Daniel Smith Movies

Mike Judge wrote and directed this offbeat sci-fi comedy which gives a new meaning to the expression "people are getting dumber all the time." In 2005, Pvt. Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is a soldier chosen to take part in a secret military scientific experiment in which he will be put into induced hibernation for one year, along with a woman named Rita (Maya Rudolph). Bowers is chosen for the assignment because he is statistically the most average man in the Army, while Rita is a hooker ordered to do some community service; however, Bowers and Rita are forgotten when the military base where the experiment took place is closed down, and when they wake up in the year 2505, Bowers finds himself living in a society where intelligence has taken such a landslide he's now the smartest man in the world. Can Bowers save America from its own remarkable stupidity, and he can he get the dunderheads around him to believe what he says? Produced under the title 3001, Idiocracy also stars Dax Shepard as Bowers's numb-skull lawyer, Stephen Root as a judge, and Terry Crews as Camacho, a former porn star and professional wrestler who is now president of the United States. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A family is forced to confront the personal issues they've been avoiding for years in this powerful, realistic drama. Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) is a working-class British woman whose life has been a long series of painful disappointments. She's single with no romantic prospects and a dead-end job at a box factory. Her daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook) works as a street sweeper and is chronically bitter. Cynthia helped raise her brother, Maurice (Timothy Spall), who is doing well as a photographer, but she rarely sees him and usually blames his wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan). One day, Cynthia receives a phone call from a woman named Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who claims to be the daughter Cynthia put up for adoption years ago. Cynthia initially reacts with panic, but she agrees to meet Hortense and is surprised to discover that she's a successful and soft-spoken eye doctor -- and that she's black. Cynthia is soon convinced that Hortense is just who she claims to be, and they quickly form a friendship that gives Cynthia a new source of emotional strength. However, when Cynthia decides to introduce the family to her new "friend," it forces them to confront the lies and evasions that have kept them apart all these years. Largely improvised by director Mike Leigh and his cast, Secrets & Lies features standout work by Brenda Blethyn (who earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress), and Timothy Spall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The story of a west African tribe uprising against the ruling Portuguese is portrayed in the Dutch/Guinea-Bissau historical drama that also provides a rare, beautifully photographed view of that area and it's cultures. The story is set in a peaceful village in the Xime area of Guinea during 1963. Life in Bedan's home village is quiet. The elders in their tribe espouse a philosophy of non-violence. While Bedan follows the traditionally peaceful path, his elder brother Raul is a revolutionary fighting in the city against the Portuguese oppressors. He returns to Xime to convince others to join the cause. The authorities learn of Raul's plan and are out to capture and vanquish him. Much of village life is depicted in the film, including the male rite-of-passage ceremony where the men must dress as women to demonstrate their commitment to become nonviolent adults. It is during this ceremony that Raul falls into after he has been fatally wounded. Upon witnessing his brother's death, Bedan, who is in the ceremony knows it is time to fight back. The rest of the village agrees, and an insurrection is in the offing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In 1984, the director of this extraordinarily long film (25+ hours) released a similarly long film, Heimat, which was a mere 15 hours long. Both of them are essentially television miniseries that have been edited for festival viewing into one enormously long film. In this sequel, Die Zweite Heimat follows the lives of a group of young people in Munich in the 1960s and '70s. The main character is a musician from the first film who has been forced to leave his small hometown in order to study music composition in Munich. The circumstances of his move have made him somewhat bitter. He gradually becomes involved in his new life among the musicians and budding filmmakers of the city, and the stories spin out from there, as each character ages and adapts to life's changes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide