Title: “After Fall, Winter” Director: Eric Schaeffer Starring: Eric Schaeffer, Lizzie Brochere, Marie Luneau, Christian Mulot, Sylvie Loeillet, Niseema Theilland Writer-director-actor Eric Schaeffer has made a career out of more or less channeling his offscreen insecurities, foibles and sexual appetites into what could loosely be categorized as slices of desperate-plea entertainment. His filmography behind the camera — which includes ”If Lucy Fell,” “Wirey Spindell” and 1997′s critically lambasted “Fall,” to which his latest film is a quasi-sequel — is littered with movies in which he plays articulate, misunderstood, down-on-their-luck guys (often cabbies or writers, sometimes both) who bag chicks consistently out of their league and then get wound up about the impending implosion of…

Title: Light of Mine Director: Brett Eichenberger Starring: Ji Tanzer, Rebecca Sanborn An in-competition entry in the recent and ongoing AFI Fest’s “Breakthrough” section, which spotlights movies located solely through the festival’s cold submission process, director Brett Eichenberger’s “Light of Mine” is a reflective, strikingly photographed little relationship drama about a man grappling with impending blindness, and the notion of how to forge a path for a future he won’t be able to see. After being diagnosed with hereditary optic neuropathy, photographer Owen (Ji Tanzer) is despondent. Already suffering from vision loss in one eye, he’s told to expect fairly rapid deterioration in his remaining eye. His wife, Laura (Rebecca Sanborn), aims…

Title: Like Crazy Director: Drake Doremus Starring: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Alex Kingston, Chris Messina, Ben York Jones, Oliver Muirhead The Grand Jury Prize winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the achingly well constructed “Like Crazy” is an evocative coming-of-age romance that pointedly sidesteps the Hollywood contrivances of so many relationship movies, and instead delivers a portrait of sincere young love that is perhaps not meant to last forever. Perceptive, and told with style but not unnecessary flash by director Drake Doremus, the film is well acted all around, but is anchored by a breakout performance from Felicity Jones. The story opens in Los Angeles, where design student Jacob (Anton…

In an admission that will come as a considerable disappointment to a former coworker (who, for the record, is decidedly not Goth), my initial memories of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” were somewhat fuzzy. My first viewing of producer Tim Burton and director Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated film, not too long after its original home video release, was marred with, umm, distractions. So I hadn’t the concrete impressions one might have with a more focused viewing — just an impression of the hand-crafted feel, and a lingering sense of disappointment in relation to the movie’s songs, from Danny Elfman. A re-visiting of the somewhat seminal work — which scored a visual effects…

Title: A Bird of the Air Director: Margaret Whitton Starring: Jackson Hurst, Rachel Nichols, Linda Emond, Buck Henry, Judith Ivey, Erik Jensen, Matte Osian “A Bird of the Air,” based on the novel “The Loop” by Joe Coomer, represents an unexpected boon to the judgment of Matthew McConaughey. After all, the naked drumming aficionado was attached to star in the movie adaptation for some time, back when he and “Sahara” costar Penelope Cruz were keeping each other warm. The financing never came together, however, and he backed out. Other possible filmmaking combinations came and went before a decidedly more indie route was eventually settled upon, years later, in the form…

Title: Dead Alive (aka Braindead) Directed by: Peter Jackson Starring: Timothy Bale, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin Running time: 97 minutes, Unrated, Available on standard DVD Peter Jackson’s 1992 cult horror masterpiece has finally been released on Blu-ray. The story of Lionel and his overbearing mother Vera, who gets bitten by a Sumatran rat monkey at the zoo. Vera becomes extremely ill from the bite and quickly decomposes, and has a new-found appetite for live flesh. She eats Lionel’s girlfriend’s dog and several members of the community…however the people who meet their demise at the hands of Vera don’t stay dead for long. Yes kiddies, Peter Jackson made movies…

Title: Restless Director: Gus Van Sant Starring: Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase, Jane Adams, Schuyler Fisk Filmmaker Gus Van Sant, even at 59 years old, looks like the sort of guy who should be wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a hoodie. In face, body language and spirit, he retains a certain boyishness — perhaps in some small way infused, throughout the years, by his thematic preoccupation with unconventional romance and coming-of-age stories, and the idea of surrogate family. “Restless,” his latest effort behind the camera, and the first since Sean Penn scored a Best Actor Oscar for “Milk,” treads this same familiar ground, but to mostly pleasurable if still…

Title: Blades of Blood (AKA: Like the Moon Escaping from the Clouds) Directed by: Joon-Ik Lee Starring: Seong-hyeon Baek, Seung-won Cha and Kim Chang-Wan Running time: 108 minutes, Rated R In 1592, Korea is threatened by Japanese invasion. Mong-hak Lee is a power hungry revolutionist who uses the rebel army to overthrow the government before Japan can take over. A blind swordsman Jung-hak Hwang, the bastard son of a nobleman Gyeong-ja and Lee’s former courtesan Baek-ji are trying to catch up with Mong-hak Lee with reasons of revenge for his wrongdoings, before Lee meets his fate with the impending invasion. I watched this DVD with the English dubbing, which I…

Title: A Horrible Way To Die Directed by: Adam Wingard Starring: AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz and Joe Swanberg Running time: 87 minutes, Rated R, available on standard DVD Serial killer Garrick Turrell has escaped from prison and is continuing on a killing spree leading towards his ex-girlfriend Sarah who had turned him in. Sarah is a recovering alcoholic who is trying to get her life back on track when she meets Kevin, a guy who attends the same AA meetings with her. In order to open herself up to this new man in her life, she must let go of her past which is constantly haunting her. The only problem…

Title: The Ledge Writer-director: Matthew Chapman Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Terrence Howard, Chris Gorham A tapestral suspense drama about the intertwined romantic fates of a quartet of Baton Rouge residents – each wounded in their own way, and some more freshly than others — The Ledge exhibits a willingness and desire to let its characters bat back and forth opposing philosophies of life and faith more frequently found on display in literature or off-Broadway theater. An interesting character study only half-successfully masquerading as a kind of specifically plotted romantic thriller, writer-director Matthew Chapman’s movie resembles the smart and sensitive but still gangly teenager pushed out of the door, wearing clothes…