Bovie Movie

A handful of desperate characters come together unexpectedly one winter evening in this comedy-drama. Lefty (Stephen Baldwin) is a luckless sad sack whose life has been in a tailspin since his wife Heather (Faline England) left him two years ago. Lefty has been struggling to win back the right to visit his daughter, but since losing his job and periodically stumbling in his efforts to give up drinking, he’s been so broke he can’t afford to pay his rent, let alone hire a lawyer, and after a meeting with Heather’s attorney goes badly, he decides he needs to get his hands on a gun. Meanwhile, Lefty’s aging mother Eva (K Callan) has fallen into a depression as her health has begun to fail her, and she’s decided that Christmas Eve would be as good a time as any to do herself in. Elsewhere, Mary (Mary Thornton) could use some help looking after her son Jacob (Dominic Scott Kay), after her husband Rick (Kevin Downes) suffered a severe head injury during a motorcycle accident a year before with his best friend and riding buddy, Mitch (Mitchell Jarvis). And Mark (Richard Fancy), the pastor at a local church, has been persuaded to take a group of kids out Christmas caroling — a task he does not relish. Somehow, the fates conspire to bring the principles together with Christmas just around the corner to give them the hope that’s been lacking in their lives. Midnight Clear was the first feature film from director Dallas Jenkins, adapted from a short film of the same title he made the previous year.

In the tradition of such psychologically-charged sci-fi outings as The Next One (1982) and K-PAX (2001) comes the cerebral science fiction opus The Man From Earth (2007). The story concerns Professor John Oldman, a scientist who summons a group of associates to a cabin one freezing night, and strikes them with a fantastic revelation: he is not a traditional human, but a 14,000 year-old immortal, who has survived centuries of evolution from the Cro-Magnon Era to the present. In the hours to follow, Professor Oldman’s earth-shaking assertion about himself challenges the men on spiritual, scientific and historical levels. But the most incredible is yet to come - an even more astonishing truth in which the men’s discussions culminate.

The title refers to the radioactive fallout which descended upon ruined city of Hiroshima after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Young bride-to-be Yoshiko Tanaka has the misfortune to be visiting Hiroshima on the day of the explosion. Incredibly, she is unhurt; she returns to her own village, across the bay from Hiroshima. Unfortunately, her townsmen have been profoundly affected by the “black rain”; over the next five years, the poison in their systems slowly but surely erodes their souls. In a tragic state of denial, Yoshiko’s former friends insist that they can’t be sick-it must be the girl who is bringing sickness to them. Now a pariah, Yoshiko’s life is shattered as surely as if the bomb had disintegrated her upon impact. Director Shohei Imamaura, a onetime assistant to the great Ozu and the director of such Japanese classics as The Insect Woman and The Ballad of Narayama, never sensationalizes his material; the story is effective told in a muted, subdued fashion, allowing the horror to arise from the inner torment of the characters rather than being artificially imposed by camera trickery or “shock” cutting. Based on a novel by Masuji Ibuse, the black-and-white Black Rain won the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Award, along with several other honors.

The rowdy students of Billingsley University arrive in Mexico on a study-abroad trip in this sequel to the collegiate comedy that left viewers in stitches. The Surveyor has left stateside port and set sail for Mexico. Now, as the spring heat flares and the azure waters beacon the ship ashore, the inhibitions and clothes of these randy students are both quickly shed.

Director Barry Levinson follows up the low-budget An Everlasting Piece (2000) with another comedy, this one of the homegrown variety from former Twin Peaks (1990) TV series writer Harley Peyton. Bruce Willis stars as suave bank robber Joe, who has escaped from prison with his hypochondriac buddy Terry (Billy Bob Thornton). Together, the two men have devised a clever scheme to take a bank officer hostage the night before a heist, then simply escort the executive to work early the next morning when they clean out the vault. Their ingenious methods have led to the men becoming media darlings dubbed “the Sleepover Bandits,” but all Joe and Terry want is to make a nice pile of money before crossing the Mexican border to a life of freedom and legitimacy. Their quest gets more complicated when Terry is struck by a car driven by Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), a bored housewife who’s then forced to join their crime spree. Soon both Joe and Terry are in love with Kate and she with them, realizing that the two friends put together pretty much equal the perfect man. Bandits co-stars Troy Garity, son of actress Jane Fonda.