Category: NON-HOLLYWOOD
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Deux Jours, Une Nuit [2014] ★★★
I never thought a straightforward story could be so gripping, until I saw “Deux Jours, Une Nuit”. It gets inside your head and heart, rubbing your emotions raw. Marion Cotillard, who was Oscar nominated for her outstanding performance, plays a worker at a small factory who, upon being released from the hospital (where she has been…
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The Imitation Game [2014] ★★★½
Everything adds up- just like a perfectly solved mathematical equation- in “The Imitation Game”, a fantastic movie about the life of Alan Turing, the man who helped crack the notorious German enigma code during World War II (and ultimately won the war). This is one of the best biographies I’ve seen in a long time; It puts…
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The Theory Of Everything [2014] ★★★½
Eddie Redmayne has emerged as a fine actor over the past few years, in films like “My Week With Marilyn” and “Les Miserables“. With his performance in “The Theory Of Everything”, he reaches a new plateau, transforming himself into the brilliant Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor-neuron disease at just 21 and was given only 2 years…
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Diabolique [1955] ★★★★
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s most notorious film is still terrifying almost 60 years later. An unmerciful school master (Paul Meurisse, terrific) is murdered by his long suffering wife (Vera Clouzot) and mistress (Simone Signoret). But then strange things start to happen. Haunting, exciting thriller will you keep you guessing at every turn, right through the unforgettable finale. Hailed…
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Rio, I Love You [2014] ★½
Dull follow-up to “Paris Je T’aime” and “New York I Love You” offers a range of episodes set in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janero, mostly dealing with encounter of love in a different neighborhood of the city. Most of them are slight and boring; these vignettes about the beautiful city of Rio may just…
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Only Lovers Left Alive [2014] ★★
Jim Jarmusch (“Mystery Train”, “Dead Man”) is a smart filmmaker, and his new movie is so original, that I wish I liked it more. I was fascinated by its premise at first, about two vampires (Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton) who’s been in love for centuries. For reasons unexplained, they now live in different parts…
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Casse-Tête Chinois [2013] ★★★
I’ve been a sucker for french comedies for a while now; perhaps it’s because I haven’t practiced my french in a long time, or maybe it’s because they make so many good movies. Either way, I enjoyed Cedric Klapisch’s (“L’auberge Espagnole”) new movie a lot. It’s a commercial, crowd-pleasing piece of work with engaging performances…
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Heritages [2014] ★★★
For writer/director Philippe Aractingi, devising a film that follows his decision to leave his home country for yet another time during the 2006 war couldn’t have been easy. And if “Heritages” is less than perfect, it’s still pretty powerful. The fact that it’s a personal journey featuring his entire family makes it all the more…
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Nymphomaniac (Volume I and Volume II) [2014] ★★
Depending on your reaction to the cinematic outrages perpetrated by Danish director Lars Von Trier (remember Antichrist?), you might want to add or subtract two from the rating I just gave “Nymphomaniac”. It seems that Van Trier enjoys courting controversy, and some of his films are deliberately designed to provoke and upset audiences. But he’s…
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The Invisible Woman [2013] ★★★
Charles Dickens was an English writer and one of the most famous novelists of the Victorian period. But what you probably didn’t know is that he was deeply unhappy in his home life, which lead to a love affair with a much younger woman. The film itself, energetically directed by the amazing Ralph Fiennes (who…
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Kill Your Darlings [2013] ★★½
“Fuck you! You’re a phony”.That trash talk is aimed at Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) by Daniel Radcliffe, in fierce, flamboyant form as the young poet Allen Ginsberg, a Columbia freshman in 1944. Ginsberg falls under the spell of the charismatic Carr and along with Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster), kicks…
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In Fear [2013] ★★½
Two people find themselves lost in a maze of backwoods roads. If you ask why, “In Fear” is so not the movie for you. Logic goes south the minute Tom persuades his girlfriend Lucy to go on their first weekend getaway as a couple. Bam! They’re lost in a maze for nearly 90 minutes. And…
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The Past [2013] ★★★½
Writer/Director Asghar Farhadi made a strong impression with his Oscar winning feature “A Separation” a couple of years ago. His latest movie, “The Past”, isn’t an Oscar contender this year but that’s no reason for you to skip it. Much like his previous film, “The Past” dramatizes a credible situation and holds you in its…
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Philomena [2013] ★★★
Judi Dench has emerged as one of the finest actresses alive, in films like “Shakespeare in Love”, “Iris” and “”Notes on a Scandal”. With her performance in “Philomena”, she reaches a new plateau, playing a real-life Irish woman named Philomena Lee, who had sex fifty years ago, gave birth to a child at a local…
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طالع نازل (Stable Unstable) [2013] ★★½
It’s been a hectic month at the movies. I’ve seen a lot of good films and some terrible ones as well. “Stable Unstable”, the latest Lebanese film from writer/director Mahmoud Hojeij (in his feature debut) falls somewhere in between. It’s far from being perfect, yet as a showcase for a host of talented Lebanese actors,…
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12 Years A Slave [2013] ★★★½
Every once in a while, movie buffs look for movies that push them out of their comfort zones into uncharted territory. “12 Years A Slave”, the latest masterpiece from director Steve McQueen (“Hunger”, “Shame”) is such a movie. It’s a cinematic triumph that defines the American Slave Trade. Chiwetel Ejiofor delivers a bold and brilliantly immersive…
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Ghadi [2013] ★★★
As a writer, actor and observer of Lebanese way of life, Georges Khabbaz just keeps getting better and better. Now he offers us “Ghadi”, a remarkably entertaining and thoughtful movie, and a solid feature debut behind the camera for Amin Dora, who directed the series “Shankaboot” a few years ago. Every detail of this modest…
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The Best Offer [2013] ★★★
Art, Mystery, obsession , betrayal. That’s “The Best Offer”, a Hitchcockian film that gets in your head and stays there. Geoffrey Rush, erasing all memories of “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series, delivers yet another memorable performance as Virgil Oldman, an art auctioneer who is well-known in the art world, so much in fact that his…
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Adore [2013] ★½
Embarrassingly bad drama set in Western Australia, where two best friends (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) hook up with each other’s sons (say what?). Wright’s boy, Ian (Xavier Samuel), gets Watts in the sack first. Then Watts, angry as hell, thinks it’s only right to have sex with Wright’s son. Sounds sexy? Not really. With that cast,…
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About Time [2013] ★★★
There’s no reason “About Time” should play as well as it does; it’s formulaic and predictable. But it flows so well, and the cast is so likable, that it’s hard to resist. As a writer, director and observer of relationships, Richard Curtis (“Notting Hill, “Love Actually”) just keeps getting better and better. This time, he has chosen time…
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