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New releases for February 21st

Almost Human: Mark vanished two years ago in a flash of light that suggested alien abduction. He has now returned, but he may not be all human. His return is accompanied not so coincidentally with a string of bloody murders. Director Jon Begos pays homage to '80s horror in this microbudget sci-fi horror film.

Barefoot: Scott Speedman plays Jay, the black sheep of a wealthy family. He is without direction and has a gambling problem. Owing money to some unsavory characters, he hatches a plot to get that money from his disapproving family. He meets Daisy (Evan Rachel Wood), who is a patient at a mental institution where he is doing community service. Raised in isolation, Daisy is naïve and childlike and possibly schizophrenic, but Jay hopes to pass her off as his girlfriend and a sign that he has matured in hopes that will open his father’s wallet. Of course, the fake relationship begins to blossom into real affection as Daisy opens Jay’s heart.

Available at Vudu

In Secret: Based on the 19th century novel Therese Raquin by Emile Zola, In Secret is a period thriller about obsessive passion. Elizabeth Olsen plays Therese, a woman in a loveless arranged marriage to her cousin Camille (Tom Felton). When Camille’s friend Laurent (Oscar Isaac) arrives, Therese’s passions are immediately stirred and the two begin an illicit affair. As they become more consumed with each other they hatch a plot to be together which can only happen with Camille out of the way.

Omar: Palestine earns its second Oscar nomination for Foreign Film, and both of the nominations are for films by director Hany Abu-Assad. Paradise Now earned a nomination in 2006 (it lost to Tsotsi from South Africa) and now Omar is an Oscar nominee as well. Omar, the titular character, is a Palestinian baker who must illegally scale the dividing wall just to visit his girlfriend. When he and his friends kill an Israeli soldier and he is captured, he is given the option of turning informant in exchange for his freedom in this tense thriller.

The Wind Rises: Legendary Japanese animated film director Hayao Miyazaki makes what is being declared his final film with The Wind Rises. The film is a highly fictionalized biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer who was responsible for designing many of the Japanese fighter planes for World War II. Fascinated by flight but unable to fly due to his near sightedness, the film chronicles key events in Jiro’s life, including a major earthquake in 1923 and his rise through a major engineering company. The film has received artistic acclaim but has also garnered some controversy as some have criticized making a film that celebrates a man who designed “killing machines.”

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