The Death and Life of Bobby Z
Also known as Bobby Z, Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) and Laurence Fishburne (the Matrix trilogy) star in this straight-to-DVD-in-the-US action flick. Walker is a prisoner given a chance by government agent Fishburne to get out of jail with his life by pretending to be a missing drug czar. Mayhem follows. Possibly worth a look given that Fishburne, at least, can give even mediocre films a kick. Opens tomorrow.
The Shock Your Mind! Film Festival
The Chinese title for this four-piece collection is "Festival for films that don't resemble animation," another way of saying that they're a cut above - or beside - the usual Disney/Pixar/Japanese product. Azur and Asmar is a sumptuous digital animation recounting two brothers (one Caucasian, one Arab) in search of a princess. Asterix and the Vikings is the latest adaptation of the world-famous comic series about Gaulish warriors. Princess of the Sun tells the story of Akhesa, future wife of a pharaoh, and receives praise from Variety for its "splendid job of bringing the structures and sandy vistas of ancient Egypt to life." The Spanish/Portuguese pic De Profundis is the only non-French production of the four; more longing and painterly than the others, it's set above and beneath the ocean's surface. Now showing.
Bread Superman
Yet another animated film, based on the wildly popular Anpanman cartoon series from Japan, now approaching the end of its fourth decade in one form or another. Anpanman (loosely rendered as "Bread Superman" here) is a hero with a bun for a head filled with bean paste. In this entry he and his friends teach Dorii, a doll brought to life, the meaning of her fragile existence while battling a robot sent to ruin an annual festival. Original title: Go! Anpanman: Dorii of the Star of Life. Screens with Kokinchan and the Blue Tears, an Anpanman short also made last year. Opens tomorrow.
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