Fact-based story about Ira Einhorn (Kevin Anderson), a 70’s peace-nik who is generally credited as one of the founders of Earth Day. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Ira lived with Holly Maddux (Naomi Watts). But when she tries to leave him in 1977, she suddenly disappears. Later her body is discovered in a trunk in Einhorn’s apartment. Let out on bail, Einhorn flees from the country and manages to elude authorities for years. Meanwhile he is convicted in absentia and sentenced to prison. Holly’s father (Tom Skerritt) is determined to see his daughter’s murderer brought to justice and has him tracked and is eventually caught in France in 1997. Martin Donovan appears as the assistant D.A. who put the case together. Today, Einhorn is now appealing his conviction. Written by John Sacksteder {jsackste@bellsouth.net}

Leland Gaunt comes to Sheriff Alan Pangborn’s pleasant little New England town, and opens a store. What this kindly Satan sells is whatever you need, from a surcease from pain to an object which you have always coveted. The Faustian price is, of course, corruption, and soon the poor sheriff’s town is wracked by jealousy, spite, and violence. Written by Reid Gagle

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Four boys growing up in Hell’s Kitchen play a prank that leads to an old man getting hurt. Sentenced to no less than one year in the Wilkenson Center in upstate New York, the four friends are changed by the beating, humiliation and sexual abuse by the guards sworn to protect them. Thirteen years later and a chance meeting lead to a chance for revenge against the Wilkenson Center and the guards. Written by Albert@SaveKoalas.com

A megalomaniac C.E.O. sends his son into the dangerous African Congo on a quest for a source of diamonds large enough and pure enough to function as powerful laser communications transmitters (or is it laser weapons?). When contact is lost with his son and the team, his sometime daughter- in-law is sent after them. She is a former CIA operative and, accompanied by gee-whiz gadgetry and a few eccentric characters (including a mercenary, a researcher with a talking gorilla, and a a nutty Indiana-Jones-type looking for King Solomon’s Mines), sets out to rescue her former fiancé. What they all discover is that often what we most want turns out to be the source of our downfall. Written by Tad Dibbern {DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu}

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Sally Bowles, an American singer in 1930s Berlin, fall in love with bi-sexual Brian. They are both then seduced by Max, a rich playboy. Sally becomes pregnant, and Brian offers to marry her… All the characters are linked by the Kit-Kat club, a nightspot where Sally sings. Written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}

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A young boy, recently orphaned, is taken to England by his grandmother. At a hotel in which they are staying, a group of witches have gathered to prepare a plot to rid the world of all children. Written by Rob Hartill

From Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach California to the showdown in Pretoria, amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests in this part-scripted, part-documentary film. Five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young deaf Lou Ferrigno, whose father is his coach; the ruthless champ psyches out the young lion. Sardinian Franco Columbu competes in the lightweight class; at home in Italy he solves a tight parking problem by lifting the car into place. Joe Weider is the marketer; Mike Katz and Ken Waller go for the title of Mr. Universe. Bodybuilding and a celebrity-to-be go mainstream. Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and director Ridley Scott team up for the first time and the result is one of 2003’s most entertaining movies. “Matchstick Men” is a fast-paced comedy/drama with a snappy script full of well-disguised plot twists. You don’t know where the story’s going, but you do know you want to go along for the ride. It’s refreshing to be able to sit through an entire movie where the plot isn’t telegraphed ahead of time.

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Audiences just aren’t buying into ‘war’ movies these days and so Charlie Wilson’s War seems to be attempting to set itself apart from the pack by focusing more on comedy than drama, more on sex and drugs (but, sadly, no rock ‘n roll) rather than action and war. The approach works well for this film, which is based on fantastical but true events. Charlie Wilson’s War’s lighthearted take makes the serious subject matter a lot more palatable.

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After Frances’s seemingly happy San Francisco marriage ends abruptly, she goes into a funk. Urged by her friends to move on, she joins a bus tour of Tuscany where, on the spur of the moment, she buys a crumbling villa. She assembles a crew of oddballs and immigrants to repair the house; over the next year, as they work, she welcomes one of her New York friends who’s pregnant and at loose ends, and she seeks love, first (tenuously) with her married real estate agent, then with a charming stranger. Although life gets in the way of love, Frances’s wishes come true in unexpected ways, and there’s always the Tuscan sun. Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

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