Saw V

Rated: R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and brief nudity.
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Wide
Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon, Meagan Good
Director: David Hackl

Synopsis
With everyone else dead and rotting, it's up to Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) to continue Jigsaw's murderous traditions. When he feels that his identity might be discovered, the killer has to use all his training as a detective to track down... With everyone else dead and rotting, it's up to Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) to continue Jigsaw's murderous traditions. When he feels that his identity might be discovered, the killer has to use all his training as a detective to track down anything--and anyone--that might expose him.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_v/

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Let the Right One In

Rated: R for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T Peedu, Pale Olofsson
Director: Tomas Alfredson

Synopsis
A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy's wish for a friend seems to come true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him with her father. A... A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy's wish for a friend seems to come true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him with her father. A pale, serious young girl, she only comes out at night and doesn't seem affected by the freezing temperatures.

Coinciding with Eli's arrival is a series of inexplicable disappearances and murders. One man is found tied to a tree, another frozen in the lake, a woman bitten in the neck. Blood seems to be the common denominator – and for an introverted boy like Oskar, who is fascinated by gruesome stories, it doesn't take long before he figures out that Eli is a vampire. But by now a subtle romance has blossomed between Oskar and Eli, and she gives him the strength to fight back against his aggressors. Oskar becomes increasingly aware of the tragic, inhuman dimension of Eli's plight, but cannot bring himself to forsake her. Frozen forever in a twelve-year-old's body, with all the burgeoning feelings and confused emotions of a young adolescent, Eli knows that she can only continue to live if she keeps on moving. But when Oskar faces his darkest hour, Eli returns to defend him the only way she can ...

Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson weaves friendship, rejection and loyalty into a disturbing and darkly atmospheric, yet poetic and unexpectedly tender tableau of adolescence. The feature is based on the best-selling novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lat_den_ratte_komma_in/

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Pride and Glory

Rated: R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Wide
Starring: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, Lake Bell
Director: Gavin O'Connor

Synopsis
Edward Norton and Colin Farrell play brothers in a family of cops in this drama from director Gavin O'Connor (MIRACLE). After several New York City cops are killed, one brother must investigate his own family as he tries to solve the... Edward Norton and Colin Farrell play brothers in a family of cops in this drama from director Gavin O'Connor (MIRACLE). After several New York City cops are killed, one brother must investigate his own family as he tries to solve the difficult case. Jon Voight costars.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_and_glory/

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I've Loved You So Long (2008)

Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grevill, Frederic Pierrot
Director: Philippe Claudel

Synopsis
Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) and Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) are sisters. The film begins with Léa, the younger sister by fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers... Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) and Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) are sisters. The film begins with Léa, the younger sister by fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers to each other. Juliette has just been released from prison after serving a long sentence. Léa was still a teenager when Juliette, a doctor, was convicted of the murder of her six-year-old son. Léa contacted Juliette when she was released and suggested that Juliette come to live with her. Juliette had no particular desire to see her sister again.

Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), Léa’s husband, is quite reserved, almost hostile, about Juliette’s presence under their roof. Luc and Léa have two adopted Vietnamese daughters, who are 8 and 3 years old. Luc’s father, Papy Paul (Jean-Claude Arnaud) also lives in the house. He’s a charming old man who spends all of his time reading since a stroke deprived him of the power of speech.

Life together isn’t easy to begin with. Juliette has to relearn certain basics. The world has moved on and she often seems confused. Although she may seem cold and distant, her attitude stems more from her being ill at ease. Helped by some, such as the kindly but tactless social worker and her open-hearted but depressed parole officer (Frédéric Pierrot) whose confidante she becomes, Juliette is also rejected by others, particularly employers who throw her out as soon as they find out what she did.

Léa’s attitude is ambiguous. She avoids talking about Juliette’s terrible crime and time in prison at all costs. She wants nothing to blunt the happiness of their reunion and getting to know each other again. Luc mentions it reproachfully, as does Juliette in a different way.

Gradually, the real Juliette emerges. She opens up to the world once more, thanks to her two nieces, with whom she becomes very close after being very stiff with them at the beginning, and Michel (Laurent Grevill), a friend of Léa’s, and Papy Paul, who, in a more symbolic way, knows what it’s like to be locked away. Juliette gets a job as a medical secretary at the local hospital on the condition that she never mentions she used to be a doctor. Her relationship with Léa becomes much stronger and more intimate. Even Luc succeeds in pushing his preconceptions to one side and seeing Juliette as his sister-in-law, not as a murderer.

But a huge questions hangs over Juliette’s renaissance. Why did she do such a terrible thing fifteen years ago? For all the others, it’s a recurrent thought that they dare not put into words. And for Juliette, locked away in her secret, it’s a burden to bear, which holds her back from engaging in her life and believing that she too has the right to be happy.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ive_loved_you_so_long/

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Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Rated: R for language and some sexual content/nudity.
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis
Director: Charlie Kaufman

Synopsis
Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has... Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein) with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one.

Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside.

However, as the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden's own life veers wildly off the tracks. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria (Jennifer Jason Leigh). His lingering attachments to both Adele and Hazel are causing him to helplessly drive his new marriage to actress Claire (Michelle Williams) into the ground. Sammy (Tom Noonan) and Tammy (Emily Watson), the actors hired to play Caden and Hazel, are making it difficult for the real Caden to revive his relationship with the real Hazel. The textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden's own deteriorating reality.

The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece. As he pushes the limits of his relationships, both personally and professionally, a change in creative direction arrives in Millicent Weems (Dianne Wiest), a celebrated theater actress who may offer Caden the break he needs.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/synecdoche_new_york/

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Ben X

Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Starring: Greg Timmermans, Marijke Pinoy, Laura Verlinden, Greg Goossen, Titus De Voogdt, Maarten Claeyssens, Jakob Beks, Gilles De Schryver
Director: Nic Balthazar

Synopsis
Ben is different and his life is a universe all unto itself. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication, and while he is a courageous hero—BEN X—in the fantasy on-line gaming world that consumes... Ben is different and his life is a universe all unto itself. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication, and while he is a courageous hero—BEN X—in the fantasy on-line gaming world that consumes him, in his daily life Ben is tormented by bullies and ignored by apathetic teachers. As the bullies’ relentless attacks push him over the edge and out of control, his on-line dream girl, Scarlite, appears to him and helps him devise a perfect plan to confront the bullies and make them pay for their torment. Director Nic Balthazar’s dazzling debut blends fantasy and harsh social realism. Based on a true story, Balthazar brings us an utterly original and important film.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009212-ben_x/

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Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2008)

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release: Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Director: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno

Synopsis
Follow one of the greatest soccer players of the modern era for a full 90-minute match between Real Madrid and Villareal. Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parenno exquisitely train 17 different 35mm cameras on one of this century's most... Follow one of the greatest soccer players of the modern era for a full 90-minute match between Real Madrid and Villareal. Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parenno exquisitely train 17 different 35mm cameras on one of this century's most creative athletes, Zinedine Zidane. While cameras capture Zidane in "real time," Gordon and Parenno's artfully crafted debut feature is anything but a typical sports movie.

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is a rigorous and elegant update to the art of portraiture. In today's media-saturated world, relativity reigns over objectivity, and the division between personal and public realms often blurs. Gordon and Parenno show an awareness of the interconnectivity of all things and develop a subjective portrait of Zidane that seamlessly integrates his physicality, his internal world of memories and sensory perceptions, and his relative place in the media landscape.

In Gordon and Parreno's film, the soccer field becomes an almost unworldly place, a universe of its own unhinged from any conventional sense of soccer but profoundly integrated with Zidane's intimate visions and an athlete's phenomenal performance.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/zidane_a_21st_century_portrait/

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