1998
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"Not nearly enough movies begin with treasure maps." -- Roger Ebert Walter Hill's much overlooked film of 1992 is the story of a treasure hunt in East St. Louis. William Sadler and Bill Paxton are the two Arkansas firemen who find a treasure map in the burning apartment of an old man who confesses he stole artifacts years ago from a Greek Orthodox Church. Off to the big city! The gold is easily found in an abandoned building, but an escape route is not. Paxton witnesses a gang's execution, and the two are quickly surrounded by a hail of bullets, explosions and fire, ironically enough.
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Tony is another statistic in that population dying of AIDS. He is alone, his brother dead from an overdose, mother also dead from AIDS, father in jail. But one day, upon looking out of his hospital door window, he sees the brilliant aura of Jane - his angel and saviour. Escaping from the pediatric ward, Tony sets out to follow the light which will, hopefully, ease his pain. Jane, however, has her own probems and does not need the extra baggage which accompanies Tony. Jane, a heroin addict, earns her drug money via a peep show.
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My guess is that you probably don't recognize Chuck Workman's name. You most certainly have seen his work, though, if you are a fan of the Oscars. Workman's breathtaking montages of classic film clips are, more often than not, the highlight of each broadcast. His new documentary, The Story of X, covers cinematic territory not normally associated with coveted statuettes. In fact, the film tells the story of x-rated cinema-porn, smut, nudies, adult films, stag films- from the first, flickering silent images up to, and including, the video revolution.
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Meet Alex, the "every artist". We know the type-doesn't quite fit in. Alex finds his calling by moving to Venice Beach and enrolling in art school. While his friends have a cause or talent (Gnome wants to be president, Patrick and Lizzie are destined to be the next big thing in music, and Maggie is already a video producer), Alex "wants to do it all" but doesn't have a clue how. The answer is soon obvious. Make a movie. A black and white, of course, about Gnome's crazy political aspirations e.g., Gnome would love to see Hawaii liberated from U.S. oppression. Next step?
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Everybody has a story, even the ordinary people we see every day all around us, despite the public's preoccupation with the "newsmakers" of society. But there aren't many films made about simple, unsophisticated people such as Of Mice and Men, or Paddy Chayevsky's Marty, whose themes bear some resemblance to this story. The charm of Shoemaker lies in its depiction of the life of a humble mentally challenged shoemaker. His only friend and advisor is his cynical partner, Paul, and his main interests are cooking and his pet fish.
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Daniele had a choice. He could spend his national service working with the visually handicapped or the physically handicapped. His new friend Pablo suggested that it would be easier working with the ''blind, moles and squint eyes'' because ''cripples are a nasty bunch.'' Pablo should know. He's a paraplegic physical therapist working with disabled Romans. It soon becomes clear, however, that it's not the ''cripples'' that are nasty, just Pablo. At this point, Running Against could have proceeded in a predictable fashion.
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A tall, dark, and handsome stranger drives into a sleepy country town, and the lives of its inhabitants will never be the same. It is an old story, but Road Ends adds new life to this seemingly worn-out genre. Part crime drama, part mystery, and with heavy doses of action and humor, the film weaves a complex plot, with strong performances from Chris Sarandon (Dog Day Afternoon, Fright Night), Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet, True Romance), Peter Coyote (E.T., Bitter Moon), and Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan, Deconstructing Harry).
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If there's one thing you must do this year at Cinequest, it's Return to Oz. Return to the land where the adventure began. Nominated for Visual Effects in 1985, Walter Murch's new vision of the land of Oz does just that--takes its audience on the adventure of a lifetime back to Oz as Dorothy, with the help of some new friends, must stop the evil Nome King. Upon its original release, Murch's film was lambasted (by many who did not even see the film) not based on quality, but rather because audiences were not met with the colorfully happy land they remembered from the MGM classic. It's true.
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H.I. McDonnough specializes in two things: robbing convenience stores and going to prison. After meeting his police officer wife, however, H.I. must try to master fatherhood. Of course, there's always a hitch, and this time it's the fact that he and his wife have kidnapped a baby (one of a quintuplet set) from the local furniture czar, Nathan Arizona. Director Joel Coen and producer/brother Ethan (of Fargo fame) have taken comedy to its heights in this masterpiece from the '80s.
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The post-1980s world has left American mankind in an altered state. Society is recovering from the world dictator wealth-driven culture. What else could explain the connection between nationally syndicated talk show host Larry King , singer/songwriter Colin Hay (Men at Work), and a rape victim from a night club. Filmmaker Nicholas Hondrogen searches for the essence that captures the new vision, the new quest for Americans N- living for the moment.