FILMMAKER MAGAZINE'S

Video On Demand Calendar

February 2012


Synopsis:
When Kelli returns home from war, she expected to slowly but surely settle back into her life with her husband and kids in the small town she grew up in. But she gradually realizes that the life she left behind is no longer there waiting for her. (Dir. Liza Johnson)
Return
Drama, Focus World
Official Site
Available 2/28/2012
VOD, iTunes

Synopsis:
Curtis LaForche lives in a small Ohio town with his wife Samantha and six-year-old daughter Hannah, who is deaf. Money is tight, and navigating Hannah's healthcare and special needs education is a constant struggle. Despite that, Curtis and Samantha are very much in love and their family is a happy one. Then Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an encroaching, apocalyptic storm (Dir. Jeff Nichols)
Take Shelter
Drama, Sony Pictures Classics
Official Site
Available 2/14/2012
VOD

Synopsis:
The sprawling slum that surrounds Rio de Janeiro is one of the most dangerous places on earth, so as the head of Rio's Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE), Captain Nascimento has seen his share of intense situations. When a BOPE mission to stop a jail riot ends in the violent death of a gang leader, Nascimento finds himself accused of a massacre. (Dir. José Padilha)
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Action, New Video
Official Site
Available 2/14/2012
VOD
» More Movies For February 2012

January 2012


Synopsis:
An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus...One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. With an all-star cast, Steven Soderbergh delivers a disaster movie for the 21st Century. (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Contagion
Thriller, Warner Bros.
Official Site
Available 1/3/2012
VOD

Synopsis:
"The Guard" is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen -- an unorthodox Irish policeman (Brendan Gleeson) and a straitlaced FBI agent (Don Cheadle) -- must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang. (Dir. John Michael McDonagh)
The Guard
Drama, Sony Pictures Classics
Official Site
Available 1/3/2012
VOD

Synopsis:
In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Within hours of being dropped deep behind enemy lines, 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris’s unit is attacked from all sides. Embedded in Echo Company during the assault, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis captures the frontline action with visceral immediacy. When Sergeant Harris returns home to North Carolina after a life-threatening injury in battle, the film evolves from stunning war reportage to the story of one man’s personal apocalypse. (Dir. Danfung Denis)
Hell And Back Again
Documentary, New Video
Official Site
Available 1/24/2012
VOD
» More Movies For January 2012

December 2011


Synopsis:
After over one hundred years of service, The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting its doors for good. The last remaining employees -Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) - are determined to uncover proof of what many believe to be one of New England's most haunted hotels. (Dir. Ti West)
The Innkeepers
Horror, Magnet Releasing
Official Site
Available 12/30/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
Check out one of the most talked about movies of the summer. "The Help" is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about very different, extraordinary women in the 1960s South who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project. Includes great performances by Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain. (Dir. Tate Taylor)
The Help
Drama, Disney
Official Site
Available 12/6/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
This espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciaran Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington) tracked down a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin. At great risk, the team’s mission was accomplished – or was it? (Dir. John Madden)
The Debt
Drama, Focus Features
Official Site
Available 12/6/2011
VOD
» More Movies For December 2011

November 2011


Synopsis:
"Sleeping Beauty" is the bold and provocative directorial debut of Julia Leigh. Featuring a phenomenal breakthrough performance by Emily Browning, this coolly shocking retelling of the classic myth poses its heroine as a rarified sex-worker, confronting ideas of feminine sexuality with bravado and precision. (Dir. Julia Leigh)
Sleeping Beauty
Thriller, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 11/1/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
A thoughtful and beautifully acted comic drama, "Beginners" stars Ewan McGregor as a Los Angeles man whose budding relationship with a French actress (Melanie Laurent) is made complicated by his continuing grief over his dead father. In a flashback dual narrative, Christopher Plummer portrays the recently deceased, a charismatic figure who surprises his son by coming out as gay just before succumbing to cancer. (Dir. Mike Mills)
Beginners
Drama, Universal
Official Site
Available 11/1/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
Best friends Woodrow and Aiden spend all of their free time building "Mad Max"-inspired flamethrowers and muscle cars in preparation for a global apocalypse. But when Woodrow meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love, he and Aiden quickly integrate into a new group of friends, setting off on a journey of love, betrayal and extreme violence more devastating than any of their apocalyptic fantasies. (Dir. Evan Glodell)
Bellflower
Drama, Oscilloscope
Official Site
Available 11/1/2011
VOD, iTunes
» More Movies For November 2011

October 2011


Synopsis:
You may have heard about the dinosaurs, or the scenes that display the origins of the universe, but at its heart this year's Palme d'Or, "The Tree of Life," is Terrence Malick's look back at his childhood in Texas, a special moment that's taken him most of his life to express. With Brad Pitt as the stern patriarch and Jessica Chastain playing the warm-hearted housewife, Malick takes us through some of the defining moments from the life of Jack (Sean Penn) after he learns his brother has died. (Dir. Terrence Malick)
The Tree of Life
Drama, Fox Searchlight
Official Site
Available 10/11/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
"Terri" is a moving and often funny film about the relationship between Terri (Jacob Wysocki), an oversized teen misfit and the loquacious but well-meaning vice principal (John C. Reilly) who reaches out to him. Terri also befriends a pair of fellow misfits -- Chad (Bridger Zadina), an edgy loner whose rebellion masks his own insecurities, and Heather (Olivia Crocicchia), a sexually precocious girl whose beauty proves to be a trap of its own -- and the three teens build an ulikey bond. (Dir. Azazel Jacobs)
Terri
Drama, ATO
Official Site
Available 10/11/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
Using a "Rashomon"-like style, three half-sisters, after being invited to their father's lake house to meet him and each other for the first time, are each questioned by a local sheriff to explain the events that took place leading up to the discovery of their father floating dead in the lake. (Dir. Joe Robert Cole)
Amber Lake
Horror, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 10/11/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video
» More Movies For October 2011

September 2011


Synopsis:
When an alcoholic (Will Ferrell) relapses, causing him to lose his wife and his job, he holds a yard sale on his front lawn in an attempt to start over. A new neighbor might be the key to his return to form. (Dir. Dan Rush)
Everything Must Go
Drama, Roadside Attractions
Official Site
Available 9/2/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
It’s been said (but unsubstantiated) that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed in a standoff with the Bolivian military in 1908. In "Blackthorn," Cassidy (Sam Shepard) survived, and is quietly living out his years under the name James Blackthorn in a secluded Bolivian village. Tired of his long exile from the US and hoping to see his family again before he dies, Cassidy sets out on the long journey home. But when an unexpected encounter with an ambitious young criminal (Eduardo Noriega) derails his plans, he is thrust into one last adventure, the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since his glory days with the Sundance Kid. (Dir. Mateo Gil)
Blackthorn
Drama, Magnolia Pictures
Official Site
Available 9/2/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
Loud music. Pornography. Burning shit to the ground. These are a few of Hesher's favorite things. And they are what Hesher (Joseph Gordon Levitt) brings into the lives of TJ (Devin Brochu) and his fatuerh, Paul (Rainn Wilson) when he takes up residence in their garage uninvited. Grief-stricken by the loss of TJ's mother in a car accident, Paul can't muster the strength to evict the strange squatter, and soon the long-haired, tattooed Hesher becomes a fixture in the household. (Dir. Spencer Sussser)
Hesher
Drama, Newmarket Films
Official Site
Available 9/13/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video
» More Movies For September 2011

August 2011


Synopsis:
In a bold new feature version of "Jane Eyre," director Cary Joji Fukunaga ("Sin Nombre") infuse a contemporary immediacy into Charlotte Brontë’s timeless story. Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") and Michael Fassbender ("X-Men: First Class") star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama, the heroine of which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers. (Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga)
Jane Eyre
Drama, Focus Features
Official Site
Available 8/2/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon train of three families (headed by Michelle Williams) has hired mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a shortcut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. (Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
Meek's Cutoff
Drama, Oscilloscope
Official Site
Available 8/17/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
In this irreverent comedy, awkward teenager Tobe (Dustin Ingram) sets off on a road trip to meet Monica Velour (Kim Cattrall), his favorite '80s porn star, at a rare live appearance hundreds of miles away. Instead of the glamorous sexpot portrayed on film, he finds a 49-year-old single mom living in a trailer in rural Indiana, performaing at seedy strip clubs to make ends meet. (Dir. Keith Bearden)
Meet Monica Velour
Comedy, Anchor Bay
Official Site
Available 8/17/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For August 2011

July 2011


Synopsis:
Writer-director Michael Tully also stars in this quirky tale of broken ties as Cornelius Rawlings, a long-absent son who returns to his dead parents' farm to reunite with his surviving siblings. (Dir. Michael Tully)
Septien
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 7/6/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, iTunes

Synopsis:
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the Source Code, a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack. (Dir. Duncan Jones)
Source Code
Action, Summit Entertainment
Official Site
Available 7/8/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video , iTunes

Synopsis:
After a much-publicized departure from hosting NBC's "Tonight Show" - and the severing of a 22-year relationship with the network - Conan O'Brien hit the road with a 32-city music-and-comedy show to exercise his performing chops and exorcise a few demons. The "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour" was O'Brien's answer to a contractual stipulation that banned his appearance on television, radio and the Internet for six months following his last show. The resulting documentary is an intimate portrait of an artist trained in improvisation, captured at the most improvisational time of his career. (Dir. Rodman Flender)
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
Documentary,
Official Site
Available 7/8/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For July 2011

June 2011


Synopsis:
Childhood friends Todd (a small town hockey has-been) and Allison (a cosmopolitan artist) re-discover each other at their 10 year school reunion and embark on a romantic adventure to recapture lost love and happiness. (Dir. May Charters & Mark Hug)
Lovers in a Dangerous Time
Comedy, Film Movement
Official Site
Available 6/1/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
85-year-old comic legend Jonathan Winters is a gifted painter and dreams of having his paintings hang in the Museum of Modern Art. When Winter’s art exhibitions in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas fail, he's ready to abandon his dream. But then his famous friends, including Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Rob Reiner and Jeffrey Tambor to name a few, come to his rescue. (Dir. Jim Pasternak)
Certifiably Jonathan
Comedy, Gravitas
Official Site
Available 6/1/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
Exploring the history of income tax and bringing to light the causes of its many complexities, the film follows the tax through wars, economic booms, and the most significant presidencies in U.S. history. This whirlwind tour includes everything from early IRS propaganda films to the tax reform campaigns of Ronald Reagan, whom historian Steven Weisman describes as “the poet laureate of capitalism.” (Dir. Christopher Marshall)
An Inconvenient Tax
Documentary, Gravitas
Official Site
Available 6/1/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For June 2011

May 2011


Synopsis:
Set in Islamabad, Pakistan, a group of privileged and westernised twenty-something friends spend their days and nights driving around town, partying, surfing the Internet and smoking shisha pipes. As the country outside their world starts to crack, these friends must face up to relationships, internal angst and life choices before it is too late. (Dir. Hammad Khan)
Slackistan
Drama, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 5/10/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
A hit at Sundance 2010, this honest and moving portrait of a disintegrating marriage follows Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as Dean and Cindy, a married couple who spend a night away from their daughter in an attempt to save their failing marriage. Juxtaposed with moving scenes that trace their romantic courtship six years prior, Gosling and Williams (who was nominated for an Oscar for her performacne) journey through the brutal heartbreak that comes with fading love and broken promises. (Dir. Derek Cianfrance)
Blue Valentine
Drama, The Weinstein Company
Official Site
Available 5/10/2011
VOD, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
The public life of Yves Saint Laurent was as extravagant as it was decadent. A design prodigy and then the grand coutourier of an fashion empire, he influenced fifty years of style -- but few are familiar with the private life of the legend. In this doc, Pierre Bergé, the man with which YSL shared four decades of his life and love, reflects on the equally extravagant history of their personal relationship. (Dir. Pierre Thorreton)
L'Amour Fou
Documentary, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 5/25/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For May 2011

April 2011


Synopsis:
This gory, gleefully over-the-top revenge fantasy stars Rutger Hauer as the Hobo, a bum who rolls into town hoping to start over, only to find his adopted city saturated in violence and ruled by a vicious crime lord known as the Drake (Brian Downey). The Hobo's answer? Pick up his handy pump-action shotgun and start laying waste to crooks, corrupt cops and every other lowlife who crosses his path. A big hit in the Midnight section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. (Dir. Jason Eisener)
Hobo with a Shotgun
Action, Magnolia Pictures
Official Site
Available 4/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France. (Dir. Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker)
Kings of Pastry
Documentary, Gravitas
Official Site
Available 4/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, iTunes

Synopsis:
In the middle of an Australian summer, we meet three sisters. Nina is widowed with two young children. Anna is an aspiring actress unhappily married to a filmmaker. Christine is a med student who has yet to fully come to terms with her sexuality. When their mother Susan's breast cancer returns, the family is faced with the reality of their last Christmas together. As each daughter confronts personal change and growth, Susan guides them by revealing a secret of her own. (Dir. Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen)
Little Sparrows
Drama, Film Movement
Official Site
Available 4/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming
» More Movies For April 2011

March 2011


Synopsis:
Juliette Binoche won the Best Actress prize in Cannes for her performance in this playful and provocative romantic drama from legendary auteur Abbas Kiarostami in his first feature made outside of Iran. (Dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
Certified Copy
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 3/23/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
The debut film from Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley Scott), stars Eva Green as Miss G, a glamorous force in an idyllic British boarding school. The school's most elite clique, led by Di (Juno Temple), rule the school and compete for the attention of Miss G, who thrives on the girls' fascination and eggs them on with lessons in a scandalously liberated world view. But, when a beautiful Spanish girl, Fiamma (Maria Valverde), appears at the school, the girls are immediately threatened by the outsider's perfect allure. (Dir. Jordan Scott)
Cracks
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 3/23/2011
VOD, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
If you enjoy Mad Men you’ll love this Sundance Film Festival selection from PBS revealing the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising minds of our time. (Dir. Doug Pray)
Art & Copy
Documentary, Gravitas
Official Site
Available 3/22/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, iTunes
» More Movies For March 2011

February 2011


Synopsis:
When his father unexpectedly drops dead, teenage Alfredo reluctantly steps up to provide for his mother and siblings in the way that Dad always did: by luring unsuspecting victims home to be ritually killed and eaten. (Dir. Jorge Michel Grau)
We Are What We Are
Horror, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 2/23/2011
VOD

Synopsis:
Lush cinematography and poetic images highlight this coming-of-age tale about two best friends, Mary and Francis, who meet a charismatic wanderer named Nick and suddenly find their longtime friendship tested to its limits. (Dir. Xavier Dolan)
Heartbeats
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 2/23/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
After things go south for Doug and his studies as a forensic science major, he leaves school and returns home to Oregon to live with his sister, Gail -- and soon finds himself entangled in an unexpected situation that calls on his investigative mind. (Dir. Aaron Katz)
Cold Weather
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 2/9/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For February 2011

January 2011


Synopsis:
Learning his only true friend and kindred soul -- his dwarf hamster, Etienne -- is dying of cancer, shy hotel worker Richard decides to show Etienne the world before he goes. Soon, the two are tooling along the California coast on Richard's bicycle. (Dir. Jeff Mizushima)
Etienne!
Comedy, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 1/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming

Synopsis:
Through special friendships with a teenage girl, Abby (Emma Stone), and an imaginary superhero named Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds), frustrated novelist Richard (Jeff Daniels) experiences a second adolescence, which helps him discover a completely new way of life. (Dir. Kieran Mulroney)
Paper Man
Drama, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 1/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes

Synopsis:
In this Oscar-nominated Greek drama, siblings who grow up cut off from the world -- homeschooled and reliant on one another for entertainment -- create their own idyllic alternative universe, which is shattered when their father lets in an outsider. (Dir. Giorgios Lanthiimos)
Dogtooth
Drama, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 1/1/2011
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For January 2011

December 2010


Synopsis:
Hadewijch, a novice nun, shocks the mother superior of her convent with her ecstatic blind faith, and is kicked out of the order. Hadewijch becomes Celine again, a young Parisian girl and daughter of a diplomat, and is led down dangerous paths in the real world, balancing between grace and madness in her rage and passionate love for God. (Dir. Bruno Dumont)
Hadewijch
Drama, IFC
Official Site
Available 12/15/2010
VOD

Synopsis:
A documentary on Paul Watson, who takes the law into his own hands on the open seas, confronting, by any nonviolent means necessary, the hunters who indiscriminately slaughter whales, seals and sharks, along with complicit governments and environmental organizations. (Dir. Ronald Colby)
Pirate for the Sea
Documentary, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 12/15/2010
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
On the eve of national elections in the Indian village of Peepli, two poor farmers, Natha and Budhia, face losing their land over an unpaid government loan. Desperate, they seek help from an apathetic local politician, who suggests they commit suicide to benefit from a government program that aids the families of indebted deceased farmers. (Dir. Anusha Rizvi)
Peepli Live
Drama, Gravitas
Official Site
Available 12/1/2010
VOD, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes
» More Movies For December 2010

November 2010


Synopsis:
Winner of the best narrative feature at the SXSW Film Festival, this hilarious and endearing film that explores the depths of romantic humiliation and the heights of post-college confusion. (Dir. Lena Dunham)
Tiny Furniture
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 11/26/2010
VOD, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
Master filmmaker Claire Denis returns with this evocative African-set film starring the electrifying Isabelle Huppert as a woman fighting to save her family plantation, and way of life, in the face of rising civil unrest. (Dir. Claire Denis)
White Material
Drama, IFC Films
Official Site
Available 11/24/2010
VOD, Amazon Instant Video

Synopsis:
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. (Dir. Banksy)
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Documentary, FilmBuff
Official Site
Available 11/23/2010
VOD, iTunes, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Instant Video
» More Movies For November 2010