DvdRelease.org

Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman
Director: Tom McCarthy
Category: Independent
Rated: PG-13

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut film “The Station Agent”, Richard Jenkins (“Six Feet Under”) stars as a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument’s exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter’s faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles. As the friendship between the two men deepens, the differences in culture, age and temperament fall away. After being stopped by police in the subway, Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As his situation turns desperate, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost. When Tarek’s beautiful mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass) arrives unexpectedly in search of her son, the professor’s personal commitment develops into an unlikely romance. It’s through these newfound connections with three virtual strangers that Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

New York Post: ***1/2 (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ***1/2 (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church
Director: Noam Murro
Category: Independent
Rated: R

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant – but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he’s as downright flummoxed as the next guy. His collegiate son won’t confide in him, his teenaged daughter is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad’s misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne’er-do-well brother has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can’t seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian Literature in which he’s an expert, it seems Lawrence is sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age. When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay at just about the same time as he accidentally encounters his former student Janet, the circumstances cause him to stir from his deep, deep freeze, with often comical, sometimes heartbreaking, consequences for himself and everyone around him. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ** (out of four)
New York Post: *** (out of four)
USA Today: **1/2 (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve
Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Category: Independent
Rated: PG-13

Based on the original graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi. A story of a young girl coming-of-age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine-year-old Marjane that we see a people’s hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power – forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

New York Post: *** (out of four)
USA Today: **** (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera
Director: Jason Reitman
Category: Independent
Rated: PG-13

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a cool, confident teenager who takes a nine-month detour into adulthood when she’s faced with an unplanned pregnancy and sets out to find the perfect parents for her baby. With the help of her charmingly unassuming boyfriend (Michael Cera), supportive dad (J.K. Simmons) and no-nonsense stepmom (Allison Janney), Juno sets her sights on an affluent couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) longing to adopt their first child. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ***1/2 (out of four)
New York Post: **** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: **** (out of four)

Overall: **** (out of four)

Starring: Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon
Director: Goran Dukic (II)
Category: Independent
Rated: R

Life is a trip, but the afterlife is one hell of a ride. Zia, distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers that there is no real ending, only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly similar to his old one, just a bit worse. Discovering that his ex-girlfriend has also “offed” herself, he sets out on a road trip, with his Russian rocker friend, to find her. Their journey takes them through an absurd purgatory where they discover that being dead doesn’t mean you have to stop living! (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

New York Post: *** (out of four)

Overall: *** (out of four)