Director: Sean Penn

With: Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn

English, Rated R, 140 Min.

Twenty-year-old recent Emory graduate Christopher McCandless came to a point in his life where he felt he had to "walk away from it all," that is, disengage from society and live alone in communion with nature. Many of us have had the same feeling, but Thoreau, Jack London, and Chris McCandless are among a few who didn't get over it. They walked away and left a written account for all of us to learn from the experience. Sean Penn, working from a book of the same title by Jon Krakauer, tells the story through the eyes of Chris's sister and from the recollections of several people Chris met along the way to an abandoned bus in a remote region of Alaska. There he learned that through civilization we try to provide ourselves with the second chance that nature denies us.

Director: Paul Verhoeven

With:Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Waldemar Kobus

German, Dutch, English, Hebrew with English subtitles, Rated R, 145 Min.

In Nazi occupied Holland near the end of WWII Jewish spy, Rachel Stein (alias Ellis de Vries) is sent into the wolves lair to work her charms on the Nazi command and garner intelligence for the underground. But there among the villains she meets the handsome, morally troubled Gestapo commander Ludwig Muentze. The two embark on a love affair that is as passionate as it is unlikely. The little black book of the title contains all the Nazis would like to know about the Dutch Resistance. "This is one of the best war movies to emerge about World War II in the last ten years. It has everything a good war thriller should have: impeccable period detail, wonderful performances, action, romance, tragedy, and heart-stopping suspense." - James Berardinelli, Reel Reviews.

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

With: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Geraldine Chaplin, Roger Princep

Spanish with English subtitles, Rated R, 106 Min.

Laura, now in her 30s, returns with her husband and son Simon to the orphanage where she was raised and from where she was adopted many years before. She has fond memories of the place or thinks she does, but soon images begin to appear, first in her mind, then in what might or might not be reality. Her son Simon begins to imagine playmates since he has no others, but when he shows his mother a drawing of one, she recognizes him. "An excellent example of why it is more frightening to await something than to experience it... The Orphanage only pulls the trigger a couple of times. The rest is waiting, anticipating, dreading...fear." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

Director: Joe Wright

With: Keira Knightly, James McAvoy, Kristen Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave

English, Rated R, 130 Min.

Tragedy is measured by the depth of the fall of its characters. Life on the Tallis estate in the English countryside on the eve of WW II could scarcely be more idyllic, or on a more lofty perch from which to fall. Cecilia Tallis, the family's beautiful older daughter, and Robbie Turner are of different social classes but powerfully attracted to each other. Thirteen-year-old sister Briony Tallis watches them and misunderstands what she sees. Confused and self-righteous, she lies and brings about a tragic loss for the lovers and for herself. Wright gives us a masterful rendition of Ian McEwan's novel. "This is one of the year's best films, a certain best picture nominee." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

Director: Alex Gibney

Narrated By:Alex Gibney

Rated R, 106 Min.

"We have to work the dark side" declared Dick Cheney a few days after 9/11. The meaning of the statement would not be clear until some time later when Americans were confronted with revelations that their government condoned the use of torture to extract intelligence, a practice hitherto associated with dictatorships. Gibney, the son of a WWII interrogator of prisoners, begins with the case of an Afghan taxi driver, Dilwar, who died in the custody of the US military of "natural causes" according to the official report. That was until the New York Times came across an autopsy report that ruled the death a homicide resulting from brutal torture. "This movie does not describe the America I learned about in civics class, or think about when I pledge allegiance to the flag." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

Director: Mira Nair

With:Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson, Sahira Nair

English, Rated PG-13, 122 Min

American-born Gogol is the son of Indian parents who started their life together with and arranged marriage in Calcutta before moving to New York. Gogol's father took the name from the Russian author of "The Overcoat". The son hates his name and changes it to Nikoali or Nicky. So what's in a name? Identity for one thing and that is what Nair shows us in her saga that stretches over thirty years and two generations of cultural uprooting in India and readjustment in New York. "A story that is the story of all immigrant groups in America: Parents of great daring arriving with dreams, children growing up in a way that makes them almost strangers, the old culture merging with the new." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

Director: Satoshi Kon

With: Megumi Hayashibara, Toru furuya, Kochi Yamadera

Japanese with English subtitles. Rated R, 90 Min.

Psychotherapist Dr. Chiba has been experimenting with a prototype of a device that allows her to enter the subconscious minds of her patients and record their dreams from within. But, alas the device has been stolen! She calls upon her "dream detective" Paprika (her own alter ego?) to go in pursuit of the thieves and recover it. "a gorgeous riot of future-shock ideas and brightly animated images, the doors of perception never close. A mind twisting, eye-tickling wonder . . ." - Manohola Dargis, New York Times.

Director: Zrinko Ogresta

With: Jasmin Telalovic, Marija Tadic, Zlatko Crnkovic, Ivo Gregurevic, Ivan Herceg, Nikola Ivosevic

Croatian with English subtitles, Not Rated, 90 Min.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? A soldier attempts to help a homeless man; a heroin addict struggles with her family; a lonely retired man is unexpectedly invited on a date by his younger neighbor; a boozed-up TV actor wanders through the night; and a father and son reach the limits of their endurance. The lives of characters sometimes intertwine as they deal with realities of present-day Croatia - hence the title - burdened with long-term societal fallout from its '90s war of independence. Best European Film at the 2004 Denver International Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the 2004 Milan Film Festival.

Director:Charles Ferguson

Narrated By:Campbell Scott

English, Not Rated, 122 Min.

A spate of documentaries have appeared that try to answer the question of why we initiated a war in Iraq and why we are still there. Charles Ferguson interviews key decision makers in an effort to ferrit out thre reasons for the invasion and the present occupation. New information about those choices form interviewees wo heretofore have not been heard shed new light on the lingering questions. "The most compelling and least partisan of all Iraq documentaries." - Jack Mathews, New York Daily News.

Director: Bong Joon-ho

With: Byeon Hie-bong, Song Kang-ho

English and Korean with English subtitles, Rated R, 119 Min.

Horror with humor for Halloween is the result of chemicals dumped into the Han river in Seoul. They create a huge mutant beast that goes on the attack. One of its victims is the daughter of the eccentric Park family. Brother and father go to the rescue. "Like its magnificent beast, The Host is wild, crazy, messy, preposterous-and all the better for it." - Roger Ebert , Chicago Sun- Times.