Which movies to see this weekend, Aug. 31 Robot & Frank Frank Langella finds one of his best roles in this story of an old man suffering from the beginning stages of dementia who is given a robot as part of his health care
New on DVD and Blu-ray, Aug. 31 Battleship This humongous alien-invasion flick, based on the bombs-away Hasbro naval guessing game, is loud, large, stupid and stars Taylor Kitsch as the idiot/slacker Navy officer who needs to save the Earth after aliens respond to a beacon by paying a visit. Darling Companion Lackluster characters can’t hold up the spare story, at least not completely, but this …
Movies opening this week, Aug. 30 Danish journalist Mads Brügger pulls off a daring stunt in a bid to expose the corruption overflowing in the Central African Republic. The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate A fabled city of gold existing in a sea of sand – that’s what the plunderers posing as lawful citizens prowl for at the site of the reborn Dragon Inn.
DVD review: ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ Singin’ in the Rain This beautifully restored 60th anniversary DVD/Blu-ray of the 1952 film is a wonderful parody of the birth of talkies that has great wit, an intelligent script, terrific music and dancing that can’t be beat. The movie, directed by its star, Gene Kelly, and Stanley Donen, tells the story of Don Lockwood, a slightly full-of-himself silent movie …
DVD review: ‘Jaws’ Jaws “When I think of ‘Jaws,’ I think of courage and stupidity,” recalls director Steven Spielberg in the extras on this brand-new Blu-ray.
New on DVD and Blu-ray, Aug. 24 A Separation This intense, verbally combative movie from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is about a failed marriage, a father with Alzheimer’s and a chain of events that almost lands several folks in jail.
Which movies to see this weekend, Aug. 24 Searching for Sugar Man Malik Bendjelloul’s superb documentary covers the 1990s investigation into the fate of rock footnote Sixto Rodriguez. “Searching” has emotional valleys and zeniths, and gasp-inducing turns, as old friends, fans and Rodriguez’s grown daughters are interviewed
DVD review: ‘Films of Fury’ none of that Chinese body-flying, butt-kicking attitude is missing in this amusing, eye-popping documentary based on the “Films of Fury” book by Ric Meyers, a World Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee. An expert on genre movies in general, Meyers traces the Peking Opera origins of kung fu through the latest in CGI American-made pandas.
Which movies to see this weekend, Aug. 17 The Beauty of the Real: The 14-film festival of women in contemporary French cinema begins Friday night with a double feature of two crowd-pleasing films, never released in the United States: “Anthony Zimmer,” about an innocent man targeted for assassination by a femme fatale (Sophie Marceau); and “Prix a Payer,” a brutal comedy, with Nathalie Baye as a …