Robin Schorr

Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner uses reports by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and The Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan as a springboard to exploring where the food we purchase at the grocery store really comes from, and what it means for the health of future generations. By exposing the comfortable relationships between business and government, Kenner gradually shines light on the dark underbelly of the American food industry. The USDA and FDA are supposed to protect the public, so why is it that both government regulatory agencies have been complicit in allowing corporations to put profit ahead of consumer health, the American farmer, worker safety, and even the environment? As chicken breasts get bigger and tomatoes are genetically engineered not to go bad, 73,000 Americans fall ill from powerful new strains of e coli every year, obesity levels are skyrocketing, and adult diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. Perhaps if the general public knew how corporations use exploited laws and subsidies to create powerful monopolies, the outrage would be enough to make us think more carefully about the food we put into our bodies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Jeepers Creepers director Victor Salva takes a break from the horror to offer an inspirational tale about the remarkable power of the human spirit as the pages of Dan Millman's best-selling autobiographical novel come to life onscreen in this life-affirming film starring Nick Nolte, Scott Mechlowicz, and Amy Smart. A talented college gymnast with serious Olympic aspirations, Dan Millman (Mechlowicz) leads a charmed life of first-place trophies, fast girls, and rowdy parties until a career-threatening injury and a chance meeting with a mysterious stranger named Socrates (Nolte) show him how little he truly knows about living. In the months that follow his tragic injury, both Socrates and elusive beauty Joy (Smart) impart to the growing young man the wisdom that he needs to leave the past behind and follow the path of destiny and fulfill his transformation into the peaceful warrior. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Actor Bill Paxton made his directorial debut with Frailty. The bulk of the story is told through flashbacks, as a mysterious man (Matthew McConaughey) tells a terrible tale to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) investigating the "God's Hand" serial killer case. The man grew up in a small town in Texas, where he and his brother lived a bucolic life with their kindhearted widower father (Paxton). One night, the father awakens the two boys, Fenton (Matthew O'Leary) and Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), and tells them he's had a vision, and God has chosen him and his sons to help Him slay demons who walk the earth in human form. He tells the boys they can never tell anyone about this task. Before long, he comes home from work with a list of names that he claims an angel has given to him. He then begins abducting people, bringing them home, one by one, and having the boys watch while he lays his hands on them. After having proven, to his mind, that they are demons and not human, he chops them up with an axe while the boys look on. Young Adam is eager to participate, seeing his family as "kind of like superheroes," while the older Fenton is distraught, believing that his father has lost his mind. He contemplates running away, but is reluctant to leave his little brother behind. Eventually, he goes to the authorities, which results in disaster. As he tells the story, McConaughey takes Boothe out to the public rose garden near his old home, where he claims his brother, the "God's Hand" killer, buried the bodies. Paxton dramatizes the mayhem while leaving almost all of the gore offscreen, and Brent Hanley's script leaves the true motives of several characters unclear until the very end. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

In this comedy-drama, a teenage boy gets a crash course in the mysteries of love and sex. Lydia Callahan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) had her son Sam when she was only 14 years old. Now 14 himself, Sam (Bug Hall) finds himself in the small community of GroVont, WY, after his mother is run out of town by her own father (R. Lee Ermey). While Lydia is helped through her transition by Hank Elkrunner (Michael Greyeyes), Sam doesn't fit in at school and runs afoul of bully Dothan Talbot (Brad Renfro). But he soon makes friends with classmate Maurey Pierce (Mischa Barton), who makes an unusual proposal: since she doesn't want to seem inexperienced when she loses her virginity, perhaps Sam could help her practice the finer points of sex. While Sam is more than willing to help, this arrangement creates complications that his fantasies about his Dream Girl (Drew Barrymore) have not prepared him for. Skipped Parts is based on the novel of the same name by Tim Sandlin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide