Gran Torino

At this point in his career, when Clint Eastwood stars in and directs a film, all bets are off. Things that would be old-school and sentimental in other hands morph into something different when he is involved. If Tina Turner's motto is that she doesn't do anything nice and easy, Eastwood's would be that the ordinary is just not his style. Which brings us to "Gran Torino"...Read Kenneth Turan's full review of Gran Torino at the LA Times.

Synopsis of "Gran Torino"
Walt Kowalski is an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley, Brian Haley
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama, Urban Drama

Opened December 12, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 56 min.

Showtimes for your location at Fandango.com

Che

A critics' choice award for Che from a reviewer for the LA Times that I haven't noticed before, Sheri Linden.

The predominantly Spanish-language feature is about as far from Soderbergh's fizzy celeb-o-rama "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels as the filmmaker could get (short of his star-free experiments such as 2005's "Bubble.") As an exploration of the rigors of armed struggle, "Che" favors action over psychology. It makes no attempt to explain the soul of a revolutionary by connecting a series of dramatic dots. Neither does it indulge in romance, however inextricably linked that may be to its protagonist...

Review of "Che" by Sheri Linden at the LA Times

Synopsis of "Che"
Ernesto "Che'' Guevara (Benicio Del Toro) transforms from an intellectual, asthmatic doctor to one of Latin America's most legendary revolutionaries. In the years before his famous 1964 visit to the United Nations, Che joins forces with Cuban exile Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) and ignites a revolution that eventually brings an end to the Batista regime in Cuba.

Seven years after his triumph in Cuba, Che winds up in Bolivia, where he tries to ignite the same revolutionary fires as before. But, with the Bolivian army bolstered by CIA support, Che faces one defeat after another, finally meeting his end in the village of La Higuera.

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem, Santiago Cabrera, Julia Ormond, Franka Potente, Edgar Ramirez, Demián Bichir
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Genres: Documentary, Drama

Opens January 9, 2009

Movie times for "Che" from Fandango.com

Waltz With Bashir

L.A. Times movie critic Kenneth Turan gives "Waltz with Bashir" a critics' choice award:

"Waltz With Bashir" is one of Israel's first animated features, and it's going to be a hard act to follow. Provocative, hallucinatory, incendiary, this devastating animated documentary is unlike any Israeli film you've seen. More than that, in its seamless mixing of the real and the surreal, the personal and the political, animation and live action, it's unlike any film you've seen, period.

"Waltz with Bashir" review by Kenneth Turan

Synopsis of "Waltz with Bashir"
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.
*Note: Film is presented in Hebrew with English subtitles.

Opened December 25, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 27 min.
Cast: Ari Folman, Ori Sivan, Roni Dayag, Shmuel Frenkel, Ron Ben Yisahi, Dror Harazi, Boaz Rein Buskila, Carmi Cna'an
Director: Ari Folman
Genres: Avant-garde / Experimental, History, Military & War, Tragedies & Catastrophes

Showtimes for "Waltz with Bashir" for your zip from Fandango.com

Ballast

In awarding "Ballast" an LA Times "critics' award", Kenneth Turan writes:

"Ballast" has the heft and substance its name implies. A double prize winner at Sundance, this austere, rigorous film has a sense of place, a feeling for reality so compelling it makes us feel like we're living it, not just watching on a screen. Read Turan's review of Ballast

Synopsis of "Ballast"
The static living arrangement between three lonely souls living in a rural Mississippi Delta township is suddenly shaken up due to a tragic suicide in this intimate family drama from first-time writer/director Lance Hammer. Single mother Marley was barely getting by when her 12-year-old son James fell into a dangerous cycle of drugs and violence. Desperate to escape her current surroundings and save her son from becoming another statistic, Marley seeks safe harbor at a home on the property of Lawrence -- a man with whom she has been locked into a bitter feud ever since the birth of her son. Brought together by circumstance and left with little choice but to work through their hardships, Marley, James, and Lawrence do their best to move beyond the grief that has befallen them, and transform tragedy into the foundation for a new and hopeful future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Show times for ballast from Fandango.com

Kenneth Turan's Top 10 Movies of 2008

Top 10 of 2008 - Los Angeles Times

Kenneth Turan published his picks for the Top 10 Movies of 2008 in today's LA Times. Turan typcially just lists his picks alphabetically, but this year gives "Slumdog Millionaire" the #1 slot, and then lists the rest alphabetically.

In giving Slumdog Millionaire the clear #1 position, Turan writes

I'm naming it No. 1 because of the effect it had on me as well as almost everyone I've talked to. Watching it was like seeing an old friend long presumed dead suddenly walking around town as healthy as you please. "Slumdog" is a modern version of an old-fashioned Hollywood-style audience picture, an updated romantic melodrama whose outlines the Warner brothers themselves would have embraced. If you think this kind of thing is easy to do, you haven't been going to the movies lately.

The rest of Turan's list for 2008, with some pairings that are explained in his piece:

• "A Christmas Tale" and "The Class"
• "Frost/Nixon"
• "Frozen River" and "Ballast"
• "Gomorrah" and "Happy Go Lucky"
• "Rachel Getting Married"
• Four Sundance documentaries:"Man on Wire", "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired", "Stranded", and "Trouble the Water"
• "Tell No One"
• "Wall-E"
• "Waltz With Bashir"
  
  Read Turan's full write-up or his picks for top films of 2008

Frost/Nixon

In giving Frost/Nixon a Critics' Choice, Kenneth Turan writes in today's LA Times:

Ron Howard has never been what you would call a critic’s favorite, but “Roost/Nixon” is changing that. Using his experience, his professionalism and his skills, the director successfully has opened up the Peter Morgan play without pushing anything too hard, and he’s made the most of the stars of that theatrical original, Michael Sheen and Tony Award winner, Frank Langella. The result is involving, engrossing cinema, more thrilling, in fact, than “The Da Vinci Code” filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed. Read Kenneth Turan's review of "Frost Nixon" at the LA Times

Synopsis Frost/Nixon
In 1977, three years after the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency, Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) selects British TV personality David Frost (Michael Sheen) to conduct a one-on-one, exclusive interview. Though Nixon believes it will be easy to snowball Frost, and Frost's own team doubts their boss can stand up to the former president, what actually unfolds is an unexpectedly candid and revealing interview before the court of public opinion.

Opened December 5, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 2 min. R some language
Cast: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew MacFadyen, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell
Director: Ron Howard
Genres: Docudrama, Political Drama, Drama

Find show times for Frost/Nixon for your zip at Fandango

Slumdog Millionaire

Accolades for "Slumdog Millionaire" from Kenneth Turan:

Who would believe that the best old-fashioned audience picture of the year, a Hollywood-style romantic melodrama that delivers major studio satisfactions in an ultra-modern way, was made on the streets of India with largely unknown stars by a British director who never makes the same movie twice? Go figure.

That would be the hard-to-resist " Slumdog Millionaire," with director Danny Boyle adding independent film touches to a story of star-crossed romance that the original Warner brothers would have embraced, shamelessly pulling out stops that you wouldn't think anyone would have the nerve to attempt anymore.

Read Turan's review of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the LA Times

Synopsis Slumdog Millionaire
Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions. Intrigued by Jamal’s story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out.

Opened November 12, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 0 min.
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan
Director: Danny Boyle
Genres: Drama, Urban Drama, Inspirational Drama

Showtimes for Slumdog Millionaire from Fandango

A Christmas Tale

A critics' choice award for the French movie "A Christmas Tale":

It is Christmas weekend in the French provincial town of Roubaix, and three generations of a family are gathering under one roof to, yes, celebrate the holiday and endure each other. It's a family melodrama situation that has been done and overdone every which way but loose, but stifle those yawns: In the hands of writer-director Arnaud Desplechin this moribund conception comes to vivid and astonishing life...

The story of a family Christmas weekend from hell...is the kind of film Hollywood would produce if it had the strength - or the nerve. Review of A Christmas Tale by Kenneth Turan of the LA Times

Synopsis of A Christmas Tale
Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon) are the parents of three grown children: Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), a melancholic playwright with a mathematician husband (Hippolyte Girardot) and a tortured teenage son, Paul (Emile Berling); Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the self-destructive black sheep, banished from family events by Elizabeth five years prior; youngest Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), the peacemaker, is married to the beautiful Sylvia and has two eccentric little boys; while a fourth - Joseph, the eldest - died from leukemia as a boy. When the disease reappears again in the family, all are tested to see who can be a donor, and then everyone - including lovesick cousin Simon and Henri's girlfriend, Faunia - return home for a long Christmas weekend. All crowded again under the same roof, solidarity quickly - and hilariously - devolves into feuding, drunkenness and bed-hopping, as everyone struggles to make sense of the mysteries of family, life, and what lies ahead.

Opened November 14, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 46 min.
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama, Family Drama, Ensemble Film

Showtimes from Fandango

Stranded

Although given very limited released, Kenneth Turan recommends "Stranded: I've Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains".

This exceptional documentary tells one of the 20th Century's best-known tales of survival, the story of the 16 young Uruguayans who stayed alive for 72 days in the Andes because they did the unthinkable and ate the flesh of those who died. Candid interview and haunting recreations make this a film impossible to forget and shows that we haven't really known the story at all

This documentary recounts the harrowing story via firsthand accounts with those involved. Director Gonzalo Arijon shoots dramatic reenactments of the events; he intercuts this footage with clips of the press conference that greeted the men on their return, and recently recovered archival photographs.

Opened October 22, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 53 min.
Cast: Roberto Francois, Roy Harley, Nando Parrado, Antonio Vizintin
Director: Gonzalo Arijon
Genres: Biography, Culture & Society, Tragedies & Catastrophes

Synecdoche, New York

Kenneth Turan gives "Synecdoche, New York" a thumbs up:

"Synecdoche, New York" is beautiful, and I don't just mean the title. A synecdoche, for those unversed in the poetic tropes, is a figure of speech by which a part stands in for the whole, or the whole stands in for a part, or the general stands in for the specific, or vice versa. It's a lilting play on the name of the town of Schenectady, N.Y., where the movie's hero, a melancholy regional theater director named Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), lives with his painter wife, Adele (Catherine Keener), and their 4-year-old daughter, Olive (Sadie Goldstein). It hints at the artistic and existential obsessions that come to stand in for the life of an unhappy artist who blankets his life with his work, struggles mightily to understand the first by way of the second, and loses an ability to distinguish between the two. And it makes an irrefutable case for the universality of the individual human experience.
Full review here at the LA Times

Synopsis Synecdoche, New York
Theater director Caden Cotard (Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein) with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside.

Opened October 24, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 3 min. R language and some sexual content/nudity
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Genres: Psychological Drama, Showbiz Drama, Drama

2008 Holiday Season Sneak Previews

By the way, today's LA Times Calendar was devoted to sneak previews of movies to be released this upcoming holiday season. Check it out online: LA Times Holiday Movie Sneak Previews

Moving Midway

This recommendation from Carina Chocano for "Moving Midway" may be one of the last we get from her as I saw during the week that she is one LA Times staff that is being layed off in the latest round of cuts.

When Southern-born, New York-based film critic Godfrey Cheshire learned that his North Carolina cousin Charles Silver was going to literally uproot the family's ancestral mid-19th century plantation home called Midway and haul it to a quieter location -- far from the encroachment of real-estate developers -- Cheshire's documentary instincts kicked in. And thankfully so, because "Moving Midway," his engaging chronicle of the physical, historical and psychological effect of the undertaking, is also an invitation for a film buff to meditate on the antebellum South's mythic power in stories and film (from "Birth of a Nation" to "Roots"), and a personal genealogical inquiry that uncovers a parallel family line of slave-descendant cousins he'd never met.

One is New York University professor Robert Hinton, whose insight from the African American perspective is enriching and often funny, as when he challenges Cheshire's steel-magnolia mom at a Civil War reenactment on her love of the typically white-only spectacles, and the notion that the conflict was about states' rights more than slavery. Says a smiling Hinton to Cheshire later, "I'm perfectly happy to have them keep fighting the war, as long as they keep losing it."

In this potentially monumental election year for racial progress and demographic change in North Carolina, "Moving Midway" and its house-relocating metaphor plays its own quirky yet thoughtful part in the question of how much the South has truly moved. Wide load indeed.

Synopsis of Moving Midway
New York-based film critic Godfrey Cheshire is visiting his family in North Carolina when his cousin Charlie Silver tells him something startling. He inherited Midway Plantation, the ancestral home of his and Cheshire's extended family. But now Charlie and his wife Dena have made a decision: They want to move Midway to a new location to escape Raleigh's encroaching sprawl. Charlie's plan provokes immediate controversy in Cheshire's tradition-minded family. For Cheshire, it brings back memories of the wild, strange and magical place Midway seemed when he was a child, and of the stories he heard there. Yet stories, Cheshire realizes, both convey and conceal. The reality of the Southern plantation was that it depended on the institution of slavery. In fact, Midway bred two sets of Hintons, one white, one black. For years, they have rarely encountered each other. But that begins to change as Cheshire sets out to chronicle Charlie's attempt to move Midway.

Director: Godfrey Cheshire
Opened September 12, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 35 min.
Genres: Biography, Social History, Culture & Society

Showtimes for Moving Midway from Fandango.com

Secrecy

"Secrecy", recommended by Kenneth Turan

Smart and unexpected, "Secrecy" combines thoughtful interviews with an elegant visual look to produce an incisive examination of some of the key issues of our time.

Co-directed by historian Peter Galison and filmmaker Robb Moss, this documentary's subject is how much secrecy we really need. It asks whether it's OK to use methods inconsistent with our values to protect our democracy, or whether those methods will leave us with no democracy left to protect. No matter which side of this issue you are on, "Secrecy" will leave you considering ideas you may not have thought of before.

Read the full review of Secrecy by Kenneth Turan of the LA Times

Religulous

A recommendation for "Religulous" from Kenneth Turan:

" Religulous," the new documentary starring Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles, doesn't take the time to define its title, but Maher has said elsewhere that it is a combination of "religious" and "ridiculous." By joining the two, the filmmakers have come up with a handy way to underline their preoccupation with the gullibility of true believers. Read the entire review at the LA Times

Religulous Opened October 1, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 41 min.
Cast: Bill Maher
Director: Larry Charles
Genres: Satire, Religions & Belief Systems, Comedy, Spirituality & Philosophy

Patti Simith: Dream of Life

Carina Chocano recommends "Patti Smith" Dream of Life".

Steven Sebring's "Patti Smith: Dream of Life" is a dream of a movie; gauzy, free-associative and reverberant. Shot over 11 years by a commercial photographer who befriended the poet, rock star, activist and "godmother of punk" in the mid-'90s, when Smith returned to New York following the death of her husband, it drifts and floats between footage of her as a young woman in the '60s and '70s and rambling home-movie-like footage of her life today. Read the entire review at the LA Times

Synopsis: Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Twelve years in the making, the first film directed by fashion photographer Steven Sebring stitches together layer upon layer of human experience to paint a portrait of Patti Smith, the artist as a tireless and dynamic worker for music, poetry , peace, family and friends.

Cast: Patti Smith
Director: Steven Sebring
Genres: Biography, Vocal Music, Music
Opened August 8, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 49 min.

Show times from Fandango.com

Happy-Go-Lucky

At time like this when most of us could do with being cheered-up, perhaps Kenneth Turan's recommendation of "Happy-Go-Lucky" could just be the tonic we need:

" Happy-Go-Lucky" is something different from virtuoso British writer-director Mike Leigh. For what feels like the first time in his more than 35 years of bringing an exceptional level of insight and intensity to the exploration of human behavior, Leigh has put a thoroughly happy person front and center in one of his films...Played by Sally Hawkins in a performance that won the Silver Bear for best actress at the Berlin Film Festival, Poppy practically defines irrepressible. With a personality as distinctive as her wacky clothing style, Poppy is the kind of person who completely means it when she says "Hello there, cheer up" to a flower whose head she stops from drooping. Read the entire review at the LA Times

Synopsis of "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Poppy is an irrepressibly free-spirited school teacher who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters as a single woman in London. When Poppy’s commuter bike is stolen, she signs up for driving lessons with Scott (Eddie Marsan), who turns out to be her polar opposite – a fuming, uptight cynic who takes himself extremely seriously. As the tension of their weekly lessons builds, Poppy’s story takes alternately hilarious and serious turns -- careening from flamenco classes to first dates--becoming a touching, truthful and deeply life-affirming exploration of one of the most mysterious and often the most elusive of all human emotions: happiness.

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Sinead Matthews, Kate O'Flynn
Director: Mike Leigh
Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy Drama
Opened October 10, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 58 min. R- language
Showtimes for Happy-Go-Lucky by zip from Fandango.com

Rachel Getting Married

Another critics' choice recommendation from LA Times movie critic Kenneth Turan this time for "Rachel Getting Married".

Welcome for any number of reasons, this is a gratifying return to his independent film roots for Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, a powerful screenwriting debut for Jenny Lumet, a Herculean job of handheld cinematography by Declan Quinn and a career changing performance by Anne Hathaway, of all people, as an ultra-troubled young woman let out of rehab for her sister's wedding. (Kenneth Turan's review of "Rachel Getting Married")

Synopsis of "Rachel Getting Married"
When Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie Dewitt), she brings a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along with her. The wedding party’s abundant cast of friends and relations have gathered for an idyllic weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym — with her black-humor and knack for bombshell drama — is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic.

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger
Director: Jonathan Demme

Opened October 3, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 53 min. R - language and brief sexuality
Genres: Comedy, Ensemble Film

Showtimes by zip code for Rachel Getting Married from Fandango.com

A Girl Cut in Two

Kenneth Turan recommends "A Girl Cut in Two" in his capsule review:

Claude Chabrol’s film is unquestionably the work of a master. As well it should be, given that the celebrated French filmmaker ha produced more than 50 features in half a century of directing. If you don’t believe all that experience can come in handy, this involving and intelligent film will change your mind. Starting with a turn-of-the-century American romantic triangle, Chabrol has transferred the story to contemporary France and turned it into a study of the confounding nature of the human heart, of the way innocence and corruption can be at such devastating cross purposes that, as one character puts it, “love is the only crime that gives a life sentence.” (Kenneth Turan's review of "A Girl Cut in Two")

Synopsis "A Girl Cut in Two"

The French master of suspense Claude Chabrol returns with the razor-sharp, darkly seductive, A GIRL CUT IN TWO. Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) is an independent, ambitious TV weather girl torn between her love of a distinguished author several decades her senior (Francois Berléand), and the attentions of a headstrong, potentially unstable young suitor (Benoit Magimel). An unspoken past between the two men heightens tensions, and though she's initially certain of her love for one them, the see-saw demands and whims of both men keep confusing - and darkening - matters. Before long she's encountering emotional and societal forces well beyond her control, inexorably leading to a shocking clash of violence and passion. Inspired by the sensational Gilded Age murder of Madison Square Garden architect Stanford White, A GIRL CUT IN TWO is trademark Chabrol: fiendishly entertaining and impossible to shake.


Cast: Ludivine Sagnier, Benoît Magimel, François Berléand, Mathilda May, Caroline Sihol
Director: Claude Chabrol

Opened August 15, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 54 min
Genres: Black Comedy, Comedy Thriller, Comedy

Showtimes by zip code for A Girl Cut in Two at Fandango

Trouble the Water

It's over a month since any new movies were given a recommendation by the reviewers of the L.A. Times, which goes to show not just any old movie makes the grade. And that's what we're interested in here: mostly we don't want to waste our time on movies not worth watching.

The latest movie to make the grade, however, is "Trouble the Water", recommended by Kenneth Turan who says in his capsule review:

With her buoyant, naturally dramatic personality, bold, nervy Kim Roberts has the kind of intensely charismatic spririt that documentary directors dream about, and it is her experiences, as well as the home movie footage she shot, that are the making of this particular doc. A winner of Sundance’s “Grand Jury Prize, “Trouble the Water” looks not only at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but also offers a keenly dramatic examination of how this country treats the poor and dispossessed. Kim and her husband Scott are not exactly babes in the woods, but the magnitude of government incompetence and neglect, the way the citizens of New Orleans were simply abandoned, takes their breath away, as it will yours. (Read the full review of "Trouble the Water" by Kenneth Turan)

Synopsis
A streetwise young couple and family survive the flooding of New Orleans by any means necessary, recording their experience in a chilling video diary. Trouble the Water follows its heroes through the post-hurricane despair and chaos and into an uncertain future.

Director: Tia Lessin
Opened August 22, 2008
Genres: Biography, Culture & Society, Social Issues, Tragedies & Catastrophes

Showtimes for Trouble the Water by zip code at Fandango.com

L.A. Times 25 Best L.A. Films of Last 25 Years

The city of Los Angels takes the spotlight in today's edition of the L.A. Times which published its pick of the top 25 L.A.-focused films of the last 25 years. The selection process which involved Los Angeles Times writers and editors had two ground rules: The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list. Notable L.A.-based movies "Blade Runner" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" were automatically excluded from consideration because they were released some 26 years ago now.

The L.A. Times 25 Best L.A. films of the last 25 years are:

1. L.A. Confidential (1997)
2. Boogie Nights (1997)
3. Jackie Brown (1997)
4. Boyz N the Hood (1991)
5. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
6. The Player (1992)
7. Clueless (1995)
8. Repo Man (1984)
9. Collateral (2004)
10. The Big Lebowski (1998)
11. Mulholland Drive (2001)
12. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
13. Training Day (1991)
14. Swingers (1996)
15. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
16. Friday (1995)
17. Speed (1994)
18. Valley Girl (1983)
19. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
20. L.A. Story (1991)
21. To Sleep with Anger (1990)
22. Less Than Zero (1987)
23. Fletch (1985)
24. Mi Vida Loca (1993)
25. Crash (2004)

Man on Wire

Kenneth Turan awards "Man on Wire" a critics' choice:

This intoxicating documentary about Philippe Petit's 1974 walk between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center delivers exactly the film you're expecting when you look at photographs of this amazing event. A rare double winner of both Sundance's jury prize and its audience award, this picture is made with the human interest of a psychological drama, the "You Are There" factor of a classic documentary and the pace of a thriller.

Synopsis "Man on Wire"

On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC’s security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops. James Marsh’s documentary brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”

Director: James Marsh
Genres: Biography, Law & Crime, Culture & Society, Performance Art Opened July 25, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 30 min. PG-13

Frozen River

Kenneth Turan awards a critics' choice to "Frozen River"

As the summer heats up, let this bracing drama wash over you and allow the intensity of its acting to restore your spirits. Starring Melissa Leo and misty Upham as two women who end up unlikely partners smuggling illegal immigrants over the Canadian border, "Frozen River" not only won the grand jury prize at Sundance, it deserved it (Read Kenneth Turan's review of Frozen River)

Synopsis "Frozen River"
Two days before Christmas in rural upstate New York, Ray Eddy’s husband has left her in an impossible situation—not only is he gone, but he has gambled away all of the family’s meager savings. Ray’s single wage at the Yankee One Dollar Store can’t make the house payment, and the situation forces Ray to feed her two sons popcorn and Tang every day. When Ray strikes out to search for her husband, she encounters Lila Littlewolf, a tough, street-smart Mohawk woman who is dealing with her own struggle to make ends meet. But Lila has found a way to do it—smuggling illegal immigrants into the States. The tribal elders disapprove and attempt to stop Lila by forbidding anyone to sell her a car. Ray has a car, and although the two women don’t trust each other, they team up and share Ray’s Dodge Spirit to make a run across the frozen St. Lawrence River.

Opened August 1, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 37 min. R - some language
Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O'Keefe, Mark Boone, Jr.
Director: Courtney Hunt
Genres: Drama, Family Drama, Slice of Life

Boy A

Gary Goldstein (a new face at the LA Times?) ranks "Boy A" a critics' choice award, writing:

No deed, good or bad, goes unpunished in the excellent British drama about a young man once anonymously dubbed "Boy A" by the press, who is released from juvenile prison 14 years after his involvement in an unspeakable childhood crime.

Synopsis Boy A
After spending most of his youth in prison for a brutal murder, an ex-convict (Andrew Garfield) re-enters society and tries to live a normal life.

Opened July 23, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 40 min.
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Shaun Evans, Katie Lyons, Jeremy Swift
Director: John Crowley
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama

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No Regret

It's been three weeks since a new recommendation was added to the LA Time's "Critics' Choice" list despite the many summer blockbuster movies being released. Well, we're not about blockbusters necessarily anyway; sure we all like those too when we have the need or inclination to be entertained and to watch something that might not be intellectually challenging, but for this blog we're recording what the top critics think are the movies that will take more effort of us to watch but might leave us thinking about the movie and its provocations for some time to come.

So finally today something meets the grade. Kevin Thomas awards a "critics' choice" to the Korean movie "No Regrets"

An explosive debut feature from fearless Hee-il Leesong that has been heralded as Korea's first true gay film. An industrialist's son, engaged to be married, falls for a proud hustler, resulting in a tempestuous mix of melodrama and social comment on the tradition of Douglas Sirk and especially R.E. Fassbinder. In Korean with English subtitles.

Synopsis of "No Regret"
Leaving the country orphanage where he grew up, Sumin (Lee Young-hoon) goes to Seoul to study art design. Supporting himself with odd jobs, he comes to the attention of Jaemin (Lee Han), a man from a rich and conservative background. However, after losing his job at a factory owned by Jaemin’s family, he finds himself working as a prostitute in a gay bar. Initially Sumin resists the advances of Jaemin and views him with contempt. But soon he succumbs to Jaemin’s sincerity, and they experience brief happiness as passionate lovers. However, the relationship falls into heartache once Sumin discovers that Jaemin is to be married to a wealthy girl of his social class, as arranged by his powerful family. Sumin decides to thwart their plans by manipulating his friends into helping him carry out a dangerous scheme involving kidnapping and murder. The plan almost ends in tragedy as jealousy and possessive obsession take over one of the players.

Opened July 25, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 54 min. R
Cast: Lee Young-Hoon, Lee Han
Director: Leesong Hee-il
Genres: Gay & Lesbian Films, Drama

Showtimes for "No Regret" for your zip code from Fandango.com

Tell No One

Kenneth Turan says of "Tell No One"

It can't be denied that this film is heavy on coincidence and has plot elements of such intricacy you may need to hash them over on the way home. But while you're in your seat in the theater you won't have the leisure tor anything. Author Harlan Corben, who says he is a fan of "stories that move you, that grab hold of your heart and do not let it go" has gotten a film that does exactly that.

"Tell No One" Synopsis
Pediatrician Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) still grieves for his wife Margot Beck (Marie-Josée Croze), brutally murdered eight years earlier. Only the friendship he has formed with his younger sister Anne's (Marina Hands) lover Hélene Perkins (Kristin Scott Thomas) saves him from total disconnect from the rest of the world. When two bodies are unearthed near the secluded lakeside murder site, the police reopen Margot’s case with Alexandre himself incriminated. The Pandora’s box of suspicion gets fully opened when Alexandre receives an anonymous e-mail with a video that suggests that Margot is still alive and a message to "Tell no one. We’re being watched"…

*Note: Film is presented in French with English subtitles.

Opened June 27, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 5 min. Not Rated
Cast: François Cluzet, André Dussollier, Marie-Josée Croze, Kristin Scott Thomas, Nathalie Baye Director: Guillaume Canet
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Movie times and locations for Tell No One from Fandango.com

Holding Trevor

Kevin Thomas gives "Holding Trevor" a thumbs up saying in his capsule review:

Brent Gorski wrote as well as stars in this thoughtful, reflective portrait of a young man at a crucial crossroads in his life, meeting a handsome but forceful Mr. Right (Eli Kranski) just as he is trying to free himself from his longtime lover (Christopher Wylie) Read Kevin Thomas' full review of "Holding Trevor" at the LA Times

"Holding Trevor" Synopsis
Everybody’s looking for something. This much is true. And Trevor Holden (Brent Gorski) is desperately looking for himself in all the wrong places… Or maybe just in all the wrong people. It’s pretty safe to say that he won’t find enlightenment in his strung-out boyfriend. And despite the well-meaning advice offered by his sexually pervasive best friend and his self-righteous roommate, Trevor still seems to come up short. Almost ready to throw in the towel, Trevor happens upon Mr. Right, who refuses to let Trevor give up just yet.

Opened July 4, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 28 min. R
Cast: Brent Gorski, Jay Brannan, Melissa Searing, Eli Kranski, Christopher Wyllie
Director: Rosser Goodman
Genres: Comedy Drama, Gay & Lesbian Films

Showtimes by zip for Holding Trevor at Fandango.com

Wall-E

In writing his capsule review of "Wall-E" in which he gives the movie a critics' choice award, LA Times reviewer Kenneth Turan writes:

Daring and traditional, ground-breaking and familiar, apocalyptic and sentimental, this often wordless story of robots in love gains strength from embodying contradictions that would destroy other films. “Wall-E” is the latest computer animated Pixar film to manage what’s become next door to impossible fro anyone else: appealing to the broadest possible audience without insulting anyone’s intelligence.

Synopsis WALL-E
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL-E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Opened June 27, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 37 min.
G
Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Macintalk
Director: Andrew Stanton
Genres: Adventure Comedy, Comedy, Children's/Family, Sci-Fi Adventure

Wall-E show times by zip at Fandango.com

The Unknown Woman

In giving "The Unknown Woman" a critics' choice award, LA Times reviewer Kevin Thomas writes:

“Cinema Paradiso’s” Giueseppe Tornatore transforms melodrama into a timeless tale of love and redemption as a Ukrainian refugee tormented by a terrible past, goes to extremes to become the nanny of an adorable but fragile little Italian girl. A woman’s picture par excellence!

Synopsis "The Unknown Woman"
Irena (Xenia Rappoport), an emigrant who fled Eastern Europe and has moved to a Northern Italian city. She easily fell prey to ruthless, unscrupulous men and was subjected to unspeakable brutalities and humiliations, the kind that can never be put to rest. Only one beautiful memory remains for Irena, a melancholic, heartrending lost love. The mysterious woman seems to have a very precise motive when she tries to find work as a cleaning lady. From the window of her apartment, she spies intently upon the building across the street. Though Irena’s job is to clean and polish the stairs of that building, her true aim is to get close to a family living there. There is the wife Valeria (Claudia Gerini), her husband Donato (Pierfrancesco Favino), and their little girl Tea (Clara Dossena). Nothing will stop Irena from getting herself a job in their household. Not even murder.

*Note: This film is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 58 min.
Cast: Kseniya Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alessandro Haber
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Show times for "The Unknown Woman" at Fandango.com

My Winnipeg

Kenneth Turan awards the documentary film "My Winnipeg" an LA Times critics' choice award:

Cnadian alternative cinema legend Guy Madden uses the tools that made him famous, including a gift for making faded black and white foootage look unexpectedly beautifu, to create an evocative hommage to a city he cliearly loves. Part civic history, part fantasy and part personal psychodrama.

Synopsis "My Winnipeg"
Have you ever wanted to relive your childhood and do things differently? Guy Maddin casts B-movie icon Ann Savage as his domineering mother in attempt to answer that question in "My Winnipeg", a hilariously wacky and profoundly touching goodbye letter to his childhood hometown. The film is a documentary that blends local and personal history with surrealist images and metaphorical myths that cover everything from the fire at the local park, which leads to a frozen lake of distressed horse heads, to pivotal, sometimes traumatic, factually heightened scenes from Maddin's own childhood

Opened June 13, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 20 min. Cast: Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage, Amy Stewart, Brendan Cade, Wesley Cade, Louis Negin
Director: Guy Maddin
Genres: Avant-garde / Experimental, Biography, Social History

Show times for My Winnipeg by zip code at Fandango.com

Don't Miss Seeing "The Visitor"

There are no new critics' choice recommendations in today's LA Times Calendar, so I thought I'd make a plug for "The Visitor" which I saw last night. This is an incredible movie that is jam-packed with natural acting talent that blew me away, and flooded with heart-warming emotion and pathos. So if it's showing in your neighborhood, it's one I personally recommend. Othewise, be sure to add it to your Netfilx queue for when "The Visitor" comes out on DVD.

You can search for local showtimes for "The Visitor" in the U.S. at Fandango.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Carina Cochano gives "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" a critics' award:

Christopher Bell's documentary about the win-at-all-costs culture of bodybuilders and the steroid subculture is a fascinating, unexpectedly profound and melancholy mediation on what we have become as a country and the misguided obsessions that made us this way.

Synopsis Bigger, Stronger, Faster
From the producers of Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 comes a new film that unflinchingly explores our win-at-all-cost culture through the lens of a personal journey. Blending comedy and pathos, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a collision of pop culture, animated sequences and first-person narrative, with a diverse cast including US Congressmen, professional athletes, medical experts and everyday gym rats. At its heart, this is the story of director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, who grew up idolizing muscular giants like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who went on to become members of the steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream. When you discover that your heroes have all broken the rules, do you follow the rules, or do you follow your heroes?

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 45 min.
PG-13thematic material involving drugs, language, some sexual content and violent imagesollow your heroes?
Director: Christopher Bell
Genres: Biography, Culture & Society, Social Issues

Show times for Bigger, Stronger, Faster at Fandango.com

Tuya's Marriage

Kenneth Turan awards a Critics' Choice medal to "Tuya's Marriage" writing in his capsule review:

Wang Quan An's film exudes an infectious vitality as it vigorously plays humor against pathos amid the raw splendor of the steppes of Inner Mongolia. A physical setback causes a young Mongolian desert herder to find a suitor who can take care of her as well as her disabled husband and two children. In Mandarin, with English subtitles.

Tuya's Marriage
Opened April 4, 2008
NR
Cast: Yu Nan, Ba Te Er, Sen Ge, Zhaya, Peng Hongxiang
Director: Wang Quan'an
Genres: Drama, Romance

Sex and the City

Uh, oh! Yet another Critics' Choice award from Carina, this time for "Sex and the City: The Movie". Cochano advises "Fans of the series won't be disappointed".

Sex and the City: The Movie
Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon reprise their roles from the original HBO series on the big screen. Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) also joins the cast of the film and will play Carrie Bradshaw's assistant, a new character to be introduced in the film.

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 15 min.
R strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth
Director: Michael Patrick King
Genres: Sex Comedy, Comedy, Urban Comedy

Reprise

Carina Chocano has certainly been busy handing out the Critics' Awards as here's another from her, this time for the movie "Reprise":

Norwegian director Joachim Trier's inspiring first feature "Reprise" joyfully tackles the process of self-creation, as well as the friendships that feed and sustain it. He captures, in a way that's cool and romantic and heady, the moment in life when nothing matters more than ideas, influences and the possibility of shaping one's life into a work of art. (Read Carina Cochano's full review of "Reprise")

Synopsis of "Reprise"
Erik and Phillip are trying to make it as writers. Erik is rejected by publishers as lacking in talent, while Phillip's manuscript is accepted and the young man becomes a major name on the Norwegian cultural scene practically overnight. Six months later, Erik and his friends come to visit Phillip at a psychiatric hospital to bring him home after long-term treatment. Writing is the last thing on Phillip's mind, but Erik is continuing his literary attempts and tries to convince his friend to go back to writing.

Opened May 16, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 45 min. R sexuality and language
Cast: Espen Klouman-Hoiner, Anders Danielsen Lie, Christian Rubeck, Odd Magnus Williamson, Pal Stokka
Director: Joachim Trier
Genres: Comedy Drama, Buddy Film

Redbelt

A Critics' Choice award from Carina Cochano for "Redbelt":

David Mamet's tricky and engrossing "Redbelt," [is] a contemporary noir with a samurai movie interior, as sincere, plaintive and strangely optimistic a movie as he's made.

Synopsis of Redbelt
Martial artist Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) lives by a strict code of no competitions, for he feels that such contests weaken fighters. After saving a famous action star (Tim Allen) from a brutal attack, Mike takes a job in the film industry. He soon finds his personal beliefs and integrity on the line as circumstances force him to participate in a prize fight.

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emily Mortimer, Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Joe Mantegna
Director: David Mamet
Genres: Action Thriller, Martial Arts, Thriller, Sports Drama
Opened May 2, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 39 min. R strong language

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

A Critics' Choice award for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" from Carina Cochano:

If this film lacks the heady mix of sheet exuberance and unexpected maturity of the granddaddy of the genre, Judd Apatow's "40-Year-Old Virgin", it's more soulful than "Knocked Up" and more inclusive than "Superbad". It delights in its frequent raunchy moments but it functions on a mellower, more rueful level.

Synopsis of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
Struggling musician Peter Bretter is better-known as the boyfriend of TV star Sarah Marshall . After she unceremoniously dumps him, he feels lost and alone but makes a last-ditch bid to get over it by going to Hawaii. However, she and her new boyfriend are there in the same hotel.

Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader
Director: Nick Stoller
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Comedy

The Edge of Heaven

An LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Carina Chocano for "The Edge of Heaven:

Faith Akin's engrossing story about the closeness and the divide between generations and cultures.

Synopsis of "The Edge of Heaven"
In a Turkish enclave in Bremen, patriarchal widower Ali brings home Yeter, a local prostitute, to tend to his domestic needs. Yeter is saving money to finance her daughter Ayten’s college education in Turkey. When Yeter is accidentally killed , Ali’s son Nejat heads to Turkey to find Ayten, who unbeknownst to him, has embarked on her own rebellious journey to Germany.

Cast: Baki Davrak, Tuncel Kurtiz, Nursel Köse, Nurgul Yesilcay, Hanna Schygulla
Director: Fatih Akin
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama, Slice of Life
In German, Turkish, and English with English subtitles

Opened May 21, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 56 min. NR

Chop Shop

A Critics' Choice award for "Chop Shop" from Kevin Thomas of the LA Times

Director Ramin Barani celebrates human resilience and here harshness intermingles with joy in a film that is as clear-eyed as it is poetic.

Synopsis Chop Shop
12-year-old youth and his older sister live in the no-man’s land that is known as the Iron Triangle: a 20-block stretch of junkyards and chop shops (where stolen cars are dismantled for parts), overshadowed by Shea Stadium’s giant billboard : “Make Dreams Happen.” Young Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) lives and works in an auto-body shop, apprenticing as a mechanic and hustling clients for his no-nonsense boss. With a mixture of childlike naivete and adult ambition, he obsessively saves money to buy a mobile-food van as he and his sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales) dream about running a small business of their own.

Cast: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Rob Sowulski, Carlos Zapata, Ahmad Razvi
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Genres: Drama, Childhood Drama
Opened February 27, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 25 min.
Cast:
Alejandro Polanco Ale
Isamar Gonzales Isamar
Writers: Bahareh Azimi, Ramin Bahrani

Blindsight

Kenneth Turan gives "Blindsight" an LA Times "Critics' Choice" award

"Blindsight" starts with voices and a black screen, voices discussing part of a high mountain climb that would be scary if we could see what was going on and feels downright terrifying because we can't. The people in "Blindsight," however, are not scared, not scared at all. Directed by the gifted Lucy Walker, "Blindsight" is a documentary about what happens when six blind Tibetan teenagers set out to climb one of the highest mountains in the world. If this sounds like a heartening story, it is, but to describe it that way is to sell it seriously short. For this documentary turns out to be a complex drama about differing values and definitions of success, exploring the limits of transcendence as well as the transcending of limits. (Movie review of Blindsight by Kenneth Turan)

Director: Lucy Walker
Genres: Biography, Illnesses & Disabilities, Adventure Travel, Culture & Society
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Baby Mama

A recommendation for "Baby Mama" from Carina Chocano who describes it as a "sweet-natured buddy comedy about two women learning how to be adults. (Baby Mama at the LA Times)

Baby Mama Synopsis
When single executive Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) decides the time is right to finally have a baby, she hires a working-class woman (Amy Poehler) from South Philadelphia to act as her surrogate mother. However, Kate's careful planning goes out the window when the woman shows up on her doorstep needing a place to live. A comic battle of wills breaks out between the pair as they prepare for the blessed event and try not to kill one another in the process.

Opened April 25, 2008 Runtime: 1 hr. 36 min.
PG-13
Cast: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Romany Malco, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin
Director: Michael McCullers
Genres: Comedy, Odd Couple Film

Standard Operating Procedure

Another "Critics' Choice" award from Kenneth Turan this week for Errol Morris' Abu Ghraib prison documentary "Standard Operating Procedure

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE" is not the first documentary on Iraq. It's not the first film on America's embrace of torture as a weapon of choice. It's not even the first picture to focus on the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. What it is is the first time Errol Morris has looked at these issues, and that makes the difference.

Morris, one of the world's premier documentarians and an Oscar winner for "The Fog of War," has done something quite unusual. He's taken the prison everyone's heard of, the photographs everybody's seen and the torture that people are either ashamed of or in denial about and looked at it all with such a fierce specificity that to experience "Standard Operating Procedure" is to feel as if we haven't focused on those things at all. (Read Kenneth Turan's complete review of Standard Operating Procedure)

Standard Operating Procedure
Opened April 25, 2008 Runtime: 1 hr. 58 min.
R - disturbing images and content involving torture and graphic nudity, and for language.

Director: Errol Morris
Genres: Law & Crime, History, Military & War, Culture & Society, Social Issues

Showtimes by zip for Standard Operating Procedure from Fandango

Jellyfish

Kenneth Turan gives “Jellyfish” a Critics’ Choice medallion writing

Seductive and intoxicating, playfully surreal and inexplicably moving, this unexpected Israeli film, which took the Camera d’Or at Cannes for best first feature, is almost impossible to pin down or even categorize. Artistic, daring, surprising, it resists fitting into words at all. Modern-day life in Israel is portrayed through the lives of three Tel Aviv women. (Jellyfish at LA Times Calendar Live)

Synopsis of Jellyfish by Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Israeli co-directors Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen's ensemble comedy drama Meduzot (aka Jellyfish, 2007) weaves together multiple seriocomic tales of intersecting lives, set against the deep azure backdrop of Middle Eastern seascapes. Affording equal emphasis to each tale, Keret and Geffen first hone in on Batya (Sarah Adler), a young woman employed as a caterer, whose firm places strongest emphasis on weddings. As the film opens, Batya breaks up with her boyfriend, and struggles with her supremely dysfunctional, argumentative parents, who correspond with her only by leaving periodic messages on her answering machine. Her life takes a most unpredictable turn when she happens upon a tearstained little girl (Nikol Leidman) who wanders out of the ocean, wearing only a pair of panties and toting an inner tube -- origin unknown. The foundling gravitates magnetically to Batya and refuses to separate from her.

Meanwhile, at Batya's latest assignment -- the Hebrew wedding of Michael (Gera Sandler) and Keren (Noa Knoller) -- the gorgeous bride breaks a leg while attempting to escape from a locked toilet, thus inevitably delaying her honeymoon in the Caribbean. Also present at the wedding reception is a Filipino caregiver, Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), saddled with an array of grouchy, snotty elderly clients who make verbal barbs in Hebrew that she cannot understand. In her private life, Joy struggles with geographical estrangement from her young son -- who still resides in the Philippines -- and remains completely aware of the irony that she's caring for nonfamilial dependents but virtually abandoning her own flesh and blood. And in yet another substory, Malka (Zaharira Harifai), one of Joy's octogenarian clients, gripes and moans about her own actress daughter's participation in an "experimental" version of Hamlet but demonstrates her own ability to reassure and encourage Joy. The ocean -- recurrent throughout the picture -- adds an allegorical layer to the proceedings; in the hands of Keret and Geffen, it symbolizes the narrative juggle of multiple lives, and the lack of self-determinism inherent in any -- the idea that all are wholly subject to the caprices of fate.

Release Date: Apr 4, 2008
Running Time: 1:18
Genre: Drama
Director: Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen
Cast:
Sarah Adler - Batya
Nikol Leidman - Girl
Gera Sandler - Michael
Noa Knoller - Kera
Ma-nenita De Latorre - Joy
Zharira Charifai - Malka

Jellyfish at Fandgango.com

Shotgun Stories

Michael Ordoña writing for the LA Times gives "Shotgun Stories" a recommendation:

"Shotgun Stories," which traces three very different brothers whose bond is tested by a vengeful eruption with another family, is an understated gem.

Writer-director Jeff Nichols, making his feature debut, has created a richly textured world. The air is palpably heavy; the film flows at a calm, rural Arkansas pace..."Shotgun Stories" is a cautionary tale about revenge, but more than that, it is a beautiful, authentic-feeling portrait of a family and a place. Nichols is a talent to watch. LA Times review of Shotgun Stories

Synopsis of "Shotgun Stories"

A feud erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers discover the lengths to which each will go to protect their family.

Opened March 26, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 32 min.
PG-13violence, thematic elements and brief strong language
Cast: Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott, Jr., Travis Smith
Director: Jeff Nichols
Genres: Americana, Psychological Drama, Family Drama, Drama

Showtimes at Fandango.com for Shotgun Stories

The Flight of the Red Balloon

A thumbs-up for "The Flight of the Red Balloon" from LA Times critic Carina Chocano:

"The Flight of the Red Balloon," which follows Hou's acclaimed "Three Times," is a great example of the director's even-hand and assured command of the medium. Hou's cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing keeps a distance from the characters, framing them in relatively long, static shots so that the characters move through them as if seen through a window, going on about their lives and their business in a way that feels almost voyeuristic at first. They tidy up their apartments, take piano lessons, talk on the phone about nothing. The camera is so unobtrusive and the acting so naturalistic that it takes a while for a narrative to emerge. When it finally does, you're surprised to find you're deeply invested in the characters. (Read the full review of "The Flight of the Red Balloon" at the LA Times)

Synopsis "Flight of the Red Balloon"
A mysterious red balloon affectionately follows seven-year-old Simon around Paris. His mother Suzanne is a puppeteer who uses her vocal talents to bring life to the shows she writes. Completely absorbed in her new show, Suzanne becomes overwhelmed by the complications of modern daily life. She decides to hire Song Fang, a Taiwanese film student, to help her care for Simon.

Opened April 2, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.
In French with English Subtitles.
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu, Hippolyte Girardot, Song Fang, Louise Margolin
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Genres: Childhood Drama, Slice of Life, Drama

"Fine Cut" Festival of Student Film

For residents of the greater LA area, you can tune in to public television's KCET for the last episode of this year's festival of student film next Saturday night, April 26th.

Val Zavala hosts this year's series, which showcases the eclectic and provocative live-action and animated short features from film students attending various California colleges and universities.

Now in its eleventh season, Fine Cut features the work of a collection of visionary artists and filmmakers attending such SoCal institutions as the California Institute of the Arts, Loyola Marymount, UCLA, CSU Chico, CSU Long Beach, and USC. These films are as diverse as the people who made them, ranging from science fiction, to tragic heroes, tales of jealousy, and eye-opening documentaries. The films can be of any genre and style and all have been produced within the last two years.

Go here for details of Fine Cut 2008 Student Film Festival: Episode 4. My apologies for not thinking to let Southern California residents know about this series earlier.

The Visitor

LA Times critic Carina Chocano gives "The Visitor" a thumbs up in her recommendation:

An unassuming but quietly heartbreaking drama about the unexpected bonds that can form in a city like New your - and their depth and fragility in times of hysteria. (The Visitor at LA Times)

Synopsis of "The Visitor"

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleepwalking through his life. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek, a Syrian man, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument's exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter's faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles.


Showtimes for The Visitor in your zip from Fandango.com

Release Date: Apr 11, 2008
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1:43
Genre: Drama
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast:
Richard Jenkins Walter Vale
Hiam Abbass Mouna
Haaz Sleiman Tarek
Danai Gurira Zainab
Maggie Moore Karen
Waleed F. Zuaiter Omar
Amir Arison Mr. Shah
Tzahi Moskovitz Zev
Laith Nakli Nasim

Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London, Omar Amanat

My Brother is an Only Child

A recommendation for "My Brother is an Only Child" from LA Times critic Kenneth Turan:

It's been nearly five years since the six-hour Italian triumph "The Best of Youth" debuted at Cannes and then came to America. Those who saw it soon understood that nothing in the current cinematic world is as rare as this kind of serious, adult storytelling, and few thought that they would see anything like it again. But now they can.

A new Italian film, "My Brother Is an Only Child," bears a striking resemblance to "The Best of Youth," undoubtedly because it has the same screenwriters, Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli. Both films use the turbulent era of the 1960s and '70s as a backdrop and adroitly intertwine the personal and the political. With a more normal running time of 1 hour, 48 minutes, "My Brother" is not the masterwork "Best of Youth" was, but it still satisfies in ways much of today's pygmy cinema cannot. Read Kenneth Turan's entire review of "My Brother is an Only Child"

Cast: Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Diane Fleri, Alba Rohrwacher, Angela Finocchiaro
Director: Daniele Luchetti
Genres: Comedy Drama, Period Film, Political Drama

Love Songs (Les Chansons d-Armour)

A recommnedation goes to "Love Songs" from LA Times movie critic Keven Thomas:

French writer-director Christophe Honore seamlessly integrates 13 plaintiff Alex Beaupain songs into this highly contemporary tale of love lost and found amid a group of attractive your Parisians in which emotions constantly ebb and flow. A graceful, captivating film starting Lous Garrel as a moody, romantic-looking young journalist who progresses gradually from shallowness to burgeoning maturity while Chiara Matroianni anchors the film with gravitas and insight.

Release Date: Mar 21, 2008
Running Time: 1:35
Genre: Musical, Romance
Director: Christophe Honoré
Cast:
Louis Garrel Ismaël
Ludivine Sagnier Julie
Chiara Mastroianni Jeanne
Clotilde Hesme Alice
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet Erwann
Brigitte Roüan La mère de Julie
Alice Butaud Jasmine, la soeur de Julie
Jean-Marie Winling Le père de Julie
Yannick Renier Gwendal
Annabelle Hettmann La serveuse du bar
Sylvain Tempier Un policier
Guillaume Clérice Un policier

Writers: Christophe Honoré
Producers: Paulo Branco

Shine a Light

LA Times movie critic Kenneth Turan gives Martin Scorcese's movie of a 2006 Rolling Stones benefit concert for the Clinton Foundation a recommendation that makes me want to run out and watch it now:

When asked by Dick Cavett in 1972 whether "you can picture yourself at age 60 doing what you do now," Jagger grinned and responded, "Easily, yeah." ...by the time [the movie is] all over, we are thoroughly entertained. But getting to that point turns out to have been a tougher slog than might be expected.

What makes it tough, frankly, is all those accumulated years. It's not that the group has any difficulty performing up to its standards, it's that youth and anarchy (not always Bill Clinton's areas) are part of rock's DNA, and seeing the Stones as up close and personal as a concert film demands, presents us with the unnerving spectacle of their battle-hardened, not to say sepulchral, faces. (Read Turan's review of "Shine a Light")

Synopsis for Shine a Light
In autumn 2006 the Rolling Stones gave two concerts at Beacon Theatre in New York. Here, in the 2,800-seater old Broadway theatre that opened in 1928, we encounter living legends Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts. Before an enthusiastic audience that includes Hillary and Bill Clinton, the Stones present their hit songs as well as less known numbers. Guest appea­rances include Christina Aguilera, blues legends Buddy Guy and Jack White.

Opened April 4, 2008 Runtime: 2 hr. 2 min.
PG-13
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genres: Concerts, Biography, Music History, Vocal Music, Music

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Stop-Loss

After a week with no additions to the LA Times recommended movies list, Kenneth Turan comes up with a recommendation for the movie "Stop-Loss" which tells the story of an American soldier who resists a so-called "stop-loss" order to return to Iraq. The movie, by the way, is the first by Kimberly Peirce since her movie "Boys Don't Cry".

Four thousand Americans and counting have died in Iraq, and the litany of unsuccessful films about that part of the world -- "The Situation," "Redacted," "Rendition," "The Kingdom," "In The Valley of Elah" among others -- is growing as well. Do not add “Stop-Loss” to that list. "Stop-Loss" is a film that does it right. Read the review of Stop-Loss by the LA Times' movie reviewer Kenneth Turan

Synopsis of Stop-Loss
Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. Brandon tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver, who served with him in Iraq.

Alongside their war-time buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then, against Brandon's will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq. This upends Brandon's entire world. The conflict into which he is thrown tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love, and the value of honor.

Opened March 28, 2008 Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.
Rated R for graphic violence and pervasive language
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant Director: Kimberly Peirce
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama, War, Iraq War

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