Who would ever imagine that one of the most moving love stories to emerge on the screen this year would be one of non-fiction and one involving a gay couple with an age difference of 30 years? 

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE is given a high octane face lift by no less than a female kick-box karate champ German director Lexi Alexander.  Known for her Oscar nomination for her boxing short JOHNNY FLYNTON, Alexander also directed the male dominated HOOLIGANS unreleased here.

It is difficult to believe that Randall Miller directed the somber and calculated wine film, BOTTLE SHOCK made after but released before NOBEL SON.  NOBEL SON, calculated in a totally different form, is a difficult film to like – not that it is bad but that director Miller agitates the audience from start to finish so much so that one finds it hard to sit comfortably in ones seat watching him tell his tale.

The best line in FROST/NIXON occurs half way during the Nixon interviews and is uttered by Mrs. Pat Nixon (Patty McCormack) to her husband, the former President of the United States: “I am so glad that it is all going according to plan.” The statement has an additional hidden meaning in that she understands all and that all her husband has done or about to do is part of some master concoction that he has very little control of.

Based on his 2004 novel and starring Joel Thomas Heynes, Justin Simm’s DOWN TO THE DIRT is an example of low budget but unfortunately, undisciplined film making.  For one, though listed at 100 minutes, the film ran to almost two hours in running time during the Toronto International Film Festival.