BAGDAD CAFE

A great 1987 character piece with strangeness and wonder, starring
CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, and Marianne Sagebrecht.

Features an incredible soundtrack, perhaps most famously known for
the haunting Jevetta Steele's "Calling You."

An oddball comedy-drama with great performances and a strong
story of friendship, hope, new beginnings, and inspiration.

We can't ever have too many of those, can we?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095801/


***********************************************

Black Book (Zwartboek)

This 2006 Dutch film (Netherlands) was directed by Paul Verhoeven
(Basic Instinct) and tells the story of an Jewish woman who has survived
countless German attacks going undercover to exact revenge.
Full of spirit and courage and tenacity, it is a tremendous underdog tale.
Puts  Valkyrie and others to shame.

I included a non-English trailer because the US trailer was frankly boring
and didn't encapsulate the explosiveness of this film. "Black Book" is
filled with sex, violence, depravity, language, music, and all the things
that movies were made to show. It's raw and real and frightening and
inspirational. (It is of course available with English subtitles, however the
performances are so powerful that translation is almost moot.)

The leads by Carice van Houten and Sebastian Koch have smoking
hot chemistry and gave me extremely conflicting emotions. More
twists and turns than an episode of Law & Order make this a must-see film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389557/


*******************************************************

All Over the Guy

Quite possibly my favorite relationship movie of all time!

No matter who you're attracted to, you'll find yourself
or someone you know in this hilarious and moving
romantic comedy starring Richard Ruccolo, Dan Bucatinsky,
Sasha Alexander, and Adam Goldberg.

Biting and witty dialogue, fast-paced scenes, believable
characters all make for a treasure. There is not a single
moment of wasted space or speech in this film. Julie
Davis does a phenomenal job directing, and there are a
host of incredible cast scene-steals from Andrea Martin,
Doris Roberts, Christina Ricci and Lisa Kudrow.

The best part of this movie, besides being genuinely funny
and uniquely honest, is that there is no sugar coating the
relationships in this flick. Everybody is unavoidably,
absolutely messed up beyond compare. Sometimes
tragically so, sometimes endearingly so, but it's real.
Watch it alone with a bucket of ice cream, watch it
with a new date, watch it with friends, or watch it with
a spouse. If you've ever had a broken heart or a bad
experience dating, you'll laugh your ass off!

******************************************