Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Foreign, Action, Crime/Mystery
Opens locally in limited release, Friday September 23rd, 2011 Run Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Bingbing LI, Chao Deng Directed by Tsui Hark (Seven Swords, Once Upon a Time in China) From Hong Kong legendary director Tsui Hark, comes a movie you've probably never heard of, with a title that sounds like a Nancy Drew or Encyclopedia Brown detective novel. "Detective Dee" is a character based on an actual person in Chinese history, Di Renjie, a household name in China made popular in the West by author Robert van Gulik in his mystery series "Judge Dee." Di Renjie was a Tang Dynasty official, and a very famous prime minister in 7th century China, who served under the only female king in Chinese history, Empress Wu. If you've never heard of any of that, just think of Detective Dee as a 7th century Chinese version of Sherlock Holmes, and think of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" as a 2-hour long, Chinese episode of Scooby-Doo.
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3 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Romance, Foreign
Opens locally Friday, August 26th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour, 24 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jacques Gamblin, Sara Forestier Co-written & Directed by Michel Leclerc (J'invente rien) "The Names of Love" is a film out of France, with English subtitles, and opens in limited release this weekend. It was an official selection at this year's Cannes Film Festival. From the opening scene, this light comedy establishes itself also as a smart, thinly-veiled political satire, with a quirky, odd-ball tone that keeps things loose...perhaps a bit too loose, as far as the plot goes. Rating: 4 out of 4 starsGenre: Foreign, Drama
Opens Friday, February, 25th 2011 (exclusively at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak) Run Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes, Not Yet Rated (but definitely R or above and intended for adults) Starring: Jeon Do-youn, Lee Jung-jae Lee, Youn Yuh-Jung, Seo Woo Directed by Im Sang-soo This South Korean erotic thriller is a beautifully photographed and patient film, that takes it's time with each moment and each shot. The result is an effective bit of adult melo-drama that keeps you captivated from start to finish, even if portions of the film unfold like a day-time soap. Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Foreign (with sub-titles)
Opens locally on Friday, February 4th, 2011 (playing exclusively at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak) Run Time: 2 hours, 27 minutes, Rated R Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Eduardo Fernandez, Blanca Portillo Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams, Babel) Few foreign, sub-titled movies find their way into American theatres, and that's a shame considering that most people have never seen or heard of "Biutiful", the latest from skilled director Alejandro Inarritu. The film has recently been nominated for 2 Academy Awards, for Best Foreign Film (from Mexico), and Best Actor for Javier Bardem, and both nominations are well deserved. "Biutiful" is a tragic and often too-real tale of a man in an impossible position, facing overwhelming odds. It also blends in a touch of the super-natural, and the result is a movie not just beautiful...but powerful. |
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