Independent from original thinking. Director Roland Emmerich and his band of four co-screenwriters waited 20 years to crap out a sequel, and this is the best they can come up with? Even the updated CG effects effects aren’t an improvement. If Independence Day was, as my predecessor Duncan Shepherd observed, …
Infidelity and feminism are its core objectives, but you’ll have to wait for first-time writer-director Geeta Malik to set aside her “chick-flick” cravings before she addresses the more pressing issues at hand. Over summer break, Alia (Sophia Ali) learns that her mother gave up her activist ways for a cushy …
Documentarian and unmistakable cinephile Stig Björkman — one of his side jobs is translating Woody Allen for Swedish audiences — gets handed the golden key that unlocks the Bergman vault. Told almost exclusively in her own words — from diary pages the actress first began filling at age 14, to …
With 133,000 residents speaking 167 languages, the 300-acre stretch of land known as Jackson Heights, Queens boasts the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the world. It’s also the subject of 85-year-old proudly self-professed, “non-fiction filmmaker” Frederick Wiseman's (National Gallery) 40th feature, a mammoth, 190 minute undertaking shot with his trademark …
David Lynch never envisioned it as a feature. Initially wanting nothing more than to tinker around with digital video, he picked up a high end consumer DVcam and began shooting a series of unconnected stories. Working without a script, the director noticed an interrelation between individual scenes beginning to form …
It had the makings of a sequel — Tiananmen Square Massacre II — written all over it. What began as Operation Dawn, a citywide strike intended to shut down Hong Kong’s traffic grid, ended in days of dissent among students of Hong Kong Polytechnic University that culminated in police brutality. …
“I wish Ariel Sharon had wiped you all out.” Is it an insult, a humiliation, a hate crime, or perhaps all of the above? If you’re curious as to the answer, it will cost you two hours of your time to find out what happens when a Palestinian refugee (Kamel …
“God, I wish your expressions weren’t so transparent.” It’s a line our internet fashion house founder (Anne Hathaway) uses, though it’s not clear whether it’s in reference to the 70-year-old newbie assigned to be her intern (Robert De Niro) or the seasoned actor who plays him. The solid premise – …
Steve James (Hoop Dreams) spent a year documenting the efforts of a trio of reformed hardcore gangbangers working to bring peace to Chicago’s volatile Englewood neighborhood. Instead of touting sports or rap music as the golden ticket, the “violence interrupters” champion a psychological approach to peaceful coexistence in an urban …
Remember when your high school teacher would wheel out a 16mm projector and proceed to put the class to sleep with hopelessly unengaging educational films? That at least offered students a vacation from science class, which is more than can be said for the fate of audiences attending Christopher Nolan’s …
Remember when your high school teacher would wheel out a 16mm projector and proceed to put the class to sleep with hopelessly unengaging educational films? That at least offered students a vacation from science class, which is more than can be said for the fate of audiences attending Christopher Nolan’s …
Seth Rogen and James Franco leave no “Suk,” “Poon,” or “Dong” unturned in their quest to whack North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. As a vapid entertainment talk show host, Franco fills in the blanks his with more facial tics than a barrelful of Bill Buckley’s and a wardrobe made up …
A straight-faced-to-the-point-of-being-inert comedy/drama from Germany that won’t leave you rolling in the aisles. Putty-nosed Franz Rogowski stars as the new hire, a drowsy night stocker with prison tats poking out of his shirt collar, riding shotgun on the beverage forklift at a big box store. He learns the ropes, gains …
A day at the spa ends in tragedy for Katja (Diane Kruger) when she returns home to find her husband and young son have been blown to hamburgers by a Nazi-rigged explosive device. (What is the respected grieving period before it’s okay for a widow to start plotting her revenge …
A big hit at last year’s San Diego Asian Film Festival finally gets a well-deserved theatrical release. After losing one of his two dads in a car accident, a young boy quickly becomes the focal point of a fierce custody battle after the will grants his aunt sole custody. You’re …