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Director Alejandro González Iñárritu again interweaves the tales of multiple characters, but this time they happen to be in vastly different parts of the world.

The film begins in Morocco with Mohammed (Mustapha Amhita) buying a used rifle for his sons Ahmed (Said Tarchani) and Yussef (Boubker Ait El Caid) to kill jackals with. The fact that the younger Yussef is a better shot makes his brother angry, spurring him to convince his younger brother that the gun is defective. His idea to prove that the gun cannot fire three km is to have his little brother fire at vehicles on the road in the distance.

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Director Christopher Nolan broke onto the scene with complex twisting thriller MEMENTO and returns to the genre with another twisting period thriller pitting two rival magicians against each other.

We know from the start that Alfred Borden (Christian Bale, BATMAN BEGINS) is set to be hanged for the murder of rival magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman, X-MEN series). The plot weaves several timelines together as Alfred reads Robert’s diary about how he went to meet Nikolas Tesla (David Bowie, THE HUNGER) to convince the scientist to make him the same famed transported man magic device he made for Alfred.

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I was glad this film was in black & white. This is not just because it adds to the dark mood of the story, but because there is a surgery scene that in color would have been hard to stomach.

The film begins with Louise (Alida Valli, THE THIRD MAN), the assistant of brilliant surgeon Dr. Genessier (Pierre Brasseur, CHILDREN OF PARADISE), disposing of a body. Then Dr. Genessier IDs the corpse as the body of his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob, THE MAN ON THE TRAIN), who previously had her face torn off in an awful car accident. For the unaware, the film seems to be going one way for the entire first act, but then changes everything in an instant. If you want to have a completely virgin experience read no more and just watch the film. But for the curious or aware, I will go into a bit more of what this film has in store.

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Horror master Wes Craven got his feature start with this controversial twist on Ingmar Bergman’s THE VIRGIN SPRING. Up until this film, violence on screen hadn’t been so cruel and twisted. Or so real.

Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel, TEENAGE HITCH-HIKERS) and her older friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham) set out to celebrate Mari’s 16th birthday at a metal concert in the city. Meanwhile, her loving parents Dr. John and Estelle Collingwood (Gaylord St. James & Cynthia Carr) set up a small surprise party for their daughter. As the Collingwoods go about their day, we also meet up with escaped murders and rapists Krug Stillo (David Hess, SWAMP THING) and Fred “Weasel” Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln) along with Krug’s meek son Junior (Marc Sheffler) and the wild woman Sadie (Jeramie Rain, THE ABDUCTORS).

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Based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe, this film is truly a grand tale of good versus evil. Prince Prospero (Vincent Price, HOUSE OF WAX) cruelly rules over his subjects. When he discovers the red death plague in a village, he has it burned to the ground and takes prisoner the beautiful village girl Francesca (Jane Asher, 1966’s ALFIE), her father Ludovico (Nigel Green, ZULU) and the girl’s love Gino (David Weston, BECKET).

The prince’s court is a place of great hedonism and vice where he decides to force Ludovico and Gino to fight each other and if they don’t he will kill them both. This is all part of his diabolical plan to lure the innocent Francesca to the service of his master — Satan! Dun… dun… dun… duuuuun.

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Philip Kaufman has made some brilliant films like THE RIGHT STUFF, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and QUILLS, but when he takes on straight thrillers he often missteps big time. The original Michael Crichton book that his film was based on was criticized as being Japan-bashing. The film can’t be accused of this per se, but it does walk a dangerous road between knowing a lot about Japan and knowing nothing.

Lt. Webster Smith (Wesley Snipes, BLADE) has been assigned a kinky murder case, which occurred in the new L.A. building of a big Japanese corporation. Partnered with Smith is Capt. John Connor (Sean Connery, THE UNTOUCHABLES), who has a very friendly relationship with the Japanese, who want to keep the incident as quiet as possible. While it’s tough for Connor to keep Smith diplomatic, it’s nearly impossible to do so with Lt. Tom Graham (Harvey Keitel, PULP FICTION), who wants to wrap the case up as quickly as possible.

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