If Anna Thomas is anxious to establish a reputation as a filmmaker separate from that achieved by her authorship of vegetarian cookbooks, it might be perceived as unwise to start off her first film with shots of vegetables. One is inclined to extend to her the charity normally reserved for …
Lovely but slight, Haute Cuisine tells the (based on a true) story of a country chef — played with ease, energy, and middle-aged grace by Catherine Frot — who became personal chef to the president of France, all because she knew how to cook with the simple elegance of his …
A money's-worth movie of broad scope, big cars, buttery talk, proud postures, and dubious purpose. The assumption appears to be that everyone will have missed Richard Lester's Cuba (1979) or else that anyone who did catch it didn't like it well enough to remember it. As embarrassingly similar as these …
Parents who follow their pushy kid around with a camcorder his entire life, hoping to find the right stunt that will thrust their baby into the spotlight, form the basis of this insignificant documentary. The Cuban government gave Mica’s zayde refuge from the Nazis, and decades later the 17-year-old decides …
At last, an answer to the burning question, “Why the big magila over Hava Nagila?” The infectious wedding and bar mitzvah dance standard is given the talking head (kibitzing kop?) treatment in this enjoyable, if not rigorously fluffy documentary. From the shtetls of Ukraine to Canter’s Deli in L.A., director …
Calling Jian Liu’s twisty follow-the-stolen-moneybag story an animated film might seem a bit of an exaggeration. Many shots are still illustrations adorned with a single moving element: a rising wisp of smoke, a flashing neon sign, a lone automobile. But at least the stills look good: clean, unbusy settings full …
High crime and low in the Cayman Islands, with a motley cast of characters. A doubling-back storyline suppresses suspense, and the jumpy, manic visual style stirs up mainly annoyance. With Orlando Bloom, Zoe Saldana, Bill Paxton, Agnes Bruckner, Stephen Dillane, and Anthony Mackie; written and directed by Frank E. Flowers.
Documentary directed by Storm Thorgerson (Hipgnosis) and award-winning director Roddy Bogawa, featuring new interviews with the Pink Floyd co-founder’s friends, lovers, family and bandmates Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason.
Manic Pixie Mexican Dreamgirl! Or, how do you solve a problem like Lupita?
Bangladeshi mystery-drama film based on a classic fairy tale and directed by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon and starring Chanchal Chowdhury and Nazifa Tushi. Sanjana lives in a big city along with her husband and two daughters. When she finds herself on a seafaring vessel, she experiences miracles revolving around the fishermen …
Steven Soderbergh’s latest attempt to subvert popular genre expectations results in an adequate 007 action/adventure picture. Mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano has the tough, tight look and smoldering dispassion the genre demands, but not even Meryl Streep could add depth to this. It’s easier to swallow than the average …
An island, a summer house, a Superior Court judge, a wife half his age, a next-door childhood playmate of the opposite sex, and an ex-boyfriend, soon a corpse. An intended dark comedy negated by a relentlessly light heart. It premiered on the HBO channel prior to its unnecessary theatrical release. …
A Norwegian thriller “inspired” by American thrillers, now set for a Hollywood remake. Aksel Hennie plays a top corporate recruiter in Oslo who, to maintain the lifestyle of his tall Viking wife, steals an illicit Rubens painting. He spirals into a terrible mess, including a fully loaded outhouse. Credible actors …
Very professional, very proficient job by Laurent Cantet, director of Time Out , who here details the activities of lonely, middle-aged, largely American women (the vulnerable Karen Young and steely Charlotte Rampling, most prominently) at a Haitian resort in the Baby Doc era, enjoying the easy but not free companionship …