Crossover

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Crossover
  • IMDB: link

crossover-posterYou want to know a really dumb idea for a movie?  You want to see a movie staring television actors and video models seemingly chosen at random?  You want to see an example of a film you could beat with $5 and your own camcorder?  You want it?  Well hold your hats folks, ‘cause this one’s for you!

Noah Cruise (Wesley Jonathan) is a good kid.  He does his homework, he loves his grandma, he has a good job, he’s polite and kind, and he sticks by his friends.  Oh, and he’s the next big thing in basketball, except he doesn’t want to be.

Cruise would rather everyone quit the NBA talk and let him go to UCLA on a basketball scholarship to become a doctor.  His life is on track until his longtime friend Tech (Anthony Mackie) asks him for a little favor.

Tech knows about this secret underground basketball league, run by a former NBA agent (Wayne Brady), and wants nothing more than to beat the reigning champs.  Tech pulls his friend into the game calling on an old favor and puts Cruise’s future and life in jeopardy.
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This Week in Foreign Film

/ / Film News & Trailers

A sequel (to City of God) and a spin-off (to the recent mini-series of the same name) follows two young men (Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha) discovering family secrets in the midst of a drug war.  Check out the official site.  The film, presented in Portuguese with English subtitles, opens in select cities in limited release on Friday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

City of Men (Cidade dos Homens)
N/A

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This Week in Independent Film

/ / Film News & Trailers

Jessica Lange plays a widow who travels to Santa Barbara with her two friends (Katy Bates, Joan Allen) to deliver her husband’s ashes to his daughter. Christine Baranski, Tom Skerrit, Tom Wopat, and Ivey Lloyd also star.  (Anybody else think this looks like a Very Special Lifetime for Women Event?)  Check out the official site.  The film opens in limited release in select cities on Friday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

Bonneville
N/A

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This Week in Documentary Film

/ / Film News & Trailers

This new documentary from Brett Morgen uses archival footage, animation and music to examine the eight protestors charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  Find out more at the film’s Sundance page.  The film opens in limited release in select cities on Friday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

Chicago 10
N/A

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Meet Charlie Bartlett

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Charlie Bartlett
  • IMDB: link

“My family has a psychiatrist on call, how normal can I be?”
 

charlie-bartlett-poster

Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has gotten kicked out of his last private school for making fake drivers licenses for the entire student population.  Now it’s off to public school and an attempt to fit in.

The problem is the uptight Charlie, complete with tie and blazer, doesn’t exactly fit in.  He’s largely ignored and picked on by the resident bully (Tyler Hilton), before finding his niche as the school’s unofficial conselor and drug dealer.  Charlie’s motives are pure, most of the time, and he tries his best to help the student body by using the army of psychiatrists his family has on call to get the medication for them.  Charlie also raises the ire of the principal (Robert Downey Jr.) by dating his daughter (Kat Dennings), and is forced to face the music when some of his schemes are discovered.

There’s something hopefull about this film.  It doesn’t paint a single character as black and white, each has the capacity for change and the yearning for something more.  In a teenage comedy that’s quite rare.

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Meet Charlie BartlettRead More »

Meet Charlie Bartlett Read More »