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Soul Men (2008)

IMDB rating: 6.20

Plot: Though it’s been some twenty years since they have spoken with one another, two estranged soul-singing legends agree to participate in a reunion performance at the Apollo Theater to honor their recently deceased band leader.

Final Inquiry, The (2006)

IMDB rating: 8.10

Plot: It is the year 35 of the Vulgar Era. The Emperor Tiberius is troubled by strange phenomena, an earthquake and the sky turning black as an eclipse. His astrologers give him fair warning: their omens indicate that the world is in the throes of a great upheaval and that old gods have been annihilated. A new kingdom is about to rise in the East. The Emperor calls Tito Valerio Tauro, the most prominent investigator in Rome, back from his exile. He was ostracized years earlier because he had discovered too much regarding the death of the great Emperor Augustus, the predecessor of Tiberius. Tiberius entrusts Tauro with a mission that will require all his talent: should he conduct it successfully, his good name will be completely restored. He must discover the truth regarding the death sentence of a poor Judean rabbi. His name is Jesus of Nasareth and they say he has resurrected from the dead. Tiberius is convinced that it has something to do with the prophecies and the celestial omens that shook the world some months earlier. Tauro is a septic and the only thing he believes in is reason, but a series of mysteries that will put his intelligence to the test awaits him in Judea. Nothing is as it seems in Jerusalem. Governor Pilate is an ambiguous man, both discredited and treacherous, who weaves his way among the opposing Pharisee and Zealot factions. During his inquiry, Tauro comes face-to-face with individuals he has never met before: Saul of Tarsus, a valiant defender of Mosaic tradition and an unshakable prosecutor of Christians; the mysterious and nearly insane Judas of Iscariot, who is presumably one of the disciples of Jesus of Nasareth; and the alleged leader of the Christians, a poor fisherman named Shimon Peter. They are humble and powerful men, belonging to one faction or the other, but who share one obsession: an idea of faith that the Roman eyes of Tauro seems to be simply incomprehensible and quite dangerous. He withstands this idea with all his might. He believes that Jesus is only a quack, some kind of impostor and his presumed resurrection must be a public hoax staged in order to exploit the credulousness of the poor lot, the first to be converted to the Christian sect, the followers of Jesus, nearly all of them belonging to the lowest social levels of society: fishermen, farmers, even slaves – all of them treated as free men. And the same holds true, more surprisingly yet, for women – equal to men in the eyes of the Christian God. One of these women who believe in Jesus will finally offer Tauro the key to understanding the mystery of Jesus of Nasareth’s death and conclude the mission that the Emperor has entrusted him with. Her name is Tabitha. She is not yet twenty years old and she will unveil the mystery of love to the cleverest and most disenchanted Roman investigator.

City of Joy (1992)

IMDB rating: 5.90

Plot: Hazari Pal lives in a small village in Bihar, India, with his dad, mom, wife, Kamla, daughter, Amrita, and two sons, Shambhu and Manooj. As the Pal are unable to repay the loan they had taken years ago from a moneylender, their land and property are auctioned, and they are rendered homeless. Hazari and his family re-locate to Calcutta with hopes of starting life anew, save some money and go back to Bihar, as well as get Amrita married. Things do not go as planned, as they lose their entire savings to a con-man, Gangooly, who took their money as rent by pretending to be a landlord. Then Hazari gets an opportunity to take up driving a rickshaw manually through a local godfather, Ghatak. He gets to meet a American, Dr. Max Lowe, and together they strike up a friendship along with a local social worker, Joan Bethel. Misunderstandings crop up between Joan and the Godfather, resulting in the shutting down of their shanty medical clinic. When Hazari sides with Joan, his rickshaw is taken away. Things get worse when the Godfather passes away, leaving his estate to his way-ward son, Ashok Ghatak, who has plans to do away with the slums, especially the lepers who have now started frequenting the locality, Max, Joan and above all Hazari himself, and he is determined to take the “joy” of living in Calcutta.

Lake House, The (2006)

IMDB rating: 6.90

Plot: In Chicago, the lonely architect Alex Wyler has a troubled relationship with his father Simon Wyler. In 2004, he buys an old glass house in a lake, designed and built by his father, and he finds a message in his mailbox from the former tenant, the also lonely Dr. Kate Forster, asking to deliver her correspondence in an address downtown. Alex meets his brother Henry in Chicago and when they go to the address with Dr. Forster’s correspondence, they find a building of luxury apartments under construction to be delivered eighteen months later. After some messages, Alex and Kate disclose that she is living in 2006 and Alex in 2004, they fall in love for each other and they try to find means to meet each other.

Chocolat (2000)

IMDB rating: 7.30

Plot: 1960, small town France. Vianne Rocher and her pre-teen daughter move into town and open a chocolate shop just as lent is beginning. The town’s small-minded mayor can’t accept this and does his best to shut her down, but her warm personality and incredible chocolates manage to win over many townsfolk. Things get shaken up even more when a group of river drifters, led by Roux, stop into town (to the even greater distress of the mayor) and Vianne takes up with him. Meanwhile, she’s been helping Josephine out of her abusive marriage and her equally freethinking landlord, Amande Voisin, get together with her grandson, Luc, whose mother doesn’t approve of Amande’s ways.

Others, The (2001)

IMDB rating: 7.70

Plot: A woman named Grace (Kidman) is living with her two children Anne and Nicholas (Mann and Bentley) on an almost empty island in their huge mansion. Grace’s husband is a soldier in WWII and Grace has given her husband up for dead. Everything seems peaceful for her, but when three mysterious servants are given jobs at the house, terrifying secrets are unlocked that even Grace cannot handle.

Bronson (2009)

IMDB rating: 6.90

Plot: In 1974, a hot-headed 19 year old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post office. Swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to 7 years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. During that time, Michael Petersen, the boy, faded away and ‘Charles Bronson,’ his superstar alter ego, took center stage. Inside the mind of Bronson – a scathing indictment of celebrity culture.

Chicago (2002)

IMDB rating: 7.30

Plot: Fame hungry Roxie Hart dreams of a life on the Vaudville stage, and spends her nights jazzing it up in the bright lights of Chicago, continually hoping that she’ll find her lucky break, and be shot into 1920’s stardom, so able to flee her boring husband Amos. In awe of seductive club singer Velma Kelly (who is subsequantly arrested for the murder of her husband and sister – after discovering their affair), Roxie meets Fred Cassely a man who convinces her he can ‘make her showbiz career take off’. However after Roxie has undergone the ‘casting couch’ treatment, and Fred has had his wicked way with her, he reveals that he has no more connections in showbusiness than she does. This is the final straw for Roxie, and her constant anger at rejection explodes. She shoots Fred Cassely and kills him. Upon discovering her infidelity, Roxie’s husband Amos refuses to take the blame for the murder and Roxie is sent to jail, pending hanging. In jail she finally meets tabloid darling Velma Kelly, currently receiving huge media attention for the double murder she committed earlier in the tale. Sharing the clink with Velma, are a collection of other sly females, all awaiting trial for the murders of their own partners. Velma is aloof to Roxie, however the prison Warden Mrs Morton offers Roxie the opportunity of representation by slick Chicago lawyer Billy Flynn. Billy is more a showbiz P. R agent than a legal lawyer and minipulates the tabloids into thinking Roxie is no more than an innocent ‘good time girl’ who took the wrong path, than a scheming murderess. The tabloids go crazy for the new girl on the cell block, and Roxie finally becomes a star. However due to Roxie’s new found fame, Velma is forgotten about. She is forced to approach Roxie with an offer of a part in her Vaudville act (filling the gap left by her murdered sister), but Roxie turns down her offer flat, thinking she needs no support in topping the bill. However, just as Velma’s star fell, so does Roxie’s, when Go-to-hell Kitty arrives at the jail on a multiple murder charge, the press forget Roxie and now she and Velma are in the same boat. With one more trick up her sleave Roxie manages to bring the media attention back onto her, and her day in court arrives. Billy is now ready to play the ultimate showman!

Ben (1972)

IMDB rating: 4.60

Plot: A lonely boy, played by Lee H. Montgomery, becomes good friends with Ben, a rat. This rat is also the leader of a pack of vicious killer rats, killing lots of people.

Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin – The Untold Story (2005)

IMDB rating: 7.90

Plot: The major sub-plot circles around the youngest Griffin, Stewie, who has a near-death experience at a pool when a lifeguard chair falls on him, but he survives. After having a vision of being in Hell, he decides to change his ways, but this doesn’t last long. While watching television, he and Brian spot a man that looks like Stewie. Brian is convinced that he is Stewie’s real father, until Stewie learns that the man is actually himself as an adult, taking a vacation from his own time period. Baby Stewie visits thirty years later to discover that his adult self, going by the name Stu, is a single blue-collar middle-aged virgin working at a Circuit City-type store. Meanwhile, Peter and Lois are trying to teach their two older kids, Meg and Chris, to date. In the future, Chris, who hasn’t changed much, is working as a cop and is married to a foul-mouthed hustler named Vanessa. Meg is now called Ron, since she had a sex-change after college.