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Anhoni Patel Administrator Besides being Managing Editor of SF Station, Anhoni Patel writes fiction and reviews. She is the author of "All Good Things Die in L.A." and is currently at work on her second novel. Her many passions include movies, food and books. But not necessarily in that order. |
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 | A Sweet, Funny Ode to Life This touching as well as humorous film is equal parts comedy and drama. Shot like a docu-drama in the style of a more subdued Christopher Guest film (e.g. "Best in Show") by first time writer and director Elliot Greenebaum, "Assisted Living" will alternately make you want to laugh and cry.More |  | Girls Night Out Marketed as the female counterpart to 2002's "Barbershop", "Beauty Shop" oozes estrogen. Not the insipid, saccharine tearjerker kind, but the raunchy, unifying, and powerful kind. Think "The Queens of Comedy" rather than "Terms of Endearment". It is the perfect movie for a "girls night out".More |  | A Noir Masterpiece Quite simply: "Sin City" will blow your mind. While it is reminiscent of several other films, it is unlike any other movie you have seen. It has the bloody violence of a Quentin Tarantino movie (in fact, he is credited as a "special guest director"), the hard-boiled shell of a 1940s noir classic, and the thrill of one of the recent comic book adaptations but its soul is all its own -- its aesthetics are one of a kind.More |  | A Little Bit of Happy, A Little Bit of Sad The new Czech film 'Up and Down' is just that: both happy and sad. The movie contains great highs and great lows and packages it all together in a genuine and unique tale of several intersecting lives. An Indian baby boy is left behind in a smuggler's truck. A father is dying and asking for a second chance with his estranged son. A couple yearns for a child. A wife grapples with being abandoned for a younger woman. Two thieves make a living. Two smugglers try to right a wrong. You get the pictureMore |  | A Different Industry, But The Same Old Hustle The sequel to 1995's 'Get Shorty' is much like its predecessor: smart, tongue-in-cheek and, what else, cool. But with most things that age -- it's a little bit saggier, has a few more wrinkles and has lost the edge it once possessed. John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer, a retired shylock whom now wants to get into the music industry (the first film shows him getting into the movie industry). There are plenty of cameos from the previous film as well as a whole new set of people for which Chili to say, "I want you to look at me."More |  | Europe Meets Asia In This Sexy New Rendition 18th century Korea never looked so good. Scandalous wagers, jealousy, sexual conquests, manipulation and love abound in this faithful and skillful remake of the infamous novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". Director Je-yong Lee brings the mores and social etiquette of the Chosun Dynasty to life and transfers the story from European aristocracy to Korean nobility with flare.More |  | Kind of Like the Matrix, but Different Oddly enough 'Constantine' isn't as bad as it looks. The movie, based on the DC/Vertigo comic book 'Hellblazer', is an actually interesting as well as fairly entertaining screen interpretation that includes (surprisingly enough) respected actors such as Tilda Swinton and Djimon Hounsou. While some parts may be confusing to those who have never read either the comic or the Bible, you are fed enough information to be able to follow along.More |  | Diamonds in the Rough One of the best, most memorable, most poignant and most upsetting films of 2005 (I know it's only February, but I guarantee this statement for the entire coming year) is the Japanese movie 'Nobody Knows' ('Dare mo shiranai'). Inspired by an actual story of a woman who abandoned her four children in a Tokyo apartment, the movie explores tragedy and bliss, innocence and cynicism through the most influential of mediums -- young children.More |  | The Most Romantic Dysfunctional Relationship Ever There are very few times in my life where I have been left speechless. The closing of the outstanding and memorable German/Turkish film Head-On (Gegen Die Wand) was one of those rare moments. Even now, as I sit here writing this review, I'm just not quite sure what to write. Can I just say that it's freakin' amazing and leave it at that? Probably not (I don't get paid for being succinct).More |  | The Beautiful People Have Arrived, and They're Dancing It's no secret that Bollywood movies are rife with cliché, spectacle, and melodrama -- it's part of the package; you get some elaborate song and dance numbers but have to swallow down one-dimensional characters and cookie-cutter storylines along with them. But what happens when you try to combine this mix with a traditional English story from the 18th century?More |
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