Shorts!: Vol. 2

2004

Make the film festival circuit right in your own living room with this collection of 16 of the best shorts (over three hours of film) that screened at such events as the Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes and Telluride film fests. Shorts from various directors and different countries include "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness," "Home Road Movies," "And the Redman Went Green" and "Mouse." Directors' commentaries are also included.

2.6 Average Rating

Maroa

2005

When small-time teen criminal Maroa is arrested on the streets of Caracas and sent to a reform school, a new friend asks her to join the youth orchestra. But can Maroa learn to let go of her old ways and be a genuine friend? Directed by Solveig Hoogesteijn, this touching drama stars Yorlis Domínguez, Tristan Ulloa, Elba Escobar and Engel Alejo.

2.6 Average Rating

Somewhere

2010

Set amid the hallowed grounds of Hollywood's legendary Chateau Marmont, this atmospheric dramedy centers on hard-living actor Johnny (Stephen Dorff), whose life is thrown for a loop when his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning), pays him a surprise visit. As the two become better acquainted, Johnny realizes he needs to make changes. Oscar winner Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) directs this character-driven film co-starring Chris Pontius.

2.6 Average Rating

Shooting Livien

2004

Struggling New York musician John Livien (Jason Behr) is on the brink of true success, but his powerful inner demons threaten to derail his band mates' (Dominic Monaghan and Joshua Leonard) dreams of stardom. Sarah Wynter and Ally Sheedy co-star in writer-director Rebecca Cook's pared-down look at rock 'n' roll on the road, inspired by her fascination with the Beatles and, more specifically, John Lennon.

2.5 Average Rating

The New Eve

2000

Camille (Karin Viard) wallows in a decadent Parisian nightlife, partying all night with sexual abandon and pickling herself with drugs and alcohol. But Camille's lifestyle changes when she falls for Alexis (Pierre-Loup Rajot), a militant socialist activist who represents all that she detests. Now, Camille must try to reconcile her love for Alexis with her uncontrollable lust for freedom in this haunting and provocative drama.

2.5 Average Rating

Stripped Down

2006

A visit from a stolid IRS agent (Ian Ziering) becomes the catalyst for transformation in this gripping serpentine thriller starring Elana Krausz as Lily, a streetwise ex-stripper who turns retribution into redemption. Now managing the strip joint owned by her venal spouse (Marcus Jean Pirae), Lily tries to hide the club's illicit activities from the taxman … till her husband hires a nubile runaway (Bre Blair), sending Lily down a surprising path.

2.5 Average Rating

Sheer Madness

1983

In this by turns elegant and shattering film directed by German auteur Margarethe von Trotta, two women, one a college professor and the other a troubled artist, struggle to survive in a bleak, battle-scarred environment filled with insanity, suicide and murder. Stunning cinematography by Michael Ballhaus infuses the film with an ethereal, dreamlike quality. Hanna Schygulla, Peter Striebeck and Angela Winkler star.

2.5 Average Rating

Nobody's Wife

1982

Leonor (Luisina Brando) is a lovely woman with a seemingly great family life. All that changes when she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her, causing her to pack up and make a new life for herself somewhere else. With a new job and nothing to tie her down, Leonor begins to understand what it's like to be truly free, as she coasts through a chain of exciting new romances.

2.5 Average Rating

Seaside

2003

Marie (Helene Fillieres) lives in the small seaside town of Cayeux, so renowned for its pebbly beach that it has a factory that cleans the stones. An employee at the factory, Marie's become restless with her job and her life and dreams of exploring the world; just as the town has a seasonal life -- popular in the warmer climes, isolated in winter -- so, too, must its residents ebb and flow with the seasons. Will Marie leave to find her dreams?

2.5 Average Rating

Tell Me a Riddle

1980

Elderly husband and wife David and Eva (Melvyn Douglas and Lila Kedrova) rediscover each other when they embark on a cross-country road trip after learning that Eva is suffering from a terminal illness. Eventually, their journey takes them to San Francisco, where they wind up on the doorstep of their now-grown granddaughter (Brooke Adams) in this drama co-starring Peter Coyote and based on a story by Tillie Olsen.

2.5 Average Rating

The Martyrs of the Alamo

1915

Legendary director D.W. Griffith produced this silent 1915 saga that tells the story of the birth of the state of Texas framed against the desperate battle in 1836 at a crumbling Spanish mission in San Antonio -- The Alamo. Featuring a big budget with amazing special effects (for the time), large, historically convincing sets and, of course, the rousing last stand, this movie is a welcome addition to the ranks of Alamo films.

2.5 Average Rating

Portraits Chinois

1996

A dreamy Parisian backdrop gives a romantic setting to this thoughtful comedy that follows the heartaches and loves of a group of city-dwellers. Costume designer Ada (Helena Bonham Carter) deals with the ups and downs of her relationship with an unstable screenwriter, Paul (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey), while Paul longs for Ada's co-worker Lise (Romane Bohringer). Elsa Zylberstein, Yvan Attal and Marie Trintignant co-star.

2.5 Average Rating

Ward No. 6

2009

This unconventional drama, which employs a nonfiction filmmaking style, chronicles the peculiar case of Dr. Ragin (Vladimir Ilyin), the head of a mental hospital who irritates his subordinates and winds up being committed as a patient in his own facility. Based on a story by famed Russian author Anton Chekhov, this fascinating faux documentary was filmed on location in a functioning mental institution.

2.5 Average Rating

Virgin

2003

Defiant teen Jessie Reynolds (Elisabeth Moss) struggles to discover her own spirituality despite the strict Baptist teachings of her mother (Robin Wright Penn) and father (Peter Gerety). After spending a drug-and-alcohol-filled night with young Shane (Charles Socarides), Jessie has no memory of having sex with him. When she finds herself pregnant, she's convinced she's carrying Christ's child, upsetting her parents and her devout community.

2.5 Average Rating

The Night and the Moment

1994

A philandering writer (Willem Dafoe) in search of true love accepts an invitation from an aristocratic salonniere (Lena Olin), only to insinuate himself into her house and try to seduce her with stories of his various conquests. But what he doesn't realize is that their passions date back to his recent imprisonment, when she was incarcerated in the cell beside his.

2.5 Average Rating

Loving Couples

1966

Based on Agnes von Krusenstjerna's feminist novel &NFi;The Misses von Pahlen&NFi_;, Mai Zetterling's drama set at the beginning of World War I tells the story of three women from disparate backgrounds, all about to give birth in the same Stockholm hospital. Premarital sex, loveless marriages and motherhood come into play as the women relive the events leading up to present day. Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, Gio Petre and Anita Bjork star.

2.5 Average Rating