Set in 1976, the year that put California wines on the oenophile map, writer-director Randall Miller’s third feature is a charming comedy-drama that’s surprisingly true to the events that inspired it.Read more>>

Tamblyn, Lively, Ferrara and Bledel have a sparkling chemistry that transcends the subpar material, and the Greek-island conclusion is so picturesque you can almost overlook the predictable histrionics – especially if you’re young enough to fall within the sisterhood’s target demographic. Read more>>

Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary about 1970s porn star Jack Wrangler situates his brilliant and hugely unlikely life and career. Read more>>

Larry Bishop’s painfully self-conscious homage to biker films of yesteryear is a carefully crafted pastiche that doesn’t miss a wild-deadly-angels-devils-sadists-revenge cliché and can’t hold a candle to the down-and-dirty likes of THE GLORY STOMPERS.Read more>>

Ostensibly a political satire with a heart of mush, Joshua Michael Stern hopelessly muddled film cries out for the firm hand of either a dyed-in-the-wool cynic like Billy Wilder, who would have put some teeth in its jabs at amoral politicians and blindly ambitious journalists, or the steely humanism of a Frank Capra, whose tales of ordinary folks thrust into extraordinary situations are far sharper than the term “Capra-corn” would suggest. Read more>>

Director Paul Weiland’s slight comedy-drama revolves around a 12-year-old who has the misfortune to find his much-anticipated bar mitzvah falling on the same day as the 1966 World Cup Final. Read more>>

The second feature spun off from the hugely popular 1993-2002 television series plays like a stand-alone episode rather than drawing on the show’s complex and sometimes muddled mythology, which makes it more accessible to newcomers and occasional viewers than 1998’s THE X-FILES. Read more>>

Ostensibly about Mobile, Alabama’s annual Mardi Gras tradition, which dates back to 1703 – 15 years before New Orleans was established as a city — Margaret Brown’s documentary is actually an examination of the racial divide in a city that claims there is none. Read more>>

Jeremy Gosch’s documentary about the origins of professional surfing shines a light on four wave riders – three Australians and a South African – who helped transform a counter-culture life style into a billion-dollar industry. Read more>>

Even without Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, Christopher Nolan’s pitch-black sequel to BATMAN BEGINS (2005) would be a tour de force. But Ledger’s mesmerizingly damaged agent provocateur is the film’s dark heart, a presence so malevolently unpredictable that it remains palpable even when he’s not on screen. Read more>>