Tin Toy (0:05) 1989

Tin Toy is an early Pixar short animation which won an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film. The story is about Billy, a baby, and one homely baby at that, and one of his tin toys, a drummer named Tinny. Tinny finds out that Billy is very destructive with his toys as he throws everything that he grabs.

Red's Dream (0:04) 1987

Red's Dream is a short animated film which is being shown on ABC family channel tonight. Red is a unicycle who is the clearance section of  Eben's Bikes. On rainy night, Lumpy, the clown, comes alive and starts to ride Red as he juggles. Of course it is only a dream and Red returns to his bleak reality.

National Society of Film Critics Announces 2011 Awards

The National Society of Film Critics announced their award winners for 2011.

Melancholia was named Best Picture of the Year 2011 and Kristin Dunst was named Best Actress for her role in Melancholia. Brad Pitt was named Best Actor for his work in Tree of Life and Moneyball.
For a complete list of  all the award winners, please follow this link:

http://www.nationalsocietyoffilmcritics.com/

First Grader (1:43) 2010

Maruge is an eighty-four year old illiterate Kenyan, a member of  the Mau Mau. When the government that a free education is available to Kenyans, Maruge shows up at the local bush elementary school to become one of the students. Although he is initially refused entrance, Maruge finally wears down the head teacher, enrolls and begins attending daily.  Parents are upset with Maruge attending the school because the school is very overcrowded. Political pressure forces the transfer of the head teacher and the students react to the news by protesting and locking the school gates. Maruge decides to protest by going to the city and lodging a complaint with the state government of education.  Maruge protested as the British in the 1960s and sacrificed his family. Will his pleads be ignored? Based on a true events, First Grader is a very moving story. The flashbacks of Maruge's life are hard to watch as he was treated cruelly by the British. The movie is balanced by his belief in the importance of education. His actions inspire many, young and old. This is a must see!

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2:13) 2011

Ethan Hunt and his small crew have been labeled and disavowed as rogue agents and the IMF has been shut down. The Kremlin has been blown up by a Russian mad man who placed the blame on the Americans.
Hunt and his crew have to travel the world to hunt down the nuclear launch codes. The film, produced by Tom Cruise, was shot in Prague, Russia, Dubai and India. This is a typical Mission Impossible movie - lots of action, shooting, car chases and car crashes. It's a typical blockbuster movie that costs lots of money to film but well worth the two hour escape from reality.

Another Earth (1:32) 2011

Filmed in Connecticut, Another Earth is the story of Rhoda, a brilliant student ,who has been accepted to MIT. One night, in an instant of careless driving, she slams into a car killing a pregnant woman and her young son. The driver is a Yale professor, a composer, in a coma. Rhoda is sentence to four years in prison. The reason for the accident is Rhoda was looking into the night sky and viewing Earth 2. Earth 2 is just like us and have us on their planet, living our same lives. After she is released from prison, Rhoda appears at John Burroughs's  home, the sole survivor of the car accident, in order to apologize. When she loses her nerve, she tells him that she is there to give a complimentary house cleaning. He asks her to keep cleaning his house  and, over time, they develop a relationship. As Earth 2 comes closer, Rhoda is given a ticket to travel to Earth 2. Will she use the ticket? This is an interesting story idea but the movie fell a little flat. I watched it because it was filmed in and around my area and I spent time looking at the locations to spot familiar houses, buildings, and streets.

2012 Environmental Film Festival at Yale.

The third annual Environmental Film Festival at Yale will take place on April 9th through the 15th. More information will be posted on their website as the festival draws closer. This is a fantastic free event for the Greater New Haven community.