A Mighty Heart

"A Mighty Heart" - The Story of Journalist Daniel Pearl

Based on Mariane Pearl's memoir detailing the tragic story of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's life and death. The story covers Danny's reasons for being in Karachi, Pakistan, the complete story of his abduction, the intense effort of his wife, Mariane Pearl to find him during the weeks following his disappearance and his eventual murder.

LA Times critic Kenneth Turan states: "Winterbottom is truly expert at manufacturing reality, at making us feel that we are right there among the crowds, the chaos, the complete foreignness of a remote part of the world." Read full LA Times review of "A Mighty Heart"

Release Date: June 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 48 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Irfan Khan, Denis O'Hare, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton, Gary Wilmes
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Genre: Docudrama, Drama

Tickets and times for A Mighty Heart at Fandango

The Treatment

Romantic Comedy "The Treatment"

Jake Singer (Chris Eigeman) an anxiety-ridden schoolteacher, meets and falls in love with beautiful Allegra Marshall (Famke Janssen), a wealthy widow. Jake's psychiatrist, Dr. Morales (Ian Holm), warns him to keep his feelings for the woman in check, and keeps popping up in the background whenever Jake and Allegra try to become intimate.

John Anderson reviewing for the LA Times says:

Show of hands, please: Does anyone want to see an amiable romantic drama-comedy by a maker of sobering religious documentaries? Yes, actually, you do. Oren Rudavsky, whose previous work includes "Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust," has, along with co-screenwriter Daniel Saul Houseman, crafted an odd, funny film out of Daniel Menaker's novel "The Treatment." A New York fantasia that's as unpredictable as life (and, hence, immune to plot summary), it boasts a winning performance by Chris Eigeman, the Whit Stillman vet who combines the consternation of Albert Brooks with the sanguine ennui of Kyle McLachlan.
Review by John Anderson for the LA Times

Release Date: April 2006
Rating: NR
Cast: Christopher Eigeman, Famke Janssen, Ian Holm, Harris Yulin, Stephanie March
Director: Oren Rudavsky
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Comedy

Times and tickets for The Treatment at Fandango

Surf's Up

Surf's Up - The Penguin Craze Continues

"Happy Feet" moves from global warming to hanging-ten.

Teenage Rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LaBeouf), an up-and-coming surfer, enters his first pro competition. Followed by a camera crew to document his experiences, Cody leaves his family and home in Shiverpool, Antarctica to travel to Pen Gu Island for the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Along the way, Cody meets Sheboygan surfer Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), famous surf promoter Reggie Belafonte, surf talent scout Mikey Abromowitz, and spirited lifeguard Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel), all of whom recognize Cody's passion for surfing, even if it's a bit misguided at times. Cody believes that winning will bring him the admiration and respect he desires, but when he unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a washed-up old surfer, Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn't always the one who comes in first.

Kevin Crust of the LA Times writes:

...when Cody meets up with a portly burnout named Geek and the surfing action heats up, the movie definitely hangs 10...

LA Times Review of Surf's Up by Kevin Crust

Release Date: June 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 25 min.
Rating: PG
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, Diedrich Bader, Mario Cantone
Director: Ash Brannon
Genre: Children's/Family, Family-Oriented Comedy

Times and Tickets for "Surf''s Up" at Fandango

The Boss of It All

In "The Boss of It All" company director Ravn (Peter Gantzler) leads his staff to believe that the head of the firm is an absentee director named Svend. Now Ravn wants to sell out to Finnur (Fridrik Thór Fridriksson), but Finnur will deal only with Svend. Ravn hires Kristoffer (Jens Albinus), an actor, to portray Svend so the deal can go through, but complications arise when Kristoffer must extend the performance.

LA Times Kenneth Turan in his "Also Recommended" capsule states:

Both the pretensions of the actor and long-standing Danish-Icelandic tensions get a thorough ribbing.

Release Date: May 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 38 min.
Rating: NR
Cast: Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Iben Hjejle
Director: Lars von Trier
Genre: Comedy, Workplace Comedy

Crazy Love

Crazy Love a Documentary Film About Obsession

Filmmaker Dan Klores examines the strange love affair of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss. Pugach is a successful attorney in 1950s New York when he meets much-younger Riss. The pair date, but Riss breaks off contact with Pugach upon learning his claims of divorce are false. Discovering that Riss was engaged to another man, Pugach hires some men to throw lye in her face, and he serves 14 years in prison for the crime. But that's only just the beginning of this stranger-than-fiction true story of obsession...

Release Date: June 2007
Cast: Jimmy Breslin, Bob Janoff, Linda Riss Pugach, Burt Pugach, Rusty Goldberg
Director: Dan Klores
Genre: Biography, Culture & Society

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Day Watch - Dnevnol Dozor

Day Watch (Dnevnol Dozor)

"This sequel to the Russian sci-fi action film "Night Watch" satisfyingly continues the planned trilogy with a highly caffeinated assault on our senses that advances the story while upping the ant on action and effects." - LA Times

Release Date: June 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 12 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Konstantin Khabensky, Maria Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov, Victor Verzhbitsky, Galina Tyunina
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Genre: Science Fiction, Supernatural Thriller
Language: Russian with English subtitles

Movie show times and tickets at Fandango.com

The Golden Door

The Golden Door (Nuovomondo)

Salvatore (Vincenzo Amato), a Sicilian villager, decides to leave his homeland and emigrate to America with his two sons, Angelo (Francesco Casisa) and Pietro (Filippo Pucillo). They and their fellow travelers (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Federica de Cola) face a challenging journey to what they believe is a land of milk and honey.

Carina Chocano writing for the LA Times in her review of The Golden Door "Nuovomondo":

It's this deceptively simple, never actually stated idea — the immigrant as fetus, waiting to emerge from the womb — that shapes the transplanted Italian director's third feature and informs its point of view. "The Golden Door" depicts the coming together of two worlds so different that they remain mysterious to each other even as they endeavor to make sense of each other with the help of professional interpreters. Ignorance, hope and imagination combine to create the strange, lyrical images that form in Salvatore's mind. As primitive as they are, they are no less misguided than the pseudo-scientific principles clung to by the doctors and researchers on Ellis Island, who mistake poverty and lack of education for genetic inferiority.

Release Date: May 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 0 min.
Rating: PG-13
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato, Aurora Quattrocchi, Francesco Casisa, Filippo Pucillo
Director: Emanuele Crialese
Genre: Period Film, Drama, Family Drama

Knocked Up

Knocked Up

Rising journalist Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl) hits a serious bump in the road after a one-night stand with irresponsible slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) results in pregnancy. Rather than raise the baby on her own, she decides to give him a chance to prove he is father material. However, he is unsure if he is ready to be a parent, and both wonder if they would be compatible lifetime partners

Carina Chocano writes in her LA Times review:

Knocked Up is so consistently well written that it sometimes seems as if every one of Apatow's lines has been lovingly hand-crafted by stoned Tyrolean monks. But somehow, probably because the central story doesn't quite jell, it's the loony, incidental throwaway moments that really make an impression.

Read Chocano's excellent review of Knocked Up

Release Date: June 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 12 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel
Director: Judd Apatow
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Sex Comedy, Comedy

Bamako

Bamako

Bamako is a limited-realease movie set in Mali, so most of us may have to wait for it to come out on DVD. Kevin Thomas of the LA Times gives the movie a Critics' Choice rating (See all Critics' Choice movies on this blog). Thomas writes:

"Bamako" is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational — and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating...Bamako is one of the most powerful, compelling African films ever.

Bamako the Film website

Release Date: February 2007
Cast: Aïssa Maïga, Helene Diarra, Tiecoura Tracore, Habib Dembele, Hamadoun Kassogue
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Genre: Drama
Rating: Unrated
Language: French with subtitles