More Synopses!

Kick Ass

One of the most graphic and violent comics comes to the big screen with Kick-Ass.  Dave Lizewski, an unnoticed and somewhat socially awkward teenager, decides to become a New York vigilante by donning a mask and painted baseball bat despite his lack of superpowers.  It’s not till he meets Big Daddy and Hit-Girl that things get serious.  They have their sights set on Frank D’Amico, a dangerous mobster, and draw the newbie Kick-Ass into the fray.  Chaos, blood and gore ensue.

Friday 

Craig managed to get fired on his day off.  Smokey managed to smoke $200 worth of weed that he was supposed to sell… now Big Worm is demanding the money by 10pm or both friends will be in trouble.  And, they have to do all this while avoiding Deebo, a gigantic bully who rides his bike around menacingly and has it in for Craig.  This day-in-the-life tale takes hilarious and dramatic turns that are only heightened by a strong hip-hop soundtrack, strange occurrences and quirky characters.  

La Vie en Rose

Edith Piaf’s dramatic life unfolds in this exciting French biopic. This nonlinear portrayal of Edith’s life not only makes for an interesting and irresistible film, but also reflects her winning charisma and odd personality.  What is a young girl to do when her mother abandons her, father places her in the care of his mother – a brothel owner – only to take her back after the war to join his circus?  Becoming the post-WWII heroine of France doesn’t sound too shabby...

The Princess and the Frog

Disney returns to the magic of the hand-drawn cartoon in this instant classic.  Hardworking Tiana meets the bombastic Prince Naveen who gets himself into trouble with the greedy voodoo working Shadow Man.  After the frog-prince gets transformed, he happens upon our heroine and convinces her to kiss him.  To both of their surprise, not only does he not turn back into a human, but she also turns into a frog!  Together, they to navigate the Lousiana bayou in search of a cure.

The Royal Tenenbaums 

This classic Wes Anderson comedy chronicles the dysfunctional family reunion of the Tenenbaums.  Royal, the father, makes a grand return under the guise of a deadly disease to convince his family to spend time with him.  For the first time in 22 years, Royal is reunited with Margot, a Pulitzer prize winning child playwright, Richie, a champion tennis player, and Chas, a financial expert from a young age.  Will he be able to trick his way back into his family, or will they honestly bond?

The Big Lebowski

Only the Coen brothers could concoct a tale of mistaken identity, kidnapping, and bowling as seamlessly as is done in The Big Lebowski.  Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski is confused with millionaire Jeff Lebowski.  Thugs mistakenly harass The Dude in his meager LA apartment about a wife he doesn’t have who owes more money than he could dream of having.  And, to top it all off, they ruin his rug.  His rug!  That’s when he leaves his world of beer and bowling alleys for a solution.  

Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi

Even though he’s thought to not be ‘all there’, 16 year old Shlomi manages to take care of everyone.  He mediates his mother and father’s recent separation, bathes his grandfather who talks of nothing but invented WWII stories, ensures his older brother takes his medication and puts up with his older brothers pornographic anecdotes. This all changes when Shlomi goes through a math exam that snags the interest of both his math teacher and school principal.  Will Shlomi realize his full potential?  Will he find himself?

How to Train your Dragon

Berk is cold, has tough food, and, 9 months out of 12, it’s snowing.  It only makes sense, then, that the Vikings who live there would be the only people stubborn enough to stay.  Their stubbornness is only confirmed when they fight the dragons that are stealing their livestock instead of abandon the already geographically problematic Berk.  Then there’s the sensible and inventive Hiccup, a scraggly Viking teen who won’t kill a dragon when the situation presents itself.  Instead, he befriends it and, together, Hiccup and his dragon, Toothless, help Vikings see Berk in a different light.  

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

British everyman, Arthur Dent, finds that his house is to be demolished the same day the Earth is to be demolished for an intergalactic highway.  Luckily, Arthur saved the life of Ford Prefect a while back.  Why is this lucky?  Because Ford is secretly an alien who is writing The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  The two friends escape Earth just in time to hop a ride with the president of the universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox, earthling and former crush of Arthur’s, Tricia McMillan and a depressed android, Marvin.  

Exiled 

Macau, a city along the Southern coast of China, is to be handed over from Portuguese to Chinese rule. That’s when two hit men from Hong Kong arrive.  They’re after a gangster who abandoned his life of syndicate crime to create a safe new life for his wife and newborn child.  At the same time, two army officers, who happen to be former associates of the hit men, also arrive to protect the former gangster and they will stop at nothing to thwart every attempt against the former gangster’s life!  

Run Lola Run

Lola, who has always helped her boyfriend Manni, must find a way to get 100,000 DM to him in twenty minutes, otherwise the gangster he owes the money to will kill him.  Through this scenario, the film dives headfirst into the concept of fate and what it controls through a series of “what if” scenarios.  Even the smallest, most seemingly unrelated occurrence can change the fate of Manni’s life… Lola has to decide which scenario will play out best.  

Repo Men

This futuristic utopia of sorts features a world in which humans have improved and extended their lives through expensive, highly advanced procedures that implant mechanical organs courtesy of a company called “The Union.” The downside of this medical development is that if you can’t make your payments, the Union’s highly skilled repo men will come and repossess the organ without any care for your survival or well-being. But, when the Union’s top repo man gets hurt and has to have an organ replacement of his own, he too will be faced with the problems of paying the very debt he had been punishing others for.

Solaris

Solaris is a science fiction cult classic that presents a poetic perspective on space travel and its physical and existential repercussions.  The film follows Kris Kelvin, a psychologist who is sent up to the space station that orbits the Solaris Ocean. Upon arrival, he seeks out the three remaining cosmonauts onboard; all have either gone crazy or committed suicide.  It is then that Kelvin’s dead ex wife appears onboard from the shadows.  The life on the ship turns to a struggle to understand this strange phenomena and existence itself.

Monsoon Wedding

Aditi has accepted her family’s arrangement for marriage with Hemant, a man from Houston she’s only known for about two weeks. As time goes by, Aditi feels more and more uncomfortable about the prospect of leaving her family and everything she knows for a husband she barely knows in a place that is most unfamiliar. All relatives from all over the globe pour in for this celebration despite the clumsy plans laid by the rebellious wedding contractor.  This gathering proves most interesting in this popular family comedy.

Beverley Hills Cop

Alex Foley, played by Eddie Murphy, travels from Detroit to Beverly Hills to get revenge for the death of his best friend, Mikey, who was killed right in front of him.  It’s not as easy as Alex would have imagined, though; not when the man he’s seeking revenge on is the Victor Maitland, one of the richest and most respected men of Beverly Hills.  Alex must outsmart this wealthy and powerful criminal while dealing with the local authorities and his supervisor from Detroit. 

Tank Girl

This dystopian story of a water-restricted Earth is based off the British cult classic comic.  The story features Tank Girl, Rebecca, who refuses to give into the evil corporation Water & Power and instead pirates the controlled water and distributes it to the parched people of Earth.  She’s caught when she tries to rescue her friend, Sam, who was abducted by the controlling corporation.  It is there that Tank Girl meets Jet Girl and the two escape and seek vengeance on Water & Power. 

8 1/2

The film follows Guido Anselmi, a director not much unlike Fellini himself, who is going through a midlife crisis that results from an overwhelming large-scale production and the pressure that comes with it. He retreats to a health spa in the hopes of recapturing his creativity.  There he finds more than his creativity as he analyzes his human relationships. The film is littered with flashbacks and dream sequences, both of which get harder and harder to discern from the other as the movie goes.