Theatrical Releases: ‘Chico and Rita’
Refreshingly cast in eye-popping animation of a more traditional, “pre-digimation” variety, Chico and Rita (2010) softly commences on a steamy night in Havana in...
★★☆☆☆ “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,” Percy Shelley once wrote in his sonnet England in 1819. He was firing his barbs at King George III but the words could just as well be used for any number of English monarchs including Henry VIII.
★★★★★ Turkish master director Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns to the Cannes Croisette with About Dry Grasses, a wonderful wintry meditation on male fragility and the way we often make our own hells and then deceive ourselves that we’re trapped.
★★★★☆ From sub-Saharan Africa to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq and Iran, the climate crisis, drought, war, and oppression has created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. It is treated as an ethical conundrum, but it isn’t. Either we wish to save those who are in danger of dying, or all our talk of human rights is just so much hot air. This is the core concern of Green Border.
★★★★☆ With Luca Guadagnino’s terrific Challengers, the acclaimed director of Call Me By Your Name brings us the sub-genre we never knew we needed: the erotic tennis thriller.
★★☆☆☆ Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s “Abigail” mashes up crime caper and monster movie, but fails to deliver fear or humor. Spoilery trailers and unoriginal characters overshadow promising elements, resulting in a dull, lifeless experience lacking creativity and wit.
★★☆☆☆ Maïwenn’s French period drama Jeanne du Barry is the perfect opening salvo for the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It is as glitzy and gaudy as the festival itself, with its vacuous politics drowned out by the thunderous sound of it slapping its own back.
Refreshingly cast in eye-popping animation of a more traditional, “pre-digimation” variety, Chico and Rita (2010) softly commences on a steamy night in Havana in...
★★★★★ This year’s winner of the coveted Palme d’Or Prize, the magical-realist Thai oddity Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), was...
★★★★☆ With such a delightfully intriguing premise, it’s no wonder Pang Ho-Cheung’s slasher film Dream Home (2010) has garnered such playful taglines as “A...
★★★☆☆ Aftershock, China’s first official IMAX movie, might attract praise or criticism for many different reasons, but it’s certainly not the kind of film...
Anyone who has seen the ongoing series of mad-cap Cravendale adverts, featuring an ensemble cast of miniature plasticine figurines ranging from farmyard animals to...
Where have all the orphans gone? In the grand tradition of children’s literature (and therefore, children’s films – now more than ever, it is...
★★★★☆ With a graceful tone to match his existing body of work, director Jean Becker unveils his latest, My Afternoons with Marguerite (2010), a charming...
★★☆☆☆ Riding in upon an impressive swell of industry hype, mainly garnered from screenings at this year’s Cannes and New York Film Festivals, comes...