BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA (THE LAST CIRCUS) (Spain/Fr 2010) ***1/2
Directed by Alex de la Iglesia

One can expect the wildest from Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia who made PERDITO DURANGO, PERFECT CRIME, DAY OF THE BEAST, among others.  Álex de la Iglesia’s latest feature, Balada Triste (The Last Circus), is a wild and hilarious film that exposes the nature of political conflicts in his country’s recent history.

BITTER VICTORY (France/USA 1953) ****
Directed by Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray’s famous black and white desert drama involves two Allied officers completing a dangerous mission in Libya while remaining bitter enemies to the very end.

LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR (THE WAGES OF FEAR) (France 1953) *****
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

If there is a film about suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s THE WAGES OF FEAR is it.  Remade by Howard Koch with VIOLENT ROAD and even by William Friedkin with SORCEROR, the two films do not come close to the original.

MONEYBALL (USA 2011) ***1/2
Directed by Bennett Miller

MONEYBALL is the name of the strategy Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) adopts with his protégé, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in bringing the baseball team from a losing to a winning streak, making him possibly the highest paid General Managers in baseball history.

LIMELIGHT (USA 2011) ***
Directed by Billy Corben

The Limelight was one of New York’s most famous nightclubs, but beneath its glamour and celebrity was an underworld of drugs, betrayal and murder. Billy Corben’s latest documentary LIMELIGHT is less about this nightclub but more about its creator Peter Gatien through his career and the business of clubbing that nearly destroyed him.