Former rapper Anas takes a job at a cultural centre in a working-class neighbourhood in Casablanca. Encouraged by their new teacher, his students will try to free themselves from the weight of certain restrictive traditions in order to live their passions and express themselves through hip-hop. Directed by Nabil Ayouch.
The meteoric rise and dramatic fall of Claymation innovator and California Raisins animator Will Vinton, whose studio revolutionized the animation business during the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. But after 30 years of being the king of clay, Vinton’s carefully sculpted American dream came crumbling down after an unfortunate association with …
A purple dinosaur by any other name, this animated PBS staple is given a big screen live action/CGI makeover to mixed results. Darby Camp (Benji, The Christmas Chronicles 1 & 2) stars as the easily teased transplant who earns her classmates respect not so much for being the person she …
The potential of crumbling limestone landscapes poses a geological threat to the mountainous region of an age-old Chinese town — and the high speed railroad that runs through it. What separates Cloudy Mountain from Hollywood disaster films of yore? Not much. Cliffhangers, rock climbers, stowaways, pointless time-stamps designed to add …
Shot in America European-style — 1.66:1 aspect ratio and in muted shades of black-and-white — director Mike Mills (Beginners, 20th Century Women) is clearly banking on Academy highbrows sweeping their votes in his direction. And who better to front such an ostentatious operation than Joaquin Phoenix in his first film …
Where do they get off calling it an “Apple Original” when part of CODA’s (as in: Children of Deaf Adults) premise (and a good handful of its scenes) are lifted from the French/Belgian film from 2014, The Bélier Family? Normally, I’d concede the rationale behind American-language remakes of foreign films …
Much of the original has long faded from memory; the one moment still buzzing in my grey cells is the location of Zamunda, somewhere beyond the Paramount mountain. True to form for a sequel that is ostensibly a remake, the camera once again draws us past the logo into a …
It’s beginning to feel a lot like television. Rather than spend 30 minutes each week watching Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) solve real-life mysteries on a fictional cable show (Curse Breakers?), New Line drops semi-annual theatrical installments from the seemingly limitless Conjuring universe. It’s 1981, and …
It’s beginning to feel a lot like television. Rather than spend 30 minutes each week watching Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) solve real-life mysteries on a fictional cable show (Curse Breakers?), New Line drops semi-annual theatrical installments from the seemingly limitless Conjuring universe. It’s 1981, and …
Let’s return to a time when the sponsor’s name was still built into the show’s title and kids across the land tuned in to watch Marlin Perkins’ weekly animal adventures on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Young Tim Harrison was one of the flock inspired by Perkins — and later, …
The convolution commences at the Canadian border, with a chase resulting in the capture of a young man carrying a backpack filled with pills. This sets in motion the bringing together of three dissimilar characters through their various connections to the opioid crisis. A drug-trafficking DEA agent (Armie Hammer) works …
A haughty fashion designer (Emma Thompson) and the seamstress most likely to dethrone her (Emma Stone) wage battle in this, the third live-action attempt on the part of the studio to ransack the Disney Vault, cancel originality, and in doing so, defile a classic. And what could be crueler than …
In a perfect world, Bronco Billy would hop in his Gran Torino, run the gauntlet to bring a million dollar chico across the border, and along the way encounter a kind of smoldering romance that bridges on Madison County. Long before drones became a cinematographer’s best friend, Clint Eastwood chose …
My interest was piqued thanks to a friend’s family who adores C.S. Lewis almost as much as I do Jerry. They guided me through a couple of Narnia sequels, but their everlasting zeal failed to translate when it came to this ill-staged big screen bump-up. Alas, I am at my …