direction seems maddeningly out of touch with what children actually need.
Kate haunts every aspect of Stephen’s life—as a phantom at his side, a voice in his ear, a fleeting glimpse in a crowd of school children.
Estranged from Julie due to the stress of their mutual loss, Stephen makes an attempt to reconnect, going to the village where she now lives.
There he is overcome with a powerful feeling of déjà vu at a pub called The Bell, where he spots a woman who appears to be from a moment in time, decades ago, and the woman acknowledges him. He is certain he has been there before, but he can’t think when.
Meanwhile, Charles has abruptly left his publishing job and retired to the country with Thelma, where he reverts deeper and deeper into his boyhood in a disquieting reversal of normal aging.
With the gentlest touch of the fantastical, this riveting story takes viewers in and out of the present, past, and future, exploring the twin themes of the title—childhood and time—and leading to a conclusion that is as surprising as it is gratifying.
I still think Christopher Plummer should have won the Oscar for his marvelous performance as billionaire J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World. He got to work a little more than a month before the film’s theatrical release; Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey after KS made some nasty headlines over his love for young boys. (The recasting tale in told in one of the Blu-ray and DVD’s extras, “Recast, Reshot, Reclaimed”.
All the Money in the World follows the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (played by Charlie Plummer) and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother Gail (Michelle Williams) to convince his billionaire grandfather (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom. When Getty Sr. refuses, Gail attempts to sway him as her son’s captors become increasingly volatile and brutal. With her son’s life in the balance, Gail and Getty’s advisor (Mark Wahlberg) become unlikely allies in the race against time that ultimately reveals the true and lasting value of love over money. Just to be safe, the film is advertised as being “inspired by historical events. Certain scenes, characters and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.”
This Oscar-nominated thriller makes its eagerly awaited home entertainment debut with must-own bonus features, including eight deleted scenes and three featurettes inspired by the true events of this shocking tale and an inside look at its already-legendary production.
Join director Ridley Scott and the cast and crew as they discuss the fast-paced and exciting way Scott filmed this epic movie–including looks into the wardrobe, locations and score- in “Ridley Scott: Crafting a Historical Thriller.” In “Hostages to Fortune: The Cast,” hear from the award-winning cast as they share the research they did to connect to their real-life characters. Finally, go behind the scenes of this unprecedented film’s production with “Recast, Reshot, Reclaimed,” which offers an inside look at the urgent recasting of the character J. Paul Getty, a little over a month before the movie’s theatrical release.
It’s a violent flick, but not a boring one. Executive produced by Kanye West, Honor Up is written and directed by Damon Dash and follows the character OG, played by Dash, who is torn between his dedication to his family and honoring his street code.
The film also stars rappers Cam’ron, Murda Mook, Blackface and Smoke DZA, and features an appearance by Nicholas Turturro. Dash stars as OG, a drug lord’s lieutenant struggling to maintain the code of honor—protect the family—within his unruly crew after a Harlem shootout. Also featuring Stacey Dash, this film reveals a deadly underworld where beats pound as bullets fly, and even outlaws must live by the code.
The Harlem crime saga arrives on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital April 17 from Lionsgate. The film is currently available On Demand.
“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
― E.B. White,Charlotte’s Web
Every time we read the book or watch the animated film (yes, the book is much better; no wonder it won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association), we think of White’s genius and the web of life lessons he has woven.
Varèse Sarabande has just released the first-ever CD of the film’s soundtrack. The album features original songs and lyrics by the legendary duo of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, with performances by the film’s stars Debbie Reynolds, Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde. GayS relish this trio: Paul was a major queen, and rumors still exist that Debbie and Agnes were long-time lovers.
The film was released in 1973. Young farm pig Wilbur (voiced by Henry Gibson) attempts to avoid a dire fate. Of all the barnyard creatures, Wilbur’s staunchest ally is Charlotte (voiced by Reynolds), a thoughtful spider who devises an intriguing plan to keep the gentle little swine out of the slaughterhouse. Although Charlotte’s efforts, which involve words written in her delicate web, seem far-fetched, they may just work.
We love that source known as “unknown”. And we often love his/her quotes. Like this one: “Running is nothing more than a series of arguments between the part of your brain that wants to stop and the part that wants to keep going.”
We now run to tell you about a great new First Run Features film, that honors a city and its historic marathon. From its humble origins 120 years ago to the present day, Boston immerses the viewer into the wondrous kaleidoscope of the oldest annually contested marathon in the world.
Evolving from a workingman’s challenge to welcoming foreign athletes and eventually women, the iconic race
played no small part in paving the way for the
modern marathon and mass participatory sports.
Narrated by Oscar winning Boston native Matt Damon, Boston features many of running’s greatest champions including Shalane Flanagan, Meb Keflezighi, Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson.
The documentary pays such homage to Boston that its Executive Produced is Academy Award nominee and Boston Marathon competitor Frank Marshall; its original soundtrack was recorded by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Face it: I will come in last. Boston (the city and documentary) always comes in first.
She is one of the most important, yet least known activists of our time. Tirelessly leading the fight for racial and labor justice, Dolores Huerta evolved into one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century—and continues the fight to this day, at 87.
With unprecedented access to this intensely private mother of eleven, Dolores(PBS Distribution)chronicles Huerta’s life from her childhood in Stockton to her early years with the United Farm Workers, from her work with the headline-making grape boycott launched in 1965 to her role in the feminist movement of the ’70s to her continued work as a fearless activist. Featuring interviews with Gloria Steinem, Luis Valdez, Hillary Clinton, Angela Davis, her children and more, Doloresis an intimate and inspiring portrait of a passionate champion of the oppressed and an indomitable woman willing to accept the personal sacrifices involved in committing one’s life to social change. The film is released March 27.
“In the 1970s, the national grape boycott that Dolores Huerta helped organize played out in the small rural Minnesota farming community where I grew up—supported by our Catholic church along with tens of thousands of religious organizations across the country,” says Lois Vossen, Independent Lens executive producer. “More than forty years later, Dolores is still an indefatigable architect for social change on behalf of poor, underrepresented people, urging them to seek self-determination with her refrain ‘Si Se Puede’ (‘Yes We Can’).”
It was in 1955 that she would meet a likeminded colleague, CSO Executive Director César E. Chávez. The two soon discovered that they shared a common vision of organizing farm workers and in 1962 they launched the National Farm Workers Association, which would evolve into the United Farm Workers and bring national attention to the conditions faced by farm laborers.
Dolores’s lobbying and negotiating talents helped secure Aid for Dependent Families (AFDC) and disability insurance for farm workers; she was also instrumental in the enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which granted California’s farm workers the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions. While the farm workers lacked financial capital, they were able to wield significant economic power through hugely successful national boycotts. As their principal legislative advocate, Dolores became one of the UFW’s most visible spokespersons.
While directing the first National Boycott of California Table Grapes out of New York, Huerta met Gloria Steinem and was introduced to the burgeoning feminist movement which rallied behind the farm workers’ cause. Having found a supportive voice with other feminists, Huerta began to challenge gender discrimination within the farm workers’ movement.
At age 58, Dolores suffered a life-threatening assault while protesting against the policies of then-presidential candidate George Bush in San Francisco. Following a lengthy recovery, she began to focus on women’s rights, traversing the country on behalf of the Feminist Majority’s “Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the Year 2000” campaign which encouraged Latinas to run for office.
Dolores continues to work tirelessly developing leaders and advocating for the working poor, women, and children as founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in March of 2013 and has received numerous awards including The Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998, Ladies Home Journal’s “100 Most Important Woman of the 20th Century,” and nine Honorary Doctorates from U.S. universities. In 2012, President Obama bestowed Dolores with her most prestigious award, The Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In the early ’70s, one man stood up to the New York City police force. Hailed as a hero by many, hated by others, officer Frank Serpico made headlines when he blew the whistle on a culture of bribery and corruption within the department.
His one-man crusade for police reform inspired the 1973 Al Pacino film that bears his name, but the real-life saga is as gripping as anything Hollywood could dream up.
Now, in Frank Serpico (IFC Films), Frank tells his story in his own words: From his Italian-American roots in Brooklyn to his disillusionment with the NYPD to his riveting account of a dramatic drug bust (and possible set-up)
that ended with him being shot in the face.
Featuring music by Jack White and interviews with Serpico’s associates and admirers, including writer Luc Sante and actor-filmmaker John Turturro, this is an inspiring, all-access portrait of a courageous man who refused to betray his ideals.
Save the date: Frank Serpico is released March 13.
Sweeping in scope yet full of intimate moments, Film Movement’s The Paris Opera, offers a candid look behind the scenes of one of the world’s foremost performing arts institutions. Over the course of one tumultuous season, director Jean-Stéphane Bron nimbly juggles multiple storylines, from ballet and opera rehearsals, to strike negotiations, last minute crises and ticket disputes, revealing the dedication of the talented personnel who bring breathtaking spectacles to the stage night after night.
It’s Autumn 2015 and, at the Paris Opera, new director Stéphane Lissner is putting the finishing touches to his first press conference. Backstage, artists and crew diligently prepare to raise the curtain on a new season with Schönberg’s opera, Moses and Aaron. However, the announcement of a strike and arrival of a 2000-pound bull in a supporting role complicate matters greatly. As the season progresses, more and more characters appear, playing out the human comedy in the manner of a documentary Opera. Enter promising young Russian singer, Mikhail Tymoshenko, who begins at the Opera’s Academy; in the hallways of Opera Bastille, his destiny will cross paths with that of Bryn Terfel, one of the greatest voices of his time. And Lissner will have to weather star choreographer Benjamin Millepied jumping ship soon after taking over as director of ballet at Palais Garnier. But when the terrorist attack at The Bataclan plunges the city into mourning, the company recognizes the show must go on.
We have been in love with Federico Fellini’s films since we were 8 1/2.
We’ve also been in love with Lucy. Of course, that Lucy, but we’re on the ball with a different Lucy.
Let us explain.
A coming-of-age adventure, the film In Search of Fellini follows Lucy, a small-town girl from Ohio who discovers the delightfully bizarre films of the legendary Italian filmmaker and sets off on a journey across Italy to find him. Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson for nearly 30 years!) is a co-writer and executive producer; the film is actually inspired by her true life events: her fascination with and search for Federico Fellini, in Italy, as a young woman. Nancy has even kept the original letters that she wrote to Federico Fellini (on a Corona typewriter) in the mid ’80s as well as correspondence from his office. This winsome drama, from Spotted Cow Entertainment, also starring Maria Bello and Mary Lynn Rajskub, arrives on DVD on February 23.
Lucy Cunningham has never kissed a boy, never had a job and never really had friends. Her best, and perhaps only, friend is her mother, Claire (portrayed by Bello), who has shielded her from all the bad in the world, including Claire’s own terminal illness. Claire’s no-BS sister, Kerri (Rajskub), urges her to break her silence and tell Lucy the truth before it’s too late. Lucy, aware that something is up, goes to Cleveland for an ill-fated job interview. There, she stumbles into a bizarre and wonderful festival of the films of legendary Italian director Federico Fellini and is instantly swept away with his Oscar-winning film La Strada (1953). The cleverly enigmatic tragicomedy leaves Lucy restless and aching for answers, and in a burst of courage, she leaves her small-town home to find the filmmaker and unlock his mysteries and her own.
What follows is a strange and spectacular journey through the romantic dreamscapes of Italy, as Lucy encounters characters, fantasies and nightmares from Fellini’s films. Her journey of discovery and life counterpoints Claire’s gradual decline into death. Apart but connected, they fulfill both of their dreams as truth and fiction intertwine into the ultimate Felliniesque journey.
