Beginning with a stirring African folk song (Zélié performed by Angélique Kidjo) the roots are established and rapidly swell into a trunk thickened by the hardships of the Great Depression (Gamblin' Man performed by David 'Honeyboy' Edwards) and the oppression of segregation (Jim Crow Blues performed by Odetta). Finally, this Blues family tree shows off vibrant new growth as it reveals the Blues' influence on our modern wealth of talented musicians (Midnight Special performed by John Fogerty and Hound Dog done by Macy Gray). Ruth Brown gives Blll Cosby a full-throttle serenade (and a playful smoldering gaze), along with Mavis Staples and Natalie Cole. Angélique Kidjo persuades Buddy Guy to an unforgettable rendition of 'Voodoo Child,' shortly before Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray accompany B.B. King and Lucille for the final number, 'Paying the Cost to be the Boss.' This documentary presents to the audience, with authority and candor, an authentic history of this musical form. The highly esteemed elders of this musical family are exemplary in their humbleness toward one another, rich with decades of shared memories; and their performances are of a quality rarely seen in modern times. These men and women are true artisans, yet they continue to generously pass their legacy down to select members of each musical generation. Those who grew up on this music find themselves performing on the stage with the very heroes who served as their earliest inspiration. Legends, such as Ruth Brown, Honeyboy Edwards, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, B.B. King, Howling Wolf, and Buddy Guy, gave the world a double helping of their genius-first with song and secondly as the spirit which supplies the continuation of their art: in such artists as Natalie Cole, Jimmie Vaughan, John Fogerty, Macy Gray, Alison Krause, and Bonnie Raitt.

When the teenager Mary Elizabeth Steppe, a.k.a. Lola, moves with her mother and two younger twin sisters from New York to the suburb of Dellwood, New Jersey, she has the feeling that her cultural and entertaining world ended. While in school, the displaced Lola becomes close friend of the unpopular Ella, who is also a great fan of the her favorite rock band Sidarthur. However, the most popular girl in the school, Carla Santini, disputes the lead role in an adaptation of Pygmalion with Lola and also the leadership of their mates. When the last concert of Sidarthur is sold-out, Lola plans with Ella to travel to New York and buy the tickets from scalpers. However, the girls get into trouble while helping the lead singer and Lola's idol Stu Wolf, changing their lives forever.

One of the consequences of the U.S.-Viet Nam war was the children of G.I.s by their Viet Namese wives and lovers. For years, women who were involved with U.S. soldiers were social outcasts, treated as collaborators while their children, even when living with grandparents, endured taunts and abuse. This is the story of one such child, Binh, being forced from his village at seventeen years, going to Saigon to find his mother, then trying to escape to the U.S. with his much younger half-brother, Tam, in 1990. The film lingers on the rigors of the voyage: the sampan, the Malaysian detention camps, the illegal refugee ship, and the underground economy with near-slavery in New York City. It then opens up when Binh leaves New York for Houston to find his father.

Jane and Roxy Ryan are teenage Long Island twins who find themselves on numerous misadventures when they trek into Manhattan on a school day.

A night club promoter tries to make a name for himself in New York City.new york citynight clubyear 2008manhattanlimo driver35 morePlot summaryAdd synopsis

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Hours" comes a story that chronicles a dozen years in the lives of two best friends who couldn't be more different. From suburban Cleveland in the 60s, to New York City in the 80s, where they meet an older woman, the film charts a journey of trials, triumphs, loves and losses. Now the question is: can they navigate the unusual triangle they've created and hold their friendship together?

A self-anointed 'renegade' male flight attendant must save the day when the airline he works for tries to eliminate flight attendants as a cost-cutting measure.six word titlepunctuation in titlename in titlenew york citymanhattan125 morePlot summaryAdd synopsis

Jimmy "The Lightning Bolt" Lee is a former mixed martial arts champion who returns home and is asked by his father figure, Charlie, to teach a group of inner city kids martial arts in preparation for a tournament. The reigning junior national champions, the Beverly Hills Scorpions, are coached by the very cocky and arrogant Ted Barret, who is a former rival of Jimmy's. With help from local food truck vendor Big Mama, Jimmy's team becomes the Underdogs. As the Underdogs prepare for the big tournament, both the kids and Jimmy learn some lessons from each other that will make their bond stronger as they prepare for a showdown with the Scorpions.

Driven to rage over the tawdry excesses of reality television, a self-appointed cultural crusader kidnaps several very famous nobodies to make his point- but his crimes only generate more tabloid frenzy.

Josh and Emily are in a relationship, but he can be inattentive and unromantic and she can shift her focus from small things to emotional issues in a moment. He invites her to drive from New York City to somewhere in Virginia to pick up a chair that he's bought on eBay for his father's birthday. On the way, he stops at his brother Rhett's, outside Philly, and invites him along. Josh tries to save money at a motel, has to negotiate with the seller of the chair and with an upholsterer, and faces tough questions from Emily. He calls her "Dude," he's moody, and it looks as if the relationship will end soon. Is there more than meets the eye here? How do people decide?

A listless young man, upon learning he is ill, leaves his job, girlfriend and city behind, and ventures alone into the British Columbia interior, bringing his fears and anxieties with him.

A lonely college freshman's life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.

Set in the 1980s, a teenager from Vermont moves to New York City to live with his father in East Village.

In New York City, five concurrent and ultimately intersecting stories of emotional despair are presented leading up to the first anniversary of 9/11. Emme Keeler, a high end cake designer, and her businessman husband Danny are all about presenting the perfect life, much like the perfection Emme strives for with her cake designs. Despite that perfection, Emme and her team have lost most of the recent contracts against their main competitor, Safarah Polsky. Emme is hoping things will change with the upcoming annual competition to win the lucrative contract to provide the birthday cake for now teenager, spoiled heiress Lisa Krindle, Emme who will do whatever she can to get a leg up on Safarah. Married Allison and David Burbage do whatever they need to to provide for their adolescent son Charlie, who is in expensive therapy to deal with disruptive sometimes bordering on violent behavior against others. They may not realize that they are really placing their own relationship at risk in not putting effort into it in focusing on their direct roles what they feel are Charlie's needs. Both married with families, Avi and Satish are best friends, next door neighbors and coworkers, they part of the same security detail for the Indian government. While Avi chatters on about trivial matters in life in general as he and Satish spend hour after hour with each other, he may not be able to see that Satish is a powder keg waiting to explode. Elderly Judy Hillerman is in a routine and thus unsatisfying marriage to Henry Hillerman. Being in the twilight of life, she may contemplate having that small piece of happiness when she meets an old high school classmate, seemingly happy-go-lucky Jerry Binder. And in the lead-up to the anniversary, Sandie's company has offered him therapy as a survivor of the twin towers, many of his coworkers who he didn't know on the seventh floor where he was at the time using specialized equipment who didn't make it. The therapist, Dr. Trabulous, uses provocative, passive-aggressive methods to find troubles buried deep within mild mannered Sandie that may or may not be there, but which on the surface don't seem to exist.

Emboldened by the last remaining days of high school, senior Henry Samson writes a love letter to his neighbor, Claire. But, when he runs into her at school joking and laughing with her then boyfriend, he chickens out and never tells her how he feels. Fast forward ten years, Henry returns home to celebrate his mom's fiftieth birthday. When Claire volunteers to help Henry plan his mother's party, all his old feelings resurface. Will Henry find the courage to tell Claire how he feels? Will he finally give her the letter he wrote all those years ago? Or, will he chicken out again?

A woman misses the 1:30 train from New York to Boston and a street musician spends the night trying to help her make it back home before her husband does. Throughout the night they learn a lot about one another and eventually find a romance.

New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden and his feisty wife Alice struggle to make ends meet. Despite Ralph's many get-rich-quick schemes/motivational-speaker tape series, they've managed to save some money, and with their best friends Ed and Trixie Norton, they have almost enough money for a down-payment on a Brooklyn duplex. However, when Ralph decides to try to impress Alice by making up what he's lost and augmenting their savings with another of his crazy schemes, he winds up losing all their money and his marriage to boot--and it takes all his determination and love for Alice to get things on track again.

Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man - Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Robert Zemeckis, the director of such marvels as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Back to the Future, Polar Express and Flight, again uses cutting edge technology in the service of an emotional, character-driven story. With innovative photorealistic techniques and IMAX 3D wizardry, The Walk is true big-screen cinema, a chance for moviegoers to viscerally experience the feeling of reaching the clouds. The film, a PG-rated, all-audience entertainment for moviegoers 8 to 80, unlike anything audiences have seen before, is a love letter to Paris and New York City in the 1970s, but most of all, to the Towers of the World Trade Center.

New York. Rebecca (Moore), an actress, is crushed to discover that her marriage may be falling apart. Her husband Tom (Duchovny) leaving long-suffering Rebecca to pick up the pieces of their relationship. Rebecca's brother Tobey (Crudup), meanwhile, is in a long-term relationship with Elaine (Gyllenhaal) that has begun to turn sour. Both couples are spoiled and bratty.

Dave Chappelle presents a Brooklyn neighborhood with its very own once-in-a-lifetime free block party. In addition to Chappelle, the roster of artists includes Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, the Roots, Cody ChesnuTT, Big Daddy Kane, and - reunited for their first performance in over seven years - the Fugees. Includes private rehearsals footage and Chappelle in the small Ohio town he calls home, where he wanders through town handing out golden tickets to invite several dozen citizens to join the party, providing transportation and lodging for their visit to Brooklyn. Ohio's Central State University marching band makes the trip and kicks off the festivities at the intersection of Quincy and Downing Streets. A diverse crowd and Chappelle's freestyle wit guides them (and us) through a celebration of music and comedy, history and community.

The story of The Killian Documents controversy (a.k.a. "Rathergate") in the days leading up to the 2004 presidential election. When veteran newscaster Dan Rather and CBS News head Mary Mapes choose to air a segment on 60 Minutes exposing how President Bush avoided being drafted to Vietnam through his father's political advantages, the resulting fallout ultimately costs them their jobs and reputations.

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village New York. The story centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, AIDS, and modern day life in one truly powerful story.

With her teenage daughter Juliet Rogers, successful New York City based romance novelist Karen Rogers, in the lead up to Christmas, heads back to her Louisiana country home for the first time in twenty years following the sudden death of her father, Pete Rogers. Beyond Pete's death, it is not a good time for Karen as she already owes her editor new material, she not telling her editor that she has a major case of writer's block. Juliet, who never met her grandfather or knew about her mother's Lousiana past, has no emotional attachment to this trip, she who would have much rather spent Christmas in New York City with her friends in the comfort of big city life. Karen not so much left but ran away from her past in leaving twenty years ago. Now, she wants to sell Pete's ranch as quickly as possible to run away once again to put this part of her life permanently behind her. It won't be that easy for Karen as she not only learns from Pete's best friend, Judge Brandon Lawrence who is administering the legal aspects of the estate, that the ranch operation is deep in arrears on many payments - money Karen doesn't have - but that there is no known will. In addition, Hugh Anderson, with who Karen has a turbulent history (the two who were once engaged before she ran off), who Pete treated like a son, and who had long helped Pete maintain the ranch, has a proverbial "back of the envelope" written, albeit undated, agreement from Pete for half the ranch, which Karen, in her turbulent relationship with Hugh, intends to fight. Meanwhile, Juliet, beyond striking up a friendship with Nan, the daughter of the stable owners down the road, has made a connection to one thing in rural Louisiana, namely Pete's horse, Rodeo. It is partly through Nan and partly through Rodeo that Juliet meets and begins to fall for Monty Anderson, who happens to be Hugh's nephew, and who Hugh took in and treated as his own after Monty's parents passed. Juliet and Monty end up getting caught in the feud between Karen and Hugh, Juliet and Monty who get around the edict not to see each other in Monty secretly teaching Juliet to race Rodeo in the annual Christmas Stampede barrel riding competition, all in an effort for Juliet to raise the money herself in the form of the first place prize money to be able to keep Rodeo in light of all Pete's debt.

James White (Christopher Abbott) is a troubled twenty-something trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. He retreats further into a self-destructive, hedonistic lifestyle, but as his mother (Cynthia Nixon) battles a serious illness James is forced to take control of his life. As the pressure on him mounts, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.

Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen), and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have been friends since childhood, and for a decade, their yearly Christmas Eve reunion has been an annual night of debauchery and hilarity. Now that they're entering adulthood, the tradition is ending, and to make it as memorable as possible, they set out to find the Nutcracka Ball--the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.

Kirk Redgrave and Flint Weaver met only three weeks ago. But that hasn't stopped them from becoming the greatest pirates the Great Salt Lake has ever known. Still, pirate life isn't all that it's cracked up to be. For Kirk, it's a life of failure. For Flint, one without reward. That is until they stumble across a long lost treasure map that has the power to not only fulfill their wildest pirate dreams but curse them as well.

Life has its downs for James, living with his mom in Chicago at 39, an aging performer at Second City, eating and weighing too much. A woman he's been dating drops him, as does his agent, her brother. James turns down roles in local TV, roles that make him sad. Someone's remaking his favorite movie, "Marty," a role he'd love, but he doesn't even get an audition. He has a minor meltdown when talking at a grade school career day. Things look up when he meets the quirky Beth at an ice cream shop. Can James make a career for himself, move out from mom's, and find someone to eat cheese with? Or is he destined to watch Jackie Gleason and be Marty for the rest of his life?

Gabriel Noone is a late night radio-host in a big city, specializing in spooky tales culled from his active imagination. When Gabriel's lover decides he needs some "space" and moves out, Gabriel descends into a funk until a publisher friend brings him a manuscript written by 14 year-old Pete Logand, a troubled young fan. Pete's story touches the vulnerable Gabriel deeply. Pete was severely abused by his parents and is now under the care of his former social worker, Donna Logand, who has adopted him. Pete is very ill and he and Donna are keeping a low profile in a small town in Wisconsin to avoid discovery by Pete's mother. Gabriel develops an unsettling long-distance telephone relationship with the boy and his guardian. Nothing is as it seems and the skepticism of friends causes Gabriel to become suspicious of Donna and her motives, so he tries to resolve the loose ends by traveling to Wisconsin to confront Donna and Pete. But this effort is largely unsuccessful and we are left wondering if Pete is real, if Donna is really blind or if Gabriel is the deranged soul of the story.

Jules Cooper is a successful New York businesswoman who seemingly has everything: a rapidly growing career in marketing and a handsome boyfriend named Mitchell. Jules soon learns her beloved late Grandmother Glinda has left her 'Christmas Land', a magical Christmas-themed village and Christmas tree farm in the countryside. Much of Jules's favorite childhood memories revolve around Christmas Land and the holiday's her family spent there in her youth. Upon arriving in Christmas Land to claim the property, she meets handsome and charming Tucker Barnes, the lawyer handling the estate. Christmas Land has seen better days since Glinda's tragic passing and Jules is forced to make many complicated decisions. Should she sell Christmas Land to real estate tycoon Mason Richards and get back to her busy city life? Or should she stay and bring Christmas Land back to its former glory? With decisions to be made in both life and love, this Christmas for Jules is sure to be both interesting...and magical.

Frances Mackenzie is a Canadian junior copy editor in New York, but lands the account of her favorite author, Michael Tate, who finds her honesty fascinating. Just after her boyfriend Calvin Puddie started a six month tour as a jazz musician, she learns to be pregnant. Having neglected to prolong her visa, Frannie is stuck with her parents in Canada after a visit. Just when she started to despair, Calvin returns and proves a wonderfully supportive father, both before and after the birth of their son, but leaves when she fails to affirm being in love...

Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a Pakistani immigrant, struggles to drag his heavy cart along the streets of New York to his corner in Midtown Manhattan. And every morning, from inside his cart he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. He is the worker found on every street corner in every city. He is a man who wonders if he will ever escape his fate.

An attraction forms when a Chinese American girl visiting Hong Kong for the first time meets an American expat who shows her the way, but timing may not quite be on their side. A walk-and-talk romance set in the beautiful city of Hong Kong, the film asks the question - what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?