Opens Friday, Jan 4, 2013 Synopsis: The first English-language film of director Roman Polanski is a psychological thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and his own later film Rosemary's Baby (1968). Catherine Deneuve stars as Carol Ledoux, a Belgian manicurist living with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), in a London flat. Simultaneously attracted and repulsed by sex, Carol is a virgin who finds her sister's relationship with a married man, Michael (Ian Hendry), extremely disturbing. When her sister and Michael go on holiday, Carol begins to disintegrate mentally, hallucinating bizarre encounters, being forced into taking a sabbatical from her job and ultimately committing a pair of murders in her deranged state. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Patrick Wymark, Yvonne Furneaux Movie Details Movie Review

Opens Friday, Jan 4, 2013 Synopsis: "You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) starts nosing around Cross's water diversion scheme. That proves to be the ominous lesson of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's critically lauded 1974 revision of 1940s film noir detective movies. In 1930s Los Angeles, "matrimonial work" specialist Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to tail her husband, Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes photographs him in the company of a young blonde and figures the case is closed, only to discover that the real Mrs. Mulwray had nothing to do with hiring Gittes in the first place. When Hollis turns up dead, Gittes decides to investigate further, encountering a shady old-age home, corrupt bureaucrats, angry orange farmers, and a nostril-slicing thug (Polanski) along the way. By the time he confronts Cross, Evelyn's father and Mulwray's former business partner, Jake thinks he knows everything, but an even more sordid truth awaits him. When circumstances force Jake to return to his old beat in Chinatown, he realizes just how impotent he is against the wealthy, depraved Cross. "Forget it, Jake," his old partner tells him. "It's Chinatown." Reworking the somber underpinnings of detective noir along more pessimistic lines, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne convey a '70s-inflected critique of capitalist and bureaucratic malevolence in a carefully detailed period piece harkening back to the genre's roots in the 1930s and '40s. Gittes always has a smart comeback like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but the corruption Gittes finds is too deep for one man to stop. Other noir revisions, such as Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) and Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), also centered on the detective's inefficacy in an uncertain '70s world, but Chinatown's period sheen renders this dilemma at once contemporary and timeless, pointing to larger implications about the effects of corporate rapaciousness on individuals. Polanski and Towne clashed over Chinatown's ending; Polanski won the fight, but Towne won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Chinatown was nominated for ten other Oscars, including Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and Score. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman Movie Details Play Trailer Movie Review

...Dead Calm's sinister sense of style ? as well as some significant story points ? to this film. Noted director Roman Polanski's first film ? and the only movie he made in his native Poland ? is about a couple who pick up a young drifter...

...Xavier Beauvois, for instance, toted a "Polanski" T-shirt at the Cannes film festival in support of director Roman Polanski -- as if he's some sort of political prisoner. Hey, why don't we get ribbons? We could take our old "Free...

...may not believe the contortions some of those folks are twisting themselves into in order to defend and explain away Roman Polanski's sexual assault of a 13-year-old now that he's finally in custody for it. Thankfully, Swiss authorities...

...Lincoln Memorial" concert on Sunday. Polanksi should face judge, prosecutor says LOS ANGELES --- Fugitive director Roman Polanski has no right to a hearing on a motion to dismiss his 31-year-old sex case because he refuses to appear in court...

...of Ember, Henry Poole Is Here, Igor, Saw V JAN. 27: College, Fireproof, Lakeview Terrace, The Lucky Ones, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, The Rocker, Vicky Christina Barcelona FEB. 3: Everybody Wants to Be Italian Feb. 10: Frozen...

...gain admission to The Soul Bar and a free drink after the concert. BIRTHDAYS TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Movie director Roman Polanski is 73. Actor Robert Redford is 69. Singer Johnny Preston is 67. Actor Christopher Jones is 65. Actor-comedian...

...Wainwright, who also offers commentary for the full unrated cut of the movie. OLIVER TWIST (SONY, $28.95): Roman Polanski picked an empty pocket with the follow-up to his Holocaust saga The Pianist, which earned him a best-director...

...says she often chooses films that don't require elaborate beauty or fashion wardrobes. "When I worked with (Roman) Polanski in black and white, I didn't want to wear any makeup at all," she says. (Polanski directed Deneuve in his...