Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 63 Shares169 Views

      in Movies

      ‘The Night’ Review: Late Checkout

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Night’ Review: Late CheckoutThis Iranian-American thriller traps a married couple in a haunted hotel.Niousha Jafarian in “The Night.”Credit…IFC MidnightJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe NightDirected by Kourosh AhariHorror, Mystery, Thriller1h 45mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.“The Night” begins with a round of the party game, Mafia. The film’s central couple Babak (Shahab Hosseini) and Neda (Niousha Jafarian) play along, each wryly accusing the other of hiding secrets, each saying that the other might be the killer. The Persian-language, Los Angeles-set thriller that follows builds tension around the resentments that have accumulated in their marriage. But the stakes never rise past the movie’s first game.With their infant daughter in tow, Babak and Neda head home from a night of friends, drinks and Mafia. But Babak’s driving is impaired from the libations, so the family stops to stay overnight at a nearby hotel. There, the evening begins its descent from confusion to horror. The couple begins to encounter strange figures — a babbling drifter on the hotel steps, an ominous desk clerk, a woman who wanders in silence, a child who calls for his mother.[embedded content]The director, Kourosh Ahari, unravels the mystery at a slow pace. It’s halfway through the film before Babak and Neda realize their visions are not just spooky, but may be supernatural. As the couple’s dread mounts, the hotel begins to show them refractions of their regrets, distorted visions of the secrets they’ve kept within their relationship. They try to leave, but every exit offers an entrance for the encroaching woman, the entreating child.The repetition of the visions and the film’s deliberate pace gives the audience too much time to guess which betrayals haunt Babak and Neda, and this lack of emotional suspense hampers the horror. After all, bumps in the night don’t seem so scary when it is obvious what’s causing the ruckus.The NightNot rated. In Persian and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Google Play, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 63 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      ‘True Mothers’ Review: Family Entanglements

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘True Mothers’ Review: Family EntanglementsParents clash in this Japanese melodrama from Naomi Kawase.Aju Makita in “True Mothers.”Credit…Film MovementJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETTrue MothersDirected by Naomi KawaseDrama2h 20mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Remarkably resistant to sentimentality in individual scenes yet baldly manipulative in the big picture, the melodrama “True Mothers” is probably the most mainstream effort yet from Naomi Kawase, a Japanese director who hasn’t received much distribution in the United States but has been a mainstay of the Cannes Film Festival for two decades. Although the pandemic canceled the festival in May, in June the Cannes programmers announced “True Mothers” as an official selection of the event-that-wasn’t (and later screened it at a mini-festival in October). The movie has the sort of densely plotted texture and widely accessible emotions that might have earned it the Palme d’Or — not necessarily for the best reasons.Adapted from a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, the film is told through a series of intricately interlocked flashbacks. At the outset, Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) and Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) have a kindergarten-age son, Asato (Reo Sato), whom they adopted when he was a baby. His teacher calls to say that a boy has fallen off the jungle gym and claims Asato pushed him. Soon after, that boy’s mother, taking a jab at what she perceives as Satoko and Kiyokazu’s wealth, requests reimbursement for the medical expenses. Is it possible that the couple took in a bad seed?[embedded content]In straight cuts — that is, the time shifts aren’t obviously telegraphed with blackouts or dissolves — “True Mothers” doubles back to the story of how Asato was adopted: of how Kiyokazu’s inability to start a pregnancy led him to propose divorce, of how the pair learned of an adoption agency and independently began to research it.By the present action, they have blossomed into devoted and conscientious parents. Then Satoko receives another call: A young woman claiming to be the boy’s biological mother wants either the child or a payoff.Satoko and Kiyokazu suspect she isn’t who she says she is, and Kawase drops a new anvil of flashbacks to tell the story of Hikari (Aju Makita), the teenage girl who gave birth to the boy. A further set of flashbacks is triggered after police turn up at Satoko and Kiyokazu’s door. Whether the stranger claiming to be the mother was an impostor, and how these narratives loop together, isn’t settled until the end.“True Mothers” explores the malleable nature of family and complementary forms of mothering: one mother gives birth, another nurtures and a third — the head of the adoption agency (Miyoko Asada), who sheltered Hikari at a difficult time — acts in a mother’s stead. The gauzy flourishes from Kawase’s less accessible films remain, such as her penchants for blown-out imagery and transitional nature shots. The stunning seascapes of the Hiroshima-area island where Hikari lives during the pregnancy help establish a contemplative mood.Only a mountain couldn’t be moved by “True Mothers” — but like Asato’s parentage, the sources of that effect are complex. From one angle, “True Mothers” is sensitive and layered. From another, the tricks it plays with perspective constitute an all-too-calculated ploy for tears.True MothersNot rated. In Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 88 Shares159 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Softie’ Review: Battling for Votes in Kenya

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Softie’ Review: Battling for Votes in KenyaIn this political documentary, the activist and photographer Boniface “Softie” Mwangi runs for office in a quixotic struggle against a corrupt system and a legacy of election violence.Boniface “Softie” Mwangi is the subject of the documentary “Softie.”Credit…Icarus FilmsJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETSoftieDirected by Sam SokoDocumentary, Drama1h 36mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.As a photographer, Boniface “Softie” Mwangi made his name recording the carnage of Kenya’s postelection violence in 2007 (including work published in this paper). Embracing activism, he agitated for reform of the country’s corrupt politics with its dynasties, vote-buying and postcolonial tribalism. In Sam Soko’s sometimes bewildering documentary “Softie,” Mwangi presents as an unassumingly stirring figure: an ardent advocate for democratic processes, but a seasoned realist about nefarious forces in his home country.The movie cruises through about a decade of personal and national history. Mwangi leads protests — from marches attacked by riot police to a stunt that unleashes pigs outside parliament — and then runs for legislative office himself. In many ways it’s a standard campaign documentary, under volatile conditions; check-ins with Mwangi’s wife, Njeri, and their children punctuate his campaign’s voter outreach and struggle to defeat their rival candidate, a pop singer.[embedded content]After Mwangi and his family receive death threats, Njeri spirits the children away to live in Jersey City. Soko crams in eye-popping footage of brutality and unrest, with bursts of history and news analysis. But despite ample attention to Mwangi’s struggle to balance family and politics, the film neglects to flesh out his policies.Soko gets credit for not softening Mwangi’s landing, and the outcome of the election is dropped as nearly an afterthought to his valiant efforts. But the on-the-ground campaigning and complex history could use a better shape than the film’s fits and starts.SoftieNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. Watch through BAM’s virtual cinema.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 63 Shares159 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Beginning’ Review: Faith Under Attack

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘Beginning’ Review: Faith Under AttackDea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature ensnares its heroine in circles of religious and patriarchal persecution.Ia Sukhitashvili in “Beginning.”Credit…MubiJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETBeginningNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Dea KulumbegashviliDramaNot Rated2h 10mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The boxy frame of the camera turns into a trap in “Beginning,” the masterful debut feature by the Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili. For the film’s opening, the camera plants itself on one end of a small Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall and stays there, unmoving, as the congregants slowly filter in and the preacher begins his sermon. It doesn’t budge even when, nearly eight uninterrupted minutes into the shot, a Molotov cocktail flies into the room and explodes into flames, scattering the panicked worshipers.The scene is a warning to viewers of this unsparing film: Fear the frame. Locked in its rigid, rectangular grip, you will be unable to escape what’s onscreen or anticipate what awaits just outside.[embedded content]“Beginning” follows Yana (Ia Sukhitashvili), the preacher’s wife, as she deals with the fallout of that firebomb attack. A former actress, she has given up her career to support her husband’s mission in a predominantly Orthodox Christian town outside Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The film ensnares her in circles of religious and patriarchal persecution: The police take no action on the attack despite there being surveillance footage of the perpetrators, and when Yana’s husband goes to the city to consult with community elders, a detective arrives at her doorstep. In one of the film’s many queasy tableaux of simmering violence, this unnamed man interrogates Yana in her living room, preying more and more humiliatingly on her status both as a cultural minority and a woman.Power-plays of faith and gender trace acrid paths across “Beginning,” but neither is the central subject of the film. There’s little psychological or sociocultural detail in the movie’s fastidious compositions, which fix Yana in shadow-flecked rooms and landscapes as stifling as they are gorgeous.Instead, if Kulumbegashvili’s film is about anything, it’s the act of seeing — of witnessing. Such is the effect of the violence that ensues when Yana encounters the detective near her home in the dead of the night. Kulumbegashvili holds the bone-chilling scene for what feels like an eternity, keeping us at a distance that only amplifies its horror. If this test of viewer endurance is a bit sadistic, it’s also remarkable in how cleanly it strips the scene of any sensationalism. Rarely has a film made me so painfully, viscerally aware of the impotence of spectatorship — of the dubious remove from which we watch suffering.As the film’s cloistered frame closes in on Yana, “Beginning” plunges us further into despair — until its mystifying coda opens the movie into a whole other world. Kulumbegashvili leaves us with an ethereal reprieve from her film’s corporeal terrors.BeginningNot rated. In Georgian, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes. Watch on Mubi.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Supernova’ Review: On the Road, to a Heartbreaking Destination

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘Supernova’ Review: On the Road, to a Heartbreaking DestinationColin Firth and Stanley Tucci play a longtime couple facing unpleasant facts in this spectacularly moving film from Harry Macqueen.Colin Firth, left, and Stanley Tucci in “Supernova.”Credit…Bleecker Street, via Associated PressJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETSupernovaNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Harry MacqueenDrama, RomanceR1h 33mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.It’s rare to see a cinematic drama executed with such consistent care as “Supernova,” written and directed by Harry Macqueen and starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. And here, that care pays off to devastating effect.Firth and Tucci play Sam and Tusker, a longtime couple who, we learn early on, derive as much pleasure from snarky bickering as they do from sex, snuggling and serious conversation. As they toddle through England’s lake country in an R.V., Macqueen unravels their back story subtly and organically. Sam was once a concert pianist; Tusker is a novelist and an astronomy enthusiast. On a break from driving, Sam pages through one of Tusker’s works and waxes sarcastic about the novel’s challenging style.Tusker’s current challenge is early-onset dementia. He’s insistent on working through it. Up to a point.[embedded content]Their journey has an end and a coda: the country home of supportive relatives. Despite the condition that encroaches and shrouds Tusker daily, taking away bits of memory and faculty, he’s arranged a surprise birthday party for Sam. But it’s Sam who has to read Tusker’s eloquent toast, in one of several heartbreaking scenes.As performers, Tucci and Firth embody the best kind of masculinity, which has been missing from popular culture for so long that we’ve forgotten what it looks like. Their characters are men of passion but also men of integrity. And most important, they’re men who know what love is.Where they disagree is about what love can do. Tusker knows it can’t save him. “You’re not supposed to mourn someone before they die,” he notes, and in Tucci’s voice you hear both mordancy and the deepest kind of compassion. This astounding movie offers that latter quality in abundance.SupernovaRated R. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 100 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Finding Ohana’ Review: Treasure Hunting and Family Healing

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Finding Ohana’ Review: Treasure Hunting and Family HealingThe adventure narrative in this Hawaii-set Netflix film distracts from a deeper story about cultural heritage and family dynamics.From left, Lindsay Watson, Kea Peahu, Owen Vaccaro and Alex Aiono in “Finding Ohana.”Credit…Chris Moore/NetfilxJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETFinding OhanaDirected by Jude WengAction, Adventure, Comedy, FamilyPG2h 3mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The Hawaiian term ohana, which means family, may be most recognized from its popularization by the Disney animated film “Lilo and Stitch.” Like that alien-populated coming-of-age comedy, the Netflix film “Finding Ohana” uncovers adventure in the midst of familial dysfunction. But the treasure-hunting escapade at the center of this film weakens a more compelling look at the dynamics of a family and the uncertain future of its cultural legacy.Frequently at odds, the gregarious Pili (Kea Peahu) and her cooler-than-thou brother Ioane (Alex Aiono) are none too happy to be uprooted from their Brooklyn lives. Their widowed mother, Leilani (Kelly Hu), moves them to her Wi-Fi-free childhood home on Oahu to take care of her father (Branscombe Richmond). Restless in their new surroundings, the teens (along with their new friends) occupy their time by chasing after an ancient treasure hidden in a cave on the island.[embedded content]A Gen Z crusade, hyper-aware of its Indiana Jonesian influences, is an entertaining conceit. But the plodding pace of Jude Weng’s film, along with its shabby dialogue, distracts from the more emotionally intricate subplot of the mother returning home to her father after her husband’s death. Implied here is a more tangible sense of grief, not only in terms of a lost loved one, but also a now disparate connection to one’s heritage and family history.This consideration of how to preserve cultural identity and meaning through future generations is most eloquent at its least talkative; neither the script (which overexplains Hawaiian colloquialisms) nor the younger actors can handle the weight of these ideas. But Hu and Richmond convey a tender and bruised relationship, one that emphasizes learning how to move forward and live on.Finding OhanaRated PG. Running time: 2 hours 3 minutes. Watch on Netflix.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream’ Review: Writing With Movies

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream’ Review: Writing With MoviesCreated from 400-plus movie clips, this film reflects on the filmmaker’s recovery from a breakup in a small town.An image from the documentary “Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream.”Credit…KimStimJan. 28, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETJust Don’t Think I’ll ScreamDirected by Frank BeauvaisDocumentary1h 15mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Frank Beauvais’s pastiche “Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream” paints with a palette of 400-plus films. In 2016 Beauvais recovered from a breakup in an Alsatian village by filling his days with music, beer, pot, and torrents of movies. The cineaste monologues over clips from his half-year of viewing to create something resembling a dyspeptic novelist’s journals.The magic trick of recycling cinema has a long tradition from the Soviet filmmaker Esfir Shub’s “Fall of the Romanov Dynasty” to Bruce Conner’s avant-garde classic “A Movie” to Christian Marclay’s installation “The Clock.” Beauvais and his editor, Thomas Marchand, use the stream of (soundless) snippets as a psychological EKG, illustrating his spoken words more often than opening up ambiguities. Even when the clips come from films by well-known directors, they seem chosen to head off the frisson of recognition, though Beauvais name-drops some sources and touchstones (Vernon Subutex, Hermann Hesse, Blake Edwards, Bonnie Prince Billy).[embedded content]Mostly he despairs about terrorism and capitalism after bombings in France, vents about the tedium of conservative Alsace and his own inertia, and laments that his father died while watching an Occupation-era drama. He has a happy community of friends in Paris, filmmaker visitors, and a helpful (if oddly underrepresented) mother. But his images breathe isolation: amid the anonymous figures, disembodied hands, hard-to-place curios and assorted bleak moments, faces are rare.By the time Beauvais dismisses some chestnut trees as “bland,” the movie screams nothing so much as the pained self-absorption of depression — an anguished revelation, but dead-on.Just Don’t Think I’ll ScreamNot rated. In French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes. Watch through Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 125 Shares159 Views

      in Movies

      Jared Leto Says His Oscar's 'Magically' Disappeared Three Years Ago

      by

      WENN/Dave Bedrosian

      The ‘Morbius’ actor believes he misplaced the prize, which he nabbed for his performance in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, when he moved to a new home in Los Angeles.

      Jan 28, 2021
      AceShowbiz – Jared Leto has lost track of one of his most-prized possessions. The actor/musician revealed that he has not seen his Oscar, which he won in 2014, since three years ago and his search for it turned to no avail.
      The 30 Seconds to Mars vocalist got candid about the unknown whereabouts of his golden statuette during an interview on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” on Tuesday night, January 26. Appearing virtually to promote his new movie “The Little Things”, he told the host, “I found out that it’s been missing for three years,” Leto, 49, told James Corden. “I didn’t know that – I don’t think anyone wanted to tell me.”
      Leto confided that he might have lost it when he moved to a new house in Los Angeles, California. “But I had moved houses in L.A. and then when we moved, it somehow just magically kind of disappeared,” he shared to James Corden. “It could be somewhere, but everyone’s searched for it high and low.”

        See also…

      The 49-year-old, however, remains hopeful of its existence, saying, “I hope it’s in good hands wherever it is. We haven’t seen it for quite some time.” When asked if he thought someone had taken it, Leto responded, “I think it’s a good possibility, it’s not something someone accidentally throws in the trash.”
      Though he may never be able to see the Oscar again, Leto doesn’t have any regret as he has made quite some memories with it. “I remember the night I got it, I passed it around to so many people,” he said of bringing the prize to an after-party after winning it. “It was beat up and scratched up, but people had fun taking pictures with it. It’s nice to share it so hopefully, someone is taking good care of it.”
      [embedded content]
      Leto nabbed the Best Supporting Actor title at the 86th Academy Awards for his role as a transgender woman in “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013). The movie earned five other nominations and won two of them, including Best Actor for Matthew McConaughey and Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews.

      You can share this post!

      Next article
      Kenya Moore Regrets Feuding With Phaedra Parks Over Apollo Nida

      Related Posts More