More Articles By Mayna Bergmann

• Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History
  KOCH Street: Oct. 14 Street: now > Enjoyable, well-supplemented primer on the history of the Hollywood musical. Trying to fit the entire history of the Hollywood musical into a 108-minute documentary—from the ’20s through the ’30s Busby Berkeley years to the golden age of the ’40s and ’50s, the downward spiral in the ’70s and ’80s and the recent res... More
  
• Outside Sales
  ECHO BRIDGE Street: Aug. 12 Prebook: now > Minor workplace comedy for those who enjoy The Office. Comedies that poke fun at the sometimes dull and frequently inane world of corporate culture—such as hit TV sitcom The Office and cult movie fave Office Space—are nothing new, and this 2006 feature from director Blayne Weaver doesn’t add much to the tried and true comedy subge... More
  
• Adventures From the Book of Virtues
  Street: Aug. 12 Prebook: July 9 Animated faith-based series drawn from William J. Bennett’s best-selling book. Conservative politician William J. Bennett scored big in 1993 when he published best-selling The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories, which drew on well-known stories to illustrate what Bennett believes are the core virtues of a moral character, including responsi... More
  
• Watching the Detectives
  PEACE ARCH/GENIUS Street: Aug. 12 Prebook: now > Derivative comedy should garner attention from stars Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu. Movies about movie-lovers are nothing new, and the themes presented here have been covered in earlier, more memorable films: a geeky but lovable guy owns an independent film store (High Fidelity with movies instead of music), where he spends his days talking to ... More
  
• The Source of the Secret
  GT MEDIA Street: June 24 Prebook: now > Personal improvement program works as companion piece to best-selling The Secret . Piggybacking on the success and fame of the personal improvement and motivational guide The Secret, but proposing to take it to the next level, The Source of the Secret is a 70-minute self-help DVD featuring the words and ideas of an eclectic mix of speakers, write... More
  
• Heartbeat Detector
  NEW YORKER Street: July 22 Prebook: June 25 > Corporate thriller plays like a foreign-language Michael Clayton. Clocking in at nearly 2½ hours, Heartbeat Detector is a cerebral, quiet thriller filled with interesting ideas, including one about a link between the crimes of the Nazis and the depersonalization of modern corporate culture. More
  
• The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition
  DISNEY Street: June 17 Prebook: now > Limited availability and familiar characters will spur this sequel, despite only one new extra. Disney is releasing this special edition to its 2003 animated sequel with only one new feature: the game Mowgli’s Story Time Adventure. The movie itself offers John Goodman back as the voice of lovable Baloo. More
  
• Pearl Diver
  MONTEREY Available now > Deliberately paced drama about secularity, faith and family secrets. A family film that focuses on the Mennonite community in Indiana brings together two very different sisters who share a secret. More
  
• Graduation
  MAGNOLIA Street: May 13 Prebook: now > High school buddy/adventure flick doesn’t carry a lot of weight. Graduation is a typical teen movie with a healthy dash of bank robber drama (a la Set It Off ) thrown in, which makes it a shade more interesting than all those other movies about good-looking kids trying to figure out what to do with their lives after they graduate high school. More
  
• I Really Hate My Job
  MAGNOLIA Street: May 6 Prebook: now > Neve Campbell is the most memorable dish in this restaurant comedy. Director Oliver Parker has previously adapted the Oscar Wilde works An Ideal Husband (1999) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), and both were fine films, so it’s hard to understand why he took on this slight, talky and very un-Wilde comedy, I Really Hate My Job. More
  
• Starting Out in the Evening
  LIONSGATE Street: April 22 Prebook: March 26 > A well-acted drama about a septuagenarian writer and a smitten grad student eager to re-spark his career. Capturing the life of a writer on film is no easy task, but director Andrew Wagner, in his adaptation of Brian Morton’s novel, has managed to do it with intelligence. More
  
• Starting Out in the Evening
  LIONSGATE Street: April 22 Prebook: March 26 > A well-acted drama about a septuagenarian writer and a smitten grad student eager to re-spark his career. Capturing the life of a writer on film is no easy task, but director Andrew Wagner, in his adaptation of Brian Morton’s novel, has managed to do it with intelligence. More
  
• Jesus, Mary and Joey
  Cliché-ridden romantic comedy nonetheless has an appealing cast and uplifting message. Street: MARCH 4 Prebook: NOW The Joey of the title is Joey Vitello (Vincent Pagano), a young man living with his tight-knit Italian-American family while searching for a career. Mary is Mary O'Callahan (Marley Shelton), an old classmate of Joey's who returns from a long absence, and the two re-connect ... More
  
• What Would Jesus Buy?
  ARTS ALLIANCE AMERICA Street: April 22 Prebook: March 18 > A serious message about consumerism, cloaked in a comedy. The buying frenzy season of Christmas has recently past, but this documentary hopes to send a message to American shoppers: Stop shopping. Performance artist Bill Talen (in his get-up as Reverend Billy) along with his wife, Savitri D, and his gospel choir, the Church of Stop ... More
  
• The Bubble
  STRAND Street: Feb. 12 Prebook: Jan. 24 > Rising international filmmaker scores with a topical drama about gay men in the Middle East. Taboos abound in The Bubble, including the Romeo and Juliet-like romance between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man as well as an Arab hiding his sexuality in an extremely homophobic culture. More
  
• Moving McAllister
  MAGNOLIA Street: Jan. 29 Prebook: Jan. 1 > Passé road trip comedy with a recognizable ensemble cast. Throw an uptight law student, who is desperate to please his boss, into a rickety van with the kooky, sexy niece of said boss, and watch the shenanigans begin! Writer/producer/star Ben Gourley is law intern Rick, and That ’70s Show’s Mila Kunis is the charismatic Michelle. More
  
• Pocket Snails: Potty Adventure
  SOARING STAR Available now >Unintentionally funny instructional video may help the wee ones in their potty training. Snail trio Gordon, Dale and Buttons of the Pocket Snails series are on hand to help their friend Jake and his little sister, Wendy, through the confusing world of using the potty in this third installment of the Pocket Snails series. More
  
• The Hottest State
  THINKFILM Street: Dec. 4 Prebook: now > Ethan Hawke’s name will sell this talky tale of love and heartbreak. Ethan Hawke’s labor of love, a semi-autobiographical novel that was published in 1996, is now a film, which he wrote, directed and co-stars in. The Hawke-like character William Harding (Mark Webber) is a cute 20-something wannabe actor from Texas who lives in New York. More
  
• Saving Sarah Cain
  Street: Jan. 15 Prebook: Dec. 19 This Amish family drama is positioned to be the first major faith title of 2008. A culture clash between the Amish faith and the more modern world is at the center of Saving Sarah Cain, a film based on the 2000 novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis. Cain (Lisa Pepper) is a big-city newspaper journalist in Portland, Ore. More
  
• A Very Serious Person
  WOLFE Street: Nov. 20 Prebook: now > Drag legend Charles Busch shows a very different side. Those who are used to seeing Charles Busch in drag (and that’s most everyone) might not recognize him in this movie, his directorial debut (he also co-wrote), as a male nurse dressed all in white and with a long red ponytail. More