Mike S. Ryan

Life During Wartime -- Three sisters struggle with love, family and the American Dream in Todd Solondz's hilarious new film starring Allison Janney and Charlotte Rampling.

Liberty Kid -- In Ilya Chaikin's LIBERTY KID, childhood friends Derrick (Al Thompson) and Tico (Kareem Savi on) occupy a high school dropout limbo operating a concession stand at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. Tico's ambitions reach no further than collecting the next paycheck or pretty girl's phone number, while Derrick has his eyes on a different prize. But when the World Trade Center terrorist attack plunges their lives, their community, and their country into chaos, Derrick's vision of a college-educated future goes up in smoke in the first of many incidences of personal collateral damage both he and Tico must endure.

Three sisters struggle with love, family and the American Dream in Todd Solondz's hilarious new film starring Allison Janney and Charlotte Rampling.

When Billy gets into trouble with a local drug dealer, he hits the road and heads to the last place he wants to go: his childhood home. Years after a family tragedy drove them apart, Billy is reunited with his mother, Maggie (Sissy Spacek) and forced to confront both their past and his dangerous situation. Critically acclaimed and beautifully acted, Lake City is a poignant and suspenseful Southern thriller.

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Choke is a dark and wickedly funny joyride from the depths of sexual compulsion to the heights of the Second Coming! Beside working at a colonial reenactment theme park and trying to hook up with everything on two legs, sex addict Victor Mancini courts the love and money of complete strangers via a demented con that might just kill him. But first, Victor must save his dying, delusional mother (Angelica Houston) by seducing and impregnating her comely physician, a task easier said than done, in this gleefully twisted tale of dysfunction, salvation, love, and libido.

In the wake of Sept. 11, pals Derrick (Al Thompson) and Tico (Kareem Savinon) fall on hard times after they lose their jobs as concessions workers at Liberty Island. While Derrick is tempted by Army recruiters, he's also drawn to the world of street hustling by the volatile Tico. Writer-director Ilya Chaiken's deeply poignant no-budget indie was an official selection at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Contemporary film noir favorites Dennis Hopper and Michael Madsen square off in this thriller. After murdering the man who witnessed his daughter kill a pedestrian in a hit-and-run, Henry (Hopper) finds himself the target of a blackmailer (Madsen). But Henry has the chance to gain the upper hand when he helps the extortionist dispose of a body, and thus, a battle of wits ensues between the two men.

In Ilya Chaikin's LIBERTY KID, childhood friends Derrick (Al Thompson) and Tico (Kareem Saviñon) occupy a high school dropout limbo operating a concession stand at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. Tico's ambitions reach no further than collecting the next paycheck or pretty girl's phone number, while Derrick has his eyes on a different prize. But when the World Trade Center terrorist attack plunges their lives, their community, and their country into chaos, Derrick's vision of a college-educated future goes up in smoke in the first of many incidences of personal collateral damage both he and Tico must endure.

In Ilya Chaikin's LIBERTY KID, childhood friends Derrick (Al Thompson) and Tico (Kareem Saviñon) occupy a high school dropout limbo operating a concession stand at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. Tico's ambitions reach no further than collecting the next paycheck or pretty girl's phone number, while Derrick has his eyes on a different prize. But when the World Trade Center terrorist attack plunges their lives, their community, and their country into chaos, Derrick's vision of a college-educated future goes up in smoke in the first of many incidences of personal collateral damage both he and Tico must endure.

A sex-addicted con man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.

A sex-addicted con man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.

When Billy gets into trouble with a local drug dealer, he hits the road and heads to the last place he wants to go: his childhood home. Years after a family tragedy drove them apart, Billy is reunited with his mother, Maggie (Sissy Spacek) and forced to confront both their past and his dangerous situation. Critically acclaimed and beautifully acted, Lake City is a poignant and suspenseful Southern thriller