Six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, an electrified troubadour, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. Put Dylan’s music behind their adventures, soliloquies, interviews, marriage, and infidelity. Recreate 1960s documentaries in black and white. Put each at a crossroads, the artist becoming someone else. Jack, the son of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, finds Jesus; handsome Robbie falls in love then abandons Claire. Woody, a lad escaped from foster care, hobos the U.S. singing; Billy awakes in a valley threatened by a six-lane highway; Rimbaud talks. Jude, booed at Newport when he goes electric, fences with reporters, pundits, and fans. He won’t be classified. Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

Jimmy Rabbitte, che vive di piccoli espedienti in un quartiere proletario di Dublino, si e’ messo in testa di organizzare una band musicale per rinverdire i fasti del rythm&blues e del soul. Grazie ad un annuncio sul giornale, Rabbitte comincia a selezionare giovani dal lavoro precario ma pieni di talento: Dean, Fay, Outspan, l’occhialuto Steven , Clifford, Deco, il ciccione senza buone maniere ma con una grande voce, Billy il batterista e Joey “The lips”, un bizzarro e maturo anziano suonatore di tromba che si vanta di aver suonato con famosi soul-singers. Aggrega anche Natalie, Imelda e Bernie, tre grintose ragazze, ottime coriste e molto sexy. Procuratisi a credito la strumentazione, cominciano le prove, massacranti, che impegnano tutti. Si inizia a suonare in pubblico, in capannoni e feste sociali: il gruppo sembra pervaso dal fuoco della musica e dell’ambizione. La band, pur se dilettantesca e provinciale, sembra lanciata verso il vertice e finisce invece nel fallimento: dissapori, piccole gelosie e contrasti umani ed artistici, sfaldano il gruppo. Il sogno di Jimmy evapora nel nulla e quel grande patrimonio di energia e bravura che poteva fruttare quattrini e successo siPL: disperde nel nulla. Written by rosebud6

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“Elizabethtown” is a cute movie. Not cute as in fluffy kittens romping through flowers in the spring, but cute as in precious bordering on nauseatingly sweet. This Cameron Crowe relationship saga is bogged down in a mire of sugary sweetness that isn’t as much heartwarming as it is just plain tedious.

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A passenger ship, on her way to the scrap yard is pushed to her limits by the new owners to save on the dismantling fees. A tidal wave hits her, flipping her over so that all the internal rooms are upside down. A priest takes a mixed band of survivors on a journey through the bowels of the ship in an attempt to survive. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

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Ian Curtis is a quiet and rather sad lad who works for an employment agency and sings in a band called Warsaw. He meets a girl named Debbie whom he promptly marries and his band, of which the name in the meantime has been changed to Joy Division, gets more and more successful. Even though Debbie and he become parents, their relationship is going downhill rapidly and Ian starts an affair with Belgium Annik whom he met after one of the gigs and he’s almost never at home. Ian also suffers from epilepsy and has no-good medication for it. He doesn’t know how to handle the feelings he has for Debbie and Annik and the pressure the popularity of Joy Division and the energy performing costs him. Written by Marco van Hoof {k_luifje7@hotmail.com}

Matt Stifler, the younger brother of the legendary Steve Stifler, who made it big as Hollywood porn-producer and shamelessly ignores the idolizing kid brother, may claim the title of Stifmeister as his heritage, but even for his horniest mates he’s little more then a bad joke. When Matt alone gets caught red-handed for a prank with the school band’s instruments, present high school counselor Sherman ‘Sherminator’ finds great pleasure in taking revenge on him for the misbehavior Steve excelled even worse in, so instead of expelling the little prick, he condemns him to take part in band camp at Great Oaks, where Jim Levenstein’s still understanding dad is filling in for the feared problem counselor. As there are plenty of girls in the competing bands, Matt hopes to turn his (mis)fortune around by smuggling in camera equipment including a robot to shoot saucy, clandestine material for his counterpart to Steve’s hit video “Girls Gone Wild”, an at least as ‘revealing’ Bandies Gone Wild. Matt’s nerdy, yet also horny roomie Ernie was originally confined to the closet, but is promoted to assistant-producer when he proves himself an invaluable technician. Things get complicated as Matt becomes romantically involved with Elyse, his own school band’s director, whose ambition is to beat haughty five-fold winner Brandon Vandecamp -son of a famous, rich father- as band music composer and thus win a good shot at a scholarship for an exclusive music school. For her sake Matt turns musician (on the trivial triangle by her decree, bagpipes in surprising scenes) and proves his leadership skills, but courting a ‘decent’ girl just doesn’t square with voyeurism… Written by KGF Vissers

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I’ve heard people refer to “The Notebook” as cheesy, as a ‘chick flick’ (a label very few of my colleagues can stand because of its negative connotation), as predictable and sappy. So “The Notebook” doesn’t exactly take a brain surgeon to guess how the story is going to play out. And it does unapologetically play on your emotions, practically begging you to squeeze out a few tears. But here’s why I enjoyed “The Notebook”: it’s a movie you can relax and let flow over you. It’s also one of the few films out there that tells a complete story. There’s a well-defined beginning, middle, and end.

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In 1982 legendary British heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap’s pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop. Written by Jeremy Perkins {jwp@aber.ac.uk}

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A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, several years after murdering his mother and another person. Karl is often questioned if he will ever kill again, and he shrugs in response saying there is no reason to. Now out of the mental institution, Karl settles in his old, small hometown, occupying himself by fixing motors. After meeting a young boy named Frank who befriends him, Karl is invited to stay at Frank’s house with his mother Linda- who views Karl as a strange but kind and generous man. However, Linda’s abusive boyfriend Doyle, sees things differently in the way rules ought to be run- normally insulting Linda’s homosexual friend Vaughan as well as Karl’s disabilities, and having wild parties with his friends. As Karl’s relation with Frank grows, he is ever so watchful of Doyle’s cruel actions. Written by commanderblue

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John LeCarre’s spy thriller is brought to the big screen. A British spy (Pierce Brosnan) is banished to Panama after having an affair with an ambassador’s mistress. Once there he makes connection with a local tailor (Geoffrey Rush) with a nefarious past and connections to all of the top political and gangster figures in Panama. The tailor also has a wife (Jamie Lee Curtis), who works for the Panamanian president and a huge debt. The mission is to learn what the President intends to do with the Panama Canal. But what the two do is concoct a tremendous fictional tale about former mercenaries who are ready to topple the current government and are willing to work with Britain and the US to do so. Written by John Sacksteder {jsackste@bellsouth.net}