“Seabiscuit” takes place during the Great Depression, a time when Americans got their news and entertainment via the radio. With the country in the midst of one of the harshest periods of our history, people needed something inspirational to lift their spirits and give them hope. They found that hope in the most unlikely of heroes – a ragtag racehorse named Seabiscuit.

(more…)

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television. After a run in with a limousine, he ends up a guest of a woman (Eve) and her husband Ben, an influential but sickly businessman. Now called Chauncey Gardner, Chance becomes friend and confidante to Ben, and an unlikely political insider. Written by Scott Renshaw {as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu}

Self-made billionaire Thomas Crown is bored of being able to buy everything he desires. Being irresistible to women, he also does not feel any challenge in that area. But there are a few things even he can’t get, therefore Thomas Crown has a seldom hobby: He steals priceless masterpieces of Art. After the theft of a famous painting from Claude Monet, the only person suspecting Thomas Crown is Catherine Banning. Her job is to get the picture back, no matter how she accomplishes her mission. Unfortunately, Catherine gets involved too deeply with Thomas to keep a professional distance to the case. Fortunately, Thomas seems to fall for her, too. Written by Julian Reischl {julianreischl@mac.com}

(more…)

Linus and Davis Larrabee are the two sons of a very wealthy family. Linus is all work — busily running the family corporate empire, he has no time for a wife and family. David is all play — technically he is employed by the family business, but never shows up for work, spends all his time entertaining, and has been married and divorced three times. Meanwhile, Sabrina Fairchild is the young, shy, and awkward daughter of the household chauffeur, who has been infatuated with David all her life, but David hardly notices her — “doesn’t even know I exist” — until she goes away to Paris for two years, and returns an elegant, sophisticated, beautiful woman. Suddenly, she finds that she has captured David’s attention, but just as she does so, she finds herself falling in love with Linus, and she finds that Linus is also falling in love with her. Written by Brian C. Madsen {bcmmovies@earthlink.net}

(more…)

Casanova is love with Francesca, who thinks he is a friend of himself even though he is engaged Victoria, who is the love of Giovanni, Francessca’s brother. Francessca is betrothed to Paprizzio who thinks Casanova is the feminist writer Guardi, who is really Francessca’s nomme de plume. Amidst all these secret identities and misunderstandings, the Catholic Church sends Pucci to bring Casanova and Guardi to trial for heresy. Written by Ploy P.

When a ‘Single White Female‘ places an ad in the press for a similar woman to rent a room (to replace the boyfriend she’s just left), all the applicants seem weird. Then along comes a level headed woman who seems to be just right. The new lodger has a secret past which haunts her. Written by Rob Hartill

(more…)

Painful as it is for Woody Allen fans to accept, it must now be said out loud (not just whispered in dark corners). Woody Allen can not write for 20-somethings. The dialogue in “Match Point” is stilted, delivered as though it’s lifted directly off the page. The overall effect is that the actors appear to be in a play rather than experiencing life.

(more…)

Harvard-educated biotech executive John Henry Jack Armstrong gets fired when he informs on his bosses, launching an investigation into their business dealings by the Securities & Exchange Commission. Branded a whistle-blower and therefore unemployable, Jack desperately needs to make a living. When his former girlfriend Fatima, a high powered businesswoman–and now a lesbian–offers him cash to impregnate her and her new girlfriend Alex, Jack is persuaded by the chance to make easy money. Word spreads and soon Jack is in the baby-making business at $10,000 a try. Lesbians with a desire for motherhood and the cash to spare are lining up to seek his services. But, between the attempts by his former employers to frame him for security fraud and his dubious fathering activities, Jack finds his life, all at once, becoming very complicated. Written by Sujit R. Varma

Determined to solve the coincidence of seeing the same conspicuous stranger three times in a day, Albert hires a pair of existentialist detectives, who insist on spying on his everyday life while sharing their views on life and the nature of the universe. Written by Benjamin Conway

Pierce Brosnan is at the top of his game in the dark comedy, “The Matador,” written and directed by Richard Shepard. Proving there is life beyond Bond, Brosnan’s moved on and up with his role as a hit man who suffers from job burnout in this strangely touching buddy comedy.

(more…)