FOLLOWING FILMS

Narrated by Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence, A Beautiful Planet is a breathtaking portrait of Earth from space, providing a unique perspective and increased understanding of our planet and galaxy as never seen before. Made in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the film features stunning footage of our magnificent blue planet – and the effects humanity has had on it over time – captured by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). From space, Earth blazes at night with the electric intensity of human expansion – a direct visualization of our changing world. But it is within our power to protect the planet. As we continue to explore and gain knowledge of our galaxy, we also develop a deeper connection to the place we all call home. Narrated by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, Journey to the South Pacific will take moviegoers on a breathtaking IMAX adventure to the lush tropical islands of remote...

All of the releases in Mill Creek's Retro Look VHS Collection have throwback VHS-style slipcases that will look great on any physical media collectors shelf. These are bare-bones releases but for anyone interested in shelf aesthetic, you won't be disappointed in any of these Blu-rays. KRULL Set in a mystical time and place that is somehow neither the past nor the present, where extraordinary creatures of myth work their incredible magic, and where a horrific, omnipotent Beast is the ruler. This is the planet of Krull! Prince Colwyn sets out on a daring mission to rescue his young bride who is held captive by the Beast. But slayers and alien beings under the command of the Beast oppose him at every turn. Colwyn must first reach a faraway cavern to recover the legendary Glaive, a flying blade capable of phenomenal powers. I'm not sure if this a new scan for the Mill Creek Retro Collection but man does this transfer look gorgeous. The rich color pallet of Peter S...

2018 Directed By: Alex Winter The decentralization of currency is confounding to the layman, confrontational to the establishment, and a source of consolation for millions of daring investors. Director Alex Winter has developed a knack for exploring misunderstood elements of technology in several of his documentary films. In DOWNLOADED he made sense of Bit Torrent, in DEEP WEB he explored the often maligned non-indexed corners of the internet and in his latest film TRUST MACHINE THE STORY OF BLOCKCHAIN, he makes takes on the technology that enables cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Is blockchain a scam? Or is it simply a way for nefarious individuals to purchase illegal goods and services on the internet? No and no. As Winter explains in his film blockchain is a brilliant way for digital information to be transferred but not copied. It is essentially an open source ledger that allows for two parties to conduct a transaction in a way that is verifiable and permine...

2018 Directed by Mark C. Smith A film about two silent lemurs in hot air balloons is not only one of 2018’s finest animated shorts but one of finest films of the year. I cannot understate the beauty of Smith's TWO BALLOONS, along with its aesthetic the simplicity of its narrative, it's stunning. This 9 minute short strikes a rare emotional honesty that is sadly lacking in most feature-length films, let alone in an animated short. The detail displayed in the stop-motion animation and charming score from Peter Broderick make this simple story utterly re-watchable.    While comparisons will undoubtedly be drawn to Wes Anderson, Smith’s exploration of humanity through these air-born primates shares more DNA with the films of Hal Ashby. It could be that I spent the morning re-watching SHAMPOO and THE LAST DETAIL but Smith seems more concerned with his films emotional resonance than its quirky details. It would be nearly impossible to spoil the film by describing th...

2018 Directed by : Duncan Skiles Starring : Charlie Plummer, Dylan McDermott, Samantha Mathis, Madisen Beaty It can be painfully difficult to recognize the faults of our parents. They love, support, and provide for you. They are the center of our worlds for a large portion of our adolescence. Many of us are unable to fully appreciate how screwed up our childhoods were until we enter adulthood. For Tyler, (Carlie Plummer) that possibility becomes apparent far sooner. Tyler is about as all American as they come. A level-headed young man raised in a small working-class community. He's a Boy Scout and attends church every Sunday. When he accidentally uncovers his fathers (Dylan McDermott) cache of sadistic pornography he becomes suspicious that he could be the son of Clovehitch, a local serial killer who was never apprehended. Director Duncan Skiles never takes the expected route with any of the somewhat familiar ground he covers in THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER. Kassi (...

With a little over a week to go until this year's LAFF kicks off, we decided to take a look at the films that have us most excited. This is by no means a complete list of all the films, just the ones we have earmarked as the must-see titles. FUNKE  Evan Funke was one of the hottest young chefs in Los Angeles when he inexplicably walked away from his critically-acclaimed and wildly popular restaurant, Bucato, leaving behind him a wake of financial and personal upheaval. Years later, as Evan begins mounting his comeback, he reconnects with his maestra, a virtuosic pasta teacher in Bologna, Italy and partners with Janet Zuccarini, a Canadian restauranteur undertaking her first venture in the U.S. Eyeing one of the most competitive and expensive streets in America as a stage for the dying art of handmade pasta, he battles many obstacles on the road to opening a restaurant that he hopes will become his legacy and repair the mistakes of his past. In his feature debut,...

Exorcism films do not begin and end with William Friedkin's THE EXORCIST. With entries as varied as BEETLEJUICE, CONSTANTINE, and THE RITE, the exorcism sub-genre of horror films is far more diverse than many immediately recognize.   With THE SONG OF SOLOMON director Stephen Brio has added a unique take on the possession movie. In his film, the Catholic church attempts to save the soul of Mary (Jessica Cameron) who appears to have been possessed after witnessing her father's brutal suicide. Mary is off camera while her father takes his own life. In a scene that could play as a confessional or an accusation, the family's patriarch lists off the reasons why he is being forced to use his knife on Mary and himself. He details how they were a good, loving family and he can't understand why she is accusing him of abuse. Using demonic control as a metaphor for trauma survival is something so natural, I can't believe it's not woven into every film of t...

2018 DIRECTOR: Jonathan Watson WRITER: Luke Del Tredici CAST: Danny McBride, Rosemarie DeWitt, Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Gillies and Kaitlin Olson The Story Cassie (Rosemarie DeWitt) has seen better days. As a single mom and real estate agent in the midst of the housing crisis of 2009, she struggles to keep her head above water. She shares custody of her 14-year-old daughter with her ex-husband Scott (Luke Wilson) and continually dodges calls from collection agencies. Being 6 months behind on the mortgage and trying to play nice with an ex who left her for a woman half his age is the perfect recipe for desperation. Any problems Cassie thought she had were pleasant distractions in comparison to what happens after she meets Sonny (Danny McBride). He is a violently disgruntled homeowner whose life is falling apart. After an unfortunate encounter with Cassie's Boss (Seth Rogen), he decides to take her along as he spirals out of control. Sonny purchased a home and feels that h...

Directed by: Jack C. Newell Written by: Stephanie Mickus Cast: Mia Rose Frampton, Stony Blyden, Juliette Angelo, Beau Brooks High school is a strange time. For me, I like to frame that period as fraught with anger and rebellion. I tell myself that I was an artist trapped in a small town, a poet searching for his muse. The time when I was politically and emotionally alive. But then I look at the photos. Read some of the writing. And, oh boy, the truth crashes over me like an unwelcome but humbling wave of reality. The smoking without inhaling, the clothes from Structure (Burroughs didn't spend his paycheck at the mall), and the many, many, many configurations of embarrassing facial hair and coiffures, I was in desperate need of an identity. On the surface, it might not sound like I would have a lot in common with a teenage girl dying of cancer, but HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL showed me otherwise. Hope Gracin (Mia Rose Frampton) has fully embraced her identity as the gi...

Director: Sasha Louis Vukovic Writer: Sasha Louis Vukovic Stars: Teresa Marie Doran, Dan Lin, Sari Mercer The 1920s are often referred to as the "roaring 20s." A time when the automobile boom had started to kick in, radio was the most popular form of mass media and telephones began to connect millions of homes. This was a good time for (white, heterosexual, male) Americans that didn't mind going to a speakeasy for a cocktail. For minorities and women? Not so much. Women were granted the right to vote in 1920 and Jim Crow laws were looming in the not too distant future. FLORA   is set somewhere in a North American forest during the summer of 1929. A group of students has been sent out to examine and catalog the native plant life of a remote wooded location. Where the junior botanists uncover a deadly mold that kills almost everything it comes in contact with.    While not overtly political, Sasha Louis Vukovic uses FLORA s time period as a sali...

Somewhere in between THE A-TEAM and ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ lies the Sylvester Stallone prison break for hire franchise, ESCAPE PLAN . In the latest installment,  ESCAPE PLAN 2: HADES,  structural engineer Ray Breslin (Stallone) teams up with former rival Trent DeRosa (David Bautista) to rescue his team. When Ray discovers where his team is being held he reaches out to Trent, a mercenary working in hostage recovery and Bug (Pete Wentz) a notorious weapons dealer to rescue his comrades and save Yusheng. In order to complete the mission, Ray must break into Hades a prison known as the Land of the Dead. Director Steven C. Miller is easily one of the most prolific filmmakers working in the action genre today. With 15 credits to his name in 6 years, he is consistently turning out throwback spectacle that would have felt cozy on the shelf of any Blockbuster in the late 80's. With ESCAPE PLAN 2: HADES Miller has infused the action tropes of the 80's with styli...

2018 Directed by: Joel Potrykus Starring: Joshua Burge If you take Ven diagram of David Lynch and Kevin Smith, then divide the result by Castaway, you get an idea of what Joel Potrykus has done with his latest effort, RELAXER . Abbie (Joshua Burge) is an impossibly sedentary 90s slacker dedicated to concurring Pac Man without leaving the couch. Set in the days and months leading up to Y2K,  RELAXER presents a slightly augmented version of history through the eyes of its singularly motivated protagonist. For a film set in one room and primarily focused on a single character, RELAXER moves through an impressive number of tones and visual styles. One of the biggest challenges with limited storytelling is in the cinematography. Potrykus manages to keep the film interesting from that perspective by shifting through distinct techniques for each of the film's 3 acts. At times warm and inviting, at others disgusting and uninhabitable, the apartment at the center of the fi...

Depression is often marked by sadness, despair, and hopelessness. The sense that things will not get better is something most of us pass through at different points in our lives. But depression is something more than that. It’s not just a temporary feeling, it’s a debilitating emotional state that you can’t simply pull yourself out of. The angry outbursts, irritability, and frustration that come along with depression can isolate individuals suffering from this condition and push them deeper into their own thoughts. Everyone needs to be heard and sometimes those who can’t express themselves in traditional forms find their voice in art. Edvard Munch wrestled with agoraphobia and frequently had hallucinations, one of which inspired THE SCREAM, a painting so iconic that even the most casual art enthusiast is familiar with the piece.  Sylvia Plath took a more direct approach with THE BELL JAR and laid out the details of her depression with brutal honesty. Briana Dickerson a w...

2018 Director: Karl Jacob Stars: Bijou Abas, Karl Jacob, Anna Klemp, and Hedi Fellner The transition from adolescence to adulthood is marked by several physical and emotional shifts that are both subtle and overt. How individual cultures recognize that metamorphosis is as varied as people themselves. While most of us do something to mark the occasion, very few of us do exactly the same things. Be it a Bar Mitzvah, Quinceaneras, or an Inuit Hunting ritual most of us chose to recognize this incredibly awkward time with a rite of passage that underscores our youth while inching us closer to masculinity or femininity.    In COLD NOVEMBER , 12-year-old Florence (Bijou Abas) is eager to undergo the traditionally male rite-of-passage in killing her first deer. Passed down through many generations of women in her family, the act of hunting symbolizes her transition into adulthood. Moments before her first period Florence is seen playing with a Matchbox car. A powerful...

Alexander (Erland Josephson) the well to do patriarch of a Sweedish family is celebrating his birthday on a remote island when news of a new World War breaks. The previously relaxed and cheerful mood of the family morphs to terror. They immediately begin to spiral out of control, devastated by the catastrophic news. The film's masterful cinematography by Sven Nykvist (Ingmar Bergman's longtime collaborator) underscores the emotional state of the family through its color palette and movement. The arresting choice of color displays a bleak landscape around the families home. Painfully long shots evoke the sheer dread and anxiety that has engulfed this once carfree tribe. Alexander, philosophical in nature, is deeply worried about man's lack of spirituality. Faced with man kinds inevitable annihilation he is compelled to enter an agreement with God. The director's last film, made as he was dying of cancer, The Sacrifice is Tarkovsky's persona...

2018 Directed by: Brooke Purdy and Doug Purdy Starring: Brooke Purdy, Doug Purdy, Maxwell Purdy, and Mo Gaffney "I'm not on the PTA, I'm not even a booster...  I used to be punk rock" In 2008, Brooke Purdy was diagnosed with DCIS, a non-invasive form of breast cancer. She and her husband, Doug, had two small children and fought the disease with the weapons that most of us use in times of personal crisis, friends, family, and (quite possibly) most importantly a shared sense of humor. This life-changing experience was the catalyst that inspired QUALITY PROBLEMS, a semi-autobiographical take on their family’s survival. Brooke, Doug, and their two children, Max and Scout, star in the film, "a final chapter in their healing – and a vehicle for hope for families dealing with a diagnosis." Bailey (Brooke Purdy) and Drew (Doug Purdy) are a 40-something couple piecing together a suburban existence that many of us can relate to. Birthday parties, side j...

1916 Directed by: Allan Dawn Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Alma Rubens, Sam De Grasse, Jewel Carmen THE HALF-BREED starts with a short encapsulation of Lo's early life, his Indian mother discovers that her white lover has crossed her and she commits suicide, abandoning her child with a white townsman who in turn becomes the only father he knows. Unwelcome in the nearby community when his father passes on, Lo picks a redwood tree and sets up house in its trunk. He keeps up his connections with the town, but animosity towards him ratchets up when he becomes romantically involved with Nellie (Jewel Carmen), an evangelist's girl, inspiring envy in the racist Sheriff Dunn (Sam De Grasse), who's been pursuing her. When Teresa (Alma Rubens) assaults her adulterous lover and the sheriff with a blade she flees to the forest and moves in with Lo. Nellie visits the woods to reconnect with Lo, yet comes back to town after deciding she can't settle down with a half-breed. ...

1988 Directed by: Stephen Chiodo Starring: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, and Christopher Titus Runtime: 86 minutes Sold with one sheet of concept art and a title, KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE was never destined to be aligned with the slasher films of its era. Instead, it was a strange hybrid of science-fiction, horror, and comedy that was very much of its time but singular in its execution. Armed with popcorn guns, cotton candy cocoons, and... shadow puppets the clowns in this film are deadly alien invaders hell-bent on terrorizing a small college town. Mike and Debbie caution the neighborhood police that something strange is happening in their modest municipality. Specifically, a spaceship that looks like a giant circus tent has touched down and alien clowns are kidnapping the townsfolk. The cops are understandably doubtful. But after a short period of time, reports come rolling in from multiple citizens with similar stories, they have all experien...

2107 Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura Starring: Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Anthony Kirlew, and Rod Hernandez Kitamura wastes no time in DOWNRANGE . The tension in the film starts almost immediately and never lets up. I felt like I was holding my breath for 89 minutes, this film is utterly relentless. Six college-aged students are taking a cross-country trip when they have a blow out on one of their tires. In the middle of changing that tire, they happen across the shell casing from a long range rifle and realize, it wasn't a blowout. The tire had been shot. Within moments bullets are flying towards the young travelers and they are pinned down. Unable to move out from behind the vehicle, the elusive sniper unloads a barrage of fire. On an empty rural road, in the middle of nowhere, with inconsistent cell service, they are alone with this determined assassin. Their only hope seems to wait him out, to see if another car happens along their path. The marksman is frustrati...

A religious radical prowls the streets of Vienna, removing the skin of Muslim sex workers while they are still alive before compelling them to drink bubbled cooking oil. A young lady drives a taxi, as the night progresses, every iteration of a terrible human being passes through her cab, each one inching her closer and closer to a rage-fueled breakdown. The film explores the parallel stories of these two individuals whose lives will eventually crash into one another. The most recent film from Oscar-winning Austrian movie producer Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters), Cold Hell (Die Holle) is a merciless tale that wallows in savagery. Özge Dogruol (Violetta Schurawlow) is the cabbie, whose history of abuse has turned her into a survivor. She continually pushes ahead regardless of what life gives her. She trains at her ex's Thai boxing gym until she gets kicked out for beating the snot out an opponent who throws a sucker punch. She can handle herself and has a strong sense ...