The Maldives — a nation of islands south of Sri Lanka that survived a long dictatorship and a terrible tsunami — is now sinking below the ocean rise caused by global warming. Doubt it? See the film. The film’s young, brave, short, handsome, and very bright President Mohamed Nasheed is …
Hemingway's discursive unfinished novel wasn't yet pulled together when the author died; but the moviemakers, undaunted, plow through two barely connected storylines, one a family drama and the other a To Have and Have Not smuggling escapade, as though they imagine they are dealing with great, fundamental wisdoms ("I know …
A delight, albeit one that is red in tooth and claw. Wes Anderson’s stop-motion Japanese folk tale about dogs and their people opens with a Japanese folk tale about dogs and their people (and also, cats and their people). And midway through, there’s a display of Kabuki theater that almost …
Director (and co-writer here) Arnaud Desplechin has made three films featuring Paul Dédalus. In those films, Paul has a diplomat brother named Ivan. Ismael’s Ghosts opens with a scene from a film-in-progress about Ivan Dédalus made by one Ismaël Vuillard, played with wild-eyed abandon by Mathieu Amalric, the same actor …
To answer Rodgers and Hart’s titular query, not in the least bit. A face-plant into a subway I-beam ushers in the premise of living life in a PG-13 rom-com, but not before Natalie (Rebel Wilson) brings work buddy Whitney (Betty Gilpin) up to speed on her contempt for the genre. …
Griffith's depiction (guaranteed not to reverse his downhill commercial slide) of the day-to-day battles against poverty in post-WWI Europe: Carol Dempster stuffing cotton in her sunken cheeks to present to her lover the illusion of fine health, etc. Part document, part sentiment, and all in all a neglected gem.
Crassly cynical celebration of fame and success no matter how ill-gotten. (Just what we need from Hollywood.) The occasion is a "biopic" on the self-promoting Valley of the Dolls author, Jacqueline Susann, a personage not so much portrayed by Bette Midler as invaded, taken over, occupied by her. And it …
Young Ada is the sole occupant of a remote outpost during the Civil War. After stumbling upon a cache of stolen gold, Ada finds herself up against a violent crew of outlaws led by the cunning Fiddler.
Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling from this, the astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary. Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, starring Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, Pilou Asbaek, John …