Mexican gardener Carlos Riquelme doesn't ask much from life, just to keep on taking care of the yards of Los Angeles wealthy property owners and to see that his son Luis is able to realize the American Dream which will be much better than he has had himself. Demián Bichir portrays Carlos the gardener as a 40 year old Mexican national who attempts to capture the better life through a business deal that turns sour as the opportunity is stolen from him, turning his calm life into chaos. He works hard to keep his son away from the influence of gangs and out of the clutches of immigration officials as he tries to eke a living out of his trade in a town expensive to live in.emián Bichir (Weeds, The Runway) as the gardener Carlos has talent to spare and well suited for this role as a determined and caring father who tries to keep his son from the evil found on the streets of LA. José Julián is Luis Riquelme, the young and impressionable son of Carlos who is torn between love for his father and the need to follow his friends. Fine casting and writing make this one to see.

Making it into somewhat of a Hatfields vs the McCoys story told Albanian style is The Forgiveness of Blood. Territorial rights along with family honor are long traditions of many nations and in this film we find that conflicts over land owned by families for generations never seem to become resolved, resulting in violence and a blood feud may be the result. Joshua Marston and Albanian Andamion Murataj weave a tale that is absorbing and honest, comparing old fashioned laws and rules against the younger generation's more modern approach to those age old traditions.ark, played by Refet Abazi (The Berlin Project) is a bread delivery man who uses a horse and cart on his daily route. When he is killed because he trespasses on land as he travels his daily route, the daughter Rudina, played by newcomer Sindi Lacej, must set aside her high school life and take over the route which is the family livelihood. An age old tale of property dispute and family traditions, The Forgiveness of Blood is an absorbing story of old verses new ways of life in Albania.

Niels Arden Oplev, who may be familiar to you by his movie The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo comes with his next keep-on-toes drama Dead Man Down. It's not a surprise, that his favorite Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who played the leading role in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as Lisbeth Salander took the same level role in Dead Man Down. In this movie she plays Beatrice, a desperate, yet prudent and coldblooded woman on the warpath to accomplish the revenge by killing Alphonse Hoyt (Terrence Howard), a mob boss of the New York. On her way she meets Alphonse's guard, Victor (Colin Farrell), who seems to share her thoughts about the boss. She tries to blackmail and use him, but later, the truth reveals, Victor claims that Alphonse is responsible for the death of his wife and daughter. The engrossing desire for revenge unites Beatrice and Victor. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that there are other strong feelings between them, the feelings that have grown in the shadow of vengeance.

There are many psychological ailments that humans find themselves having difficulty with. Gambling, alcohol, drugs, and even sex can be problems for those who find them to be too much to overcome when they get out of hand and beyond their control. Shame is about sexual addiction and the problems that ensue when the lack of control makes it difficult to control how and when. Called sexually raw, Shame depicts a character named Brandon as a man who has problems. Seems he masturbates compulsively and stalks victims he chooses in the subway system of New York. This 30 something otherwise normal young man has a social problem that he claims to have no control over but it will ruin him and his life if he can't get help. irector Steve McQueen (no not that McQueen) put together a brilliant story that is far more common than believed. Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds, Murphy's Law) is Brandon, Carey Mulligan (The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, Dr. Who) is Sissy who is actually Brandon's sister who reappears in his life uninvited, and David is played by James Badge Dale formerly seen on The Black Donnellys and the TV mini series The Pacific.

It's a Christmas time of 2004. An ordinary British family Henry (Ewan McGregor) and Maria (Naomi Watts) visits Thailand on vacations with their three children: Lucas, who is just turned 7, and his younger brothers Simon and Thomas (children are played by Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergastand and Samuel Joslin, accordingly). As they reach the Thai hotel, their family suit is upgraded to villa, a horrible decision, as it turns after. They are exchanging some Christmas gifts and heading to the coastline the morning after. Nothing has presaged a catastrophe. But meanwhile the terrible roar is heard from the seaside, and, in the moment, a giant wave of Tsunami covers the shoreline with all the tourists on it, including Henry, Maria and their beloved children. The wave is crashing trees, houses, cars, throwing human bodies to right and left. In a few seconds it appears that Henry, Simon and Thomas were picked up by the strong current and wiped to the inner part of land while Maria and Lucas are struggling for their survive in the roaring waves full of fallen tries which strike them inflicting terrible wounds, and making "the happy end" for them almost impossible. The movie, filmed by Juan Antonio Bayona, an outstanding Spanish director and producer, keeps us on the toes these first 20 minutes. The super-realistic 3D sound of imminent Tsunami is awesome, the pictures of scorched post-Tsunami landscape are phenomenally affecting, and the rest of the story based on true life events is very touchable and tragic.

Although the actual characters and specific events are fictional, The Experiment movie is based on a real experiment with the same idea. The intention is to see if certain characteristics of both guards and prisoners cause the prison environment to be more abusive. They hire 26 to stay for two weeks in a mock prison and they are divided in two; the guards and the prisoners. Rules are set and they are told to abide by them, because if one messes up, they all suffer. That means no one gets paid. Suddenly things take a sudden turn for the worst, when the men playing the guards let the power go to their heads and the so-called prisoners start to fight back. What happens when the warden tries to stop the experiment that he started?