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Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Steven Spielberg’s (”War of the Worlds”/”Munich”/”Amistad”) intensely
personal film, a tougher one than what we have come to expect from him,
uses the Booker Prize winning 1982 biographical novel of  ‘Schindler’s
Ark’ by the Australian writer Thomas Keneally and the screenplay by Steven
Zaillian to base this larger than life true Holocaust story (the facts
are gathered by witnesses and interviewees) about an opportunistic shady
Nazi industrialist and war profiteer, a German Catholic from the Sudetenland,
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who found it in his scheming heart to save
the lives of 1,100 Jews in Cracow, Poland, from certain death in the concentration
camps. 

For its 3 1/4-hour length Spielberg keeps this important themed film
interesting, unsentimental, intelligent, accesssible, morally astute, aesthetic,
riveting and entertaining. For this great achievement in harrowing filmmaking
the Academy awarded the film with seven Oscars, including ones for Best
Picture and Best Director. 

The excellently crafted film is shot entirely by cinematographer
Janusz Kaminski in a crisp black and white, except for the scenes that
have Jewish prayer candles burning with orange flames and in the one with
a little ghetto girl in a red coat.

Oskar Schindler purchased in 1939 a factory in Poland, as he thought
up a get-rich-quick scheme of using Jews as a source of cheap labor. In
1941, in Nazi-occupied Cracow, the Jews are forced to live in a ghetto.
This gives the hedonistic wife cheating Schindler an opportunity to put
his scheme into operation. He uses the Polish Jewish accountant and member
of the Jewish council, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), to be his right-hand
man and run a kitchen equipment factory with cheap Jewish labor. Stern
realizes that the factory workers are classified as essential workers and
are exempt from “resettlement” in concentration camps. When Stern soon
adds the likes of professionals, cripples and rabbis to the factory list,
Schindler chooses to remain quiet. By 1942 the Final Solution begins and
the evil Nazi butcher commandant, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), does the
Devil’s work of ridding the ghetto Jews by either extinction or sending
them to the forced labor camp at Plaszow. Schindler bribes the corruptible
high-living Goeth to permit the factory to now operate within the concentration
camp. By 1944, Schindler uses his money from his huge war profits to buy
lives, as he seeks to prevent the surviving Jews from being shipped to
Auschwitz and instead has them shipped to a munitions factory he has opened
in Moravia. That Schindler undergoes a character change, and at great risk
to himself seeks to protect the Jews, is something that can’t be explained.
It’s a story that has the triumph of good over evil taking place in a very
unlikely greedy individual who has suddenly been transformed into a selfless
hero, which is part of what makes this story very appealing. 

The film works best when Spielberg refuses to explain Schindler.
But he can’t resist, so near the end there are a few missteps as things
do become more simplistic and sentimental as Spielberg weakens and brings
into play some of his usual filmmaking faults. But, as a whole, this is
a powerful telling of a Holocaust story that has its fictitious moments
but still ably serves as a justifiable historical record. Though not the
definitive Holocaust film, yet it’s a better look at the Holocaust than
most other films and is certainly one of Spielberg’s more serious and better
films.

Son of comic genius Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner has picked up the family torch and directed some of the most memorable, quotable, and endearing comedies of the last two decades, and he?s no schmuck when it comes to dramas either.

This is a hilarious spoof filled with biting satire about a filmmaker making a documentary (or ?rockumentary? if you will) about a once famous raucous British heavy metal band on a disastrous U.S concert tour, featuring the magnificent talents of co-stars/co-scripters Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. This granddaddy of the mocumentary speaks to the hard rockin?, air guitar playing 14-year-old boy in us all.

In this low-key sleeper hit based on a Stephen King story four young boys in 1959 Oregon set out on a camping trip in order to see a dead body one of them accidentally found. This is a loving memoir to a simpler time with an exceptionally talented young cast tentatively taking the steps on a road that leads to maturity.

Reiner turns a wry, even caustic, eye on men and women in friendship and in love, and that gray area in between. This is an engaging and smartly performed comedy about a pair of longtime platonic friends who turn a feud into a lasting friendship, determined not to let sex mess up a great relationship, until love threatens to ruin everything.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

Boogeyman

February 4th, 2005

The latest entry into the race to ruin horror films for good, ?Boogeyman? is a rare case where the director doesn?t even try to tell a story. This empty, tedious, incoherent exercise in style gives the genre a bad name, and sets the bar even lower for PG-13 horror.

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After witnessing his father's death at the hands of his childhood closet monster, Tim (Barry Watson, "7th Heaven") has grown up with extreme paranoia and a fear of the dark. To conquer his phobias, a doctor suggests spending one night in his boyhood home to face his troubles. Tim agrees, but as soon as he arrives, his old pal the Boogeyman comes calling, looking to finish the job he started years ago.

"Boogeyman" is no horror film. It will bill itself as one, and audiences might embrace it as a member of the genre, but I assure you it isn't. All the film contains is a series of cheap sound effect jump shocks without any vision. "Boogeyman" does not contain one element of horror, regardless of what it looks and sounds like. Filmmaker Stephen Kay, last seen overdirecting the Stallone comeback vehicle "Get Carter," overdirects "Boogeyman" at such an unbearable pitch, there's little reason to even look up at the screen.

Kay loves his camera tricks, and "Boogeyman" offers him the greatest opportunity to show off some MTV-style chops. Why? Because the film has no story. And how do horror filmmakers traditionally compensate when faced with no vision? They shake their camera around, deluge the film with artistically bankrupt boo scares, edit like they are receiving a shiny gold coin for every cut, and stall endlessly to get their film to a sellable running time. "Boogeyman?" Check, check, check, and check. The film's inertia is maddening. This is the rare film that takes forever to go nowhere. Not helping the pace is Kay, who instructs his poor, unfortunate talent (also including Emily Deschanel) to act two ways to kill time: either they play a silly, endless game of "red light, green light" going down every single hallway they come across or, in the case of Barry Watson, Kay goes in for a plethora of extreme horror close-ups when in dire need of tension. However, in this film's case, instead of reacting to ultimate terror, everyone just looks like they missed the last piece of birthday cake. Hardly frightening film-making.

Kay quickly gives up trying to stick with the script, and turns "Boogeyman" into a profoundly vague sensory experience, complete with screeching sound effects for no good reason and strobe-like editing. Since Kay and the screenwriters haven't bothered to think through who or what the Boogeyman is, the film's climax, which has Tim fighting his archenemy, offers no reason why the audience should care. Besides finally manifesting itself as a piece of questionable CGI, old Boogey doesn't have much else to offer, proving a long held theory that too much mystery is just as bad as giving it all away.

Rumor has it that "Boogeyman," after a year sitting on the shelf, was ready for the home video market before the PG-13 success of "The Grudge" gave the studio other ideas. As this repulsive genre of "horror" gets increasingly more popular, the quality of the productions has become gradually worse. "Boogeyman" takes home the distinction of being the first of the "PG-13ers" to be a completely incoherent exercise in style, without any attention paid to even the most basic of storytelling fundamentals. If "Boogeyman" signals more films like this to follow, there are far worse nightmares out there to come than whatever is lurking in your closet.

My rating: D-

Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson) is in a coma in his bedroom, lovingly nursed by his mother Esther (Glenn Close), who has distanced herself from her manage (Robert Klein) and teenage daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell). Neighbour Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson) is struggling to survive with her two children, whilst in the midst of a messy dissociate. Down the street, lawyer Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) who has just been passed over respecting puff piece, realises that his the missis Susan (Moira Kelly) and two children raison d’etre very well without him. Helen Christianson (Mary Kay Place) is bored by her shush and starts to flirt with the neighbourhood gardener, Aroused (Timothy Olyphant), who is outgoing on the surface, but harbours sunless secrets.

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Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Sexually charged pre-Code morality-play melodrama that has badly
dated. It’s based on the novel and play by Adela Rogers St. Johns, who
based it on her father. Lionel Barrymore delivered a 14-minute courtroom
speech at the climax which helped him snag the Oscar for Best Actor. It
was Clark Gable’s first starring role under his new MGM contract, and in
his tough guy role he knocks around sexy star Norma Shearer, wife of producer
Irving Thalberg, and tells her to “take it and like it.” Director Clarence
Brown (”Chained”/”Ah, Wilderness!”/”The Gorgeous Hussy”) keeps it stagebound,
but it was daring for its day. Despite the talented cast, this one ends
up looking preposterous. It was remade by MGM in 1953 as The Girl Who Had
Everything, with Elizabeth Taylor, Fernando Lamas and William Powell.

Famed San Francisco criminal lawyer Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore)
is divorced, a boozer and comes from a society family. The brilliant but
flawed lawyer lives with his pretty free-spirited daughter Jan (Norma Shearer),
in a mutual admiration relationship. Stephen, through some lawyer tricks,
wins the acquittal of nonchalant gangster Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) in
his murder trial. Eddie (James Gleason) is Stephen’s assistant, who sneaks
in his back pocket the bottle of liquor for the boss to drink on the sly
at the courtroom. Drunk after the victory, the lawyer foolishly invites
Ace to attend an evening family birthday celebration at his snobby mother’s
(Lucy Beaumont) house. Jan also attends, and falls madly in love with the
hunky gangster. The headstrong Jan resents her family’s and her square
fiancé’s, Dwight Winthrop (Leslie Howard), bad reaction to Ace and
leaves the party with him. On the way, Ace’s car is sprayed by gunfire
from a rival gang. Jan only finds this exciting, and they begin a serious
romance. Stephen tries unsuccessfully to break them up after Ace asks him
for permission to marry his daughter. Realizing they are drifting apart,
both father and daughter try to change their bad habits; but he can’t stop
drinking and when she leaves Ace–the thug turns violent and uses force
to get her to marry him. Jan rejects the marriage proposal and in fear
for her life goes to Dwight for help, and he responds by killing Ace in
his gambling place after being threatened by him when he sees the thug
at her apartment. At the trial, the noble Dwight doesn’t want to drag Jan’s
name through the mud and therefore confesses to the murder without defending
himself. Stephen sobers up to defend Dwight at the trial and argues that
this was a case of temporary insanity and blames the shooting on himself
because he was a bad father introducing his daughter to the thug and not
able to stop the romance. The lurid melodrama ends on an implausible note,
as Stephen has a heart attack and dies in his daughter’s arms after his
vigorous defense, the jury finds Dwight innocent and Dwight and Jan are
happily off to New York for their honeymoon.

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The public ate it up; the film made Gable a star, Shearer remained
immensely popular and the hammy Barrymore got his one and only Oscar. It
was hard for me to see what the Depression-era audience saw in this set-piece
studio heavy-handed melodrama, that seemed ungainly, overacted, unbelievable
and awkward. 

You know, I remember when Funimation first announced they'd licensed
Yu Yu Hakusho
. A lot of the fans of the series panicked, because at the in unison a all the same, Funimation's alone title was the famous but sloppily-localized
Dragonball Z
– and while
DBZ
had started to disappoint a amount to out uncut on DVD, there were stationary altogether a few problems with the discs. I didn't worry too much at the organize myself, because I figured that Funimation would have time to iron out the bugs in its DVD authoring take care of and figure completely what the fans really wanted on the discs. After watching the first two DVDs, released simultaneously, I'm fortunate to explosion that I was goodness– Funimation get pulled misled a great DVD presentation of a honestly terrific certify.
Yusuke Urameshi, a 14-year-old delinquent, leads a pretty checkered existence when the series starts improbable. Anything else of all, he's

dead

, which mostly due baffles and annoys him. Prior to his demise, he'd lived a more tawdry existence, picking fights and skipping classes. He wasn't a bad egg, even so– his mother is a chain-smoking, irresponsible alcoholic, which makes for a depressing home life, and the fact is that he simply has a bad palliate, which his puberty friend Keiko desparetely wants him to bring under control.

But, amiably, he's

dead

.
No problem! The activity is, he'd died while selflessly irritating to safeguard a child, behavior that was so unexpected of him that the afterlife unqualifiedly wasn't prepared for his coming– so he's earned himself a chance to recover first his body surely dies. All of this is explained to Yusuke by Botan, a melancholy-haired girlfriend in a pink kimono who happens to be undoubtedly possibly the cutest and most cheerful representation of the Grim Reaper since Neil Gaiman came up with his sassy and alluring Downfall character in the

Sandman

comics some years back. In group to gain a victory in his life go, Yusuke has to trade with a series of tasks that Samson himself would partake of found daunting, involving getting his masses out of harm's way, helping out like a light his blockheaded but honorable antagonist, Kuawabara, and trying to keep his however-living friends and family out of trouble.

Of course, Yusuke in the end does land a put his carcass back; after all, if he didn't, there'd be no TV series! After that, he's informed by the brusque and bratty Koenma, his telephone in the spirit world who'd arranged for his reincarnation in the first place (and who is apparently the son of the earl of the Underworld, in spite of his toddler-esque appearance!), that his next job is to become a

Reikai Tantei

– a "spirit detective." Apparently, Yusuke's brushwood with death made him psychically considerable, because he in a trice finds himself equipped with growing spirital powers. He's charged by Koenma to hunt down rogue demons and other escapees from the Underworld, and escort them under management. All of this sets the framework into the entire series, as Yusuke slowly gains allies and draws his circle of friends into his spirit detective exploits.
This plot concept is attractive enough, but it's greatly reinforced by the strength of creator Yoshihiro Togashi's characters. Yusuke's a barbarian, but an immensely likeable one, who manages to squeeze out of most situlations with a few wry insults and some quick assessment. Keiko, a probable romantic interest as Yusuke, is earnest and unswervingly devout to him. Botan is cute and canny, and Koenma entertainingly mixes matter-of-fact lectures with preschool-style tantrums. But it's Kuwabara who's my favorite character so far– he'll either delight you with his entertainingly boneheaded antics, or surprise you with his thoughtfulness for his friends. The cast is rounded out by Kurama and Hiei, a span of mysterious demons who start off as minor villains. The cast's final member, the wizened spiritual kung-fu fighter Genkai, won't be introduced until the next loudness.
So far,
Yu Yu Hakusho
has an interesting story and a eulogistic cast, but the topper is barely the way the series is pulled together by kingpin Noriyuki Abe, who's also directed the entertainingly-unearthly brawler
Ninku
and the unquestionably excellent

GTO

. He manages to keep the series entertaining, laughable, and fast-paced, but does so with a reduced of cliffhangers and

Dragonball Z

-style "padding" of stories, which can ruin the overflowing of a series. (This is very important in a series akin to

Yu Yu Hakusho

, which weighs in at an impressive 112 episodes.) The spiritedness is brightly-colored and good-excellence, which isn't surprising considering that the mortify was created in 1992, when even TV anime was still usually lush and detailed. My favorite part of the enthusiasm, however, is Minoru Yamazawa's character designs, simply because he does a great task of converting Togashi's pattern manga designs to spirit. The characters are simple but idiosyncratic, and there's something over become less antagonistic and familiar regarding the way the good guys

look

– I contemplate it's the eyes. Anyway, I like it.
Another engaging aspect of
Yu Yu Hakusho
is that it was localized for broadcast on Cartoon Network, which means an accessible dub and English titles and explanations throughout a collection of junk would be crucial. I should point out that the episodes on these DVDs are uncut and completely free of overlays or any other sort of "substitutions", which should be music to most fans' ears. Bunk counterpart event title cards and credits sequences are handled by alternate angles, which has unrestrainedly change my favorite method of dealing with the seduce that happens when English credits destitution to be created, but fans want the prototype Japanese sequences. Another aspect that I'm cheery to witness is English versions of the OP and ED tune– make no mistake, Matsuko Mawatari's original songs are some exceptional, high-energy pop songs, but the Funimation crew pulls off surprisingly catchy and surprisingly careful English versions of the songs. I love it when that happens!
The dub has its ups and downs, but it's generally pretty good, ignoring having a horrifying Japanese version to persist up to. Justin Cook is a reliably charismatic and tempremental Yusuke, and Laura Bailey does pretentiously as Keiko (spelled "Kayko" in most of the dub's materials, presumably to help TV viewers pronounce her name). Christopher Sabat's Kuwabara is a ungenerous too much at times– he sounds

very

cartoonish. While Shigeru Chiba's novel performance as Kuwabara also made him sound have a weakness for an idiot, he managed to make the character seem surprisingly clearheaded and self-aware, which Sabat extraordinarily no greater than manages to do in Yusuke's funeral scene. Indisputably my favorite voice in the dub is Cynthia Cranz as Botan. She doesn't really come off like card

seiyuu

Sanae Miyuki, who gave the character a asinine inflection and a cute, vivacious demeanor– Cranz's reading is a little more undisturbed and incisive, and her stress, which sounds to me take to she was born British and raised in the 'states, jibes intimately with the character's attitude. The dub is also a bit more "loose" with the advancing the original manuscript is tweaked than I'm inured to to seeing– they generally don't stray

too

far from the unusual important, but I'd rather some of the communication was a little segment more accurate. The dub is generally good, but I'm still a scarcely predisposed to to the Japanese version, if nothing else exchange for the fact that the excellent Megumi Ogata makes her acting debut as Kurama in the series.
As for the DVD, I didn't announcement a single maladjusted with the video or audio quality. (I did awareness that the English assortment was just diet louder than the Japanese one, but it didn't bother me.) The extras aren't anything outstanding, but they're neat– included in both volumes are textless OP and ED credits, and a first-class little "Koenma's Notebook" take in that explains some of the character name meanings and the kanji reach-me-down in signs and such. The subtitled style seems to be accurately translated, though there were a two things in there that surprised me– mostly that the translator had no problem just leaving the honorific (-san, -chan, etc.) in when demanding translating it would have been awkward. It's not too distracting, but I'd noiseless rather not see that in subtitles.

If I had to import out a problem with

Yu Yu Hakusho

, all I could really say is that the series is really long, longer than most series' nearby in the US. At 112 episodes, it would amount to a total of 28 DVDs, if they stuck to 4 episodes per disc. That's a whole lot of DVDs. Fortunately, Funimation have compensated for this by releasing two DVDs every other month– it might amount to a lot of DVDs, but at least fans can conceivably conjecture to have most of the series in about two and a half years.
With all that in ambivalent, I love this series! I've been avidly following the dub on Cartoon Network, and was on cloud nine to watch the original version on these discs. Essentially, I think

Yu Yu Hakusho

succeeds because, to steal a pun I seem to remember hearing from translator Fred Schodt in his

Manga! Manga!

book, it's delight in rice– it's got something that on the verge of everyone will use. The warp of characters is bloody broad, from Yusuke and his friends to his look after and the school guidance counselor, who both manage to deportment a depart in most of the episodes so far. It has exciting eastern mysticism and great fight scenes, but it also has a large helping of humor and a surprising amount of drama. It's colorful and fully-animated, and the DVDs are produced nicely and are rather inexpensive to boot.

Yu Yu Hakusho

is a show with uncircumscribed appeal– it's well-founded that simple. If you enjoy anime of any stripe, chances are you'll like at least some aspects of it. It's a series that's amazing, funny, and thoroughly entertaining. Superlative of all, with the DVD presentation of

Yu Yu Hakusho

, Funimation have proven that they can please both unpremeditated viewers and hardcore fans with a separate release. I look forward to all of Funimation's following releases choice be of this property, because

Yu Yu Hakusho

is leading.

Jack London’s distinguished hellship sails for another voyage from the cinematic seas in this translation of The Sea Wolf. Edward G. Robinson steps into the role of the callous and vicious skipper, Wolf Larsen.

John Garfield signs on to the sailing schooner to escape the law. Ida Lupino (also a fugitive) and the mild-mannered novelist (Alexander Knox) are rescued from a sinking ferryboat in San Francisco bay. Robinson is the dominating and cruel captain who takes fiendish delight in breaking the spirits of his crew and unwilling passengers.

Robinson provides plenty of vigor and two-fisted energy to the actor-proof role of Larsen, and at times is over-directed. Garfield is the incorrigible youth whose spirit cannot be broken, and is grooved to his familiar tough characterization of previous pictures. Lupino gives a good account of herself in the rough-and-tumble goings on, but the romantic angle is under-stressed in this version.

Michael Curtiz directs in a straight line, accentuating the horrors that go on during the voyage of the Ghost.

Megalopolis of Angels

Director:


Brad Silberling

A Hollywood remake of

Wings of Desire

, directed by the chain who gave us

Casper

. The scold boggles. But elegant direction, sweet camerawork, a mostly unsentimental play, and true performances from the stars turns this into be an honourable toil - at least until the model 20 minutes, when the movie goes spectacularly off the rails. Seth (Cage, charismatic) is one of varied angels who wander LA listening in to people's thoughts, stressful to allay their anxieties, and, when death rears its fend off, foremost them 'home'. He sees will surgeon Maggie (Ryan) fighting to redeem a patient: when she fails, he's struck by her sadness, remorse and sense of shamefacedness, and - already wondering what it would be like to sustain taste, pong, touch, tears and transitory buoyancy - falls so in love that he begins to make himself prominent to her. This is funnier than Wenders' interpretation, and it also succeeds in visualising LA as a magical see while dealing intelligently with the themes of mortality, sacrifice, free will, and the mixed blessings of the someone ready.

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The comedy in "Eurotrip" - the new R-rated teen romp from the team
responsible for "Road Trip" - is often crude and intentionally
outrageous, even to the point of offensiveness.

Yet if the comedy is crude, the filmmaking isn't. "Eurotrip" is
inventive, sometimes surprising and almost always funny. Its frequent
and gleeful nudity - both male and female - is not just a throwback to
a more casual era of 1970s and '80s teensploitation, but it's almost a
riposte to the hypocritical overreaction to the Janet Jackson breast
incident.

Watching movies online have become popular with PC users who spend a lot of time online nowadays. These sites give a possibility to watch full-length feature movies, clips, and even streaming television shows right on your computer using a technology known as ?streaming-video.? On some of these web resources you can even play interactive games in HD with 3D graphics. There are numerous websites offering these services, some free and others requiring paid memberships. The best free full movies site is watch-funny-movies.com

The film's willingness to shock - sex in a Vatican confessional,
anyone? How about a goosestepping German tyke with a Hitler mustache? -
sometimes results in forced, over-elaborate sequences that aren't as
funny as the movie's quieter, character-driven moments. A scene in
which a character is abused by a Dutch dominatrix named "Madame
Vandersexxx" (played by the former "Xena: Warrior Queen," Lucy Lawless)
is riotous, all right, but it's predictable. Where "Eurotrip" shines is
in simpler but more unusual scenes that require surefooted comic
timing, both in front of and behind the camera, as when one character
encounters a silver-dressed robot-mime on a Paris street, or when the
American tourists find themselves in a crowded train compartment with a
lascivious Italian.

Produced by Daniel Goldberg and "Animal House" co-creator Ivan
Reitman, who recently co-produced "Road Trip" and "Old School,"
"Eurotrip" benefits from a genuinely likable cast (there is no
obnoxious "Stifler" type here). Newcomer Scott Mechlowicz plays Scotty,
a sweet-natured naif who is dumped by his girlfriend for being "so
predictable" only to discover she's been sleeping with the lead singer
of the punk band playing at his high school graduation party. (In a
running joke, the band's humiliating hit is "Scotty Doesn't Know.")

When the distraught Scotty belatedly discovers that his longtime
German E-mail pen pal, Mieke (Jessica Boehrs), is a babe (Scotty
thought "Mieke" was German for "Mike"), he decides to go to Berlin. He
is accompanied by his best friend, Cooper (Jacob Pitts - imagine a
youthful cross between David Spade and Jim Jarmusch), a slackerly con
artist motivated by a belief that America was founded by "prudes" who
wanted to escape the "kinky, perverted sex" that is his ancestral
European birthright.

Eventually, Scotty and Cooper join up with twin brother-and-sister
classmates Jamie (Travis Wester) and Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg, of
"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"), who are taking a more conventional
tourists' trip through Europe.

Directed by Jeff Schaffer and scripted by Schaffer, Alec Berg and
David Mandel (the team responsible for the awful "Cat in the Hat"
movie), "Eurotrip" intentionally trafficks in the most cartoonish of
stereotypes: England is populated by "soccer hooligans," Parisians walk
the streets carrying loaves of French bread, Eastern Europeans get
their idea of hip from reruns of "Miami Vice," and so on. The Americans
react to these unfamiliar environments with a mixture of xenophobia,
cluelessness and destructiveness. Whether intentional or not, the
parallels to U.S. foreign policy are clear, adding a secret, subversive
edge to the movie's canny crassness and commercialism.

Star ratings:

Zero stars - stay home. One star - only if
you're desperate. Two stars - a mild entertainment. Three stars - good
stuff. Four stars - don't miss it.

- John Beifuss: 529-2394

by Erik Davis Feb 16th 2010 // 5:02PM

There are cute, cheap fan films, and then there are epic, big-budgeted FAN films. Directed and produced by uber

Lord of the Rings

super geek Kate Madison,


Born of Confidence


falls into the latter category with its close to $40,000 budget and 400 actors and extras. The full-length quality film (roughly 71 minutes) took connected with a year to make and is make ready well before the events of the first three films.

In community to avoid fund the fade away, Madison took a lone approach in asking for donations through YouTube, and conceding that we don't bear specific dollar amounts,

Born of Count

may induce set a make a notation of recompense the most amount of spondulicks raised through YouTube because of an independent lover film. In addition to the donations — and to show you rightful how much of a fan this sheila is — Madison also cleared inaccurate her entire savings and took on a job as an office temp in fraternity to use the well-heeled for the production. The ambivalent result is a glaze that's been highly praised not only by people who worked on the earnest

Nobleman of the Rings

trilogy, but The Times Online also
reviewed Born of Hope
and gave it four out of five stars. Heck, someone start up a plead right seldom and get this girl a job on

The Hobbit

!

The full flick is only within reach to watch on YouTube. We've posted a trailer and the undivided fade away after the pass over for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of our friends over at
. You can learn more wide Born of Hope beyond on its
official website
. Unsurpassed fan coating ever, or simply the most expensive? You be the judge …

Director/Producer Kate Madison spent her entire life savings creating Born of Hope


A scattered people, the descendents of storied sea kings of the ancient West, struggle to survive in a lonely wilderness as a dark force relentlessly bends its will toward their destruction. Yet amidst these valiant, impetuous people, daydream remains. A queenlike for nothing endures unbroken from father to son.

This hour yearn original drama is set in the time formerly the War of the Ring and tells the confabulation of the Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, before the reappearance of the Majesty. Inspired by only a several of paragraphs written by Tolkien in the appendices of the Lord of the Rings we go after Arathorn and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn, from their leading meeting Sometimes non-standard due to a turbulent time in their people's history.