Watch The Incredibles (2004) Online

The Incredibles (2004)Directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles revolves around former high-profile superhero Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible), who has not-so-successfully settled into suburban life along with his wife and kids under the watchful eye of the Superhero Protection Program. A far cry from the "glory days" during which "supers" were a welcome addition to society, the Parrs' living situation was brought on after a series of superhero-related lawsuits forced them into hiding. When not trying to fight small-time crime undercover with fellow former superhero Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), Parr (voice by Craig T. Nelson) is muddling through the corporate world as a paunchy, emotionally unsatisfied insurance claims adjuster.

His family is like any other with some notable exceptions -- his daughter has the uncanny ability to become invisible and create impenetrable force fields at will; his son, Dash, can run at incredible speeds; his wife, Helen (Holly Hunter), is known in super circles as Elastigirl, one of the most respected (and pliable) superwomen of her time. Just when it looks as if things can't get any worse for Bob, he gets a summons to show up at a remote island to receive instructions for a highly classified assignment, which he promptly accepts. Thrust back into the world of fighting crime, the Incredible family is back in familiar territory -- saving the world from Syndrome, a jilted former fan of Mr. Incredible. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

PG, 1 hr. 55 min.
Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy
Directed By: Brad Bird
Written By: Brad Bird
In Theaters: Nov 5, 2004 Wide

8.0

The Incredibles (2004)

Watch Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (2004) Online

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (2004)Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love.

She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

G, 1 hr. 35 min.
Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Art House & International
Directed By: Jacques Demy
Written By: Jacques Demy
In Theaters: Feb 13, 2004 Limited

7.7

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (2004)

Watch Moolaadé (2004) Online

Moolaadé (2004)Pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene directed this controversial drama which deals in part with the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation (generally involving removal of the clitoris and temporary closure of the vagina), which is still practiced in a number of African nations in the name of "purification." Six girls who are scheduled to undergo the traditional purification ceremony escape, and four make their way to the home of Colle Ardo Gallo Sy (Fatoumata Coulibaly), a wife and mother who is sympathetic to their dilemma. Colle casts a "moolaade" spell, which will bring harm to anyone who attempts to hurt those under Colle's care. Colle finds few supporters in a village where tradition is sacred and change is regarded with great suspicion; the men who rule the tribe and the women who conduct the purification rituals both make their displeasure clear, but none can persuade Colle to vanquish the spell, which the others are obligated to respect. Meanwhile, Colle's daughter Amsatou (Salimata Traore) is facing a dilemma of her own. Amsatou has fallen in love with a young man who will one day inherit leadership of the tribe; a man who straddles traditional and modern life, he shuttles between an office job in Paris and the village of his birth.

But, while he cares for Amsatou, her mother spared her from the purification ritual, and now she's uncertain if he will be willing to violate centuries of tribal tradition and wed a woman who is unclean in the eyes of his family. Moolaadé was awarded the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 2 hr.
Art House & International, Drama
Directed By: Ousmane Sembene
Written By: Ousmane Sembene
In Theaters: Oct 15, 2004 Limited

7.5

Moolaadé (2004)

Watch Twist of Faith (2004) Online

Twist of Faith (2004)A man must reconcile his religion with a need for justice and closure in this documentary. Tony Comes was a firefighter living in Toledo, OH, with his wife and children. While Comes was a solid family man and had the respect of his fellow firemen, he was hiding a secret that had been haunting him for almost 20 years -- when he was 14 years old, Comes was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, an event that left him with emotional scars that were slow to heal. In 2002, as stories of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy were appearing in newspapers across the country, Comes decided it was time to take action. Comes met with the bishop in his parish and told him of the incident, but he soon discovered that he was not being told the truth about what was being done to prevent the priest from molesting other children. Seeing little alternative and concerned about the safety of others, Comes filed a lawsuit against the parish.

Twist of Faith is a documentary that follows Comes as he deals with his inner turmoil and the often uncharitable reactions of others as he attempts to bring his abuser to justice, while maintaining his sincere faith in God and his loyalty to the Catholic Church. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Twist of Faith was nominated for Best Documentary Feature honors at the 2005 Academy Awards. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 27 min.
Documentary, Faith & Spirituality, Special Interest
Directed By: Kirby Dick
In Theaters: Aug 20, 2004 Wide

7.3

Twist of Faith (2004)

Watch Take Out (2004) Online

Take Out (2004)Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou make their feature debut as writer/directors with the documentary-style DV drama Take Out. Korean-American actor Charles Jang stars as Ming Ding, a Chinese illegal immigrant struggling to make ends meet working as a deliveryman at a take-out restaurant. His day begins when he is rousted, beaten, and threatened with more violence by two men over an 800-dollar debt, which he incurred because he felt obligated to send some money back to his wife and child in China. Ming scrapes together what he can.

His co-worker, Young (Jeng-Hua Yu), lends him some money, and offers to forgo his deliveries for the day so Ming can make more cash. The film follows the stoic Ming, who speaks little English, over the course of the day as he interacts with the cooks and restaurant manager (Wang-Thye Lee, an actual employee of the restaurant where Take Out was filmed), and races in the rain on a multitude of deliveries on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, interacting with a broad spectrum of New Yorkers. The filmmakers made Take Out on an extremely low budget, even by indie standards, using the Internet to find their cast, and shooting at the restaurant during business hours with a skeleton crew. Take Out was shown at the 2004 New York Asian American Film Festival and at the 2004 Nashville Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Art House & International, Drama
Directed By: Sean Baker , Shih-Ching Tsou
In Theaters: Jan 18, 2004 Wide

6.5

Take Out (2004)

Watch Live-in Maid (Cama adentro) (2004) Online

Live-in Maid (Cama adentro) (2004)A once-wealthy Buenos Aires socialite who has fallen on hard times finds the roles between herself and her longtime live-in maid suddenly reversed in director Jorge Gaggero's class-conscious drama. Mrs. Beba is a 58-year-old woman whose days as a well-to-do socialite have long since passed, and Dora is the 51-year-old housekeeper who has been Mrs. Beba's live-in housekeeper for 35 years. As a successive cycle of personal and financial crises force Mrs. Beba to sell door-to-door beauty products as a way of making ends meet, she finds it increasingly difficult to pay her employee in a timely manner. Since Dora has been using her money to construct a house in a shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this naturally poses something of a problem. It's been six months since Dora has received her last paycheck, and her patience has finally run out. Yet, despite the fact that class differences continually come into play between the pair, there is no denying the bond that has formed between them over the course of their three decades together.

When Mrs. Beba finally produces enough money to pay Dora's debt and offer a six-month salary advancement, Dora decides to finally strike out on her own despite her employer's objections. Later, after Dora moves into her new home with her weekend boyfriend, Miguel, Mrs. Beba's energy and telephone services are turned off for lack of payment. By the time summer arrives, Mrs. Beba must sell off her apartment just to stay out of debt. Remembering that her old employee has a new home, the now-homeless Mrs. Beba kindly offers to give her furniture to Dora. But Dora can't turn away an old friend in need, and before they know it, Dora and Mrs. Beba are living together once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.
Drama, Art House & International, Comedy
Directed By: Jorge Gaggero
Written By: Jorge Gaggero
In Theaters: Jul 18, 2007 Limited

7.1

Live-in Maid (Cama adentro) (2004)

Watch The Grace Lee Project (2005) Online

The Grace Lee Project Grace Lee is a filmmaker who, when she left her hometown of Columbia, MO, for New York City, and later for California, began to notice that her name was unusually common among Asian-American women -- someone described as the Asian-American equivalent of "Jane Smith." What troubled Lee most wasn't just that so many Asian women shared her name, but that it seemed to conjure up a very particular sort of person in the eyes of many -- a quiet, studious over-achiever who was cheerful, Christian, and never got into trouble. Lee didn't much care to be associated with a classic stereotype of an "ethnic American" desperate to assimilate with the larger culture, and she began to wonder -- is every Grace Lee like this? Lee set up a website to search out other Grace Lee's around the country, and followed up her research with a series of interviews that she fashioned into her film The Grace Lee Project.

While Lee found plenty of women who lived up to the "Grace Lee" image, she also found many who didn't, including an elderly activist in Detroit's African-American community, a teenage goth kid who makes voodoo dolls for fun and profit, a fortysomething single parent who helped her best friend leave behind an abusive husband, a Hawaiian broadcast journalist, and a young troublemaker who attempted to burn down her high school. Incidentally, the Grace Lee who made The Grace Lee Project learned she wasn't the only Grace Lee who directs movies -- a Grace Lee living in Portland, OR, is also a filmmaker. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

G, 1 hr. 8 min.
Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest
Directed By: Bryant Wang , null
In Theaters: Dec 14, 2005 Wide

6.8

The Grace Lee Project (2005)