By now those chosen few who’ve sought out Ben Wheatley’s latest, Sightseers (his next film, the English Civil War-set “A Field in England“, opens in UK cineplexes in July), have gotten their fill and hopefully developed an opinion. The film, unleashed upon U.S. audiences in limited release, is one of the darkest I’ve experienced and…
Albert Camus said, “The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” These words become prophetic in Romanian director Cristian Mungui’s Beyond the Hills, a powerful tale of religious and emotional obsession that leads to tragic consequences. Like…
If it’s any consolation to fans of this franchise, The Hangover Part III, is a better motion picture than “The Hangover Part II. But, then again, a filmed embalming would fall into that category, so try not to get too excited. A perfect example (as if there are not enough of these) of a movie…
As a result of their parent’s separation, 12-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) lives in Kagoshima with his mother (Nene Ohtsuka) and grandparents (Kirin Kiki and Isao Hashizume) while his younger brother Ryunosuke (Oshiro Maeda) lives with his intermittently employed musician father (Jo Adigiri) in Fukuoka. Both talk to each other daily on their cell phone but…
There are two utterly useless facts I learned during my viewing of Fast & Furious 6. One, even in the tiniest of roles, the lack of perceivable acting talent in Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster’s bones can ruin a film, even one as poorly conceived as this. It is this franchise, and this franchise alone,…
As the acting Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Hikaru Sulu (John Cho, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”) barked orders at an incorrigible outlaw of the Federation, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”), chills ran down my spine, and I sat in awe of the radiant visual effects. But that was no…
The Andean story of how the world was created by a tall white, blue eyed man with long blond-reddish hair and beard who arose from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia has been passed down by word of mouth through generations of South American Indians. Known to the Aymaras as Viracocha (he was also called Kon-Tiki), Quetzalcoatl…
