Shelf Abuse

2005 Dir: Gavin Hood Script: Gavin Hood Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi Magano, Zola Murderous thug Tsotsi’s (Chweneyagae) life is thrown into introspection after he steals a car containing a three month-old baby. The Soweto slums surrounding Johannesburg, South Africa are the backdrop for this urban fairy tale, based on the novel…

2006 Dir: Ryan Fleck Script: Ryan Fleck, Anna Boyden Cast: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie Dedicated, idealistic inner city junior high teacher Dan Dunne (Gosling) forms an unlikely bond with meek student Drey (Shareeka Epps) when she discovers his crack habit. At first glance Half Nelson’s formulaic plot denotes a drug-addled Dead Poets Society,…

1999 Dir: Woody Allen Script: Woody Allen Cast: Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, Anthony LaPaglia, Uma Thurman Woody Allen returns to the mocumentary format he perfected in Take the Money and Run, and stretched beyond use in Zelig, with Sweet and Lowdown, the ‘life story’ of Emmett Ray (Penn), an incompetent, tactless jazz guitarist now considered…

2002 Dir: Roman Polanski Script: Ronald Harwood Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann Convinced that the Second World War will soon end, radio pianist Władysław Szpilman (Brody) and his family are forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. Narrowly escaping deportation to Treblinka, Szpilman lives in hiding, relying on charity from German sympathisers. Eventually reduced to scavenging from…

2006 Dir: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor Script: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam Hitman Chev Chelios (Statham) has been injected with a unique poison that will kill him if his heart slows. Some filmmakers study the medium as one might a language, striving to understand its intricate workings.…