New Releases Movies

Original Bangkok Dangerous directors Danny and Oxide Pang return to familiar territory with this remake of their own popular 1999 thriller about a ruthless hitman (Nicolas Cage) who travels to Bangkok in order to carry out four crucial jobs. During the course of his missions, the triggerman falls in love with a pretty local girl while also forming a friendly bond with his young errand boy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The ten-episode second season (2008) of Showtime's hit series The Tudors picks up the tale with King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) making his break from the Roman Catholic Church and establishing the Church of England, with himself as its head. Central plot points include Henry's dismissal of Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy) as his queen; his marriage to Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer), who gives birth to Elizabeth; and his confrontations with Sir Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) and Bishop Fisher (Bosco Hogan), who are charged with treason for questioning Henry's rejection of papal authority.

This musical documentary concerns the Rolling Stones and their tragic free concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in early December 1969. The event was all but destroyed by violence that marked the end of the peace and love euphoria of the 1960s. The night began smoothly, with the supercharged Flying Burrito Brothers opening up for the Rolling Stones and performing the truck-driving classic "Six Days on the Road" and Tina Turner giving a sensually charged performance. But on this particular evening, the Stones made the fateful (and disastrous) decision to hire the Oakland chapter of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang as bodyguards and bouncers. It was a foolhardy, careless choice that turned the night into an unmitigated disaster; halfway through the Stones' act, the Angels killed one black spectator, and injured several others who were present (including Jefferson Airplane's lead singer Marty Balin). In the film, we watch Mick Jagger -- ere an ebullient, charismatic performer of bisexual charm -- reduced to standing on stage like a frightened child with his finger in his mouth in wake of the violence. Unsurprisingly, the Grateful Dead refused to perform after the violence erupted; the picture ends on a despairing note, with the Stones repeatedly watching a film of the murder. Celebrated documentarians Albert and David Maysles directed and Haskell Wexler shot the film, with heightened instinct and control; as a result, this film is considered one of the greatest rock documentaries ever made. Stones songs performed include "Brown Sugar," "Under My Thumb," and "Sympathy for the Devil." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Absolutely nobody is who he or she seems in this stylish thriller about a guy who wants to get out of his fly-speck hometown, the girlfriend who wants to help him, and the successful friend who just might make it possible. When Bryce (Josh Brolin) returns to his tiny hometown of Tropico, NV, he finds pal Nick (Alessandro Nivola) still living there unhappily. One night the pair meets a beautiful blonde at the bar and eventually Bryce takes her back to the house where he's staying. When the girl, Lissa (Reese Witherspoon), reveals that she's under age and threatens to turn Bryce in for statutory rape, he panics, ties her up in the basement, and puts in an anguished call to Nick. Little does Bryce realize, however, that Lissa is actually Nick's very grown-up girlfriend, and that the two lovers have decided Bryce and the ritzy house where he's staying will play a major role in their bid to leave behind dead-end Tropico forever. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This concert film captures the classic line-up of the prog-rock band Yes performing together again in 1996. The band presents a dozen songs including "I've Seen All Good People," &Close to the Edge," "Roundabout," and "Turn of the Century." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this family-friendly comedy drama, Walter (Haley Joel Osment) is a shy and bookish boy just short of his teens whose mother impulsively decides to leave him for the summer with his eccentric grand-uncles, Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine). Walter isn't especially happy about being left in the middle of Texas with two old men, while Hub and Garth aren't too pleased to be stuck minding a boy, especially one who isn't accustomed to hunting, fishing, or firearms. When Walter starts hearing local gossip about his uncles' wild and wooly pasts, he begins asking a few questions, and while Hub and Garth don't enjoy having the boy poking into their pasts, as they start telling tales of their youthful adventures, they find themselves itching for some new adventures in their lives. Soon Walter is a semi-willing accomplice as his elderly guardians rediscover the wild, impulsive spirit of youth. Secondhand Lions was produced in part by the well-respected visual effects house Digital Domain, who also helped create the imagery for the film's flashback sequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This musical release from blues guitarist Bill Frisell captures a live performance by the musician, accompanied by the likes of Matt Chamberlain on drums and Billy Drewes on alto sax. Some of the tracks featured in the concert include I'm So Lonesome I Should Cry, Blues Dream, Outlaws, and more. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

A stark drama awash in post-modern nihilism, Bootleg Film follows two friends who are driving to a funeral -- Tatsuo (Akira Emoto), a low-level criminal, and Seiji (Kippei Shiina), a police officer. The dearly departed was Ayako (Tamaki), a woman who at one time was married to Seiji and at another involved with Tatsuo. The circumstances of this journey has brought tensions between them to the surface, and they've been arguing when they encounter Yoji (Kazuki Kitamura) and Junko (Maika), a disaffected young couple who soon find out more about the two men than it's healthy for them to know. The second feature film from director Masahiro Kobayashi, Bootleg Film was shown as part of the "Un Certain Regard" series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Go Nagai's legendary action/horror manga gets the live action treatment in director Hiroyuki Nasu's tale of a demonic anti-hero caught-up in a battle between the forces of evil and the fascist human leaders who would spark a supernatural war. Akira and Ryo (real life twins Hisato and Yusuke Izaki) have just received word that the experiments conducted by Ryo's father in Antarctica have gone horribly awry - unleashing a malevolent horde of demon invaders and potentially setting the apocalypse into motion. Now, as a powerful demonic force possesses Akira, he is suddenly transformed into a mighty yet conscientious demonic entity known as Devilman. As the forces of hell plot the downfall of mankind, a slew of dictatorial leaders emerge to fight back against the powerful otherworldly forces. With the situation quickly spiraling out of control, the powerful Devilman attempts to stave off both sides, and Ryo becomes corrupted by a malevolent demon intent on claiming the planet for the powers of hell. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This outrageous Mexican horror gem opens in the 17th century, where Spanish Baron Vitelius is being sentenced to death for heresy, thanks to his reputation as a Casanova and practitioner of the black arts. Before his death, he curses the bloodlines of the Inquisitors -- a curse heralded by the appearance of a comet, which Vitelius declares will mark his vengeance when it passes again. Flash forward 300 years to the swinging '60s, where the comet does more than just appear in the sky -- it slams into the Earth, releasing a brain-sucking demon with a forked tongue, which then transforms into the shape of Vitelius. The Baron heads to town and immediately goes to work on the locals, inviting them to a party where he manages to identify and list the Inquisitors' descendants in order to plan his revenge. Seeking them out one by one, he sucks their brains dry with his spiked tongue, then burns their bodies. When the police eventually discover Vitelius' secret stash of human brains, they manage to track him down and destroy him before he claims his last victim. Despite laughably bad dubbing that turns every character into a complete moron, this is still a clever little no-budget film, filled with wild imagery and goofy monster effects (e.g. the demon's rubber head occasionally swells and deflates via air-hose). Released theatrically in Mexico, this film saw its American debut on television and soon became a late-night creature-feature favorite. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The Living Coffin is a Mexican filmization of that old Edgar Allan Poe standby The Premature Burial. A seriously ill woman is terrified that she'll be buried while in a comatose state. To avoid this contingency, she has an alarm installed inside her coffin (indicating that someone involved with this film had seen the 1931 Paramount chiller Murder by the Clock). It comes to pass that the woman is indeed declared dead, planted six feet under, and.....hoo hoo hah hah HAAAAH! The legendary B-flick showman/huckster K. Gordon Murray filmed The Living Coffin in 1958 under the title El Grito de la Muerte; it didn't make the American rounds until 1965 (talk about rising from the dead!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide