USA

This tense urban drama stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a paramedic on the brink of physical and emotional collapse. Frank has worked for years in one of New York’s most brutal neighborhoods, and the pressure of his job has taken its toll; plagued with self-doubt, he is haunted by the spirits of the people he couldn’t save, and while he desperately wants to quit his job, outside forces won’t let him walk away. Bringing Out the Dead brought director Martin Scorsese back to the streets of contemporary New York, one of his favorite locations, after three films set elsewhere: Kundun, Casino, and The Age of Innocence. The film also reunited Scorsese with screenwriter Paul Schrader, who scripted Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ. The supporting cast includes Patricia Arquette as the daughter of a heart attack victim that Frank has fallen in love with, and John Goodman and Ving Rhames as two of Frank’s fellow drivers. — Mark DemingRead More »

Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Mickey Rooney made his directorial debut with My True Story. Per its title, the film is based on an article which first appeared in the pages of True Story magazine. Jewel thief Ann Martin (Helen Walker) is paroled thanks to some string-pulling by criminal boss George Trent (Wilton Graff). Ann soon learns that she is expected to participate in a major gem heist. With the help of policeman Bill Phillips (Willard Parker) — who also happens to be a former member of U.S. military intelligence — Ann hopes to turn the tables on the smooth-but-deadly Trent. Featured in the cast as “Mark Foster” is Aldo DaRe, who would matriculate to stardom under the nom de film of Aldo Ray.Read More »

The story of James Whale, the director of Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), in the time period following the Korean War. Whale is homosexual and develops a friendship with his gardener, an ex-Marine.Read More »

Paul, the owner of a topless go-go bar on the Sunset Strip, isn’t having a good day. His girlfriend, unbeknownst to him, is planning to rob his club, and his wife is having an affair with the hunky bartender.Read More »

In 1835, the San Cristobal Island located somewhere in the British West Indies is ruled by sadistic beauty, Lady Susan Walker, who forces the local men to join the black slaves on her sugar cane plantation and either work or die. She’s always dressed in black and never lets go of her whip, the black snake. Her latest husband has gone missing making her a real black widow. Her right hand man, impotent, racist and violent Joxer Tierney, is in command of the slaves and he makes sure that they hate him even more than they do her. Young slave Joshua plans a revolt, but his religious father Isaiah is terrified of what might happen if the revolt fails. Sir Charles Walker, the brother of Susan’s late husband, goes undercover as Ronald Sopwith to investigate what really happened to his brother. She hires him as the plantation accountant, gives him a black sex slave named Cleone and eventually tries to seduce him. Her sadistic gay assistant may no more about Charles’ brother’s fate.Read More »

The U.S. Cavalry knows that traveling the unmapped Arizona Territory canyons and trails in search of a woman kidnapped by Apaches could mean riding into a trap. So they ask the help of Ward Kinman, a prospector and scout who knows both the terrain and the ways of the warring tribesmen. Nearly a decade after Billy the Kid, Robert Taylor saddled up a second time and portrayed Kinman in Ambush, the film that began his steady string of work in a genre that suited him like a Colt .45 tucked easy into hip leather. Marguerite Roberts (True Grit) offers a script filled with blazing action and romantic subplots. Among the co-stars: Chief Thundercloud (Tonto in The Lone Ranger serials of 1938 and 1939). From Warner Brothers!Read More »

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Cheryl is young, Black, and lesbian, working in Philadelphia with her best friend Tamara and consumed by a film project: to make a video about her search for a Black actress from Philly who appeared in films in the 30s and was known as the Watermelon Woman. Following various leads, Cheryl discovers the Watermelon Woman’s stage name and real name and surmises that the actress had a long affair with Martha Page, a White woman and one of Hollywood’s few female directors. As she’s discovering these things, Cheryl becomes involved with Diana, who’s also White. The affair strains Cheryl’s friendship with Tamara. More discoveries bring Cheryl (and us, her audience) to new realizations.Read More »

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The film follows the plight of Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a 29-year-old man who has just suffered through the most miserable year of his life. A new arrival to the City of Angels, Wilson ends up alone and penniless as New Year’s Eve rapidly approaches, and avows to lock his doors, pull his blinds, and climb into bed – until best friend Jacob (Brian McGuire) talks him into posting a Craigslist personal ad. In seemingly no time at all, the message leads Wilson to Vivian (Sara Simmonds), a young woman who is determined to be with the “right” man at the stroke of midnight.Read More »

Believe it or not even in Smalltown USA there are still people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty. Levonna and Lamar could have the perfect relationship if it were not Lamar’s obsession with rear entry.Read More »